Large Scale Central

USAT 0-6-0 Docksider - sale

Reviews
#1

I bought one of these, they are quite a puller, being die-cast, and part of the prestige series.

The wheels are NOT stainless, but good nevertheless, and it comes with a rudimentary sound system that can be triggered by track magnets. The smoke unit even puffs! (It has a small piston driven pump).

I have a page on my site: http://www.elmassian.com/trains/motive-power-mods-aamp-tips/usat-motive-power/docksider

The big news is that these have a list of $780, and have sold for $550 for quite a while. RLD hobbies has them on sale for $340 and that is a deal!

http://rldhobbies.com/fallclearancesale.aspx

Thought I would share a good deal with others, may pick up a second one just for the heck of it.

GReg

#2

Wow, he has a good price on the AML 0-6-0 also

#3

To bad it’s a switcher. Good price tho. Later RJD

#4

Switchers look good in a switchyard… I seem to remember you have a pretty nice one RJ, although I believe I was in the shop most of the time churning out SD45’s ha ha!

Greg

#5

R.J. DeBerg said:

To bad it’s a switcher. Good price tho. Later RJD

You do your shifting with mainline locos? I’ve used Madam Mallet for that

We had a couple of these at the Chicago Botanic. They were very nice, reliable and smooth running except when the track was so worn the wheels would fall between the rails. But then, nothing ran smoothly then :smiley: I’m not there any more.

#6

No. You’re in OK. We watched you move. How’re things going on the new job?

#7

Why don’t switchers look good on the main?

Just asking.

I bought a somewhat new Aristocraft 0-4-0 and she looks okay on a main track. Although, I guess I am not running a large railroad right now and thus I cannot say for sure how I would feel using this little gal on the main with a few cars in tow.

Anyway, I was just curious. Not trying to stir the proverbial pot guys. LOL

#8

Stacy, Switchers “look good” on the main, they just don’t look right on the main. It would be like having one SW1500 pulling your unit train through the desert instead of your three SD70MAC AC44 CW Dash 14 locomotives. Ok, so I am not a diesel person.

#9

Switchers don’t look right on the main?

What if the poor modeller reading this cannot afford a brace of SD70’s ? Not too encouraging for anyone operating model trains .

If it is a personal preference to only allow big diesels on the main , fine . But I don’t think it right to naysay others for doing so .

In any case , you are probably referring to American practises . It is quite common to see shunting engines on the main lines in the UK and Europe , not generally pulling top express stuff admittedly , but nonetheless it happens .

On railways like the RhB , it is quite common to see short trains headed by a shunter to get goods between stations ; a shunter can spend a whole day operating in between the passenger stuff by picking up and dropping off as it gradually moves up the line .

Look at some of the webcams of trains in Holland , you will see shunters interspersed with local and express trains . There are quite a few webcams to look at , Holland seems to have the best coverage .

Of course , running a timetable through that makes for interesting problems , except on most of the TGV type tracks where only high speed stuff is allowed ; 150 mph and walking pace are difficult to reconcile .

#10

Mike I wasn’t trying to nay-say anyone. The P&CS, the railroad I model, didn’t own anything larger then a single Mogul. So most trains were pulled with 4 coupled locomotives (0-4-0, 2-4-0, 2-4-2). But that is a short-line railroad. Most of the mainline railroads in America used larger locomotives on the man, most of the time. My example of having a unit train pulled by a switcher was to illustrate the idea.

#11

Hello David , I understood what you meant and agree it would look very unusual to see an old Uboat class trying to shift a train of heavyweights especially on those seemingly endless tracks across the deserts .

Your mention of “short line” brings things into focus . Just about all of Europe and definitely the UK fall into that description . A train from London to Birmingham travels about 100 miles on main lines with a stop or two on the way . It still has to dodge the shunters as well .

An interesting variation on this is the massive rock ballast trains which run main lines and generally are longer than a passenger job . In one set-up , the loco shunts the train out of the quarry siding and travels the main line to a depot near London Airport where it shunts again----this is on Brunel’s old Great Western line . So you could say there’s a prototype for everything .

Anyway , point taken , it is always pleasant to have discussions on these things .

Mike