04-10-2014, 08:55 AM
One question I have is whether the motor for the front unit, turning inside the boiler with the front unit, will have enough clearance to allow the loco to make any kind of reasonable curve. That would be worth a check, maybe making a full-size mockup in cardboard or whatever.
To my way of thinking, running model locos involves many compromises -- commercial articulateds now have the rear unit turning as well as the front, and model duplexes are articulated when they shouldn't be. Both of those are more severe than just having front and rear units running always in sync, to my way of thinking. The sound decoders play the units in and out of sync now anyhow.
One of the brass manufacturers also did a Santa Fe 2-10-10-2 -- the reviews of that also said it would pretty much only run on straight track.
It might be worth looking into the Northwest Short Line HI-LO gearboxes, which have a different approach to connecting the units of an articulated together -- a single motor mounted high in the cab or firebox, which drives via a forward-slanted cardan shaft via a rear gearbox with idlers that sits high, and a front gearbox that sits low. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://shop.osorail.com/category.sc?categoryId=174">http://shop.osorail.com/category.sc?categoryId=174</a><!-- m -->
To my way of thinking, running model locos involves many compromises -- commercial articulateds now have the rear unit turning as well as the front, and model duplexes are articulated when they shouldn't be. Both of those are more severe than just having front and rear units running always in sync, to my way of thinking. The sound decoders play the units in and out of sync now anyhow.
One of the brass manufacturers also did a Santa Fe 2-10-10-2 -- the reviews of that also said it would pretty much only run on straight track.
It might be worth looking into the Northwest Short Line HI-LO gearboxes, which have a different approach to connecting the units of an articulated together -- a single motor mounted high in the cab or firebox, which drives via a forward-slanted cardan shaft via a rear gearbox with idlers that sits high, and a front gearbox that sits low. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://shop.osorail.com/category.sc?categoryId=174">http://shop.osorail.com/category.sc?categoryId=174</a><!-- m -->