Just got my hands on one of these in yellow #91396 or in set no. 90070.

Just gorgeous, well built, finely finished. Runs quietly and slowly, give it a little juice and it’s a scalded cat.

Extra set of metal couplers for non-talgo coupling, change out pretty simple, the lift bar chains a bit difficult.

Under the hood, have the polarity switch and a switch for smoke, cute. Doors and cab windows done very nicely.

Pulled the lube port on the bottom of the drive and it is loaded with wide (strong) gears, very nicely done.

So far I am impressed with everything I see about this little guy and seems heavy in the hand, so I weighed it, 3.5 Lbs.

I think I am in love.

Barry - BBT

Good to hear…Been thinking of picking one of these up and using the box cab conversion kits I’ve seen advertized. Hesitated because I did not know what was “under the hood”. Sounds like it’s time to jump on one!

Mark,

I’ve seen those ads too. Makes more sense now.

Barry - BBT

Mark V said:
Good to hear...Been thinking of picking one of these up and using the box cab conversion kits I've seen advertized. Hesitated because I did not know what was "under the hood". Sounds like it's time to jump on one!

Say Mark, Do you have a link to those kits....or a name of the business? I've got a Davenport that's was roughed up a bit in shipping. Nothing that couldn't be fixed, but I was going to get rid of it since I'm switching to RC/battery. I might be able to fit batteries in a box cab. Ralph

Folks,

box cab conversion is a Banta Models Kit
http://www.bantamodelworks.com/

That’s the ones!

Yes, they are great little engines.
I have one that I got when they first came out. Really runs well.
They are a bugger to put KD’s on though.

I got a second when Ridge Road quite last year, like $89. The cab kit from
Banta is like $65. I have the whole thing about half built and sitting on the back of the bench
waiting for me to get back to it. Hopefully pretty soon.

I plan on battery RC for both of them.
Later
Rick

Rick, Kadee makes a line of Bachmann “drop-in” replacement couplers now–essentially Kadee coupler heads that screw onto the Bachmann draft gear the same way Bachmann’s high/low coupler heads screw on. That’ll make installing Kadees in this guy a LOT easier. I don’t recall if they make them in the #1 size, but I know they’re available in the G-scale size. (Or I know they were announced and on the web site. I have not seen them personally.)

Fitting batteries and whatnot in these guys is pretty simple. I put a 7.4v Li-Ion battery pack, small manual speed controller, 1.5" speaker, and a MyLocoSound board all in the hood. It trundles around the railroad at a very sedate pace, and pulls three or four cars without so much as breaking a sweat.

Later,

K

Hey Kevin,
Thanks for the input.
When I KD’d the first one a year or so ago there was nothing "off the shelf’ that would work so I basically built my own system of grafting the KD to the Bachmann shank. When I got the new one last spring I just went ahead and built my own again, using KD #1’s.

Good to know that you were able to fit it all under the hood. I am toying with the idea of using a trailing car system as I have two of the loco’s and a couple of rail cars that could all use the same trail car/sound system. I generally run only one at a time anyway so the trailing car idea might work.
Thanks again
Rick

Comment on another forum, quoting George Schreyer, that the Davenport surges on downgrades. Which means it has single thread worms from the motor. Either run on the flat or go uphill, but not down hill, unless ery gradual.

Barry - BBT

You can see some photos of the internal works here:

http://slatecreekrailway.blogspot.com/2008/10/crossing-rubicon.html

Subsequent newer postings have more.

Matthew (OV)

Thats an engine that is on my to get list.

I’ve heard of the “surging” issue with the Davenport, but couldn’t replicate the problem with mine, even on an 8% test grade. “Lots of grease” I think may be the key. Or short trains. (Hey, how many cars can a 10-ton loco reasonably pull, anyway?)

Later,

K

Kevin Strong said:
Or short trains. (Hey, how many cars can a 10-ton loco reasonably pull, anyway?)

Later,

K

Probably the short trains. I’ve noticed my 45 Tonner surges a lot on my long 4% down grade. Yesterday I happened to notice how heavy an 8 car train really is pulling (or pushing) on a grade. Ran a little later with 5 cars and hardly noticed any surging.

Short trains is the answer.

The weight of the longer trains is the cause of the surging.

I have a couple of these now, so I will be examinin if it is possible to “just” swap a double thread worm and solve the problem.

Barry - BBT

I notice the surging no matter how few cars it pulls.

I have had one for some time and it is a little brute of a locomotive. Very strong and doesn’t seem to have the waddle of most 4 wheel locos. I have a couple of long grades on my line and have not noticed any surging at all.