I usually have the answer on which way to go but,in this case I don't. :o :oops:

The gears in my Mule Creek Industrial Railroad's Bachmann GE 70 Tonner is crack/stripped so, here's my dilemma.

While checking the gears I manage to drop the shell and damage the cab steps and pilot.

Here's it is.

New gears and shell will be around $50.00 with shipping.

A new 44 Tonner is $44.95 plus shipping.

A Walthers SW1 can be had for $49.99 plus shipping.

What say you?

Brakie Wrote:I usually have the answer on which way to go but,in this case I don't. :o :oops:

The gears in my Mule Creek Industrial Railroad's Bachmann GE 70 Tonner is crack/stripped so, here's my dilemma.

While checking the gears I manage to drop the shell and damage the cab steps and pilot.

Here's it is.

New gears and shell will be around $50.00 with shipping.

A new 44 Tonner is $44.95 plus shipping.

A Walthers SW1 can be had for $49.99 plus shipping.

What say you?

Replace the loco. Turn the busted one into a crash survivor on a siding near the shops.

It all depends on how much time and energy you are looking to put into the repairs. You might enjoy doing that rather than taking to economically better choice of buying new.... Then again, buying a new one gives you the advantage of having a lot of spare parts to use if needed....

I'm with EZ & Mountain. I would replace the locomotive. Trainworld is selling some for $49.99 and there are a couple of Buy Me Now's for the same price. If you Google Bachmann HO 70 tonner and then hit the shopping tab on top of the results, you will find plenty of results.

Larry;
Unless you're really attached to using a 70-ton GE, I'd go with the Walther's SW-1. I had one of them when they first released them some years ago and they were really smooth running models back then. A friend has 3 of the Bachmann "DCC Inside" 70-tonners custom painted and only one of them runs fairly good. I had one of the revised (single motor) 44-ton GE's and it didn't run good at all. I've always been a big fan of GE's 44-45-70 ton locomotives, but the SW-1 is also a favorite.

The SW should run better and last longer.

Better yet, eBay always has Kato NW2s for the price of the SW1s, maybe cheaper.

Mike makes an excellent point. Those Kato NW2's are really smooth runners and of course the NW2 could be found all over the country - some still around earning their keep.

Please don't think that I'm knocking the SW1. I have one of the original SW1s and I think that they're solid running locos. I just think that Kato makes the best drives, especially for the price. I haven't had any trouble with the 70 tonners, but then again, I don't run my locomotives as much h as others.

Guys, As a update my thoughts is either the NW2 or the SW1 for MCIR. MC's biggest customer is Scotland Paper Company and the other customer is Quigley Steel Distributor.. Total cars handled yearly 700-800.

I got the idea from the now defunct Great Miami Railroad in Southern Ohio.

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I will add removable slurry tanks on Slate Creeks transload track when I operate MC. I'm not sure what to use for the paper company unless I use a Walthers Superior Paper kit and use it as a back drop building or maybe go with Pikestuff walls and add loading doors for five cars.

Larry;
That Great Miami railroad was very interesting! Visited and photographed the line a couple of times before they shut it down. Even though the paper mill in Hamilton OH is being demolished and pretty much all the track has been pulled, you can still make out a lot of what used to be there on Google Maps. Certainly would make for an interesting prototype to base a switching layout on.

An NW-2 in their paint scheme would sure look nice!

They had an NW2 as well as a GP30 and GP35. Railfan & Railroad did a piece on the Great Miami's Hamilton Belt Line operation a few years ago. One tidbit of information that caught my attention was the fact that half of it's traffic was coal hoppers for the paper Mill's power plant.

I decided on the NW2 either Kato or BLI. I will need to shop on e-Bay for either one of those engines.

I also killed the Mule Creek name and will find a more suitable name for a railroad located in Southern Ohio.


Ed,The idea of modeling a slightly modified Great Miami cross my mind I couldn't think of any local painters.

Mike GM also had a second NW2 number 1.. This was a ex-PRR switcher.

Larry---I like your choice of the NW2.The TH&B had a number of these versatile diesels on it's roster



Here's one of the Kato NW2 models working on the Leetown Division

Hey Larry,
I only knew about #1. I didn't know about 112 and 115 as well as SW9 117. Did US Rail take over the operation?