I was at Accucraft HQ yesterday afternoon and saw the Cab Forward prototype under steam. The loco was pulling about 25 Accucraft reefers around 8 foot radius curves on their test track without any problems, although with a lot of non-prototypical overhang, of course. 12 foot radius would look more appropriate, I'm sure.
The details and operating features were very good. The reverser isn't a Johnson bar, but rather a screw reverser operated with a separate handwheel inserted into an actuator in the front of the cab, with the cab roof open. Slower and less convenient than a Johnson bar, but I imagine one isn't going to be doing a lot of switching with a Cab Forward! The cab is very tight (as with all 1/32 locos) so RC would be a real challenge. Some occasional maintenance tasks, like cleaning jets, will be more difficult than on other locos, since the cab body is completely enclosed (unlike most cab-rearward locos) and doesn't appear to be readily removable. All four cylinders have drain cocks, although when Cliff started the loco without opening them, a major water shower erupted from the twin stacks. The loco appears to be lighter on the front (firebox end) driver set than on the rear, based on observed starting slip. The firebox-end driver set is rigidly attached to the loco, per prototype, not pivoted as with some model articulateds. Water pump (and butane tank) in the tender, no axle pump. Cliff didn't think that the production versions would have axle pumps either. Cliff said that he was going to ship the prototype to Dave Hottman in the next week or so, who will be running it at Diamondhead. After seeing it run, I'll be ordering one for myself! Cliff said delivery was Winter 2007, but of course, these estimates by Accucraft haven't been very good on past releases. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://postfix.45mm.com/pipermail/sslivesteam/attachments/20061122/59455eb1/attachment.html _______________________________________________ SSLiveSteam mailing list Send messages: [email protected] Cancel subscription: http://postfix.45mm.com/mailman/listinfo/sslivesteam Rules: http://www.45mm.com/sslivesteam_guide.html
