Quick question, I have bought a secondhand Roco loco 33201. I understand these run on 009 gauge track. Does anyone have an opinion og this loco type please?
Hi Ken.
Google tells us that Roco 33201 is an HOe 0-6-0T of the type that has been available for many years (over 30) in various forms and with at least 3 types of chassis.
However to answer your question. if any loco or item of rolling stock is "HOe", then it is in HO scale (1:87 or 3½mm/Foot) and runs on 9mm gauge track. 009 is 00 scale (1:76.2 or 4mm/Foot) and also runs on 9mm gauge track. So yes, this loco will run on 009 track and is generally compatible in size and proportion to most 009 stock so they can all run together.
Brian Meldon ran a series in 009 News a few years ago covering Eggerbahn and Roco locos. I don't have the issue number that covered the Roco 0-6-0T but I think you will find it in one of the back issues which can be accessed through the members section of the Society website.
Opinions vary about the loco with regards to the chassis, so you will need to identify which chassis you have to determine whether it has a high or low opinion amongst fellow NG modellers! In my opinion, the earliest chassis is nothing to get too excited about, whilst the mid-life one, which has basic connecting rods is fine - or at least the 3 chassis I have in my own stockbox are fine, whilst the more recent one which comes with full valve gear is OK but works much better if weight is added to the loco as it is very light in as-new factory condition.
Have a look at photos of 009 layouts and you are almost certain to see variations of your loco in probably over 50% of layouts mixing happily with 009 locos made from kits.
Hope this helps clarify things for you.
Mick
Is the name an indication of its vintage? Did they rename the same basic model when they brought out a new version or run or are the named versions all contemporaries? ... Lina, Anna, Susi...?
I think something similar was the case with the diesel or maybe earlier ones were un-named, i.e. Patrik etc.
The earlier examples were not named and as far as I am aware they were all black with red wheels. There's plenty around 2nd hand in original condition that have been painted different colours however!
The ones with names are all relatively modern, ie within the last 20 years or so. I think that those with different names are/were produced in different colours.
EDIT : Some sort of glitch here! I edited this text yesterday which has not appeared here, but I got a duplication of the original text posted as a new posting below. Now deleted!
The edit corrected the paragraph above to: "I thought that those with different names are/were producted in different colours, but have now seen photos of green liveried locos named Anna and Susi.
I'm sure sooner or later someone who knows a lot more about these little locos than I do will come along and provided a more detailed update than I can.
Mick
Deleted - duplicate posting of above
This is the loco which Ken bought:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51556723081_bb35ace6f6_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2mxTFyD)001346 (https://flic.kr/p/2mxTFyD) (https://www.flickr.com/photos/92012779@N06/)
(you can see where he bought it!)
Hopefully this will help answer his questions.
There is no prototype for this model, it is a freelance design. However, probably more by chance than design it is a bit like an O&K that was sold to China in the early 1900's. As mentioned by others it is 3.5mm to the foot H0 scale not 4mm to the foot 00 scale.
This is the version with the spring drive chassis and the 5 pole motor.
You can tell it is a 5 pole version as the front wheels do not have the hole for the rods. The earlier version of the chassis with the three pole motor do have the hole in the front wheels for the rods. (But were never fitted with the rods!)
This chassis can not be used in the 009 kits and 3d prints designed for the newer version that is based on the N gauge BR80 chassis.
It only has four wheel pickup.
The chassis design dates to 1980. I have owned many of these over the years they run ok when new but because the drive gears are down one side of the chassis they do ware out the axle slots quite quickly with use. The way to check this ware is to turn the rear wheels by hand and watch to see how much out of parralell the front axle turns when the slack is taken up in the gears.
The effect of the ware is that one of the outer driving wheels lifts off the track when power is applied so you are then just reliying on one wheel for pickup. With exsessive ware the angle of the front axle to the track is such that the loco will stall or even de-rail in points when running in one direction through the curve.
It is posiable, but not easy to add aditional pickups to the center wheel to prelong the usefull life of the cassis, but this will not stop the ware.
We used to recon on between 4 and 5 one day exhibitions with the locos running about half the time before the ware started to cause problems.
The later BR-80 based chassis that have rod drive and additional valve gear are far better. On the other hand the chassis used in this loco before 1980 are much worse!!
I do still have three of these locos with this chassis, but they only get occasional use and will eventualy be sold.
This is what the chassis look like, the cast metal weights are part of the chassis block and can not be removed:
At least he got all the chimneys! :)
Thank you very much for your replies, I think I understand a little more now.