AZL BN GP38-2s now available

AZL's BN GP38-2s are now available! The BNs, like the SPs, are being sold to support the family of Don Bouchard. All four BN road numbers are available. We also now have all four road numbers of the SPs in stock.

You can read more on Don and these locomotives at:

www.americanzline.com/azl-news/don-bouchard-gp38-2/

If you have previously ordered BNs, Ztrack has shipped all back orders this week. They will be arriving in your mailboxes shortly.

If you would like to order one of these great locomotives, please visit:

www.ztrack.com/offers/bouchard/index.html

Rob Kluz

Mine (#2290) arrived today. I have only had it out of the box for about 20 minutes (it had to wait in the mailbox until I could get home from work!), but this loco is quite /nice/, well detailed, and smooth running.

Seeing as these were my first z locos ever (x2), is it normal for them to have to... I don't know lets call it, break in for a while? Ran real poorly out of the box. Once I got them to make it around no problem they seemed to be fine. Took several hours of a small loop driving to get going conistantly, no problems since though. They look and run great now!

jedforceone wrote: ... I don't know lets call it, break in for a while? Ran real poorly out of the box.

Yes, this is a very common "problem" (if one wishes to call it that) with not only AZL locos but MTL locos as well. I have one MTL GP9 that I've run for hours round and round and round and its still "tight". I believe AZL had an inherent problem with one of their older locos too, but maybe Rob can be of more help there?

Joe

Break-in periods are a must for Z locos. My Marklin locos also all required a break-in period. What I find is that this break-in running helps the gears to mess, removes any burs from the manufacturing process, and evens out the lubrication. I typically run a locomotive 20 minutes in each direction to give it a good break-in.

I test run all of the GP38s before they leave here. It is only a few laps in each direction, but the speed increase is noticeable from when I first put them on the track. I think you will find that over time, your locos will run even smoother as they wear in.

Joe, you are referring to the first run of the SD70s. There was a collet that put pressure on the motor shaft. These beasts ran very slow due to the pressure on the shaft. I frankly did not mind this and still have 3x NS SD70s from the first run that I run on the clubs modules. They run very smooth at a slow pace. AZL did fix the problem with the subsequent releases of the SD70s.

Rob

Rob, I think we should have a standard on whats is the minimum speed that a engine should run. Lets say, maybe 5 second around a 195mm MTL oval at notch 5 on a MTL powerpack. It would really help newbies know if they have a unusually slow loco.

I love the SD70's, but some of those early SD's are a pain. I watch the grass growing faster then the engine went around the oval.

John the problem with setting such a variable is that there are too many factors that can affect a locomotives speed and performance. In 2010, I published an article in Ztrack entitled 'Don't blame the locomotive'. In the article, I highlighted numerous factors that affect locos performance. It is too easy to claim a bad loco when track work, and conditions have such a major impact on how locomotives run. Also, with the choices of all the new transformers available, you can't just select one as the standard.

I have to laugh on the speed issue. I remember the early days of Z when there were so many complaints about how fast Marklin Z ran. There was such a push to get trains running at prototypical speeds. Now we are worried about locos running too slow. But no argument on the first run of SD70s from me. Some of those are sloths... but in a cute and lovable way. Again, I love my NS trio. The speed is just fine for me but it is too slow for others.

It would be a good poll to see what speed folks like to run their trains, slow range, medium range or fast.

Rob

Yes, but what transformer was Amtrak using? HAve they cleaned their rails lately?

Rob

ztrack wrote: Some of those are sloths... but in a cute and lovable way.

Let’s not talk Z locomotives, but instead talk small electric motors. All motors are designed to operate with a “load”. The load is the resistance the motor has from whatever job it is doing. The more the load, the harder the motor has to work. Too much of a load and the motor will burn out.

So if the resistance a Z scale locomotive is up against, is greater than what the motor is rated for, it is NOT a good thing.

Rob, as a comparison, I wonder how many boxcars a well running SD70 would need to pull to make it run as slow, as a slow (ie. poor) running SD70?

Joe

Rob, I have to say none of the above. I want to be able to choose the speed I want to run.

While I do not have any AZL locos yet (waiting for the CSX GP38) I can attest to theb running quality of the GP38.I borrowed Thoma's SP unit at NTS and it pulled 20 cars around my layout very well.

As for breaking them in ,being as I am a multi-scaler I can tell you right up front that a break in period is benificial to any scale loco.The break in period allows every moving component that must mesh with outhers do just that.

If you have locos that you do not run very often Im strongly reccomend you give them some track time by themselves beforebyou hookmthem up to a string of cars.You won't be sorry.