New American Crane release

[Rico]

Has anyone seen the new Walthers American Crane running, in person or in videos?
I'm thinking of getting one, was planning to put a spud truck into a gondola to drag around my unpowered one but this may be so much better/easier/cheaper/better?
Thanx!

 

[Outback]

I'm waiting for one to materialise from Ontario as I had ordered one back in January. They were supposed to be in by the end of Feb and nothing has happened yet. There has been no news on these that I have heard yet.

 

[diburning]

Are they releasing them as RTR this time? Trying to rig the string into the crane is a pain and to this day, I still haven't figured out how to do it!

(Athearn's cranes are ready to go out of the box)

 

[Outback]

Yes it is supposed to be RTR, no rigging required.

 

[diburning]

Now if only they came out with the Norfolk Southern one.... (insert smiley banging his head into a wall here)

 

[ianacole]

Here you go...

Now if only they came out with the Norfolk Southern one....

 

[Rico]

Yeah they are indeed RTR and supposed to have an upgraded drive system that is DCC ready.
Well I ordered one last night so we'll see how it goes.

 

[Cjcrescent]

...

(Athearn's cranes are ready to go out of the box)

Didn't use to be. They were very fun to build!

 

[diburning]

Yeah they are indeed RTR and supposed to have an upgraded drive system that is DCC ready.
Well I ordered one last night so we'll see how it goes.

The old cranes were DCC ready as well. I remember taking one apart. The old drive was a bit flaky though (a tiny can motor driving a single gear that meshes with a crown gear that is mounted on an axle that turns other gears that turn two worm gears that turn the gears on the axles. Those brass wheels also corroded to the point where it's nearly impossible to get power pickup.

 

[ICG/SOU]

We've got 4 in the shop. (two ATSF, two BN). They are very nice and run well in DC (we've just tested one). I haven't pried one open yet to see what kind of decoder or anything is in there.

They look very nice, and no assembly required (well, don't know about grabs, but no stringing the boom). As far as I know they don't pivot or lift or anything like that.

At diburning: I think they're doing an NW version at some point. Over Christmas break I came across a work train around Poplarville, MS with a NW marked crane. I guess it's not a priority to renumber the MOW stuff.

 

[diburning]

I have an NS one with NW reporting marks. I haven't strung the boom yet since I couldn't figure out how (the instructions aren't very clear)

I had to install the pilots and the steps, no grabs