Monday, December 3, 2012

Piko in December

The fifth battery powered locomotive to join the Ponderosa Lines is one of the newer Piko moguls, which is starting to grow on me. I suppose I'm leading here to a short review, followed by some photos. This Sunday (yesterday) the decent weather continued in Flagstaff, allowing for an outdoor session with a short freight. Similar to the review in Garden Railways Magazine, this loco is rather noisy, and the motor actually chirps like some of my older HO-scale locos did in the past (it may be lessening as it breaks in). But it runs smoothly back and forward, unless heading down hill with a full load, when it tends to jump and hesitate a bit (also in the written review, if I recall). The tender's wheels are a disappointment, as they are plastic, but that's probably partly why the German Piko company can sell its products at less cost than LGB. It runs fine, metal wheels or not. With all the details applied - easily assembled - it's a cute engine, and it looks fine with larger or smaller cars. Its main strength is, well, its strength. It's a heavy little engine, and it pulls five freight cars easily around the challenging grades of the Ponderosa Lines. If we don't get any snow this year, looks like this scrunched-up Mogul is going to see more light of day in coming months!




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