here are some pics for you from another thread of mine:





You have to add also the restaurant coach under 45470





The coaches are in 1:87 and thus 303mm long. For my personal taste, I prefer the shorter ones but when I bought them I did not know about the slighly shorter HAG version (however expensive and hard to find). Coaches are nicely made and fine detail.

You will not be able to run these coaches nicely on any R1 or R2 curves. Also, because of their low profile, they will get "hung" on the R2 turnouts (24611 / 24612 / 24624), specifically on the turn-out light.

I am considering selling them or keeping them for display unless I can take care of the above issue. Also, a semi-prototypical train with loco and 6 coaches (1x45461, 1x45460, 1x45470, 2x45462, 1x45464 is how I was planning to run mine) will make the train 2m long. Consider when planning stations since it will look silly on a short station.

Hi Pete,
I agree with Mario. Unless you are only going to use the wide radius turnouts and R3 or better cutves I wouldn't go with the Roco Bi-Level coaches. I have been able to get a hold of 5 of the HAG versions and they work well but not perfectly on R2 turnouts. They pull okay but pushing through an s-curve such as a cross-over between two lines is problematic.

I have quite a few Roco freight cars and am happy with them. SOme require attachment of fine details that would break off in shipping. I have nevber bothered to switch the wheelsets.

Roger

Mario makes a few good points here.

The Roco IC2000 coaches cannot be used on R1 and R2 is likely problematic.
I have been running my two consists on Maerklin C4 and C5 and K4 and K5 without a problem, both in push and in pull operation.

If you are worried about the consist being too long, you can remove the Restaurant or Bistro coach from the consist. Shortened trains with 5 coaches (1 AD, 1A, 2B and a Bt) were being run from Zuerich Airport to Luzern and on other routes. A full list of actual and recent consists can be found at www.reisezuege.ch (see my post under Prototypes).

As far as the train looking silly in a short station. The Swiss rail network is replete with smaller stations where the IC2000 and other trains roll through without stopping, so, having a smaller station than where a mainline Intercity would not stop should not be a problem.

I originally went with the Hag coaches. I was disappointed with the first batch, which had problems with windows popping out, blue LEDs and a poor design for the coupling shaft mechanism. The window and LED issues have since been resolved.

I love my IC2000 Coaches and am sure that you will as well.

Roco also makes very nice models of the EC, EWIV and EWII coaches in 1/87. Models that are not current can still be found in many Swiss and European shops and on eBay. You can also find the classic EWI coaches from Hag, Lima and Liliput. These mix very well with the Roco EWII and Maerklin Lightsteel coaches.

Other companies like ACME and LS Models have also announced or released Swiss models, like the very nice SBB-FS EN "Luna" Set or the announced UIC coaches (LSM).

If you want some inspiration on what Roco and other 1/87 coaches look like on a layout, check out this website:

http://modellbahnen.cado...viewcategory&catid=4

Regards

Mike C

I have pretty much decided that any layout that I eventually build will contain two parallel mainline tracks, likely with R4 and R5 on the outside of the layout. I will then have a local or regional line using R3 and maybe R2 and then maybe also a HOm narrow gauge line on the inside of the layout.

The longer trains (TGV, ICE, ICN, IC2000, EWIV Pendel, and longer trains) will operate on the mainline tracks. The shorter regional, commuter and local trains will run on the inside tracks.)

This would not be anything out of the ordinary as this type of operation can be seen throughout Switzerland and in Europe.

I would also love to be able to include a module that would represent a Kopfbahnhof which would extend from one side of the layout to allow for prototypical station operation (and train storage).

Regards

Mike C

Current trends of MRR in demanding greater accuracy had led me to believe that in the future R1 will not provide me with a safe enough margin of error.

Though I still prefer 1/93.5 scale coaches (and don't really mind 1/100 even), the future layout that I planned to built would have to have good enough margin to run even the 1/87 scale coaches. So for one, minimum radius curve allowed would be R2; majority should be R3 and up.

Thanks Evil R and Mike C for sharing your layout concepts..

Mike,

did you change wheels or do any modification to the cars? My problems were when pushing through R2 switches. Unfortunately, I will still have a few in my lay-out design.

Well the first 3 of my Roco SBB Bi-Level Coaches have arrived and there's 3 to come. I've gone for a full 6 coach consist (1 AD, 1A, 1WRB, 2B and a Bt) but as these items were no longer in production I had to source supply from 4 different vendors (British, American & Belgium) - ain't the Internet a wonderful resource

I've unpacked and have the 3 coaches sitting in front of me - I must admit they do look quite impressive even if they are Roco

As indicated my eventual layout is planned around a 4m x 7m area which seems to be a reasonable space. As stated I fully intend to utilise wide radius curves and switches but now I'll just have to include a good sized station / platform area as well. Initial thoughts are a Kibri Bonn station (open, airy, nostalgic and sort of Swiss looking ) with an extended platform.

Based on Mike C's comments I've recently received my TEE L'Oiseau Bleu sets (41874 & 41875) so I suppose I'm becoming somewhat committed to running more "true length" train sets

You start at the buffers without braking them and while you get hold of both buffers you slightly push the walls outwards and pushing the buffers upwards, it should come loose.

When putting it back together make sure the stairway is properly put into its place.

John

Mario,

Is the engine you are using for the train prototypical or does SBB use any engine?

Robert

Mike,

Thanks for that link. It is just wonderful and the pictures of the consists shows me several uses for the 460 loco.

Robert

Hag made a nice loco that could be coupled with the consist:



Mike is right, any 460 would do. I will use my "red" ones mostly.