Roundhouse 'Little John'

railwayman198

railwayman198

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Through negligence on my part (a derailment when leaving the loco running unattended) I managed to strip the substantial brass driving gear on my Criccieth Castle. I have sent it off to Chuffed 2 Bits for repair. It`s absence made me realise how much I missed having a sturdy battery powered loco. Something no-nonsense that could be run without any faffing about.

Having been impressed by the build quality of Criccieth Castle I opted for Roundhouse again, a `Little John`. Why the large scale community needed yet another identikit small industrial diesel I don`t know but hopefully it will serve the purpose so I went for it.

GRS have them in stock so I ordered one on Saturday and it arrived today (at a favourable price and with free postage - well done GRS!)

First impressions are that it is solidly made, very small and no frills. Pulling power seems ok but I can`t test it properly until I clean mounds of chicken poo off the track. I doubt it is as powerful as Criccieth Castle though, as it is smaller and lighter. The R/C Tx is by a German company Absima and, unusually for a German product, looks and feels cheap. It seems to work ok though.

The attached pix should give an idea of size against an LGB kof and my soul train wagon which is standard G scale boxcar dimensions.

You will notice how narrow `Little John` is (which is fine...cute in fact), also how plain and unadorned it is `out of the box` - very toy-like compared to the LGB lok  ;) Once I have made sure it is working well I will no doubt start adding some detail to it.

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Very pleased with my Little John!
As you say, very small and basic, but with haulage power beyond his size.
Probably a little too fast, and hard to control at walking pace.
I use a Spektrum DX4e RC.

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Here`s a clip of my Taliesin, back from repair.
Forward to 4mins, and Little John hauls gasless Taliesin back to shed.

http://youtu.be/Y5-pZ06arLg

On another occasion, hauling a very load of freight uphill, 1 in 30, Little John stalled and lost his nylon drive worm.
It seems to have unwound itself along the motor shaft.
Easily refitted (?too easily?).
 
Nice little video.If a little fast! :D
Enjoyed that
 
Applied some numbers and a little gentle weathering.

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A little bonnet badge would be nice but I reckon he`s good to go.
 
looks even better now - nice job
 
We looked at one of these at a show before Christmas and the wife was very impressed by the black version (sometimes you have to take advantage of such remarks eh chaps? ;) ), so I have contemplated getting one. The all metal construction is very impressive, but a price of £558 (currently at Trackshack) means it would have to be pretty spot-on for me personally to see it as value for money.
I'd certainly want better slow running (MUCH slower) and I'm quite surprised that it has nylon gears which can apparently strip under heavy load? I don't like to be negative, but I'm glad I've seen this post before buying one as I think I'd have been disappointed TBH.

edit - yours does look nice now though Philip. :)
 
Re reading that Mel, I think the worm slid off the shaft rather than stripped its teeth - even so, it shouldn't.
Kent Garden Railway used to do a Danny which looked similar to me. Metal construction too. And no where near the price.
 
stockers said:
Re reading that Mel, I think the worm slid off the shaft rather than stripped its teeth - even so, it shouldn't.
Kent Garden Railway used to do a Danny which looked similar to me. Metal construction too. And no where near the price.
Click to expand...

Yes mate, I came within an ace of buying a Danny from my late friend's collection, but then I found it didn't come with insulated wheels. Doesn't really matter on my railway, but could have made one heck of a mess if I'd taken it to someone's open day without thinking.
 
That would limit it a bit, wouldn't it.
 
I have a Danny which I bought second hand and looks like it had been modified by the previous owner. My Danny is pretty useless - low powered and makes a horrible whiney noise - so I hardly ever use it. First impressions are that Little John is much superior, but I should emphasise that my Danny is not as new so the comparison may not be accurate. (My Danny also has no R/C and no speed control, which would account for a good bit of the price difference if that is the normal spec)
 
railwayman198 said:
I have a Danny which I bought second hand and looks like it had been modified by the previous owner. My Danny is pretty useless - low powered and makes a horrible whiney noise - so I hardly ever use it. First impressions are that Little John is much superior, but I should emphasise that my Danny is not as new so the comparison may not be accurate. (My Danny also has no R/C and no speed control, which would account for a good bit of the price difference if that is the normal spec)
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Good point Philip, is the Little John available without RC so that you can fit your own system of choice?
 
I've got a 5" loco that looks very similar a Maxitrak Planet


http://www.maxitrak.com/getloco.php?loconum=63
 
yb281 said:
Good point Philip, is the Little John available without RC so that you can fit your own system of choice?
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I don't think so Mel. Little John is not cheap but most of the alternatives are similar price. Accucraft Baguley with battery with R/C £500, Brandbright Boxer with battery (manual control) £495. I did quite fancy the P-Line Darjeeling jobbie but there seems to be some doubt if they are still in business, so I stuck with what I know. As a workhorse it's probably hard to beat a Criccieth Castle but they are significantly more expensive (and I already have one, and it's an ugly so-and-so IMHO)
 
sparky230 said:
I've got a 5" loco that looks very similar a Maxitrak Planet


http://www.maxitrak.com/getloco.php?loconum=63
Click to expand...

I actually prefer the styling of the Planet. The large square windows make it a good likeness of the locos that ran on the sugar cane lines in St Kitts and Antigua
 
I hadn't come across Maxitrak before... now I wish I hadn't!

Hmmm... would I raise enough $ if I sell my soul? Or SWMBO? (Complete, hardly used, good cook, not certain if there is a soul in the inventory...)?

Beaut models, but way out of my price range.... :'( :'( :'(
 
railwayman198 said:
I don't think so Mel. Little John is not cheap but most of the alternatives are similar price. Accucraft Baguley with battery with R/C £500, Brandbright Boxer with battery (manual control) £495. I did quite fancy the P-Line Darjeeling jobbie but there seems to be some doubt if they are still in business, so I stuck with what I know. As a workhorse it's probably hard to beat a Criccieth Castle but they are significantly more expensive (and I already have one, and it's an ugly so-and-so IMHO)
Click to expand...

It just seems a little odd to me that Roundhouse don't give people the option of fitting whichever RC system they prefer. Maybe they would if asked, they seem to be pretty reasonable on such things?
 
Mel,

Little John is only available with RC
When I was waiting for delivery, I had some dealings with Roundhouse via Track-Shack.
The particular RC set supplied is the racing car type Tx with the wheel controller.
I tried to get them to supply a conventional two stick type, but they were insistent that I have the wheel version and would get to like it.
I sold it on via a popular auction site, and fitted a Spectrum DX4e.
This may be the reason for poor control a very low speed.

I know there is a strong following for the Cliff Barker and similar push-button types.
I tried this type on a previous loco, and didn't like it.

I tend to share TX's with one steam and one or two battery locos.
 
I`ve got Criccieth Castle back from repair so here are a couple of photos of Little John with my modified Danny and Criccieth Castle to give some idea of how they compare in size.

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That Danny, with your add ons looks really good. Well they all do actually. :D
 
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