# Rivarossi nyc 4-6-4 streamlined hudson rivarossi



## Cab1 (Jul 26, 2009)

I just bought a RIVAROSSI NYC 4-6-4 STREAMLINED HUDSON for a good price. I don't know too much about RIVAROSSI locos. Some people like them, some people say they're track fussy. I guess I'm gonna find out. I heard another manufacture (BLI ?) has a DCC / sound version of the same model. Does anyone know who it is? How does it compare to the RIVAROSSI? I'm going to convert mine to DCC and I'm wondering if I can use the same parts / decoder / sound from the other manufacture? I know BLI has a dynamite sound setup. Oh, by the way, what rolling stock would this engine pull? I know it's a passenger train, so it would pull NYC passenger coaches - but which ones?


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## tyconator (May 5, 2011)

Rivarossi is a great maker when it comes to Steamers. I have some in N and HO. Sure, they can't run on today's code 70 and 83,but, they are some great runners. Not sure of there DCC compatibility. I imagine she'll pull great!They can't run on anything but Code 100 depending on the age. If its the newer one that came in a Red Box, It'll be easy adding DCC and can run on code 83 track.Coaches usually consisted of heavy and streamlined coaches depending on the era being modeled.


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## trainguru (Jun 28, 2011)

Rivarossi's are nice, but mechenicaly, they are love or hate! I still have to fix my 0-8-0, and my 2-8-2!


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## gc53dfgc (Apr 13, 2010)

The engine could get away with pulling both streamlined and the non. Now BLI is at the very top of HO scale engines that are not made of brass and for the price are better in all field then MTH.


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## Cab1 (Jul 26, 2009)

Ok, I converted my RIVAROSSI NYC 4-6-4 STREAMLINED HUDSON to DCC. On the surface it was pretty straightforward. You have to take the whole thing apart, though. There's plenty of room in the boiler and tender. I went with a Digitrax SDH164D decoder in the tender. It's five wires either way, so it doesn't really matter where you put it; but if I were to do it again I'd put the decoder in the boiler so there would be less tension on the wires to the motor. Isolating the motor is easy. Just cut the tab that grounds the motor housing to the frame. Pickups are on the fireman's side of the tender and the drive wheels on the engineer's side of the boiler. There's also a pickup on the trailing wheels under the boiler cab, but I couldn't get it to work. The trailing wheel truck is hollow riveted to the frame, with one wire going to the motor and another to the frame. Remember this was a DC loco. Everything is grounded to the frame. I must have got some solder splashed between rivet and the frame. I also swapped out the bulb for LEDs. There was no backup light, so I poked a hole in the tender - where the outline of one is suppose to be - and wired up a LED with a small piece of clear plastic for a lens. Looks great. The sound was poor, so I added another 32hom speaker in parallel - bringing the impedance down to 16hom. I then wrapped them with cardboard from a toilet paper roll for an enclosure and glued them down in the tender. It works great. The sound is so loud I had to bring down the volume quite a bit. This thing pulls good and everything works, but it is fussy about the track. Only Code 100 will do. I don't like the pickup arrangement either. I think it needs more of them. Anyway, if I had to do it again I would have spent the $300 and bought the BLI HUDSON instead. It's a better engine.


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