I have the opportunity to buy a set of LL Erie-builts. I don't know much about them. I've seen a few pictures, and they look different, which is a plus. I hardly ever see these for sale anymore. These are new-in-box never run. How much should they go for? Are they good runners? Will I be able to find a single A unit if I find I'd like to make an ABA consist. How hard are these to find nowadays? Thanks! BZ
Don't know if this helps, but googling Life-Like Erie Builts returns this: http://www.blwnscale.com/Life-Like Erie Builts.htm Doesn't answer the question of running, but shows general price range and packaging.
The Erie Builts are (IMHO) very good engines with good mechanisms. They pull like an ox. I don't know about DCC conversion because I run DC only. When converted to MTL couplers the distance between the engines is quite large, I had to squeeze the couplers behind the rear truck due to lack of space. I would recommend these engines.
Thanks. BLW was one of my first stops to see what is what. Any additional info on these---quality, pricing, etc.---is appreciated.
If they have the same mechanism as the LL PA's and E7/8's they should be very good pullers indeed. I have a set of the PA's and while they're not as smooth as the Kato's, they're close. I paid $45 for them used on eBay.
I should add that they are smooth runners, too, and have the same performance as the single LL PA I have. As far as I remember they have not been dumped by LL at bargain prices, which means that the supply was limited. If there were specials, I might get another set in PRR.
I saw a sets of these in Milwaukee Rd sell for close to $200 on ebay. Saw PRR sell for $130 recently. BLW was selling them for a little over $100, but they are long gone. Seems like they should sell for less, but I never see them for sale at those prices. Maybe they were just limited production and when guys want the body type, they gotta have it...
They were very limited productions, and went out in only a few weeks. Very similar to PAs and E8s but with different trucks. Same L-L architecture as all their recent diesels--same motor even. But, because they are long and heavy, perhaps the best pullers of all of them. And very nicely detailed shells. You will have to grind the frame to fit a decoder in the A unit; the decoder may fit without grinding in the B (where the A nose would be). You'll still have to completely disassemble it for hard wiring: while doing that I grind out a little space around the motor contacts, and some channels to run the wires up to the decoder. This whole series of locos (GP-20, FA-1&-2, FM C-Liner, and the others already mentioned) are all good runners and pullers. All use the same motor, which is isolated from the frame by a plastic cradle, so only the brushes need to be isolated. For a while they were rare even on eBay. I won an undecorated A-B set some time ago for about $85, but the price has risen. I haven't looked lately because I have my ABA; I traded the B. I wasn't able to stall the original AB set with any train length up a 2.7% grade: they pulled until the car couplers started to break at about 60 cars.
Appearance of each single unit is good. The details are good, the paint jobs are excellent. There is the problem of separation between units: they are too far apart. If you have curves that are broad enough, I would fashion drawbars to connect the units. If your curves are sharp, just do the MT conversion, 1015/1016, which will go in using the existing LL hardware. You can even use the pin in the nose of the A unit for the nose coupler. They are excellent runners and pullers. They will hold a steady ten SMPH. One unit easily pulled twenty-five loaded MT gondolas and an Bowser PRR caboose (the caboose was on the Bowser trucks, the MTs on the OE) up a one per-cent grade at ten SMPH. This was the most that I tried. As the locomotive showed no signs of slipping, I suspect that it will pull more. It turned in this excellent performance despite its having one ungeared axle, as did the prototype (A-1-A). Idler axels tend to be a detriment in N scale, but not in this case. LL sold them in an A-B set (for roads that had Bs) and a single A. I have seen the Northwesterns, KCSs and CMStP&Ps at shows around here, but the NYCs and PRRs are almost impossible to find around here. I would recommend them to anyone.
Pete, Excellent info, thanks! broke, Great info as well. You remember what those Milw Rd sets were going for? The PRRs do seem pricey when I see them. How about the UPs? I beleive they made a set and a single-A unit. How hard do you think the UP sets are to find/get? BZ
Let me reply: They are hard to find, even on eBay. I looked for at least two years before securing one set at a reasonable price. Finding an A unit alone might be more difficult. I think there are plenty of members here who would buy a B unit from you.
They are somewhat rare and it wasn't a priority for me when they were released. I had wanted an ABA set in U.P. and it took me about a year of ebay monitoring to finally find the AB set, then the single A that LL made. I think I paid $110 for the AB set and $40 for the single A in 2007. I think their performance and appearance is excellent and I'd encourage LL to release more.
I can not remember the prices on them now. When they appeared, I was interested in, and bought, the PRRs and NYCs, although I only managed to find the A-B set in PRR. As others have posted, many of these were off the shelves before they even showed up. There was one guy who had a PRR single A unit for some time. He had eighty dollars on it. I did not buy it, because by that time I had stopped operating them with any frequency. It was not because they were bad; marry, they were (and are) excellent. It is just that they were too large for my pike and looked silly pulling the short trains that a small pike can accomodate. So now I have the NYC A-B-A set and an A-B set of PRRs that I do not operate frequently. I do not know if the referenced vendor still has the PRR A unit. I have also seen the undecorateds out there. The Timonium, Maryland show is coming up in mid-April. If you want me to look, contact me off-list.
I was "one of those" persons which had become accustomed to LifeLikes 'former' over-production cycles; so, I didn't pre-order them. Much to my surprise... they vanished from just about every e-tailer site within a few weeks. Sure... they were available at FULL retail for a while... and some of the less desireable roads lingered for a while longer. I wanted the AT&SF ABA... and was hoping to score a set for under $100.00 in some 'factory blow-out' like the former FA-1' and FA-2' had been frequently sold. NO WAY... on these. I was 'lucky' to get one A unit from an e-tailer for a reasonably discounted price... but... it took about a year to find the A/B set... at $100.00 + shipping. The worst part was that I was 'warned', at the 2002 National Train Show in Ft Lauderdale, that LL was going to short run these. I brushed-off the warning... thinking that it was unlike LL to short run anything.
Here is a link to some recently completed eBay auctions. The Erie-Builts come up from time to time but at highly variable prices depending on roadname, condition and the saavy of the seller. The units shown in the link below went from about $24 to about $64 each! http://toys.search-completed.ebay.c...R40QQguestZ1QQguestZ1QQsabfmtsZ1QQsacatZ19119
NYCSawthose, thanks! The PRRs are from an overseas seller, so I don't know that effects the price, up or down, or maybe it doesn't make a difference.I must say, the more research I do on these locos, and the more prictures I see, the nicer they look. I like Alco PAs a lot, but now I think these look a little better...
Texnrails is show these in stock in Milwaukee, NYC and PRR. $81.50 for an AB set, both powered. No single A units though.
Hmmm, Shows them OOS when I just looked. And it shows $99.94 for the AB set. Now the C-Liners they have in PRR and NYC. They are at $81.50. Are those the ones you are talking about? Appreciate you looking...
Erie builts are my favorite cab diesels of all time but I didn't get any Milwaukees when they were released because I was in the middle of painting a pair of Father Nature shells fitted to LL PA mechs. I also thought that they might become available at discount later on...wrong. I did find a Milw A/B set at a shop in Lodi, CA in 2006 and suprisingly, another A unit at the show at Galesburg Railroad Days. These are beautiful models and run extremely well. Has anyone here installed decoders in them? (Pete?) I've never even had the shells off to see what it would take.
I just looked on BLW's website. The only LL Eries that he shows in stock are the Northwesterns, two A units, with different numbers, $54,95 apiece plus shipping. Considering for what these things have been going, you might want to grab them.
