From back then there were FP45s from both Lima in Italy and Mehano of Yugoslavia. My dad had a Lima that I repainted for him from PRR to ATSF.
I have a bunch of Lima locos. If you take them apart, clean everything with alcohol, and re-lube them they aren't too bad. Not good by todays standards but definitely useable. Here's my Lima E645 doing a lap on the layout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSge-3XWYHE And my Jouef steam engine doing a lap last fall: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epnb_rrJPOE I have a few others but those are my favorites.
The first HO Scale locomotive I ever had was a Life-Like Union Pacific geep (low nose).... went into garbage where it belonged years ago. However, the oldest locomotives I own are 5 Athearn GP7's that I am currently rebuilding into "roundhouse queens". All were formerly rubber band drives, so they are likely 45-50 years old.
Atlas 70's era GP40 with Proto 2000 motor. 80's era Athearn GP35.It now has a Proto 2000 motor and Proto 1000 AAR trucks. 70's era Atlas FP7 with Athearn motor and shafts. Took a couple of shoe horns to do that. 80's era Atlas FP7 That's only a few.
Traingeekboy.. That's a hoot !!!! I may have to buy a HO RR and set up in the snow this winter ... neat idea and they look like they running good to boot!!! now where's my credit card ......
A nearly 40 year old Model Power Baldwin shark (from my first train set, Christmas 1973) - it was stored for about 30 years and ran like new right away when I took it out a few years ago. I have another A-B set I bought for $25 at a train show a couple of years ago - also good runners. And a Lima 0-4-0 that is a year younger, it also still runs, although it took some lubing and cleaning to get it to work right. What's really fun about the 0-4-0 is running it flat out - it goes at something like 150 scale mph...:teeth:
Those old Athearn locos with the Hi-F rubber band drives are scoffed at today, but the fact is, when double headed they pulled pretty good and were relatively quiet, although their top speed was off the charts. I have a friend who had a lashup of four Hi-F F-units in Balck Widow paint that many years ago held the record for pulling the longest train at his club in Texas. Multi-heading them also helped lessen their surge effect at lower speeds, caused by the elasticity of the rubber drive belts. They were a very innovative, low-cost design that outperformed most of the competition of their day. Bill in FtL
Walthers' New Haven HH660 early diesel loco available circa the 1940's to the 50's. These were sold as a set of essentially 6, or so, pot metal flat castings (plus a set of truck sideframes, not seen here) that one needed to join together by whatever means was available to the hobbyist at the time (solder, Walthers' Goo, you name it!). The drive train was sold separately. This one is powered and does run. Very few examples are found today in any reasonable/usable condition. This is the best one I've ever come across. Compare it to the recent HH660 model by Atlas and see what a difference 50+ years makes in models. NYW&B
This steam engine only says made in Yugoslavia.It didn't run good, so I hard wired the tender to the engine. Runs great now. Thanks Raymond for IDing that engine. Curtis
Thanks Jeff, I found the front headlight and painted the red wire black. This is one of my best runners now. All I have is a circle of 18 inch curve track from Bachmann on a table. I have a N scale layout but this lets me run some HO. Curtis
My old Athearn Geeps. No flywheels in them. They're awful runners so I'll be turning them into dummies.
They look great. Why not pull whatever passes for a drive out of them, and put a newer RTR drive in them?
An old Athern F7 that I repainted. The mechanism wore out long ago and has been rebuilt or replaced many times. The shell lives on pulling trains on the layout at the Rosenberg Railroad Museum.
The old Athearn GP7 shell will fit on the new Walthers Trainline GP9m drive with no modification needed. It clips right on.
"Why not pull whatever passes for a drive out of them, and put a newer RTR drive in them?" Terry I'm not much good at the technical stuff. I guess I might be able to manage it, but I've never done that sort of thing before. I wouldn't know where to start, but it's a good suggestion. "The old Athearn GP7 shell will fit on the new Walthers Trainline GP9m drive with no modification needed. It clips right on." Jeffrey I'm grateful to you for posting that. I do have a Walthers GP9m so I must give it a go. Mike