Yup, that certainly looks like the right part. I forgot all about that site and I even have it bookmarked. Doug
The part I sold recently was an old Santa Fe dummy B unit frame. Didn't have the truck with the plow on it that you needed. That was all I had in those parts. It came back to me as to why I had that frame. Back in the late 80's when I was doing a lot of custom painting, brake fluid was my paint stripper of choice. I found out the hard way that Rapido plastic and brake fluid don't play well together. But, that's another story. Bob
I wasn't sure where to post this, but I was looking through some old papers and found this documentation for the old Atlas F9 from around the the mid-1970s. These weren't good runners, but perhaps these pages might help someone somewhere.
My experience with the Atlas F9 and GP30 was that they ran well new but the commutator slots soon filled with brush material and this caused fire rings and intermittant operation until the commutator was cleaned. It wasn't too long before that process had to be repeated and it is a pain getting the motor out to work on. Obviously, the brushes were too soft. 40+ years later and mine now run great and the commutators stay clean. I can only surmise that the brushes have hardened a bit with evaporation of some binder agent or the like over those years. Doug
Interesting. My F-9 was an awful dog. I have the Atlas GP-9 also made by Roco in that era, and it runs pretty well. https://www.trovestar.com/generic/zoom.php?id=108270
I was aware of the very old (before the Atlas/Kato with its inaccurate wheel base) Atlas GP-9, but I never knew that Atlas had an F-9. I was aware of the Arnold and the Bachpersonn, but not the Atlas. The B-mann was total HOON-kay. I fried something like three of them. The Arnold was not bad. The slow speed was pretty good, especially when you consider the era. There was (and still is), something in mine that causes intermittent shorts. I have tried numerous times to figure out what it is, but have done so in vain. What I do if I need parts for older items is put it on a shopping list and look in show junk piles for basket cases. If I find one, and, the price is right, I buy it. Sadly, far too often, the vendor wants a price that is five times what the thing is worth, even if it were still in the box and test run only. I will try to talk, but, usually they will not come down to an acceptable price, so it stays on the table and he lugs the same thing (and in fact, the stuff on the tables of vendors like that is, and has been, the same old stuff that they keep lugging from show to show and wonder why they never sell it) to more shows never to sell it. I have had some success finding basket cases to cannibalise on the swap meet page here and on other forums, as well as on several ya-HOO! groups. I simply post an ad for "wanted to trade for basket case ________________________________.". Somebody usually has one with which he will part. The prices are far better on the forums than anywhere else. In fact, some times a poster will ask what part you need and simply send it to you. I have paid a few of those forward, myself.
The Atlas/RoCo GP9 chassis is the same as the GP30. All three are basically the same, the F9 just having a chassis to fit the body. I also want to add that, fairly early on, when my Burlington GP30 developed the problem I mentioned above, In the process of fixing it, I ran it without the body on it and the rear truck retaining pin worked its way out, the truck displaced, the worm gear "unmeshed" from the worm, and some teeth were broken off. I repaired it by inserting some resistor leads, cut off, in place of the teeth and it ran fine for many years. However, years later when I ran it again (in the 2000's), those leads fell out and it was disabled again. Todd Treaster kindly supplied me with some NOS gears he had saved from when he worked as a repairman at a hobby shop. It now runs like new. Thanks Todd and I hope you're doing well. BTW, Todd has one of the most amazing N scale layouts in existence. And one of the most amazing N/OOO scale collections in existence. Doug
Well put brokemoto. My only success in many years has been to find an affordable basket case Arnold Rapido C&NW Baldwin switcher from the late '60s that had the exact parts I needed to rebuild mine, my first N Scale locomotive. The last show I attended found boxes of Kato Unitrack at factory list pricing and Minitrix U-28s at $50 Ea. Interestingly, I see a LOT of men in their 70s and 80s attempting to sell their Lionel and American Flyer at shows. While I'm not in the market for it, I enjoy looking and learning, and find that the Sellers are often kind and at ease in conversation. It truly saddens me to see them selling off collections that have brought them decades of contentment.
I have seen fifty and sixty dollar price tags on that Baldwin to which you refer. Spookshow gives them a grade of "D", and he is being generous. I suppose that the only reason that he might not flunk it is because an mint-in-box might be worth something to a collector. If I had any interest in that particular locomotive, I would not pay more than ten dollars for one. As it is, the Atlas VO-1000 has long since superseded it. In fact, the Atlas Baldwin is the best N scale diseasel switcher that I own (the others are the Kato NW-2, the LL SWs, the B-mann GEs, a TOMYTEC JNR prototype and a C-C MP-15; the last two were "throw ins" on trades where the other items that I got were what I really wanted. I must admit that the C-C model is not a bad runner, even if it is a bit clunky on the shell). I have seen the U-boat to which you refer with price tags on them that you mention---USED. When you consider that I have seen Kato power at these same shows for the same fifty dollars new (or sixty) or used in excellent condition for thirty or forty, I have to wonder why anyone would pay fifty dollars for a 1970s locomotive manufactured with the construction methods of the era. Someone would simply have to have a U-28 to want to pay those prices for it. The U-boats are far out of my era, but I did look u p Spookshow on it. He grades the TRIX a "B". I can not argue the point, as I do not have one. In addition, I read his review of the Arnold and he rates it an "A". I looked up prices on the website of a well known mid-Atlantic train store that does a large business in both brick and mortar and cyberland. Said site shows a list of just under one hundred bananas and their selling price as about seventy five. If I can get an "A" grade locomotive of the same prototype for another twenty five dollars, I will pay the twenty five dollars. I have seen hundred fifty dollar price tags on LL metal frame FA A-B sets and ninety dollar price tags on the plastic frame A-B FA-2. Both of those are above the original list. The B was a dummy on the plastic frame. As have you, I have seen the same full list on the boxes of Kato track that was not in the original container. If I am going to pay full list, I am going to buy it new-in-container, so, if there is a problem, if the vendor will not make it good, Kato will. In addition, I do not have to pay full list for Kato track, as I have several sources for it at good prices. Still, I have to wonder what makes these vendors think that someone is going to pay full list for anything at a show (with the exception of brass or an extremely hard to find piece), especially if it is not new-in-box. The hobbyists who are selling collections or thinning are much more reasonable. You can deal with them. I suspect that they have a mindset similar to mine when I have worked the occasional show to thin my herd. I have had someone walk up to my table, pick up a locomotive with a thirty dollar price tag on it and wave Andrew in my nose. I can turn up said nose at it and take the aforementioned locomotive home to let it sit in a box until the next time, or I can take the twenty and it will go to someone who has a use for it. I do not run it, thus it is doing nothing for me in its box in a larger box. I can do something with the twenty. I take it and bid the purchaser have a nice day. I go to the show to sell items, not to lug them there, unpack them, pack up same and lug them home. I can find places where I can do that for no cost. Why should I pay for a table somewhere to do that? Most buyers understand that they must be reasonable. If the guy had offered me five or ten, yes, I would have turned up my nose. Twenty? Allright, go. I suspect that this is why I do better on the various forums or the ya-HOO! groups. Yes, it is sad to see someone who must sell what rendered unto him so much enjoyment because he must make ends meet or he is ill and can not do it any more. Against the day that the latter comes, I did build a nineteenth century pike on a piece of two-by-four plywood. It is easily portable and lacks any complex wiring. When I can no longer operate my larger pike, I will have that still. In addition, GF likes the nineteenth century trains.
