Yesterday I scored a good deal at an estate sale. I'm going to put together a little 8 car run for our Neighbor's son. The tankers, ore car, reefer, and caboose are really nice, but the engine is a NIB Like New 0-6-0-T, which is, by all the info that I've seen, a piece of unreliable imported junk....err, equipment! I'd like Your advice on a modern, inexpensive, reliable engine so that this young lad won't grow bored as his father contunually tries to get it running, I'm new to trains, but I got a whole small set up with nice cars, track, transformer, lumber mill, Barn, Church, and other stuff all for $10, and I want Nolan to really enjoy his life as an engineer. Thanks! PS- I know that the Southern Pacific engine was never meant to run.
From what I can see, the cars are not compatible because of the couplers. That needs to be remedied before worrying about the locomotive. None of the current locomotives come with the Rapido couplers anymore.
As DCESharkman correctly indicates, you must resolve the question of coupler compatibility. It appears that at least one of those cars, the green tank car, has Microtrains couplers on it. I can not quite tell what is on the yellow box car or the red tank car. The red tank car originally had Rapidos, but someone may have done a conversion. You do not state how old the boy is. If he is ten or under, the funny thing is that you may want to look for an older locomotive that still has its Rapidos. There are a number of acceptably and even very nicely running locomotives out there from the early 2000s and the 1990s that were manufactured with Rapido couplers. Considering that he is a boy, and assuming that he is ten or under, the first thing at which I would look is one of these old Life-Like plastic frame issues: BL-2, FA-2 or F-7. They were very good, for their time, although now they have been superseded. They are of tough construction, tolerant of mediocre or less trackwork and will go around sharp curves (I am guessing that you are using nine-and-three-quarter curves). They are from the mid 1990s, but there are more than a few out there that are still new in their boxes. Check FeePay or some vendors, or, if there is a show in your area any time soon, check it. These things can be had for as little as twenty dollars Life-Like did issue an upgrade of the FA-2 to a split metal frame chassis and issued an FA-1, as well. They come in A-B sets which I have seen for as little as fifty dollars the powered pair. There are also Faribanks-Morse cab units out there from LL. Another thing to consider is the old Model Power FP-7. It has a metal shell and chassis. Model Power went out of business, but another firm bought it and is slowly re-introducing its old product line. The new manufacturer has not yet re-introduced the FP-7, but there are plenty of copies out there, still. There is a "train-set" version that comes in a clear plastic case and a "hobbyist quality" version that comes in a carboard box that holds a blue, plastic box. I have seen the "train-set" version for as little as thirty five dollars. Both versions are pretty good runners and acceptable pullers. The "train-set" version is wired backwards, but, for the boy's purposes that will not be that big a deal, for now, at least. If he does continue in the hobby, he may want to do something about it, later. The fix is not difficult. You could consider the old Bachmann SPECTRUM F-7s. They come in A-B pairs, both powered. I am not a fan of their slow speed control, but, other than that, and, for the boy's purposes, they should be fine. I have seen the powered pair for as little as forty-five dollars, but, usually, they are priced slightly higher. A word of caution on these. There is a PLUS version out there, that is older than the SPECTRUM. STAY AWAY FROM THE PLUS. The gears will crack, the mechanism will jam, the child will be unhappy. There is a newer, Standard Line version of these that come a single units, A or B. They have factory decoders, but, they also have knuckle couplers. Some of the older Atlas road-switcher configured diesels are out there, as well. Atlas made the switch to knuckle couplers some time in the late 1990s or early 200s, I forget which, now, but , before that, they did sell their power with Rapido couplers. Look for older issues of the GP-7, GP-9, RS-3 or others of that era. I have seen some of the older ones out there for fire sale prices of thirty dollars, although usually they command slightly higher prices. If steam is what you want, you might look for an old MDC 2-8-0 or 2-6-0. They came with Rapido couplers. They are excellent runners. While they are nineteenth century power, thus, out of the era for the rest of those freight cars, they are good quality power and have simple rods/valve gear, so that a ham-handed boy will not damage those parts. The "ham-handed" is not necessarily a criticism, mind you. I know what I was like at that age and have seen enough ten year old boys to know that sometimes they are not as careful with things as we are simply because they do not understand or know to be careful. This is one reason why I am suggesting leaving the Rapido couplers. Athearn bought out MDC some time back and has, from time-to-time, issued its copies of the MDC steam, but, those all have knuckle couplers. The older Model Power 4-4-0 and 2-6-0 run well, when they run. I have seen some copies at shows for as little as forty dollars. For the boy, though, you might want to avoid them, as they suffer from out-of-date construction methods which can cause stalling, thus, an unhappy boy. If you can find an old Bachmann SPECTRUM 2-8-0, and do not mind putting up sixty five, or more, dollars for it, those are good runners and pullers. You will need to spend quite a bit of time running it in, though. The earlier runs had Rapido couplers. If you want an exhaustive view of N scale power from the beginning to the present, check out Spookshow's webiste. He has spent much time, effort and money to render unto the N scale world an excellent encyclopedia of N scale power (and rolling stock, as well). A visit to his website is a must. Take a look at the freight cars and see what kind of couplers that they have. Actually, never mind, I just magnified the photograph and can tell what kind of couplers the rolling stock has. All of it has Rapidos except for the green tank car, which is, as I suspected, a Micro-Trains. Here is where you must make a decision. Do you want to stay with the Rapidos or go to knuckle. If you want to go to knuckle, there are a few options. You can buy the truck-mounted Micro-Trains couplers to fit the freight cars. The conversion is easy, you pull out the pins, the old trucks fall off, you put the pins through the MT trucks and push the whole business back into the hole in the bottom of the car. The caboose is an exception. You will need to do a body mount on that one. I forget which MT that thing uses, but MT's website will tell you. An alternative is dummy knuckle couplers. The best known of these is Unimate, but, the boy may have difficulty coupling those. If you stay with Rapidos, you will need to retrofit the green tank car with a Rapido coupler. MT used to sell a truck with a Rapido coupler, stock #1500. I do not know if MT still sells it, but, there are examples still out there, or, if it is easier, I have a bag full of the things. If you send me a PM with your address, I will mail you a pair. If you decide to go this route, take care that whatever power you buy has the Rapido, thus, is an older issue. In addition, save the MTs. If the boy decides to continue in the hobby, he will want to go to knuckle couplers at some point. For now, the Rapidos will be allright and, in fact, may be better if the boy is ten years old or younger.
You might be able to find a few Engines by one of the older manufacturers like Bev Bel or Bachmann, but the Loco that you are showing was made for Readers Digest just for Display if I'm not at all mistaken. SInce it's a gift that might be the cheapest way to go; along with some Bachmann EZ Tracks. Nice gesture and keep us posted on the progress please
Take a truck off the MT car and one of the rapido trucks off another, swap each other, and you instantly have 2 conversion cars. Coupler problem solved.
My go-to would be the older Life-Like GP-38s which you can probably find on eBay. I had a bunch after coming off a 20 year hiatus in the 90's and thought they were great. Then of course I quickly became familiarized with the advances of nscale that had occurred over that 20 year break - flywheels, split frame, dcc. Still, those little GP-38s did me well and they were cheap. -Mike
There are a bunch of Locos coming up on eBay with Rapidos. Nolan and his Mom just came over and dropped off a cake. I gave him the Southern Pacific Locomotive that's a dud. He looked at the rear end, and said, "Mom, If I had some more train cars I could hook them on right there!" I think He's going to go crazy when his Dad and I carry the train set over to their house. Also, does anyone know about this LifeLike 0-6-0 T that I have. It's brand new, and it was Made In Yugoslavia. I saw an N Scale LifeLike review on YouTube, and the guys biggest complaint with it was that it was too fast. He had the transformer at 20, and he had to nudge it to get it rolling, but when he did it had a lot of power. Anyway, if the Yugoslav versions are better, or worse, I'd like to find out. Thanks for everything everyone. This surprise will be fun, and I may need a set up for myself!
I think I still have mine from the late 70s or early 80s. I never used it because it just didn't work very good. You should check out Spookshow's locomotive encyclopedia. Excellent write-ups on just about any American loco you'd want to know about. Here's the write-up on your little guy: http://www.spookshow.net/loco/mehano147.html -Mike
That's about what I figured. I think it'll run for a while, but it's like an HO car that you hop up with the commutators, fancy magnets, Brushes, gold shoes, and then You run it on skinny tires and it just flies off the track. This 0-6-0 looks like it would fly off the track if You don't nurse it on the curves. Back in the old days we'd put foam wide slicks and brass frame weights on our cars, but what do You do with train wheels?
I talked to Nolan's Dad. Chris told me to just put the 0-6-0 on the rig, and if it needs a better locomotive then He'll just get one if I'll help him pick one out. That's the best way, because instead of me getting one for Nolan on the cheap, they'll spend some extra money to make it the start of a family heirloom. Now I can just use my energy to put the track down and get it ready to give the boy a thrill. I think it will be pretty cool. His Dad was floored that I'm going out of my way to do a projectk like this for Nolan, My Sister has an only child, and they lived way out on a lake in Northern Wisconsin, and she had no one to play with, and really had kind of a sad childhood. This will give Nolan a new interest, and his Dad said that if I get a train going around the track, it will be an awesome gift for his boy. I can't wait to plug it in and warch it go. I think I'll have as much fun as Nolan. I will post pictures when I get it going and get a few buildings on there. Itwon't be impressive to You guys, but I just want to make it the best $10 train set that I can build. Thanks again for all of the help All of You. I really appreciate it.
Having fun is the most important part, and I think you're doing a great thing. For that little 0-6-0 I think your best shot to keep it from stalling is to avoid switch tracks for this first setup. Just get a simple loop going with nice smooth joints and maybe a minimum radius of 12" on the curves, larger if you can. Basically you want to give that 0-6-0 nothing to fuss about. If he enjoys that and later his folks pony up for a more current locomotive then that opens the door to all kinds of fun with switching, yards, etc. Have fun! -Mike
Thanks Mike. I agree. I'm going to just give him a Nascar Oval, or Indianapolis if it works out that way. I found a two piece door in the barn that was made in the 1860's, so that will make a cool base for the track. I think Tuesday while my wife is working, I'll try to get the track layed out. with any luck, Nolan will begin his Model Railroad experience next weekend. When I bought the box of train stuff, I had no idea that I was buying NIB railroad cars and a locomotive from the early 70's, or even a little before that. I kind of figured maybe early 2000's, but all of the cars but one having Rapido couplers pretty much spells it out. The 0-6-0 T is the only one that I've seen with numbers (123) below the A.T. & S.F., so I don't really know quite what to make of that. Unfortunately there is no coal tender. The train sat in plain view at the estate sale for a full day with a $20 price tag, and the second day of the sale everything was half price, so $10 was just too good to pass up considering the beauty of the cars, and quite a bit of track. Then he grabbed another box that had the Lumber Mill and the Barn with Silo, a few trees and some miscellaneous figures, animals, and even a speed boat. I saw the church that has yet to be assembled, and I knew that I could put together a fun layout for next to nothing. And thus, history will be made. I can't wait to see it make its first lap. I think that I'll enjoy it as much as Nolan!
My Suggestion is thoroughly study this web site first. http://www.spookshow.net/trainstuff.html then I would hit up some train shows or Ebay.
There is a Lifelike GP38 on Ebay right now with a buy it now price of $25.99+$5.99 shipping. Here is the URL: http://www.ebay.com/itm/N-Scale-Lif...742530?hash=item464d8c2b82:g:DM0AAOSw3mpXKsoA Also an Atlas GP7/9 for $24.99 =$3.46 shipping (Seller misidentified loco as an RS3): http://www.ebay.com/itm/Atlas-N-Sca...504961?hash=item4aff29bb81:g:7TgAAOSwcL5XNzw1 These are "buy it now" sales and not auctions.
Well, I'm glad I didn't go crazy. I only have track to make about a 2 foot circle. I'm glad that I didn't get a big locomotive, because it probably wouldn't make the turn. I guess I'll just solder it together. I'm glad that it's for a young boy, because it won't take much to impress him. If he likes it, I guess they can just put together a fancy track. Oh, well. I tried. I'll make a cool 2 foot circle!
Hey Daryl, I'll donate some Atlas track to the project. My way of paying it forward. I'll send you a PM.
That is so awesome! I can't figure out how to send a PM, so I've just been leaving messages at the user CP. I'm a horrible judge of how much track I have! Get me Your mailing address, and I'll at least cover shipping. This forum is a pretty amazing place. But after just a few days learning about this sport is getting me interested in it too. First things first though, and that's the Nolan Railroad! He came over with his Mom yesterday, and he had on his Cub Scout uniform. I've had my Boy Scout stuff stuck away for a long time. I had this cool folding stainless steel silverware with the Boy Scout Emblem engraved on them, so even though they're 45 years old, they're still perfect. It's a folding fork with a bottle opener and a folding silverware knife. I took them over and Nolan and Mom were playing catch on the trampoline. I gave him the Boy Scout silverware, and his eyes about popped out of his head. This kid is going to flip his lid when he sees his train! Such appreciative folks. I love them like they're my own kids, and Nolan's my Grandson. My wife and I are considering leaving our farm to Nolan so that He's close to Mom and Dad. I didn't need to have kids. I just borrow any that are available. Thanks for the kindness everyone. Youe awesomeness is showing!
Sending a PM is really easy.... Left click on a members name or Avatar on the left <<<<<<<< A popup window comes up. Click on 'Start a Conversation' Fill in your message and post it. When you get a reply you will get a notification or an alert that you can click on to read and reply to it
