Excuse my inexperience, but what is “Powered“ referring to? I see this a lot on eBay, but I’ve never heard of it. It a manufacture name? I was looking at Southern Pacific Daylight stuff and it kept popping up. It even has DCC.
Powerd just means the locomotive has an electric motor inside.:tb-biggrin: You might also see "DUMMY" which means no electric motor in side.
Generally "powered" reffers to a loco having a working motor. In n scale pretty much every loco made is powered so advertising so is mostly redundant.
That’s what I thought, but there are so many items without any indication to what brand they are. This is what I’m referring to. Click here
There are a few dummy units out there. Most of them are older, usually with Rapido couplers. I have a LL Alco PB dummy that I bought for use as a sound decoder housing.
Just for your information. You can buy the Kato GS-4 online from e-tailers for under $100. This loco is DCC Ready. There is no decoder installed in that unit. DCC Ready means that you can put a decoder in this steam locomotive.
Thanks! I saw that happen before. I bought an item for $20 and I just saw that the bidding for the same item was $47 and still rising.
Calling something "powered" is definitely something that is very very odd in the context when there is no dummy involved. That is just not something people normally do. So it's very odd that someone, anyone, would call a locomotive powered when the word need not apply.
Just a word of caution. Ebay, is a risk magnet. Many of the would be sellers will do their best to word things to look very attractive when in fact the item is right next door to being trash. You won't find me buying and or vying for anything on Ebay. To great a risk...unless you know the item well or personally know the person selling. I'd rather purchase from our store here on TB. If in doubt...don't. Oh and powered may not mean, what we all think powered, should mean. "Well, it had power to the wheels". You could be buying a powered dummy or for some reason...you turn out to be the dummy. That would be my luck. Have fun... but... buy, buy, buy at your local LHS or a good Internet HS. We have a number of superb HS's represented here on TB. Honest guys and gals who won't steer you off course. Or what I already said. Grin!
Very good point Rick. For instance, my ex-bachmann BNSF shown below. It still has a "powered" headlight, but as you can see, I completely gutted the rest.
thats about the best thing for those buckmanns:thumbs_down: the shells look nice but they run like crud
So Barstow Rick and Mystery, Are you saying, that without a photo, just by the description alone, that "powered" would be an OK description for your Bachmann loco if you were selling it on an auction site and the buyer should be satisfied since the chassis "powers the lights"? Just curious. And if you bought a Kato GS-4 with no motor, but the lights worked, you would be happy? After all, it's "powered". Just curious. Can you give an example where you would buy a locomotive where: 1. the word dummy was not used 2. no photo of the chassis was given 3. and the loco was called "powered" And you would be happy to find you got a loco with no motor. I guess I'm pressing you because I disagree. I think it would be false advertising. I think you would be furious if you somehow did not have some other external clue that you were bidding on a dummy. Even though it is not written in stone anywhere, it is generally understood that "powered" applies to the motor and not to the lights. But if you can think of an example, I'd like to consider it. I might be wrong. Ron
Ron, I don't think anyone here was seriously advocating calling a lights-only loco "powered." Rather, I think they were illustrating one of the pitfalls of buying online from people you don't know: definitions may not be agreed upon between buyer and seller. I think you and Rick and Mystere are actually all in agreement here that this would be a horrible way to try and make a buck on ebay. Adam
I know a lot of train people don’t like the Bachmann’s, but I must have got lucky because I have a non-DCC loco that just runs circles around my Kato’s and Atlas locos. I let my grandkids use it because it doesn’t require much from me to keep it running. Even when the track is so dirty that Atlas and Kato come to a standstill, that little Bachmann keeps on running. Whenever I add or modify a section of track that’s the one I grab to test. If it doesn’t run I know nothing else is going to run.
From a modelers stand point, I agree with you completely. However, from a case worker at eBay, powered lights and powered motor are both essentially, "powered", so if I wanted to be a prick and try to sell my bachmann with powered lights under the false impression it has a powered motor too, with careful wording, I could probably get away with it. In N scale, where manufactured dummies are not as common, you can probably give yourself the benefit of the doubt, but in other scales, and with any amount of doubt, I'd communicate with the seller to make sure you know what you're bidding on.
Some Dummy Experience of my own... The reply quoted above mentions that the use of Dummy engines in N scale isn't too prevalent - which might be why I've had trouble finding much selection. 30 years ago if I wanted a train to look like it had multiple engines pulling it I had to use dummys behind the powered unit because running 2 powered units together gave me problems. As my son & I rebuild the layout I'm experimenting with running 2 together and so far so good. Any one try for three? Two other "Dummy" Experiences (both with eBay): 1) I ordered two Penn Central Bachmann Dummies for $10 /each. When they arrived i immediately noticed they were over-sized. I've since learned from the online locomotive encyclopedia ( http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/bachgp40.html ) that these are ~40 year old stock that was ridiculed for being oversized. Worse, they derail often on my Atlas switches - seems the wheel spacing it too narrow. Most likely these engines will end up permanently parked on a siding. 2) Just for kicks I spent $0.99 plus $4 shipping for a SP dummy. Even though I'm running BN & PC/Conrail I figured the price was too good to pass up. It arrived yesterday and looks good - problem is the couplers are fixed in place and the trucks barely turn - apparently it's some sort of display - not meant to run on the track. I sent the seller a nice email informing him of the issue - giving him the benefit of the doubt that he didn't know better - and without my asking he issued a full refund and said to keep the engine. This engine will also be permanently parked on a siding on the layout. So, as said in the other posts - be careful on eBay. However I must tell you that I'd already purchased two really really nice engines (and a third on the way) through eBay before I became better educated about what to watch for and questions to ask - this board has been immensely helpful in that regard! Ironically, three engines Burlington engines I bought last week through this boards classifieds - are giving me problems - but I hope a cleaning will do the trick. The Minitrix I bought for sentimental reasons from Mr Hedley (on this board) is flawless! By the way - I have a question about wiring an atlas turntable - - I'll post that separately in a couple minutes...
