Exactly what you said about restoring vintage locomotives to run rather than buying top shelf models is my primary pursuit in the hobby. There are many models that I hear others in the hobby declare as junk with much scorn in their statement. To me they are treasures with much potential. And some run just as fine as the newest models selling for ridiculous prices. What is most important is the feeling of satisfaction getting them back online again. Anyone can buy the latest and the greatest with all the bells and whistles. Having the skill and knowledge to bring older vintage equipment back to life is something else. Thank you for sharing and keep up the good work.
I couldn't agree with you more! I love to collect what many people would regard as junk and giving it a new lease of life. Of all my collection I think I have only one piece of rolling stock that was purchased brand new - and that was something that was purchased for me as a gift. I loved your video. Please let's see more. Thanks a lot.
I got a great find a few months ago on EBay. I got 10 Santa Fe F-units (there are millions of these out there, every modeler probably has at least 1 of them) for a whopping $40. 5 of them ended up being dummys, so the ones with motors were really about $8 each. Out of those 5, 4 of them ran near perfectly, and even had clean wheels. Two of those were all-wheel-drive, including an Athearn B-unit that looked like it was never used. One of them (a version of a Life-Like that I'd never seen before, with an angled motor) had metal filings around the magnet, but otherwise also ran pretty well. So now I have some shells to practice weathering and painting on, and got 5 great running engines for next to nothing. Sometimes you just get lucky.
Sage advice on buying blind, and on the dangers of losing heart through disappointment. But there is truly a joy to be had from bringing a derelict back to life, and that gave me a big kick back into The Craft when I was much younger, and still helps in these dark days. Sorry I can't help identifying the SF Jeep. Anyway: More power to your elbow, Sir!
I repainted two of those Santa Fe engines GP-38-2's black and got some Norfolk Southern decals and added them along with some front plows. They came out pretty nice for LifeLIke or Tyco engines. I don't remember who made them. Adding body mounted KD couplers was a chore but I did it. I also have a Mehano (AHM) RS-2 that I changed out the incandescent headlight to LED's. I also cut off the couplers on the trucks (talgo trucks) and body mounted KD couplers. I also heavy weathered it. I stay away from any Bachmann locomotive as they only last one year before the gears crack. I've had to scrap several Bachmann's for this reason. Cheers from eastern TN
I recently started going to model train swap meets and, i was hooked I should have done that years ago you get bargains too. and the selections are great.
The Bachmann is an F9A, the unboxed Funit is a Life-Like F7A. Your Atlas is an FP7A. 3600 is a GP38-2. Life-Like usually numbered the powered Santa Fe 3500 and the dummy 3600, regardless whether it was in freight paint or warbonnet. Neat haul!
I completely agree, the prices for new locomotives is ridiculous. Nice haul 👍😎 Your GP38-2 would be appropriate in Penn Central or Conrail paint. Nice video 👍🚂
To be fair I do the same as this. Only got back into the hobby 3 months ago with the flying Scotsman set. Since then I've been lucky on eBay. Up to 15 locos now. All cheap. All needed a service and a couple of parts here and there but all run brilliantly now. Taught myself as I've gone along and love the fettling as much as running the trains. The old gear might not always have the high detail of the new stuff but to me they all have more character and soul 😊👍
In today's DCC loco market, there are a lot of sellers unloading their DC analog locos that run great on 12 V DC but do not cost a second mortgage. Train set locos will always be low budget pieces and no mods will fix them. Place an Athearn chassis underneath for better performance.
The RS2 stack shows it has the as built air-cooled turbocharger from the early 1950's. It was a TOTAL disaster and really hurt Alco's reputation. Since the "Coast Guard:" livery didn't come into existence until the early 1970's it had long since been replaced by a water cooled turbo where, as you noted, the stack went side to side.
The AHM CNJ locomotive should be a RS-2 which is the reason that the exhaust stack is offset. Also, this red paint scheme of the CNJ is often referred to as the "Red Baron" paint scheme. As far as the Santa Fe Life-Like GP38-2, you could paint it up as a Penn Central unit, a former Penn Central - Conrail Black unit with the 'CR' patch letters, or just a regular Conrail blue unit. Many of these GP38-2s went in all three paint schemes during Penn Central through to Conrail.
Close - The RS2 stack shows it has the as built air-cooled turbocharger from the early 1950's. It was a TOTAL disaster and really hurt Alco's reputation. Since the "Coast Guard:" livery didn't come into existence until the early 1970's it had long since been replaced by a water cooled turbo where, as you noted, the stack went side to side.
hey Arcadia junction that New Jersey engine is an Alco engine with a unique sound with one fan on the end is the Alco engine SW7 I think, no matter what you picked up a collectable engine and hope to see it running on your layout.
Rule of thumb for me is anything over $100 for a powered engine is a waste. You can buy aftermarket dress up kits and make the $30 Athearn Bluebox look like a modern release and easily add ditch lighting and other over priced nonsense. My favorite part of the hobby is repairing and upgrading older models. I have quite a number of tyco and life-like units and spare parts to get them like new again and collectors of those old units snap em up like they are Pez. I do resell many of the refurbished units and let folks know in the description as I'm not in the business of deceit. Great video!
This one for @ArcadiaJunctionHobbies - Sorry I'm cr@9 at using social media, so I couldn't work out how to reply to yours directly. Anyway, keeping to the thread, I could not agree more. I don't have a scrap-box, I just try to repair and recycle as much as I can. Partially because my conscience tells me to (our grandfathers' generation, including some great masters of "The Craft", often wound their own motors), and partially because I am a Poor Man who can't afford to buy new every time. The accidental accumulation of non-runners leads to two distinct possibilities - (1) Repair it and re-run it, or if a duplicate then (2) Repair it and give it a new identity. There was a chap called Adair (I think) who wrote an entire book about LNER (UK) modelling, and many, many of his examples were bashed from proprietary stock and they looked fantastic. regards cs
Santa Fe's passenger A units didn't have boilers, just the B units. FP7s had a four-foot extension just behind the lead truck to house a larger water tank the boiler. (Santa Fe didn't have any). The Warbonnet GP38 would be accurate for larger Santa Fe locos (GP60s, SD70s, etc.). In the ~1980s, Santa Fe's new locos were painted into the classic 1930s Warbonnet scheme--some are still in operation on the BNSF! As for cost (or stinginess. . .)--would one expensive but gorgeous, grand-running loco cost any more than a dozen junkers that look like crap and barely run???
I've got a lot of those you know not so expensive locomotives I like the way they run too and I agree with the prices of trains today being so ridiculously stupid that somebody should investigate the companies that make these models or even the hobby stores cuz they're wanting outrageous prices for stuff that was long time ago 15 to 30 to 40 bucks for a locomotive or rolling stock compared to today's prices you have to go and take a second loan out on your house just to be able to buy some of this equipment I fully agree with you your videos are great by the way so keep doing a great job
The overheads are so much lower in China so the prices should have went down. The opposite happened. So serious profits are being pocketed. Look at all the small companies producing top range locos in China. So it's not that expensive to do.
Hi, I'm the same I only now would buy older models as the price of new ones is stupid, lets face it a engine is still an engine and everything can be fixed
The thing that I've noticed is that the prices for some of these "junk" trains aren't much better than what more modern but used models go for. An Athearn blue box GP38-2 is a decidedly superior model vs. The Life-Like version.
If you have an Erie Lackawanna RS2 you can leave both it and the CNJ as is or simply patch out the logos and decal a Conrail CR and do the Conrail rainbow era. Also keep an eye out for blue box Athearn anywhere from late 60s through the 90s are darn near bullet proof. Those are probably just F7 and F9s as the differences were minimal and most likely details between them are probably differences between what particular railroad's F they based it on. If that's an Atlas then it's an FP7 which was a dual service F7 but some roads wanted increased steam generator capacity so the FP7 has a frame extended by 4 feet for a larger water tank. It being longer than the others is correct.
I've got a Gandy Dance and love it.... I also prefer to buy second-hand stuff than brand new, it's lots cheaper and I can buy more important or needed things with what I have saved buying the items second-hand. I much prefer different items than the same things everyone else has that have been mass-produced by the thousands....
GP35's had 3 radiator fans: two 48" and a 36" in the middle, like a GP30... That's a GP38, and unlikely a -2 as the GP38-2 came out in 1972 and I'd bet the tooling for this is older than that. The dash 2's also had louvered radiator grills - very few were made still using the egg crate style.
Nobody thought about their toy trains being collectible or lasting for forty or fifty years. HO scale was the most economical of scales to be in for your dollar. An old scale car would cost for x what an h o car would cost. And would be half the size of ho and twice the price. Companies especially like Lionel are asking outrageous prices for made in countries where they pay $2 an hour. Thank God there is a lot of used ho stuff out there available
@@ArcadiaJunctionHobbies toy trains are never at Investments. Train nuts are born not made. People think we are totally insane for indulging an hour Hobby and do not value what we treasure. What we love they could not care less about. Money people spoil everything they touch.
@@ArcadiaJunctionHobbies so many greedy people are involved in Hobbies they have no interest in simply to make money. I have a fleet of old British motorcycles that everyone laughed at me when I bought them. I would ride them around and enjoy them add the fact that I can get seven times what I paid for them does not even enter the picture I did not buy them for investment purposes I bought them to ride and enjoy just like I buy my train one Taylor had a heart attack when I told him I took a brand new locomotive right out of the box and put it on the track and it ran great. He went on and on about losing its collectability value and I said fuck collectability I got one of my favorite locomotive brand new in the box I just called a brand-new passenger train to match. People should enjoy things that they have. I have an antique biplane as old as my little house and I love flying it on a beautiful day. It wasn't an investment but I certainly won't lose any money on it when it comes time to sell her.
@@frankmarkovcijr5459 I always said, stop collecting and start playing. also, fuck those stuck up model railroader snobs! and people who berate your hobby are just sad embittered jealous jerks!
Exactly what you said about restoring vintage locomotives to run rather than buying top shelf models is my primary pursuit in the hobby. There are many models that I hear others in the hobby declare as junk with much scorn in their statement. To me they are treasures with much potential. And some run just as fine as the newest models selling for ridiculous prices. What is most important is the feeling of satisfaction getting them back online again. Anyone can buy the latest and the greatest with all the bells and whistles. Having the skill and knowledge to bring older vintage equipment back to life is something else. Thank you for sharing and keep up the good work.
I couldn't agree with you more! I love to collect what many people would regard as junk and giving it a new lease of life. Of all my collection I think I have only one piece of rolling stock that was purchased brand new - and that was something that was purchased for me as a gift. I loved your video. Please let's see more. Thanks a lot.
I got a great find a few months ago on EBay. I got 10 Santa Fe F-units (there are millions of these out there, every modeler probably has at least 1 of them) for a whopping $40. 5 of them ended up being dummys, so the ones with motors were really about $8 each. Out of those 5, 4 of them ran near perfectly, and even had clean wheels. Two of those were all-wheel-drive, including an Athearn B-unit that looked like it was never used. One of them (a version of a Life-Like that I'd never seen before, with an angled motor) had metal filings around the magnet, but otherwise also ran pretty well. So now I have some shells to practice weathering and painting on, and got 5 great running engines for next to nothing. Sometimes you just get lucky.
I just came across this video ..... Subscribed!!! 👍
Welcome Aboard!
Sage advice on buying blind, and on the dangers of losing heart through disappointment. But there is truly a joy to be had from bringing a derelict back to life, and that gave me a big kick back into The Craft when I was much younger, and still helps in these dark days. Sorry I can't help identifying the SF Jeep. Anyway: More power to your elbow, Sir!
And if you don't save it you end up with kitbashing materials.
I repainted two of those Santa Fe engines GP-38-2's black and got some Norfolk Southern decals and added them along with some front plows. They came out pretty nice for LifeLIke or Tyco engines. I don't remember who made them. Adding body mounted KD couplers was a chore but I did it. I also have a Mehano (AHM) RS-2 that I changed out the incandescent headlight to LED's. I also cut off the couplers on the trucks (talgo trucks) and body mounted KD couplers. I also heavy weathered it. I stay away from any Bachmann locomotive as they only last one year before the gears crack. I've had to scrap several Bachmann's for this reason. Cheers from eastern TN
I recently started going to model train swap meets and, i was hooked I should have done that years ago you get bargains too. and the selections are great.
Doesn't matter what you run the whole idea is to have fun and it sounds like you are having good times
The Bachmann is an F9A, the unboxed Funit is a Life-Like F7A. Your Atlas is an FP7A.
3600 is a GP38-2. Life-Like usually numbered the powered Santa Fe 3500 and the dummy 3600, regardless whether it was in freight paint or warbonnet.
Neat haul!
The Bachmann is usually a decent runner, since they often had 8-wheel pickup.
I completely agree, the prices for new locomotives is ridiculous. Nice haul 👍😎 Your GP38-2 would be appropriate in Penn Central or Conrail paint. Nice video 👍🚂
I believe the AHM is an RS2.
The unpowered unit is a GP38-2.
The boxed F unit is an F9 and the gray is an F7
Thank you sir!
the bachmann f9a has a cracked gear
That shiny one is an F9 with a winterization hatch. They are easier to mold than fans and that’s why model companies use them.
nice video i also buy junk that does not run and get satisfaction from making them run again keep them running
That's the plan!
To be fair I do the same as this. Only got back into the hobby 3 months ago with the flying Scotsman set. Since then I've been lucky on eBay. Up to 15 locos now. All cheap. All needed a service and a couple of parts here and there but all run brilliantly now. Taught myself as I've gone along and love the fettling as much as running the trains. The old gear might not always have the high detail of the new stuff but to me they all have more character and soul 😊👍
All the repair and service videos on RUclips really are a god send in this regard.
The Santa Fe unit is a GP38.2
In today's DCC loco market, there are a lot of sellers unloading their DC analog locos that run great on 12 V DC but do not cost a second mortgage. Train set locos will always be low budget pieces and no mods will fix them. Place an Athearn chassis underneath for better performance.
The RS2 stack shows it has the as built air-cooled turbocharger from the early 1950's. It was a TOTAL disaster and really hurt Alco's reputation. Since the "Coast Guard:" livery didn't come into existence until the early 1970's it had long since been replaced by a water cooled turbo where, as you noted, the stack went side to side.
The AHM CNJ locomotive should be a RS-2 which is the reason that the exhaust stack is offset. Also, this red paint scheme of the CNJ is often referred to as the "Red Baron" paint scheme. As far as the Santa Fe Life-Like GP38-2, you could paint it up as a Penn Central unit, a former Penn Central - Conrail Black unit with the 'CR' patch letters, or just a regular Conrail blue unit. Many of these GP38-2s went in all three paint schemes during Penn Central through to Conrail.
Close - The RS2 stack shows it has the as built air-cooled turbocharger from the early 1950's. It was a TOTAL disaster and really hurt Alco's reputation. Since the "Coast Guard:" livery didn't come into existence until the early 1970's it had long since been replaced by a water cooled turbo where, as you noted, the stack went side to side.
hey Arcadia junction that New Jersey engine is an Alco engine with a unique sound with one fan on the end is the Alco engine SW7 I think, no matter what you picked up a collectable engine and hope to see it running on your layout.
SW7 was built by EMD, the CNJ locomotive ins an Alco RS2.
@@ROBERTN-ut2il , thanks for the info
Rule of thumb for me is anything over $100 for a powered engine is a waste. You can buy aftermarket dress up kits and make the $30 Athearn Bluebox look like a modern release and easily add ditch lighting and other over priced nonsense. My favorite part of the hobby is repairing and upgrading older models. I have quite a number of tyco and life-like units and spare parts to get them like new again and collectors of those old units snap em up like they are Pez. I do resell many of the refurbished units and let folks know in the description as I'm not in the business of deceit. Great video!
This one for @ArcadiaJunctionHobbies - Sorry I'm cr@9 at using social media, so I couldn't work out how to reply to yours directly.
Anyway, keeping to the thread, I could not agree more.
I don't have a scrap-box, I just try to repair and recycle as much as I can. Partially because my conscience tells me to (our grandfathers' generation, including some great masters of "The Craft", often wound their own motors), and partially because I am a Poor Man who can't afford to buy new every time.
The accidental accumulation of non-runners leads to two distinct possibilities - (1) Repair it and re-run it, or if a duplicate then (2) Repair it and give it a new identity.
There was a chap called Adair (I think) who wrote an entire book about LNER (UK) modelling, and many, many of his examples were bashed from proprietary stock and they looked fantastic.
regards
cs
Santa Fe's passenger A units didn't have boilers, just the B units. FP7s had a four-foot extension just behind the lead truck to house a larger water tank the boiler. (Santa Fe didn't have any).
The Warbonnet GP38 would be accurate for larger Santa Fe locos (GP60s, SD70s, etc.). In the ~1980s, Santa Fe's new locos were painted into the classic 1930s Warbonnet scheme--some are still in operation on the BNSF!
As for cost (or stinginess. . .)--would one expensive but gorgeous, grand-running loco cost any more than a dozen junkers that look like crap and barely run???
Well they were dirt cheap and I do enjoy the repainting and remotoring just as a hobby by itself.
I've got a lot of those you know not so expensive locomotives I like the way they run too and I agree with the prices of trains today being so ridiculously stupid that somebody should investigate the companies that make these models or even the hobby stores cuz they're wanting outrageous prices for stuff that was long time ago 15 to 30 to 40 bucks for a locomotive or rolling stock compared to today's prices you have to go and take a second loan out on your house just to be able to buy some of this equipment I fully agree with you your videos are great by the way so keep doing a great job
The overheads are so much lower in China so the prices should have went down. The opposite happened. So serious profits are being pocketed. Look at all the small companies producing top range locos in China. So it's not that expensive to do.
Hi, I'm the same I only now would buy older models as the price of new ones is stupid, lets face it a engine is still an engine and everything can be fixed
and the satisfaction of bringing it back to life and even improving it can be so rewarding.
@@ArcadiaJunctionHobbies Thank you for your reply.
The thing that I've noticed is that the prices for some of these "junk" trains aren't much better than what more modern but used models go for. An Athearn blue box GP38-2 is a decidedly superior model vs. The Life-Like version.
100% and it is not just US models several European locos from the past are still superior
No hate from this guy. Ive got a fair size Junque fleet myself🚂🙋
That Bachmann has cracked gears. You can hear the clicking when you run it. Throw it in the trash. Cheers - TN
If you have an Erie Lackawanna RS2 you can leave both it and the CNJ as is or simply patch out the logos and decal a Conrail CR and do the Conrail rainbow era.
Also keep an eye out for blue box Athearn anywhere from late 60s through the 90s are darn near bullet proof.
Those are probably just F7 and F9s as the differences were minimal and most likely details between them are probably differences between what particular railroad's F they based it on. If that's an Atlas then it's an FP7 which was a dual service F7 but some roads wanted increased steam generator capacity so the FP7 has a frame extended by 4 feet for a larger water tank. It being longer than the others is correct.
I've got a Gandy Dance and love it.... I also prefer to buy second-hand stuff than brand new, it's lots cheaper and I can buy more important or needed things with what I have saved buying the items second-hand. I much prefer different items than the same things everyone else has that have been mass-produced by the thousands....
That first engine is a Jeep 38-2. And I think it's a dummy because when you have it upside down it hade
all plastic Wheels and your alco is an RS.,2.
Bachman put very poor nylon gears that are cracked very easily.That's what makes them noisy
Santa Fe frieghts were a dark blue with yellow stripes i think its a GP-35 looks like wat we ran on BN for switchin run a 300 mile 1 way trip
GP35's had 3 radiator fans: two 48" and a 36" in the middle, like a GP30... That's a GP38, and unlikely a -2 as the GP38-2 came out in 1972 and I'd bet the tooling for this is older than that. The dash 2's also had louvered radiator grills - very few were made still using the egg crate style.
Nobody thought about their toy trains being collectible or lasting for forty or fifty years. HO scale was the most economical of scales to be in for your dollar. An old scale car would cost for x what an h o car would cost. And would be half the size of ho and twice the price. Companies especially like Lionel are asking outrageous prices for made in countries where they pay $2 an hour. Thank God there is a lot of used ho stuff out there available
Also an incredible investment. I have numerous locos I bought back in the day for a pittence and are now worth substantially more and still run great.
@@ArcadiaJunctionHobbies toy trains are never at Investments. Train nuts are born not made. People think we are totally insane for indulging an hour Hobby and do not value what we treasure. What we love they could not care less about. Money people spoil everything they touch.
@@frankmarkovcijr5459 I did not mean it in that way - I should have stated that it is money well spent for decades of enjoyment.
@@ArcadiaJunctionHobbies so many greedy people are involved in Hobbies they have no interest in simply to make money. I have a fleet of old British motorcycles that everyone laughed at me when I bought them. I would ride them around and enjoy them add the fact that I can get seven times what I paid for them does not even enter the picture I did not buy them for investment purposes I bought them to ride and enjoy just like I buy my train one Taylor had a heart attack when I told him I took a brand new locomotive right out of the box and put it on the track and it ran great. He went on and on about losing its collectability value and I said fuck collectability I got one of my favorite locomotive brand new in the box I just called a brand-new passenger train to match. People should enjoy things that they have. I have an antique biplane as old as my little house and I love flying it on a beautiful day. It wasn't an investment but I certainly won't lose any money on it when it comes time to sell her.
@@frankmarkovcijr5459 I always said, stop collecting and start playing. also, fuck those stuck up model railroader snobs! and people who berate your hobby are just sad embittered jealous jerks!
GP 38
GP38.