Hey guys
I just got home from LHS and picked up 2 Walthers GP9’s and I am quite surprised at how well they run. Does anybody else have any and also What have been your opinions of them
Thanks
Jeremy
PS have a happy new year
Jeremy, I don’t have any of them, yet. I too would like to know about their quality, and reliability. I’ve been thinking about buying some. Help us guys. What’s the 411 on these Walthers GP9’s.
Robert
I owned one, they are similar to Bachmann, not as good as Athearn blue box in longevity. I ran mine for about 18 months then it crapped out. I would just save up and get a Kato or an Atlas, you won’t go wrong there,m my 2 cents
todd
I have had several Walthers GP15’s and F40PH’s with have basically the same drive and i really like them all. the detail is similar to an athearn blue box, but they have lots of weight and they run really well. they are much quieter than an athearn. the only problem i have with them is that the handrails on the GP15’s and the GP9’s are quite an bit oversized.
I agree with you nightcrawler the handrails are a bit too big and the weight is nice and heavy.
I have a Walthers GP9 never had a problem but does require some details.
Why bother with them, The P2K Geep 9 is so much better detail wise, and they run great, I wouldn"t even consider a walthers GP-9, as long as the P2K models are available.
Mac
okay thats your opinion, but have you ever seen any of the walthers geeps
Some of the members at the club I go to had some of these units…Sadly due to our long operating periods (2 times a week 52 weks a year 6 or more hours per meeting) these GP9s crap out in less then a year…However…For normal home use they should do just fine.And yes I had 2 that was among these units that crap out at the club…I have since repowered these units with Athearn GP7 drives…Not a job for those that lack repowering skills…
I have one of their F40PHs and one of their Dash 8s, both of which seem decent, quiet, smooth runners - the Dash 8 was bought as a non-runner with a broken front truck pivot (fixed this by drilling a hole in the top of the truck and using a spare Athearn screw to replace the broken plastic pivot) but now runs well enough - I’m in the midst of doing some re-wiring and detailing pending adding DCC to it. I can’t comment on how long-lived these might be, though they look pretty well-engineered (apart from the plastic clip truck mountings…) from what I’ve seen while repairing mine.
Mine might get only 4-5 hours a month if that so I shopuld be Okay
I would be interested in how much you paid for the Walthers GP9s. I have seen the Life Like Proto 2000 GP9s go for as little as $24 on eBay and M.B. Kleins had a great sale on the for $25 for the longest time (www.modeltrainstuff.com). For the much better detail and better running mechanisms offered by Life Like, you certainly can’t go wrong for the price.
$35 canadian
Get the P2K, well worth the extra $10-15 better drive and better detail. One on ebay now for $39usd
Hey, guys, thanks for all the info. I’ll look into those P2K’s.
Robert
I have one and it runs great, funny thing about alot of you mentioning the longetivity of the mechanism. I’ve had mine since 1999 and and it still runs great today. But the detail is sort of chunky, and I think the shell is Identicle to the athearn GP9’s.
your walthers GP9 still runs great?
Jeremy:
I don"t need to see them, just ask any of the experienced modelers on this forum, which is the better models, I think 80 percent or more will tell you that Life Like is much better than Walthers, and I have personally had a bad experience with Walthers locomotive in the past, the drives are very cheaply constructed.
I recommend pay a few extra dollars for the life like models, I think you will be glad you did.
Mac
The Walthers unit has a low nose unlike pretty much any other model GP9 - this is because it represents a rebuilt loco and is correct for many real RRs. I would say that detailing this loco to the standard of a P2K (assuming you’re modelling a rebuilt GP9) would probably be easier than bashing a low nose onto one of the Lifelike ones. If you’re looking for a basic, decent running loco that you can super-detail later on, Walthers Trainline is a good place to look in my opinion. Just my thoughts!
I am an experienced modeler and I have 3 Walthers engines and have not had any trouble with them at all and I’m waiting on 2 trainline GP -9 's now. Too many people here run down things they don’t know about because they don’t cost as much as there favorites. Some people are on a limited budget and do make things work for them.