I have a small railroad from my early teen years. Mid 1970’s equipment. My small steam switcher still runs well. But my large steam loco has been vandalized by kids. And is in need of some serious repairs. Can I purchase a new motor and trailing trucks. Both locos are AHM manufactured.
Second what is DCC all about? As you can tell it has been a long time.
And finally will my old track mate up to some of the new styles out there. It appears to match the Action series that I have seen in ads.
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Hi Canondale61 welcome to the forum. This is a wonderful place to get information as you re-ignite the model RR fire within!
Are you in HO scale? I think that you probably are as I am not sure that AHM carried anything else. AHM do not exist anymore. There is a company called IHC http://www.ihc-hobby.com which is a decendent company. The loco’s you have were more than likely made for AHM by one of a few locomotive manufacturers. Do either of them have a “made in Italy” or other designation on the bottom? In any case, they are likely not made any more. You can purchase new can motors, but you would have to figure the correct size. Further more, getting the motor to link with the drive mechanism may not be trivial. The truck may be harder. Your best bet would probably be to identify the model and see if you can pick up another from e-Bay to scavenge for parts. Unless these have particular sentimental value, it may not be worth the time and the effort, especially if you get into DCC.
What is DCC. Digital Command Control systems are a different control system to the typical DC pack that you would likely have with your trains. With the DC pack, you turn the knob and the track power goes up and down and you increase the speed and change direction of all lcomotives on the track at the same time. With DCC the power is constant, A DCC decoder board is installed in each locomotive. The DCC pack sends commands to these individual boards thus controlling each locomotive independently. This allows for much more reaslistic (and fun IMO) operation of the trains. There are many web sites with more detailed descriptions. Here are 2 good ones.
http://www.litchfieldstation.com/ click on the university button
http://www.tonystrainexchange.com/tonystips/dccprimer/index.htm
Your best bet with the track would be to take it to a hobby shop and see. Atlas HO scale code 100 track has had the same connections for years, so it would be fine if that is what you have. Th
AHM was not a manufacturer, they were a distributor. Your large steam locomotive was almost certainly made buy Rivarossi which is still in businenss today. In the early 1980s, IHC took over as distributor of Rivarossi engines and passenger cars. I’m not sure when it happened, but Walthers now is the American distributor for Rivarossi.
Most of the engines they made back in the 1970s are still made today. Externally, they look largely the same with a few minor modifications (i.e. UP centipeded tenders with oil instead of coal). Internally, the motors are a higher quality and most if not all are either DCC ready or DCC equipped.
If you are serious about getting back into the hobby and intend to run more than one train at a time, DCC is the way to go. It is a little more expensive but certainly worth the cost. It sounds a little intimidating at first and your head can spin with all the options but I think you will find as I did that it is pretty simple once you start using it. It certainly makes wiring your layout more simple.
As for the track, I’m not sure I would even try to reuse it. If it’s from the 1970s, it’s probably brass track which is no longer made because it must contstantly be cleaned. Nickel silver is the new standard. I’m all for saving as much as possible from previous layouts, but track is one of the least expensive items you will buy. I would go with Atlas track, either code 100 or code 80. Code 80 is closer to scale size than code 100 and works with modern equipment. Your old Rivarossi loco might be better off with code 100 since they made their wheels with oversized flanges back then. These flanges would might contact the ties of code 83 track.
Just an update on Rivarossi. They went bust over the last couple of years. In fact just over a year ago the remnants of the company were purchased by Hornby. The Italian facilty has been shut down for over 12 months and all production ceased and has been moved to China. Hornby has announced the release of some updated models due for introduction during 2006. I don’t think that there is any guarantee that spare parts for old Italian production will be available. http://www.hornby.com/hornbyinternational/Products_US.aspx
Only 3 of the steamers are currently listed as becoming available.
Hi,
To second what everyone else is saying, I don’t I would persue fixing your old engines. Even the switcher may become a shelf queen. Imagine the big old floor box TV’s of the 70’s with dials instead of digital channel selection. They might still work today if you get a TV cable adapater, but the fact that they are generations behind flat screet panels is obvious. So obvious that if you saw one at a yard sale for $10, you still wouldn’t buy it.
Model trains are also generations beyond where you were. An S1 switcher from Trainworld will cost you $29 and run so smoothly, you’ll never go back. The agrevation you will experieince from trying to use your old stuff is not worth it.
Take some time and read the posts here. Catch up. When you get ready to buy, post your ideas here. Chances are we can help you avoid bad decisions and maybe even point to a place where you can get a bargain.
Two good books to read are:
Track Planning for Realistic Operation, by John Armstrong, and
Mid-sized and Manageble Layouts by Iain Rice.
These books will bring you up to speed as far as current thought is in the hobby.
Thanks for the update on Rivarossi. Their product line is still in Walther’s 2006 catalog so I assumed they were still in business as is. I was aware of the Hornby’s buyout but I thought it was just an ownership change. I didn’t realize the original manufacturing plant had shut down. I imagine Hornby’s got all the old molds and components when they bought out Rivarossi. They may continue to manufacture some of those same products in China. Only time will tell.
Welcome aboard:
I was where you are about a year and a half ago. I pulled a couple of boxes of old HO stuff out of my parents basement (mostly Tyco, Bachman, and Like like) and started thinking of getting into the hobby with my son. There’s probably not a lot of the old stuff that’s worth using. I did use some pieces of the old track in the new layout, and retooled some of the better rolling stock.
You will want to get new locomotives, they have advanced quite a bit. Look into entry level DCC. It’s not too expensive, and works well. Beware of sound equiped locomotives. They are very addictive and will probably be your highest priced items.
Welcome, and good luck. This is one of the best places to get information.
Welcome to the forum. I have the same story and about a 8 month lead. I stayed with DC to save some old engines. I wish now I had gone DCC and will some time this year. I did wire things so conversion would be easy. The engines I saved were brass and very sentamental, but all the new stuff is DCC ready.
All my new track is Atlas flex code 83. I have a little brass left and put it in yards where I don’t need it to run very well.There are times I wish it were 100. My mountain passes are a challenge to keep smooth enough for the new couplers. I am debating spending the money to covert to all Kadee.
Keep us posted. It is fun to see all the progress made by us returnees over the past few months.