This is the first time ever that I have participated in any kind of online discussions
or forum . I’ve been into railroading since the day I was born…my dad was an engineer
on a railroad here in Maine. Maybe more on this later…my main concern right now is
that I’m asking anyone and everyone out there if there are places where a person can
purchase dummies for display…I’m sixty two and figured it was now or never…any help
at all would be greatly appreciated…Thanking you in advance…Dick…
[#welcome] to the forum, Dick!
“Dummies” aren’t as common today as they were 30 years ago, when the Athearn blue box locos dominated the scene. Most of today’s manufactures only do powered units. However, if all you plan to do is display your models, you can probably find old ‘powered’ units of what you want for really cheap, and paint those to your hearts content.
Yeah, older Athearns can be found at swap meets and such for around $30, or even less if you’re lucky.
BTW: -[#welcome]
eBay is the place to find used trains. And while dummy locos aren’t as common as powered ones, they are usually fairly inexpensive there.
Also, older “as-is” and “not running” locos will be cheap too.
Then there’s Lionel’s “Big Rugged Trains”. They are all dummys. TT scale guys spend $$$ motorizing them, as there is a dearth of American prototype TT scale on the market these days.
Best!
If your looking for low cost model kits to build, Revell (Monogram) make HO scale versions of the UP Big Boy and NYC Hudson steam engines. These can be found at Hobby Lobby for around $15 each.
Most manufacturers make dummy versions of their deisel locos. Here’s some HO examples.
http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Search2.asp?Search=dummy&scale=HO
[#welcome]
Actually Loathar, most companies did not and do not make dummies, Athearn really was the only one. LL P2K did make dummy B units for the FA and E-8, but not the rest of the line.
Tyco and Bachmann made them too. You just had to wait for the teeth to sheer off the gears![swg]
Life-Like did\does make dummies of their FP-40, GP-38 and GP-40 locos, although I’ve only seen them in sets of one powered, one dummy and a caboose.The dummy locos turn up frequently on EBAY for a few bucks.
Mehano made dummies of several of their locos also, I have two FP-45 dummies from Mehano.
The old Athearn dummies are not, by any means, scarce on EBAY. Some of them are NIB and I’ve gotten several for less than $20 ea. The old TYCO locos make excellent dummies, IF, the bodies are in good shape, and you can scarf them up for literally pennies!!
Do a search of EBAY for the particular dummy locos you’re looking for and you’ll probably find at least a couple.
I have dummies for Atlas, P2K, Athearn, Walthers, Bachmann…you name it, and it can be found online as a dummy of you look hard enough.
As a matter of fact, about half of my 170 locos are dummies…
Phil
If you buy powered units, you can carefully take out the motor, electronics, gears, drive shafts and anything else that a powered engine needs. After you have all the power stuff out, re-sell it to some of us that want to put power into our dummy units and you can use the extra money from your sales to buy yourself some more powered engines.
LMAO!
Dummy units for me are not an option. They just take up space and use up the pulling ability of powered units. Unless building a diorama where nothing moves then dummy units are the way to go.
I have only two dummy F7b units for “snails” to power my rotary plows as per Espee practice, all the rest (200) are powered.
I have been modeling the New Haven in N-Scale for close to 30 years. Considering the engines that are offered today, I have been religating some of my older problematic ones to static display around the engine houses. The real ugly ones, by todays standards, make it to a wreck yard. When I have a special engine, such as a FM C-Liner, with the correct wheel arrangement, that I repainted, if I can’t update the drive, it woul be sacreligous to not park it someplace on the layout. Who knows, it might be put back in service next year!