Tonight I ran across an old storage tub full of various “low dollar” HO locomotives and rolling stock that I purchased probably 12 years ago or more from a closing LHS. There is a Model Power F3, Bachman U36B and a 0-6-0 USRA sloped tender steamer (all ATSF)…and an undecorated Atlas GP7. There are also a couple Bachman powered gandy dancers and rail buses. All have never been run.
Now for the questions…are these things likely still functional? Is there anything I should do help insure that they are, before attempting to power them up? If they do still run, should I run them through some kind of break-in…and if so, what’s the best routine for that?
I know that they are not “good stuff”…but I hate anything going to waste, especially never having been used.
PS…This reminds me that somewhere I also have a new 9 years ago, but never out of the box, Proto 2000 Wabash SW9 that’s going to need the same.
Funny, I had the same experience a few months ago! Decided to go through my storage boxes of locomotives. Found several locomotives that I had forgotten even purchasing! Most were new or nearly new, a few were old. Since they had been in stoarge in a climate-controlled location (my closet), I doubted there was anything seriously wrong with them.
I fired up the power on the layout, placed each loco on the tracks and cranked the throttle up about 33%. Most started to run with little or no hesitation. The few that lit up but didn’t move were given a little more throttle. Some of those moved, a few didn’t. I sorted the quick from the dead. Eventually, I’ll go through the dead ones and see if they can be resurected. The living went back into storage with notes appropriate to their performance.
When I take a loco out of storage to use on the layout, I always run it at part throttle for five or ten minutes, more if it has never been used much. I watch it’s operation carefully. Any sign of hesitation gets the loco pulled and serviced (cleaned and lubricated).
I’ve found that most locos that have been stored reasonably well will still perform, but I don’t put them into heavy service until I’ve performed a little cleaning and lubrication. Old oil and grease get gummy. The loco may work at first, but it’s under more strain that way until it is serviced.
I’d say slap that puppy on a track and crack the throttle. It’ll either work or not. If it doesn’t work, try cleaning and re-lubing and test again. If it’s irretrievably broken, putting it on the rails won’t break it any further! (My philosopy: if it’s broke and you try to fix it and it’s still broke, you’re no worse off than when you started. Can’t break it any worse than it already was!)
Funny, I had the same experience a few months ago! Decided to go through my storage boxes of locomotives. Found several locomotives that I had forgotten even purchasing! Most were new or nearly new, a few were old. Since they had been in stoarge in a climate-controlled location (my closet), I doubted there was anything seriously wrong with them.
I fired up the power on the layout, placed each loco on the tracks and cranked the throttle up about 33%. Most started to run with little or no hesitation. The few that lit up but didn’t move were given a little more throttle. Some of those moved, a few didn’t. I sorted the quick from the dead. Eventually, I’ll go through the dead ones and see if they can be resurected. The living went back into storage with notes appropriate to their performance.
When I take a loco out of storage to use on the layout, I always run it at part throttle for five or ten minutes, more if it has never been used much. I watch it’s operation carefully. Any sign of hesitation gets the loco pulled and serviced (cleaned and lubricated).
I’ve found that most locos that have been stored reasonably well will still perform, but I don’t put them into heavy service until I’ve performed a little cleaning and lubrication. Old oil and grease get gummy. The loco may work at first, but it’s under more strain that way until it is serviced.
I’d say slap that puppy on a track and crack the throttle. It’ll either work or not. If it doesn’t work, try cleaning and re-lubing and test again. If it’s irretrievably broken, putting it on the rails won’t break it any further! (My philosopy: if it’s broke and you try to fix it and it’s still broke, you’re no worse off than when you started. Can’t break it any worse than it already was!)
An Atlas GP7 of that vintage is probably going to have a Kato drive, and is probably still the best running locomotive ever built. By no stretch of the imagination is it a “low dollar” ‘not “good suff”’ model. That unit is on the top of my, “best running models ever built” list.
To break them in it is simply a matter of varying speeds and directions often and frequently for about 10 hours. My new locomotives always get assigned local switching, or yard drilling duty.
That’s good to hear. It definately has a good bit more heft to it than the others. I remember now why I had bought it…and it was not part of the LHS closeout. I grew up a couple hundred feet from the Wabash (later N&W) yard through my home town. The local switcher was a plain grey GP7, with the only marking being the Wabash flag on either side of the cab…I’d planned on reproducing that.