Years ago I had Tyco, Bachmann and other cheap locomotive that barely even ran. It was difficult sometimes to even get around the small 36 inch circle that came with the set. So when I came across a Model Power C430 in MKT green and yellow I was like yeah right. Far as I know the Katy never had any C430’s and I had no real need for the thing. It was $10 new in the box at Hobby Lobby I think so I bought it. It has sat in the box for about 4 years untouched. Tonite I broke it out and decided to give it a go. It has been running for the last 6 hours non stop without a hickup! It’s fairly quiet and runs smoothly. It’s not prototypical. It’s not highly detailed but it’s fun to mess with and should haul my track cleaner around just fine. Makes me wonder what some of the old dogs would do on good track and a nice power pack.
I have some old_ER_ N scale stuff from the 70’s. I had them in storage and about 6 years ago when I got back into the hobby, I dug them out. The diesels sparked and the steamers did OK, but nothing to write home to Mother about. Lubing did little to help. The sparkers sucked juice like no tomorrow!
I do have a few questions about your old__ER__ fare…just out of curiosity…I wonder are they rubber band drives? {probably not or the bands would have been dried out} and I assume they have horn hook couplers?
While the Tyco and Bachmann of Yore may not have been the greatest…they at least were good for some hours of play! I picked up my FIRST HO scale loco 6 years ago…a Chessie system Bachmann F series plain jane for about $12!!! It runs hard though, growls a lot, and I don’t think is prototypical {never did research to see if any survived to the Chessie moniker- my favorite form the 70s 1:1} and isn’t worth the cost to turn to DCC, but it was fun to get me started in HO then!!!
I do have an Athearn RDC3 with rubber band drive that I need to do something about… I bought a bunch of Bachmann F’s for $3 a piece way way back in the 80’s at Michael’s after Christmas. Quality control was so bad that one of them runs backwards! from all the others. Hobby Lobby the day after Christmas had a 50% off all train stuff so I bought all the things I could. Seems weird but they acted like I was the only person that had any interest. I remember one year I bought all the locomotives they had and they were happy to get rid of them. Proto 1000 F3’s for $20 is good. The Model Power C430 is light but ran great! I started it about 4:30 in the afternoon and stopped it after midnight. So my recommendations are: If you need a loco for kids to learn or play with it works. It makes a good loco just to have running. On a real strict budget and want to see if model railroading might be for you it’s a start. It’s kind of like taking a mule to the Kentucky Derby. It may not win the race but it should finish.
BTW: I did not mention that my track laying skills have greatly improved over the years and that may have helped a lot!
The MKT is one of those harder to find road names.I have the Model power c430 also and love it. I have purchased several older GP38’s and 40"s off ebay. Both Bachmann and Life-Like to use as dummy engines. IC, ICG, DT&I (red,white,blue), Rock Island, and GT are all hard to come by. I can get them for $12.00 to $15.00 with shipping. If they run well then i leave them alone and run as power units. I also have several AHM GP18’s in bicentenial paint that run fine and i get a kick out of keeping them running. The Chessie engines also have blinking lights on the cab roof. It’s all about having fun.
I also have several engines in the $200.00 to $500.00 range in my collection and about 30 sound equipped.
A fellow around here has a thirty (or so) year old Model Power F unit. Gets it out once a year, runs it for 7-11 hours a day pulling s string of cars, for three days at the state Farm Show. Packs it up puts it away until next year. Runs round and round on his little layout for the “kids” to watch while their parents talk business to him. Said he lubed it once and since then it doesn’t have slow.
I’ll have to get my kids old locos out and see if I can get them running for the grandchildren to pratice with.
Had one of those Bachmans that went the wrong way. Died when I tried to reverse the wires.
I think that maybe as we progress in this hobby and our skills get better somethings may have been just fine after all. The problem may have been our skill levels at the time. Sure there have been some cheap products and things that are not prototypical. Detail levels may have not been the greatest but neither were they intended to be. If I had bought a Tyco, AHM, Lifelike or whatever and it runs40 years later it has done it’s job. I got my moneys worth and then some. By the same token if I buy an Athearn Genesis or Proto 2000 and it does the same thing I have also received my moneys worth. I think as we improve our skills many of the products we have bought turn out to be ok as a whole.
My C430 finally stopped running this morning! Dirty track! Cleaned the track and away she went!
RMax,I also believe many falls into the trap of comparing a 20,30,40 or 50 year old locomotives into today’s offerings from Atlas,Athearn(Genesis) and Kato and think those old locomotives are mere “junk” by today’s standards yet,these was fairly nice engines in their day.
I seen older Bachmann Spectrum SD45s run for hours during the county fair yet according to some these are “junk” engines that need to be avoided.
]