Anyone with experience with Ready Made Toys locos?

[Anonymous]

I have been buying a Lionel Christmas Boxcar for each of my grandsons (now up to 5) for the past few years and would like to get an inexpensive locomotive to go with them.

In the November issue of CTT there is an ad (page 113) for small GP locos made by Ready Made Toys with an advertised price of $49.95.

Have any of you folks ever seen or used one of these? Wondering if they could hold up to being handled by young (oldest is 7) boys.

Would I be better off spending more and getting a starter set from one of the major manufacturers?

Thank you.

Ned

[lionelsoni]

I would instead look for the likes of a postwar GP7 or NW2, running but not pretty enough to be expensive.

[marxman]

My guess is that Ready Made Toys is a subsiderary of K-line Trains. If you look at their web site (readymadetoys.com) you will see that all the other items they offer are the loads etc that K-line uses on their flatcars etc. Also this engine is made from the old Kusan, KMT, William's tooling that K-line bought in 1986. This switcher was first made by Kusan in the early 1950's, but was two rail DC powered. William's also used this tooling to produce this engine in 3-rail AC in the 70's-80's. Now Ready Made toys has reissued this engine in a much updated version, now with metal handrails instead of plastic and also in just a powered chassis to upgrade older Kusan & William's models.

If this engine is really made by K-line, or under their direction, I'm sure it will be
a hardy engine that will last a long time. I am anxious to buy one and try it out myself

Marxman[:)]

[Bob Keller]

I've got one on order (shipping first week in Nov I was told) and I'll run it in Product Reviews possibly in March if I receive it in time, certainly in May.

Ready Made Toy's isn't part of K-Line. Bob Mintz has a piece on the firm in the TCA's online e-magazine. below is the URL. RMT now owns the old Kusan/Williams tooling and has apparently upgraded the product quite a bit.


http://www.tcamembers.org/articles/collecting/READY/index.html

Bob Keller
Classic Toy Trains

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for your advice and for the link.

I believe I'll try one.

Ned

[Anonymous]

I have purchased two of the READYMADETOY O-gauge engines. Capable of pulling 6 light weight cars OK. I am very Satisfied, nice detail, very reliable, not real fast, good for young engineers.

[Anonymous]

I have the entire Taylor Made Trucks train made of K-Line manufactured,
Lionel painted rolling stock. I powered my Lionel Beep with a Williams
chassis that has no traction tires and some lead ballast. Great puller, but
needed to swap out the coupler on the engine with a Lionel item that has
a longer shaft (about 1/4" longer) so it would pull cars through 027 curves.
It really looks neat with that unique "Lionel" branded train! It's a shame
that Lionel itself missed the boat on this one.

I also have a few Williams "Beeps" that I bought a while back from Nicholas
Smith Trains at a York meet. They were going at blow-out prices and I
couldn't resist. Glad I did it now.

I just got two more "Beeps" from Taylor Made Trucks (yes, they're selling
them again) and I also got another of the helicopter car and tank car. The
cabooses are all gone (Dang!). I also got a "Chessie" shell to later put a
motor into. (They are on back order)

Again, it would be neat if K-Line marketed a string of those short ore cars
and a 4-wheel caboose as a set. Maybe in PRR markings. Shouldn't be a
big startup problem and it would appeal to the starter-set market and the
older operator alike. Most of the tooling is already there at K-Line and they
are already making stock in PRR paint. Maybe I'll bring it up at York.

[FJ and G]

I would love to have a long string of short ore cars on my set. Esp. diecast. Problem is, a string of these would set me back a couple grand.

[Anonymous]

Lionel and K-Line both make a plastic version of those ore hoppers
that are identical to the cast metal ones. They run about $20-$25 a
piece. You can get them at train shows for even less than that in the
box new. (I got two.) And if you are into the whimsical, K-Line has a
Resse's Pieces ore hopper complete with Fake pieces load that just
happens to be the same base color orange as the "Lionel" Beep. I
got mine at York about 5 years ago. No need to blow a wad of cash
on a short train!

[Anonymous]

I purchased the Pennsy version from RMT last fall and just recently purchased a CNJ version. Great for my "local" that works the industries spur on my layout.

Not much of a puller, but usually only assigned to pull my operating milk car, log dump, and the flat that goes with the Lionel forlklift platform, plus a MTH bobber caboose.

Nice unit for the price!

[Anonymous]

I recently bought one of these because it is inexpensive and short for tight curves. This is to replace a loco that had a great fall and now makes crunching noises. I was surprised by how well it ran, it has two motors which makes all four wheels driven. One is a traction tire. There are two center rail pickups giving it flawless operation over switches. I even dug out some old O27 track from my younger days which has a bit of rust on it and it ran smooth even over this. The unit comes with directional lighting and an electronic direction control which is a NICE improvement over the older mechanical ones. Along with this comes directional lighting. You merely tap the directional control on your controller once, for neutral and then a second time for the opposite direction. I opened it up to see how tough adding a horn would be and underneath the small circuit board are color coded contacts for the pickups. This little beep easily pulled six cars around my track with no problem or wheel spin

[Dr. John]

MLaferriere, [#welcome] to the forum!

I purchased one of the first-run Pennsy RMT Beeps a little over a year ago. Ran well, but tended to derail cars pushed (though not pulled) through O-27 curves. The coupler swing was a little tight. I modified the coupler opening a bit and no more problem. I understand that RMT has corrected this on more recent runs.

I love the little beast! [:D] Looks like a Geep that got left in the dryer too long and shrunk! I plan on getting the U.S. Navy version when it again becomes available along with the Navy caboose.

[ChiefEagles]

I just got two NS Beeps. Took them apart and lubed the gears. They run great. They are better than the older versions [I have an old Pensy version]. I wanted them to switch some small trains and push hopper cars. New versions have good metal railings and chains as well as forward and reverse lighting.

[bigwally]

To echo all of the above, the RMT Beeps are simply wonderful for the price. I've got two with number three (Rock Island) coming soon. They are great, low speed runners and nicely detailed to boot with metal handrails and chains. Ideal for the young engineer, as it will pull nicely, hold up under less than gentle handling, and not fly off the tracks at full throttle.

bigwally

[Buckeye Riveter]

I've got one on order. Special road name. From every report they are a good buy.

[Anonymous]

I bought an N&W 503 last year sometime. I've got it on the lead of a train of about 8 cars, some of which are old 50s era metal-trucked cars, as well as one standard-O, and the Beep will run for hours with this load. It's just a great little engine, that fits perfectly with O-gauge, which depends more on imagination than scale modeling does. As small and simple as they are, I'd think they'd be a good choice for little boys to run. They're fun for us old guys too.

[Bob Keller]

Wow. Now this was a thread dug up from the grave! 2003!!!!??????