Years ago like in the 90s' one could buy Dummy engines' Atherns made many blue box one. I have many. But today I do not see any being made. Am I missing something. With the price of Dcc engines most cant afford 3 or so engines of the same thing at over $200 each. Thanks
Like so many things, like undecorated kits, maybe they were not selling well, so they were discontinued.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
The reason dummys even existed is that the motors that Athearn used drew almost an amp, and with power packs mostly having a 1 amp limitation, two powered units would either burn out a power pack or pop the circuit breaker. So to make up a prototypical consist of 3 or 4 units the modeler would get some dummys to make up a consist.
With the advent of motors that only drew a 1/4 amp the need for dummys went away and with sales dropping they were also dropped from the line, as a motor only cost about another $10 to the price of the unit.
Rick Jesionowski
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Bigjim7 Years ago like in the 90s' one could buy Dummy engines' Atherns made many blue box one. I have many. But today I do not see any being made. Am I missing something. With the price of Dcc engines most cant afford 3 or so engines of the same thing at over $200 each. Thanks
You could buy one sound loco and then a few DCC ready‘s. Then pickup a few of the cheaper ESU or Digitrax decoders for the rest the DCC ready’s...
I believe Athearn and Stewart/Bowser offer A-B sets of F-units where the B-unit is a dummy, but that's about it.
What I thought was nice about Athearn dummies was if you had an engine and wanted to change the railroad - like you had a Santa Fe F-7 and decided you were going to start modelling BN - you could go buy a dummy BN engine for like $10 and just swap bodies.
There is a much larger profit margin in powered engines.
Try looking at train shows or that online auction site.
I have a few dummies I picked up that way, and at least one I created from an old powered engine that no longer ran but looked OK.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Jim,
One choice is eBay but it depends on what dummy units you are after. Are we talking F-units, or more modern diesels? You didn't specify in your original post...
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Ironically and interestingly the classic Athearn F unit started as a dummy - they did not offer a powered version until much later. And the very simple underframe was all plastic with no place to mount a motor. It was marketed under the "Globe" tradename and was very cheap - about a dollar if memory serves. The engines came undecorated but painted -- solid gold for example. And so many of them were sold at that low price that Walthers was saved from going under just based on the huge sales of HO decals for the F7.
The point about amperage of those old Athearn motors is on point as few power packs of that era were really equipped to handle three powered Athearn locomotives on one train, but another factor was that a significant % of modelers back then were youthful and could afford way more dummies than powered units.
Now modelers are all extremely wealthy and can afford anything they want.
Dave Nelson
I've taken a bad-running Athearn Genesis F unit (yes they do exist) and turned it into a dummy unit.
dti406 as a motor only cost about another $10 to the price of the unit
as a motor only cost about another $10 to the price of the unit
And, if I remember the source correctly, that's the finished product price difference. The actual motor is only a few cents, as a part.
I'm always a bit surprised that "sound only" dummies never became a thing. There is a decent price difference between non sound DCC and sound DCC, plus you can do more with speakers when there is no motor in the way.
One other thought to add to the mix...
The level of detail on modern locomotives is quite expensive, and nobody would buy a dummy that was almost as expensive as a powered unit.
These units are no longer made in the USA, they are made in china as completed units, packaged and ready to sell. The difference between a DC and a DCC is a single chip and speaker added at the factory before it is packaged.
When units were made in USA they always had spare parts and could make up dummies at little cost to them. Today there are no spare parts and no dummies either. You want to keep things simple for the Chinese.
Chinese manufactureres do have spare parts and such for they units that they sell in China. Look up "Bachmann China" if you want an eye opener.Perhaps you can buy parts directly from China.
ROAR
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I remember reading an article about Rapido's "Cabbage" cars, and why they were powered, and the real Amtrak cabbage cars aren't, and his (Jason) reply was basically they'd still have to get full price for a "dummy" loco, because of all the detail, and that adding the motor was very minimal to the over all cost.
Mike.
My You Tube
Or Jason could be adding an extra twist on a never-before released model. Before Rapido even announced thiers, you had to kitbash one.
IMO, The Rapido F40PH's (Cabbages and Regular Versions) look really good!!!
dknelson but another factor was that a significant % of modelers back then were youthful and could afford way more dummies than powered units.Now modelers are all extremely wealthy and can afford anything they want. Dave Nelson
but another factor was that a significant % of modelers back then were youthful and could afford way more dummies than powered units.Now modelers are all extremely wealthy and can afford anything they want.
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
Jason of Rapido did address this question way back when and if you do a search you may find his response. He basically said that the price difference between the powered and unpowered loco was so small it wasn't worth the effort to make dummies.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."