Hello Everyone!
My name is Derrick, and I'm kinda new here.
After a few years, I've decided to get to try and get back into the hobby. Today I went to a local hobby shop and purchased two locomotives and a few rail cars (all used). I'm waiting to get the track.
I hope to start work on my first layout when I get back home from California.
Here are some images:
I bought the UP steam locomotive for $99, the DDa40x for $69, and my first assortment of rail cars for a total of $92.
The UP steam loco seems to have some details missing, and the seller said something about the gears grinding or snapping when the loco runs, and told me to be careful while running it. He did have the gears (and motor, I think) replaced; I found the service order inside the box. The steam loco originally went for $139.
The DDa40x is missing some detailing.
Two of the railcars are missing some detailing and one wheel.
First question: Did I do ok when I bought thes things? Was the price right?
Second: Where can I find parts like handrails or other detailing parts?
Thanks!
-Derrick
Welcome Derrick!
You have come to the right place with your questons. You seem to have selected UP as you road, which is a good start. You do need to decide if you want to model a specific timeframe. The DD comes fron a much later time than the steam loco, but that could be run as an excursion train in the DD era.
I see that some of your cars have Kadee couplers and some have horn-hooks; those will need to be changed to Kadees for compatibility.
Do you have a local hobby shop? That would be the place to start talking about the missing parts. Do you know the manufactuer of the freight cars? There are a number of companies that make replacement wheel sets, many people have a standard of replaceing all plastic wheels with metal ones. Intermountain is a good brand for this
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Welcome Derrick .
There are lots of great people on here that can help you get your steam loco up to par.
What make are your two locos/ Bachmann?, Athearn?, or ? This will help us answer questions you may have on operation, noises, gearing, maintainence, parts, details, etc.
By the looks of them, your layout will need some generous radius, especially that DD.
Mike.
My You Tube
Welcome to the forums and the hobby.
If the engines are from Bachmann, they are one of the few firms left that actually have a spare parts catalog. Here is the online portal
http://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=66
Another popular make is Athearn and they too have parts for sale. I do not think either of your engines is Athearn but I may be in error.
http://www.athearn.com/Search/Default.aspx?CatId=THCR
Buying "previously enjoyed" model trains has its rewards and risks. Even if these two particular engines sit on a shelf for a while while you learn the ropes of maintaining and repairing, I have learned not to get impatient and discard stuff too quickly. Somebody always wants something. This is very much a "learn by doing" hobby which is why we love it so (usually )
Dave Nelson
I can't see your pics right now because photobucket is slower than stink.
I've bought some used stuff at train shows and end up kicking myself for not noticing various problems or defects. If it's an easy fix, that's Ok, but there is no need to create a restoration project on every rail car when what you really want is to get things running.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Hello, and thanks for the quick responses!
To answer everyone's questions/responses:
George - I'm a huge fan of the UP, as well as Santa Fe, Burlington Northern, and their merger, BNSF. I also like the DB, SNCF, as well as some British, Australian, and Japanese railways. But it's mainly the UP. Maybe 'cause they made such crazy huge locomotives at one point?
Because I have so many different interests, my layout will be freelanced.
I do have a hobby shop nearby, in fact, that's where I got everything from. However, I don't know how long he's going to stay open. If he closes, the nearest shops that I am aware of are in San Antonio and Houston.
Now that you mentioned it, I'm now thinking about getting those metal wheel sets...
Mike - Yep, they need some wide spaces. I'm pretty sure the minimum radius is 24", which'll be perfect for what I'm doing.
Both locos are Bachmann. I'm not so sure about the railcars though....
Dave - I looked at the links you gave me (thanks for those!). I found the DDa40x parts listing, but alas, they don't seem to have the handrails separate from the chassis. *sighs* Also the motors seem to be different (that might actually be a good thing).
Henry - Very good point. Nothing's more frustrating than running into a bunch of self inflicted setbacks. Me knows that allllllll too well.....
Hope I answered everything!
Derrick
Derrick Thanks for posting the pics and I think I forgot to welcome you to the forum. Photobucket frequently misbehaves, nothing you can do about in except use Imgur, which is a little tricky.
I might have been tempted by the steamer but my railroad is going to be a branch line, and I won't have radii for either engine. If you decide those log cars don't look right behind the DD let me know.
Join us in Jeffries Trackside Diner in the general forum where we chew the fat about trains and life, while skirting politics, religion and other inflammatory subjects.
Blackwolf_Deritsuku I'm going to be doing something different with the log cars
Maybe a branch line coming down from the woods to interchange with your main line???
Hi Derrick!
Welcome to the forums!!
Those are certainly some impressively large locomotives. I hope you can get them running satisfactorily.
Just a couple of words of caution. Although Bachmann may claim that they will run on 24" curves, before building a layout I would do a mock up to see if that is actually true. You will also need to do some research on turnout sizes. I suspect those locomotives won't be happy with #4s or maybe even #5s. In addition, your track work will need to be impeccable or you may suffer a lot of very annoying derailments. Things like 'S' curves need to be avoided (although sometimes that can be difficult). There is nothing more frustrating than not being able to run your trains consistently.
Anyhow, please don't let me scare you off! You are in for a lot of fun! Post your track plan too. There are several very knowledgeable layout designers on the forums.
Regards,
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Dave - I'm still working on a plan. In fact, I'll try my best to describe what I'm trying to do. Hopefully I don't have too many issues when trying to get the idea from imagination to reality, and I don't scare you guys away...
Because I have so many interests in so many different railways, I'm planning to do a freelanced layout. This layout will depict an imaginary country, which I'm thinking about calling Alithia (the name is not final - suggestions, maybe?)
The Alithian council regulates and maintains the rail lines, but companies that are known as "independent transport contractors" are the ones that runs the trains. These contractors own their own locomotives, some of them own one, others may own several and oversee a large rail transport company, depending on how successful they are with their contracts.
Each contractor goes to the yard office to see which loads are available, and bid if necessary.
In a way, the locomotives are kind of like a "status symbol," with steam locos being the most expensive (for obvious reasons), electrics kind of in the middle, and diesels ranging from in the middle to the cheapest. However, most, if not all locomotives, are secondhand items.
I'm modeling an era where the country is kind of starting out - it's only maybe 60 years old at the most. It'll be a bit present day, a bit future. This will also allow me to run locos from the 1920's to present.
I got inspiration to do this from an old article in The Model Railroader in which a layout was built to depict an imaginary railway that was built on the moon.
George - I'm planning on repurposing the log cars for a different use
Hello Derrick,
.
Buying used items is always a risk. Being new, just buy what you like. It looks like that is what you did. You will need large radius curves to run those models. KATO makes excellent HO scale sectional track in a radius over 30". I would recommend buying a loop of that to run the trains on to get started. The normal KATO power pack might not be enough to get that DD to move. It only has about one amp of power.
As suggested, a local hobby shop is a great place to start.
Have fun!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Blackwolf_DeritsukuI'm still working on a plan.
Your plan sounds very creative. Not exactly your 'run of the mill' layout. It will be interesting to follow your progress.