Greetings.
I plan on using a Walthers Trainline GP9m and GP15-1 as locos on my semi-freelanced shortline railroad. Althought they have run well the few times I tried them, I hear they have problems over the long run with the motor and electrical connections. Is this true and if so, is it worth putting the shells on better chassis from other manufacturers? I like the body style and dont want to change that but obviously performance is also important. Thanks for any help.
Modeling whatever I can make out of that stash of kits that takes up half my apartment's spare bedroom.
The Trainline engines seem to run OK. I have a pair of the GP9's and they were easy to convert to DCC. I suspect some folks are talking about the pickup wipers that rub against the wheels. Even the Kato SD40-2(first run) had pickup issues. A little cleaning should help the Trainline engines.
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Trainline locos have a pretty good drive from What I've seen. The trucks seem a little out of scale but the locos are nice. They look good especially with a bunch of additional detail parts.
Alex
I just bought 6 undecorated Trainline GP9M's. The only thing I do not like about them is the out of scale fat bodies. They are not at wide as the old BB Athearns, but are a tad over width. It was not enough of a dislike though to prevent me from buying 4 of them, in one order and then two more 3 days later. (the undecorated models are on sale right now)
My LHS has had an IC Trainline GP9M on thier club layout running almost continuosly during store hours for 2 years. It finally quit a few months back. But a customer took it and fixed it and is running it on his layout at home now.
What can I say, I really like them. I think they will run even better with DCC than DC too.
I just wish that the 36:1 regear kits for the Athearns would fit in their trucks. Other than two Trainline F40PH's and two Model Power E8's, these are the only "Non Athearn BB Driven" freight locomotives I own. I will not be able to mix them very easily with the other regeared locos.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
my05hammer wrote: My LHS has had an IC Trainline GP9M on thier club layout running almost continuosly during store hours for 2 years. It finally quit a few months back. But a customer took it and fixed it and is running it on his layout at home now.
My LHS also had a WC one running on there loop of track. That thing had been running as long as I can remember and was always consistently every day. It finally quit about a year ago, but I'm pretty sure some one bought it and rebuilt her.
I have a WC one, and it's a good runner, still runs after atleast 9 years. But it's time for a body job.
My Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/JR7582 My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wcfan/
If memory serves that GP9M shell is actually quite an old casting, from the trainset line from Cox. The Walthers showroom often runs these things all day long and they seem fairly sturdy. Wasn't Trainline an effort by Walthers to create a trainset line that is more durable and satisfying than the really cruddy stuff the discount stores sell at Christmas? At the end of the day it's still Trainset quality and should be judged by that standard.
Dave Nelson
There are two Walthers Trainline GP9m's on my shortline and two GP15's in C&NW in that road. They are excellent runners but are geared slower so don't run well with Athearn locomotives.
The body shells are quite good and as mentioned the GP9m has a slightly overwidth hood. I replaced the handrails on the GP9m's with Athearn GP9 handrails and the couplers on all four units with Kadee's
The truck frames could be better but are passable. Might see if the frames from Athearn would work. The detail is much better
I have 3 used for transfer trains from the UP (staging) to my yard. Two gp15's and one B40-8. I have added digitrax decoders to them and also hard wired all of the connections from the trucks to the decoder.
These 3 are very reliable and have given me no troubles over the years. They have great low speed control, much better than any of my Athearn BB's or RTR and on par with the early proto 1000 or 2000 units and they are much quieter than the Athearns similiar to the proto's.
The detail is about the same level as the Athearn BB's, but I am not a rivet counter so it doesn't bother me at all (besides the proto's details keep getting broken off).
I haven't seen them at my LHS in a looooong time, I got mine off Ebay. You can pick them up fairly cheap on Ebay, I got mine for no more than $15 and I even got one for $8 (plus shipping of course).