Post a couple photos of the brass loco.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
You don't buy locomotives to pleas him, you buy them because you like them!
If it doesn't work on your layout, you can build a fence around it and display it in a park!
The LION has lotsa locomotives that either do not run, or that he no longer has any real use for. And they really are not all that valuable. Some Rivarossi GG1s in there too. The LION is going to build a little chunk of Penn Station (NYP) under a corner of his layout and will display all of the passenger cars and locomotives that I no longer run. They'll all be lit up and look like they are ready to leave.
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
A lot of people don't like the old Rivarossi steam engines. A lot of them needed adjustment right out of the box, and some were even nearly impossible to be made to run smoothly. When adjusted right, they're actually excellent runners.
I have one of the 4005 Big Boys. It's true that new Big Boys from Athearn, MTH, Trix, and BLI are far beyond the Rivarossi in detail and mechanical quality, but those old ones still look very nice and run well. I had to tweak quite a few things in mine, but it's now a very strong and smooth runner with the stock gearing and motor. They're worth more than the hobby shop gives them credit for.
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I would guess the older Rivarossi Big Boys running are worth around $125.00. Depending on what you paid for the box, more than likely you did pretty good.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
I run a Rivarossi Cab Forward from the mid '80s and it runs fine. True, it's not as spiffy as my BLI version but it ran well enough to deserve a motor decoder addition. It did not seem (so far...) worth spending the money on Tsunami Sound decoder and speaker installation though. This way I have a running/affordable AC-12 to go with my BLI A-4/5. If yours runs nicely, enjoy it.
Spare parts are getting harder to find unless the newer Hornby version uses the same parts and will have them available to older loco owners. The "weak spot" seems to be the spring loaded power pick ups that lose their springiness (springyness?) over many years. There have been some jury rigging uses of hardware store springs as replacements articles, etc. in the magazines over the years.
I've found $85 to 150 to be the average price range for the older Rivarossis-at least for the Cab Forward.
Raised on the Erie Lackawanna Mainline- Supt. of the Black River Transfer & Terminal R.R.
Hi Guys, So I tried to get the Big Boy to run and it wouldnt go. I could hear a hum from the motor but thats it. The brass engine wouldnt budge either. All the other locos would move though. Once I figure out how to attach the pics of the brass engine I will do so. Thanks for the replies. :)
A lot of older engines just sit there and hum or act dead. 90% of the time they have been stored in an attic or basement for 20 years and the owner dies and they are thrown into a box by relatives and auctioned off.
I bought a brass WestSide D&RGW K-27 back in the 70's in hopes of a future narrow gauge layout. I ran it about 20 minutes back them on a small test track, leaving it in its original brass. I then stored it in my attic from 1978 until five months ago when I packed up all my HO stuff and decided to build that much put off HOn3 layout.
Well, that pretty k-27 engine wouldn't respond at all to power. A take apart showed that any lube that was ever part of the engine was now solid gunk. A pull apart and wash down in tri-chloro and toothbrushing freed up the works and now it runs just fine, but not as fine as the 2 Blackstone C-19's and 2 Blacksotne K-27's I recently bought. Looks like it is back in storage for the brass as an investment item as opposed to a runner. I would have to "can" motor the thing, perhaps re-gear it and after the Blackstones, throw in a Tsunami sound system to bring it up to snuff. No thanks
Try taking your locked up engines apart and really pouring on a little TLC in the clean and lube department. I have a Rivarossi Big boy I bought, new, on sale in 1966 for $35.99. I stored it for 10 years and had to lube and adjust the thing as it, too, was locked up after long term storage.
Richard
If I can't fix it, I can fix it so it can't be fixed
NGN, Thanks I'll give it a shot. I was thinking on the Big Boy the pickups might be bad. I never thought to check those. A dumb question, what is tri-chloro? LIke I said I am a newbie at this model RR stuff. The only reason I got into it was my boy wanted a train set and I thought the auction one would have been perfect for him. On another note I figured out the brass loco or is it brass? It is a Gilbert American Flyer. With some research I found that I have the Engine, the green box car, the tie car, the caboose and the transformer. The only thing I am missing is the box and the track. Here is a pic I found on the internet that is what I have.
1:1:1 Tri-chloroethylene A classic degreaser/solvent. Considered nasty now as are all chemicals including sugar and salt. I just use it because it works.
The America Flyer- Gilbert is white metal, ZAMAG, pot metal, etc. It is not brass. Brass locos are worth hundreds of dollars, as a rule.
Ok cool thanks... The guy that owned the box before me apparently collected during the 60's and 70's so all the rolling stock and engines are from that period. There is also a neat rivarossi Northern Pacific 2500 U25C. It runs great. There are also some old lionel texaco tanks and other neat rolling stock. I called my LHS and they have a mechanic that can go through the engines and get them running for me. I am very inexperienced and also I dont really have the time to get them running. How much should one pay to get them running? Is the old Gilbert engine worth it?
Its just me, but I wouldn't pay one dime to have an old rivarossi fixed by someone else because its just too easy to investigate and fix on my own. Be prepared to pay about twice the new list price of the original engine to get it serviced. ($100.00) This assumes the LHC's repair guy is a pro putting bread on his table and not a retired hobbyist rail doing fun piece work on the side who thinks $25.00 is big money.
I have no idea on the Gilbert item. But, I probably would'nt throw much money at it. Again, I would tear it apart as a learning experience. If it went south under my hands, I would figure I'm not out much.
Regardless, I bet both fixes, assuming nothing is burned out, are going to be very easy.
If it is more for your son, I would hold on to the older stuff for future use and buy a new starter set. Newer engines as a whole are more durable. Trains are just like cars, older cars are cheaper but will need more work as parts ware out. If you can do your own repairs, you can save money. On the other hand if you buy a none running car and have to pay to have it fixed, well it could e a money pit.
How old is the young man?
The Big Boy is fairly easy to work on. The shell is held on by the bell screw, a screw under the middle dome, and a screw under the firebox. Everything is pretty straight forward after that. Here's a diagram, if you need one: http://hoseeker.net/AHMRivarossiassembly/ahm4884bigboypg01.jpg. It looks complex, but it's really not hard to get inside and work on each part.
Even if you don't have much time, I would suggest trying to repair it yourself first. Once you know how to take something apart and put it back together, you can do it again more and more easily as maintenance is needed. All model trains need maintenance now and then to get rid of dirt build-up and be re-oiled. Now's as good a time to learn as any.
Thanks guys! The little guy is 7 so I am keeping it very basic for him. He picked out a engine a couple nights ago and loves it. So we will see, hopefully its not a phase for him but becomes a passion. I will give it a shot at cleaning and taking about the other 2 locos. I'll keep ya posted! :)
I have an "older" Rivarossi Big Boy and it now runs great. I put a Tsunami heavy steam with the new Big Boy whistle and it sounds great with a 1.06"HB speaker up front coming out of the smoke stacks and a big HB speaker in the tender facing down. We added pick ups under the trucks(using brass wire and PC board) so that all the drivers pick up. We are going to add tiny SMD LEDs to the number boards and in the future replace the plastic class lights with working versions.
The humm could be that the motor is binding so I wouldn't try to run it until you get the top off(as I recall 3 screws-- 2 from the bottom on each end and 1 under the sand dome on the top middle).
The tender tended to derail until we took out some of the middle wheelsets. I am thinking of replacing some of those with NWSL.
I have a 20 year old Riv. Big Boy that has the motor in the cab. When I bought it, I thought it was just plain COOL! Then we had "pulse" features on our antiquated power packs that would "nudge" just about anything! Now I run mostly newer DCC with sound, but I still get a KICK out of running the old "pull anything" dinosaur around the track! Just can't part with it. Have modified some engineer and fireman figures that hang out the windows to conceal the motor.
Mike C.