Worn out power

[GP-9_Man11786]

Just curious, but what do y'all do with your old locomotives that have reached the end of their useful lives? Throw them out? Harvest them for spare parts? Retire them to static display? I know a lot of prototype railroads have " bone yards" out behind their shops.

[cacole]

We have a railroad museum scene on our club layout for such items.

[BroadwayLion]

Depends. I have some with wheels broken off, I can display them in the shop or in the dead-line.

Some are waiting around in boxes. some are harvested for parts, body parts only, mechanical parts from that error are worthless to a LION.

LION has always wanted to see a 1920s era layout with the newest diesel locomotive parked in the park with a fence around it.

ROAR

[rrinker]

Hmm, I guess I don't run mine enough, I've never had one 'wear out', and I have a few that are now over 40 years old. Heck my Dad's old Lionel from 1948 still runs fine - and by then they had already switched some fo the parts to plastic.

 Not a lot that cna happen, unless they fall on the floor. Wheels can wear - newer plated ones can have the plating wear off - no big deal to put on new wheelsets. Slippery plastic gears ought to last a VERY long time if properly lubricated. Replacements are avaialble to fit most anything if the do wear out. Plastic body shells shouldn;t wear out, unless they are left int he sun - excessive UV can and does damage many plastics.

         --Randy

[Texas Zepher]

GP-9_Man11786

Just curious, but what do y'all do with your old locomotives that have reached the end of their useful lives?

Hmmmm, in just over 45 years of having trains I don't have anything I've ever worn out.    There have been accidents, broken hooks,  and MRC decoder electrical problems that have sidelined equipment but never anything I would put in the worn out category.

So I don't know what I will do if I ever reach that milestone.   If anything it will probably be the valve gear on a steamer.  If so I'll just replace it and let it run again.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Some locos I've gotten over the years have worn out and been stripped for parts. What's left of them is usually tossed out. Others were too big for my layout. Some of these were traded or sold off. Others were either retired to display or stripped for parts.

[ATLANTIC CENTRAL]

I have retired a few in favor of better running drives, etc, but like several others have said, I have been at this over 40 years and never wore a loco out or even burned up a motor.

Sheldon

[UP 4-12-2]

In 40 years in this hobby, I only "wore out" two engines--and even they got replacement motors or a complete replacement power truck (and several pairs of new motor brushes) prior to retirement.  One was a Mantua Tyco Alco C-430, and one was the Model Power RF-16 shark nose, one of the first HO engines to have a can motor.  As a child, I put many hundreds--if not thousands--of hours on each engine.  The Model Power Shark received 3 can motors before the gears became rather sloppy.  It was a great engine for the time!

I used to run the Shark flat out, full speed, with a train of Mantua Tyco (metal bodied) passenger cars, for 150 or 200 laps at a time--well over 200 scale miles--non-stop.

Those engines were thrown out.

I've dropped or otherwise trashed a couple other engines which also were thrown out after being stripped for parts.

Of the more expensive, Genesis-style or equivalent engines that I have on hand now, if and when they ever wear out, they may become unpowered dummy units or shelf queens--but only if they survive fully intact, body-wise.

Unless you are running an operating public exhibit layout--8 hours per day or more--most of these engines aren't going to wear out in your lifetime.

John

[Burlington Northern #24]

to be honest I hope not to wear anything out, they may get old(my Kato F7A BN #724 is two years older than I am I think) but they'll still run until I have to replace something.

[Soo Line fan]

It depends on your definition of worn out. I replaced a few Atlas / Roco motors over the years and the engines continue to run. I consider that a part replacement.

I had a couple of Tyco diesel pancakes which were not worth fixing. And 2 Bachmann steam engines with the pancake motors which now sit on Bowser drives.

[UP 4-12-2]

To me "worn out" would be "so beat up/damaged as to not be worth doing a parts replacement, motor or otherwise" anymore.

If the model is cosmetically intact, and I still like it, then it might have continued value as a dummy unit.

I made an Athearn Genesis F-7 into an unpowered dummy because it was terrible at creating excessive track dirt as a powered unit.  Problem solved.

John

[Train Modeler]

Either rebuild or scavage for parts depending on the overall quality of the unit.   We have 1 we are thinking about making a wrecked loco-static display.

Richard

[joe323]

As long as the loco is cosmetically intact I will move it from the Staten Island West operating layout to the Stapleton Yard a static area soon to be re-built as a switching layout.  Once that happens They will go on the shelves.  If they are not cosmetically intact they get salvaged for parts and the remainder scraped.  Kind of like the 1:1 guys except there's no market for broken plastic junk.  I suppose I could throw it in the recycle bin but the city won't take it. 

[gmcrail]

The only loco I've ever had that wore out was a brass Pacific (I suspect from the 50's) that I picked up used in the late Sixties.  The flanges on the drivers got so thin and sharp you could literally have shaved with 'em.  That one got scrapped.  Wheelsets were, of course, unavailable.  Pity, since it was a great runner - very smooth and quiet.  But, nothing lasts forever, I guess...

[kbkchooch]

Rebuild or repower them! I still have the Lionel HO FA's I started with in 1964, along with the Tyco C430 that came along in 1974.   I also have several Mantua steamers that may have been repainted, or remotored but they are still turning the same wheel sets they were born with.

Now I have worn out track section, There were a few curves on my old layout where half the metal was missing off the outside rail! 

Just about everything can be rebuilt,,,,except maybe that Varney F unit that dropped 4 feet to a cement floor!

[BRAKIE]

I never had a engine to wear out even with heavy club use but,I keep my engines well maintain.

[twhite]

Maybe I'm lucky, but I've never had a locomotive wear out on me, and the oldest locomotives I've got date from 1964.  But then I have a pretty good sized mostly brass steamer fleet, and they all get interchanged, rather than over-run.  I've replaced and upgraded motors quite a few times, but I've never had to retire a loco because it simply wore out. 

Tom

[BroadwayLion]

twhite

Maybe I'm lucky, but I've never had a locomotive wear out on me, and the oldest locomotives I've got date from 1964. 

Poor LION! Him bought some brass equipment in Japan (while in the Navy). LION never owned a layout with big enough radius to run the passenger cars. The Locomotives are still in the orignal box with foam packing, but the foam has deteriorated and infiltrated the gear boxes. Him has never made them run, but has put wear on them trying to make them work. LION cannot sell them as in "new condition" or even in "good condition".

LION is planning on building a static display at New York Penn Station. But these are finished for the New York Central System, and so they will not do in NYP except under poetic license.

ROAR

[Texas Zepher]

UP 4-12-2

Unless you are running an operating public exhibit layout--8 hours per day or more--most of these engines aren't going to wear out in your lifetime.

It will be interesting to see how quickly the locomotives at the museum wear out.  They went from weekend operation only to every day (except Monday) during the summer months a couple years ago.  So far no worn out locomotives.