Brass Locomotives


Greg@mnrr

Greg@mnrr

Section Hand
I'm just curious about who collects brass locomotives in light of the section of plastic locomotives which have the great details that used be only available by purchasing brass models.

I remember in the 1960's two hobby shops that had glass cases full of brass locomotives.

If you do have brass, do you run them on your layouts and are they painted or weathered?

Thanks.

Greg
 
Greg@mnrr said:
I'm just curious about who collects brass locomotives in light of the section of plastic locomotives which have the great details that used be only available by purchasing brass models.

I remember in the 1960's two hobby shops that had glass cases full of brass locomotives.

If you do have brass, do you run them on your layouts and are they painted or weathered?
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I used to get brass locomotives, but when Lifelike started their Proto-Heritage line, Trix, and BLI entered the market I saw the writing on the wall and sold of almost my entire collection for big bucks. The detail on these newer die-cast / plastic is better than brass from the 1960s, comparable to some of the brass in the 1970s and 80s. Since I don't really collect them but run them, any finer detail gets broken or damaged anyway. It is too bad that BLI never delivered their GN S-2 as that is one of the models I had in brass. I should have been able to buy 3 of the ones at their advertised price for what I sold the 1 for. sigh. In general, I find today's non-brass models a much better value.

I have still picked up a few brass recently. I finally broke down and got a Sunset NP 4-6-6-4 Z6. I still need to get it out and put it next to the Athearn Z8 that just came in the mail to do a really good comparison.
 
I had a boat load of OMI diesels, but I too saw the hand writing and sold them all. I made money on some of the odd engines C39-8, had four of them. I also had two B32-8s. I broke even on my five SD60s and lost on my factory painted CR SD80 MAC. I made money on my NS slug and lost on my NW GP 40. There were more, but I'll spare you the gory details.

Regards, Bobby
 
Greg@mnrr said:
If you do have brass, do you run them on your layouts and are they painted or weathered?
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Yes. And yes.

Then again, remember mine is primarily a traction layout, so there are still few plastic options. And I do have 12 Bachmann Peter Witt's, 8 Bachmann Birney's, and 4 Con-Cor PCC's.
 
ALL My brass is painted and re-quartered. My brass steam loco's are state of the art as they run on my layout. I put NWSL gear boxes on them and re-quartered the drivers. They run smooth and can pull, as I also swapped out the standard springs for the super ones and weighted the loco's as much as I could. I model(ed) the Norfolk and Western of the mid and late 1930's. I have 1 NWSL 2-8-0 W2, Sunset M class 4-8-0's, a Sunset K3 4-8-2, and a Z1 2-6-6-2. I also have 7 Oriental Ltd "Powerhouse" series 2-8-8-2 Y3's, that I remotered and added details to. All are early N&W loco's. I did the gearbox swap in the early 1990's if they needed it,and a better motor, if such existed. I also have a remotored Bowser USRA 4-8-2, and PRR I1 2-10-0 with long tender With a Helix Humper for extreme smoothness.
 
I have purchased a bunch of BLI and traditional brass. The BLI locomotives all work wonderfully. Come to think of it, none of the traditional brass is currently running. The intent is to have them all painted, weathered, lit and DCC. The main sticking point I have aside from the time to do all that work are lights. None of my brass has a single working headlight!
 
LOL!! I also had headlight issues. I use the Grain of Dust 1.2 volt bulbs inserted into a hole drilled in the back of an "MV Lens". Cooked a few until I got the resistor value correct. I ended up using a brilliant blue/white LED in my Bachmann J so it really could project a beam of light onto the tracks in a darkened room. Had some lit passenger cars for a while too. I thought out but never built working marker lights on my cabooses. I had more DCC installation headaches on my smaller brass though. An MDC "Old Timer" 2-8-0 has its decoder stuck to the ceiling of the cab.
 
I do not collect brass locomotives but do have a few. Most were bought before I finalized my layout plans. I have a Z-5 Yellowstone (2-8-8-4} and an NP challenger and a NP Northern, the 2626 Timlkin locomotive. Unfortunately, none of these really would have run on a railroad like my freelance railroad. I do have a couple of brass Consolidations, one I painted for the NP and another for the Logan Valley which are used on a regular basis on my layout. Can't see paying the price for brass if I can't use them on my layout. The first three I mentioned do get out of their box a few times a year and get lubricated and fun for a few hours to keep thing operating correctly.
 
I bought the brass locos I have, to run them, yes they are painted and will be weathered when I finally get them running.
 
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I only bought brass if it was something that was not made in any other material and I actually had an interest in it. Not a collector or an investor so yes, I run them and a few are painted. My brass power consists of 3 steamers, 5 diesels, 3 traction cars, and a Mack Bulldog railbus. Additionally I have a N&W transfer caboose and a log car.
 
I have a few old brass locos from years past. I never got around to converting them to DCC or having them professional painted.

If I could get them painted I would put them on display as their flanges are likely too tall for code 83.

The models I DO collect are from Micro MetaKit.

http://www.micro-metakit.com/index.php/en/

Frederick
 
Most of the brass I have is steam, and most are still DC, and unpainted, just clear coated ..basically display queens that sit in the display cabinet ...
I only have two that fit my layout era, and those are painted and very lightly weathered, and DCC non sound
 
I have a fairly large brass collection. Steam and passenger cars/head end equipment. Stuff I can't get in plastic. It is easier to work on than plastic/diecast steam. I paint it and do DCC conversions myself. It mostly runs well and it always has to be tuned to your layout. Some models are more finicky than others. No model has ever had flanges too tall for code 83 track. Thats an old rivarossi issue! The vintage stuff sometimes needs detail enhanced, and I've replaced a ton of Pittman motors with cans. It's just another part of the hobby you enjoy or you don't. I wanted prototypically accurate SP steam, so I had no choice when I started. Same with some passenger equipment. If you've got the mechanical skills, it's fun. If not it's very expensive and can be very frustrating.
 
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