Locomotive Kit

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D

Dougget

Member
Hi,
I recently saw an Athearn locomotive kit at my LHS. It came with two gondola cars, also in kit form. It all came in a blue box, maybe 7" x 10".

The box was open, but the gons were still in pieces, and the locomotive had no railings or couplers installed. I have no doubt that it is unused... but probably not new.

Any idea how old it might be? What's a fair price?

Thanks,
Doug
 
no pictures... I think the loco was an SW1000 or SW1500. A 4 axle switcher with 8 wheel drive. It was black and yellow with no lettering. Black on top of the cab and body with yellow sides. I think it had a number on the sides of the cab area, 52 maybe... It's DC powered with horn couplers if that helps.

I've been google searching for images, and ebay searching for a kit like this to get a sense of price/value. Did kits like this even exist, or did my local hobby shop just bundle this stuff together?

Thanks,
Doug
 


I don't recall ever seeing an Athearn kit combination like you describe but I might be wrong. Best guess would be if they did at one time offer it then the 7 x 10 inch blue box you describe would have the older Athearn name and printing style on it with a semi descriptive label of what might be inside. Just a plain blue box with no info on it would lead me to believe somebody grouped the 3 kits to sell as one item. Nothing at all wrong with that of course.

As far as age goes the switcher has been in production for ages as a blue box piece. The first issues had no flywheels on the motor. They began using flywheels sometime around the late 70's or very early 80's as best as I can remember. I'm sure one of the folks here can be more specific as to exactly when the flywheels started to show up.

Price wise the engine kit from that era was around $15 with flywheels and the gon kits ran about $2.98.
 
This sounds like an older Athearn blue box kit. I've picked these up in the past for around $30 - $40 at the highest, $15 - $20 at the low end.
 
It sounds like you have Athearn Special Edition set no. 2208, "Philadelphia, Bethlehem & New England SW7 powered and two 50' gondolas". This site shows it in stock for $46 on sale, (Reg $56.50). I don't remember exactly when the Special Edition sets came out, but it was at least a decade ago. As far as a fair price is concerned, the link above might help answer that question.
 
Dougget said:
Black on top of the cab and body with yellow sides. I think it had a number on the sides of the cab area, 52 maybe...
Click to expand...

Well 52 would be right for a PBNE SW7, would bet this it what it looked like:

DSC09450.jpg


DSC09459.jpg


Would be nice if I found two of those
 
You guys are amazing. That sounds like exatly the right kit. Yellow and black locomotive with a pair of orange gons. The real SW7's look exactly like the model, the number did have an oval around it.

Anyway, the kit is the flywheel model. When that was mentioned in one of the responses, I recall the guy in the shop commented on the flywheel drive. The price at my LHS is $42. Sounds like a good deal.

I think I'll go pick it up tomorrow.

Thanks for all of the detailed info.
Doug
 
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Dougget said:
You guys are amazing. That sounds like exatly the right kit. Yellow and black locomotive with a pair of orange gons. The real SW7's look exactly like the model, the number did have an oval around it.

Anyway, the kit is the flywheel model. When that was mentioned in one of the responses, I recall the guy in the shop commented on the flywheel drive. The price at my LHS is $42. Sounds like a good deal.

I think I'll go pick it up tomorrow.

Thanks for all of the detailed info.
Doug
Click to expand...

http://www.trainweb.org/pbne/

This site has more info about the line. I have to ask but are you local to this short line railroad?
 
The two locomotives in the pictures are actually MP-15's, not SW-7's. Athearn called their version of the SW-7 an SW-1500 right up until the a few years end of the BB line, but it was really an SW-7. The PBNE has a bunch of SW-7's.
 


UP2CSX said:
The two locomotives in the pictures are actually MP-15's, not SW-7's. Athearn called their version of the SW-7 an SW-1500 right up until the a few years end of the BB line, but it was really an SW-7. The PBNE has a bunch of SW-7's.
Click to expand...

I was referring to the color, I don't have any of the NW or SW pictures of PBNE's since they don't run them much anymore :cool:
 
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Stopped by the LVRM (PBNE) 'Micro Yard' heh and took a shot of the of some of their resting locos, here's #51

DSC02727.png
 
Tom,
The kit I saw was the same one you just picked up. #51 with two gons. I went back to my LHS on Friday and bought the kit. I set up a 6' length of track on my 'in progress' benchwork to run the engine a bit. They ran it in the shop for me, but I wanted to run it at home too. Works great!

I need to install the detail part of the engine and assemble the gons. So far I have painted the railings and grabirons black. I put the gon subframes together and installed the couplers. The coupler are tight. I'll need to lube them, or buy some new ones that have more spring. I'll post some pics after I get #51 detailed.

Doug
 
Cory,
My local shop is Despatch Junction in East Rochester. If you are within a couple of hours, I would say it's worth the drive. Mostly O and HO, but also some G and N scale. New and used. Grab some lunch at Wendys, tool around the train shop for a couple of hours, get some cookies at the bakery across the street. Make a day of it :)
Doug
 
Dougget said:
Cory,
My local shop is Despatch Junction in East Rochester. If you are within a couple of hours, I would say it's worth the drive. Mostly O and HO, but also some G and N scale. New and used. Grab some lunch at Wendys, tool around the train shop for a couple of hours, get some cookies at the bakery across the street. Make a day of it :)
Doug
Click to expand...

It's the only shop between buffalo and Syracuse that I haven't visited yet :P Good to know it's worth the stop!
 
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