Minimum Spare Parts Required


Smudge617

Smudge617

Well-Known Member
I've decided that I really need to start acquiring various spare/replacement parts that I will, at some point, need, to maintain my, (somehow,) ever growing collection of HO scale Locomotives. Alcomotive has kindly agreed to help me in regard to certain parts I want/need, but I think it unfair of me to ask him to assist me in this lot

As most of you are aware getting parts for these Loco's is both time consuming for me in that I have to find someone who has the part(s) and expensive in that Postal rates to the UK aren't exactly cheap anymore, and buying one part one week and then finding I need another part a month later is very expensive. I'm not talking of major parts, (Motors or chassis frames), small parts, Motor mounts, worm/gear bearings or gear covers, that sort of thing that can easily be worn or broken.

I could simply buy Non Runners and strip them for parts, but the problem with that is:
A) Maybe the part I want is the reason it's a non runner, so now I have two non runners (plus a Loco I don't actually want.)
B) A non runner is around £30 which, if all I need is a drive shaft or U/J it's a very expensive way of getting one.
C) I end up with a shed load of parts, I will never need (the front or rear weights come to mind.)

So my plan is to order as many (small) spare/replacement parts that I am likely to need, from as few suppliers as possible in the US.
As I have Athearn, Kato, Walthers (Lifelike and Proto) it's probably going to be a long list.

So Gentlemen, what, in your vast modelling experience would be the most likely parts I would need.

So far, I have

motor mounts
Square Bearings
Worm/gear covers
???????????????
 
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I have many different makes of locomotives, Atlas, Athearn (Blue Box, RTR and Genesis), Walther's, Scaletrains, Kato and P2K. I only purchase brand new locos and the only parts that I have ever had to replace are the axle gears in the P2K locos. So that is the limit of my recommendations. Obviously if I purchased [ab]used models, I might have more recommendations.
Unless you lose one, the brass square bearings should last forever under normal running conditions.
 
santafewillie said:
I have many different makes of locomotives, Atlas, Athearn (Blue Box, RTR and Genesis), Walther's, Scaletrains, Kato and P2K. I only purchase brand new locos and the only parts that I have ever had to replace are the axle gears in the P2K locos. So that is the limit of my recommendations. Obviously if I purchased [ab]used models, I might have more recommendations.
Unless you lose one, the brass square bearings should last forever under normal running conditions.
Click to expand...
Yeah, they should, but I'm stuck with 2nd hand, I don't have one that's straight out the box.
And pple just don't look after the one's they have, I've a few that have come from collectors or modeller, most are near new condition, the others usually somethings broken on it.
 
A friend of mine in another hobby told me something that, while kind of brutal, probably states clearly what you should do.
"Suck it up, spend the money, and do it right the first time".
In other words, you should probably stop bargain hunting, and buying used stuff. It'll be better in the long run, instead of buying 4 used trains that need parts made from unobtainium, buy one new train that you can be reasonably certain won't need anything in order to run.
A train you pay 30 pounds for, that ends up needing another 50 pounds of parts between the item, VAT and shipping, is not much less than simply buying a new one for 100 pounds, and be done with it.
 
Smudge617 said:
I've decided that I really need to start acquiring various spare/replacement parts that I will, at some point, need, to maintain my, (somehow,) ever growing collection of HO scale Locomotives.
Click to expand...
That is just one hard request. One can almost never guess what part is going to go bad. One could stock up on all sorts of things, but have different things go wrong, and one still ends up with a shed full of unused parts.

If you could focus on a certain line, and then would only need parts for that particular brand. But even then, Athearn has made many variations of their drives through the years so even that has issues of too many of the wrong one.

I have accumulated so many "project" locomotives through the last 60 years, I will probably never get to them all. So I generally when I buy used, I buy very specific things for a specific reason, or I buy new. No more projects for me.
 
bnsf971 said:
A friend of mine in another hobby told me something that, while kind of brutal, probably states clearly what you should do.
"Suck it up, spend the money, and do it right the first time".
In other words, you should probably stop bargain hunting, and buying used stuff. It'll be better in the long run, instead of buying 4 used trains that need parts made from unobtainium, buy one new train that you can be reasonably certain won't need anything in order to run.
A train you pay 30 pounds for, that ends up needing another 50 pounds of parts between the item, VAT and shipping, is not much less than simply buying a new one for 100 pounds, and be done with it.
Click to expand...
I think that's a little unfair, I don't have the budget to buy new all the time, I wish I did, nearly all I have bought are runners, yes some have problems, usually minor and invariably solved by a good clean, a degrease, and conversion to DCC.
There was nothing wrong with the F-45, till I got my hands on it, if I hadn't dropped it, all it would have needed spares wise, are the motor mounts and a decoder installing, and I could have just used sealant to hold the motor, which I would have probably done if not for Tom and his generosity.
 
I dropped a PCM Y6b and sent to BLI for repairs. The steamer was purchased new, and was maybe four years old when I dropped it. They had the parts, cost me USD$40, including return postage. That was in about 2010. It's probably about $45 now, and they're still making the same locomotive.

On the same occasion, I also dropped a Trix 2-8-2. I managed to glue back a couple of details I knocked off, but the unique drawbar was a gonner. I ordered the part from Trix USA, had it in maybe two weeks, and had the repair done in a jiffy.

I lost the tender truck retaining screw on a Platinum Series, early BLI, K4 Pacific. Dunno where it fell, but the tender began to track funny and when I lifted it the truck dropped. BLI had one and sent it to me. No charge.

Lost the cap to a BLue Line (BLI) Class A 2-6-6-4's Worthington feedwater heater. I asked, they sent, no charge.

I fiddled with the tender of a refurbished Niagara, BLI, and must have installed an axle backwards. Somehow it fried the decoder. I sent it back when they agreed to take a look, cost me $30 in shipping from Canada, they returned it with the axle in the correct position, new QSI decoder, no cost to me.

----------------------------------------

So, it's a hobby. We purchase $200-$5000 dollars worth of hobby stuff a year, depending on who we are. Rod Stewart, maybe $40K....who knows. But we do spend money. To me, if I break a K4, which I must have, then I simply pay for another one. There are many out there. If I can't find one, or if BLI no longer carries the light board for the headlight of an original Paragon series Niagara, which is the case, then I do without or figure out how to convert what exists to an LED board, with resistor. I'll tackle that, a first ever time for me, later this spring. I have another P2 Niagara, and BLI still has scads of them around....somewhere.

I'm not going to stock parts. The inventory alone for my 26 different steamers across five different brands is just not what I want to do in the hobby. Life's too short, and there are scads of new locomotives of many descriptions available, maybe at full price, maybe twice that, but if
I must have it, I shall.
 
I have a plastic container that has many compartments that I kept common replacement parts like motor brushes, couplers, locomotive wheels sets, coupler box covers, wheel puller, assortment of screws (most used of all spare parts) an assortment of springs.

I just lost a gear from a Bachman 70 tonner that is impossible to find or order from Bachmann so a replacement engine will have to be located on E-Bay. I'll use the engine as spare parts and exchange the shells between my custom decaled locomotive and the replacement. I have two of 70 tonners that work in a consist.

I been ordering spare hand rails when I order a locomotive since it seems that I always break a hand rail after the prats are no longer available from the manufacture.

Greg
 
Greg@mnrr said:
I have a plastic container that has many compartments that I kept common replacement parts like motor brushes, couplers, locomotive wheels sets, coupler box covers, wheel puller, assortment of screws (most used of all spare parts) an assortment of springs.

I just lost a gear from a Bachman 70 tonner that is impossible to find or order from Bachmann so a replacement engine will have to be located on E-Bay. I'll use the engine as spare parts and exchange the shells between my custom decaled locomotive and the replacement. I have two of 70 tonners that work in a consist.

I been ordering spare hand rails when I order a locomotive since it seems that I always break a hand rail after the prats are no longer available from the manufacture.

Greg
Click to expand...
That's what I'm trying to do, I've got at least 3 that were spares or repair, but amazing how little maintenance people do, usually it's stupid thing like "poor runner" clean contact and wheels, stuff like that, so now I'm down to one.

If you want, I can contact Bachmann Europe and see about the gear you need for the 70 Tonner.
 
JazzDad said:
I used to collect motor mowers from the kerbside before the binmen came. Often it was something as simple as a flywheel key to get it running again. Then I'd give it to someone in need. Same with bicycles (well, not a key).

Off-topic? Say, isn't that a rabbit?
Click to expand...
??????
 
Over the years I have collected a bunch of spare parts from a variety of Mantua steam locomotive kits and r-t-r that I kitbashed into a variety of other engines. This includes 2-56 self-tapping screws, which are far better for tapping holes in zamac than actual taps...far less prone to breaking. I also have collected other parts from those kits, including open-frame motors, drivers and trucks. Unfortunately, I am running out or have run out of some stuff.

I recently bought a complete chassis for a Mantua Mikado, with the steam chest for the Pacific boiler (smaller smokebox). I had a Pacific boiler, but found that it had a lot of metal where the motor and gearing would go (the Mike boiler has clearance). Wanting a light mike, I used an endmill chucked in my drillpress, and ground out enough to clear a gearbox I happened to have in my parts drawers...last one! A can motor and some drive shaft components from Athearn diesels worked out okay. I bought a short tender on ebay, and have a nice light mike. (Like I needed another!)

I then foolishly bit on a "complete Mantua Mikado and long haul tender with the six-wheel trucks. Opened the box only to find the plastic pilot was shattered, the running gear had a hitch in its gitalong from out-of-quarter drivers, and several other discrepancies. It was advertised as "an assembled kit". Wonder who the person was who assembled it? One axle on each of the tender trucks was bent, and not readily replaceable. A look in the parts collection revealed NO spares, so I bought a set on ebay. By replacing drivers one after another, I found a combination that had all in quarter. (I do have a quartering jig, but it is a pain to do. The open-frame motor that came with the beast was toast, but I have a drawer full taken when I replaced them with can motors. The locomotive now runs okay, good enough for a beginner's layout, if someone wants another of my spares. Challenging, but fun!

These will probably be my last of these projects, as I don't have room for all of them on my pike now.

Good luck with finding parts!
 
Covers for gearboxes ...those dang snap covers (on the bottom of the wheels) sometimes fly and rarely (just now) had one break...anyone know where to get ones for P2K's/Atlas blue box standard gear boxes? I can steel from one that is still in my "to update to DCC" box, but eventually I will have to pay the piper... Smudge did you ever find a supplier (other than usual looking for old ones at train shows?)... I can't find on Walthers...
 
Selector said:
I dropped a PCM Y6b and sent to BLI for repairs. The steamer was purchased new, and was maybe four years old when I dropped it. They had the parts, cost me USD$40, including return postage. That was in about 2010. It's probably about $45 now, and they're still making the same locomotive.

On the same occasion, I also dropped a Trix 2-8-2. I managed to glue back a couple of details I knocked off, but the unique drawbar was a gonner. I ordered the part from Trix USA, had it in maybe two weeks, and had the repair done in a jiffy.

I lost the tender truck retaining screw on a Platinum Series, early BLI, K4 Pacific. Dunno where it fell, but the tender began to track funny and when I lifted it the truck dropped. BLI had one and sent it to me. No charge.

Lost the cap to a BLue Line (BLI) Class A 2-6-6-4's Worthington feedwater heater. I asked, they sent, no charge.

I fiddled with the tender of a refurbished Niagara, BLI, and must have installed an axle backwards. Somehow it fried the decoder. I sent it back when they agreed to take a look, cost me $30 in shipping from Canada, they returned it with the axle in the correct position, new QSI decoder, no cost to me.

----------------------------------------

So, it's a hobby. We purchase $200-$5000 dollars worth of hobby stuff a year, depending on who we are. Rod Stewart, maybe $40K....who knows. But we do spend money. To me, if I break a K4, which I must have, then I simply pay for another one. There are many out there. If I can't find one, or if BLI no longer carries the light board for the headlight of an original Paragon series Niagara, which is the case, then I do without or figure out how to convert what exists to an LED board, with resistor. I'll tackle that, a first ever time for me, later this spring. I have another P2 Niagara, and BLI still has scads of them around....somewhere.

I'm not going to stock parts. The inventory alone for my 26 different steamers across five different brands is just not what I want to do in the hobby. Life's too short, and there are scads of new locomotives of many descriptions available, maybe at full price, maybe twice that, but if
I must have it, I shall.
Click to expand...
Yes, I see your point, but shipping to the UK not including taxes, is expensive, for me it makes sense if I can find one supplier to order numerous spare parts, like carbon brushes, spring, screws, wheel bearings etc. save a fortune in postage alone, buying a loco for replacement parts is not worth the trouble, I might as well scrap the one I have or buy a new one, again, not cheap to post plus taxes, in some cases the import tax and postage cost's more than the loco want I buy.

EDIT.

If it hadn't been for Dave and TomO and their generosity with sending me various parts I hate to think what getting those parts would have cost me in postage alone.
 
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I've found a few places, here are the ones I mainly use, hopefully you'll find a cover.

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Don't know if it is still there, but one I used several times on the BAY was named So Much Stuff, or maybe it was Too Much Stuff?
 
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