My Locomotive Questions

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Waggs

Waggs

New Member
Hi All, I just bought some stuff off Ebay and need to know a few things about 2 engines. The first one is a dummy locomotive and I would like to find the matching powered locomotive. The second is a switch engine and I'd like to know what magnetic couplers I need to get. One is completely missing so I need to fix that anyway. Thanks in advance for the help.
 
I dont know anything about the switcher, but I have seen the Southern Pacific engine before - its not really an engine for putting on a layout, I believe they are more of an ordament/toy. I dont believe you can find a matching powered loco.
 


I've been told that it's a Reader's Digest toy but, it does fit on track. I guess I'll add a spur and park it there just for looks.
 
Conversions are listed on the Micro-Trains site.
http://www.micro-trains.com/ConversionsN.php

It looks like it is going to depend on they year that Plymouth locomotive was produced. Here is the excerpt:
.....................LOCOMOTIVE.....................................COUPLER
Atlas WDT Diesel Switcher (1971 and earlier)............. Atlas 1112 (001 32 020)
Atlas Plymouth WDT Diesel Switcher (1972 and later).. Atlas 1104 (001 30 009)
Atlas Plymouth Industrial Diesel Switcher .................. Atlas 1104 (001 30 009)

At least there are only 2 options. I have no idea how to figure out what year it was produced. Perhaps on the Atlas forum someone would know how to tell by looking.
 
Iron Horseman said:
Conversions are listed on the Micro-Trains site.
http://www.micro-trains.com/ConversionsN.php

It looks like it is going to depend on they year that Plymouth locomotive was produced. Here is the excerpt:
.....................LOCOMOTIVE.....................................COUPLER
Atlas WDT Diesel Switcher (1971 and earlier)............. Atlas 1112 (001 32 020)
Atlas Plymouth WDT Diesel Switcher (1972 and later).. Atlas 1104 (001 30 009)
Atlas Plymouth Industrial Diesel Switcher .................. Atlas 1104 (001 30 009)

At least there are only 2 options. I have no idea how to figure out what year it was produced. Perhaps on the Atlas forum someone would know how to tell by looking.
Click to expand...


It's a Plymouth Locomotive? See that's another issue, I need to ID nost everything I have.
 
Waggs said:
Hi All, I just bought some stuff off Ebay and need to know a few things about 2 engines. The first one is a dummy locomotive and I would like to find the matching powered locomotive. The second is a switch engine and I'd like to know what magnetic couplers I need to get. One is completely missing so I need to fix that anyway. Thanks in advance for the help.
Click to expand...
The grey locomotive is a GP35. You can tell by looking at the vents on the rear. There are three and the center is lower than the two others. There have been several made through out the years by various manufacturers. Here is an Atlas version.
http://www.trainworldonline.com/catalog/atlas/n-gp-35-southern-pacific-scarletgrey-46569 I believe this is the most current run.
 
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Iron Horseman said:
The grey locomotive is a GP35. You can tell by looking at the vents on the rear. There are three and the center is lower than the two others. There have been several made through out the years by various manufacturers. Here is an Atlas version.
http://www.trainworldonline.com/catalog/atlas/n-gp-35-southern-pacific-scarletgrey-46569 I believe this is the most current run.
Click to expand...

WOW I think you are dead on. Thanks. Now looking at the couplers, do you think I can replace those with the magnetic ones? It does have a strange looking coupler.
 
Waggs said:
I've been told that it's a Reader's Digest toy but, it does fit on track. I guess I'll add a spur and park it there just for looks.
Click to expand...

Exactly, it's a cheap piece of non-running junk. Hope you didn't pay much. Many of these have been resold multiple times to newbie buyers.

And unfortunately, the Plymouths don't usually run very well, either. I had one that was great, but I went through 3 or 4 testing at the hobby shop before finding one that ran.

Sookshow's N Scale locomotive page is a good resource to do some research in the future to avoid buying junk on ebay or elsewhere.
http://www.spookshow.net/locos.html
 
Waggs said:
WOW I think you are dead on. Thanks. Now looking at the couplers, do you think I can replace those with the magnetic ones? It does have a strange looking coupler.
Click to expand...
Those look very close to a standard Rapido coupler that was used in N-scale for years and years. No, I do not know if it can be replaced with a micro-trains or not. Since it isn't really intended to be more than a toy, I doubt there is a direct conversion. You might have to just get some different types and engineer it yourself.
 
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Iron Horseman said:
Those look very close to a standard Rapido coupler that was used in N-scale for years and years. No, I do not know if it can be replaced with a micro-trains or not. Since it isn't really intended to be more than a toy, I doubt there is a direct conversion. You might have to just get some different types and engineer it yourself.
Click to expand...

I guess I'll go back to my original idea and just park it for looks. The cars trucks have the couplers attached and they are fixed in a straight position so they wouldn't operate either without doing a lot of cutting and reworking. That set of now becomes an expensive decoration. That's ok, maybe one day they'll become a collector's item. They did come with the boxes too.
 
Waggs said:
I guess I'll go back to my original idea and just park it for looks. The cars trucks have the couplers attached and they are fixed in a straight position so they wouldn't operate either without doing a lot of cutting and reworking. That set of now becomes an expensive decoration. That's ok, maybe one day they'll become a collector's item. They did come with the boxes too.
Click to expand...
Wow again. I wonder how that one 4th from the bottom got in with the rest. It belongs in Europe somewhere.
 
Beats me. I just showed up with what I paid for and received. I also told the guy who I bought them from that they were not "N" Scale trains but a Reader's Digest collectable and he's offered to refund my money. Who knows, one day they may be collector items.
 
Take him up on the refund offer! They might become collectables in 200 to 300 years.:rolleyes: Check out http://www.spookshow.net/trainstuff.html before making any purchases of used N scale items. This is an excellent site to get good info on the quality of past runs of locos. It could save you some real money on purchases in the future.
 
I made a deal with him and he fulfilled it so I'm happy. Thanks for that link. I might even get some education from there
 
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