The 50 GP-9s

I finally talked with my friend about the GP-9s that he would like. He does not need anything more fancy than Athearns. And he said that he does not need GP-9s; he can use any Geep.

I have two questions:
1.) What differences are there between a powered Athearn locomotive and a dummy Athearn locomotive?
2.) Before the Big Changeover (software switch), I had a post about where to get a bunch of Athearn GP-9s. Someone had posted the phone number of someone who had a bunch of Dummy Athearn locomotives. Does anyone know that phone number?

It looks like I will get to paint and decal 50 locomotives in the near future!

Jim

Of course, no motor in the dummy. Beyond that, no motor monts, drive shafts, universal joints, nor gears.

Not sure about the wheels. Powered units have metal wheels, maybe the dummy has plastic. I'm just not sure.

What's the same? Die cast undeframe, molded plastic body shell, wire handrails, bent metal strip handrail stantions, plastic truck sideframes. Probably some brake cylinders to be cemented on the sideframes and some plastic headlight/numberboard inserts.

Essentially, the dummy lacks everything needed to make the locomotive go, but includes everything to make it look like a locomotive.

I was able to see an Athearn Dummy locomotive. Is there really an advantage to buying a dummy versus a powered locomotive? I can always pull the motor and gears out!

Jim

Just saw this yesterday on Traninorders

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,706394

If you buy a powered engine, you're wasting your money to rip out the guts to make a dummy.

If all you need is display pieces, buy the dummies. Even consider buying some inexpensive "train set" models from Model Power or Bachmann (not Spectrum).

-otto-

SD45Jim wrote:I was able to see an Athearn Dummy locomotive. Is there really an advantage to buying a dummy versus a powered locomotive? I can always pull the motor and gears out!

Jim

Right, but as somebody pointed out, you'll be paying for 50 motors, drive shafts, and other parts that you won't need. I don't know the difference in price, but if it's $5 per locomotive, you're looking at spending $250 for "stuff" that will sit in a box until you get tired of looking at it. At $10 difference, $500 for "stuff".

Sure, you can turn powered units into dummies. By the time you get to number 25 I'll bet you'll be wishing you had bought dummies. Painting and decalling 50 locomotives is going to be work and lots of it. Why make the job harder than it needs to be and pay extra to make it harder?

Getting 50 of any one model is probably going to mean a special order anyway, so why not order 50 undecorated dummies? Shouldn't be any more difficult to get than 50 powered models and noticably less expensive in time and money.

My friend wants the locomotives black with white lettering on the side of the cab. Is it possible to dullcoat an undecorated model and make it look decent? Or would I be better off purchasing a black locomotive (like a PRR or a NW black paint scheme) and painting over the lettering?

I do not have a spray gun, so any shortcuts on painting would help me a lot! I have painted a few by hand, with a brush, but it is a lot of work. So would I be able to add the decals to an undecorated locomotive and dullcoat it and make it look good? It does not have to look prototypical - it just has to look good to some business people who will look at them!

Thanks for all the help so far!

Jim Sherwin

You dont need a spray gun (or it's smaller model railroading cousin, the air brush).

Spray paints are just as good for an application like this. You can use Testor's, or even Krylon. I think Testor's is better formulated for models, though. Use Testor's glossy black...then apply your decals... then apply glosscote or dullcote to seal it all in.

-otto-

We are in the process of ordering 50 GP7 dummy locomotives from Athearn. I contacted Athearn directly, and they were extremely helpful. Unfortunately, they would not make all the financial arrangements - that had to be done through Horizon Hobby, Inc. So I contacted them and they were extremely helpful as well, giving us a very good price on all the locomotives.

Now comes the fun part - detailing them!

Jim Sherwin

Just wondering...

What , exactly, do you need these engines for?

I remember you saying they were for some sort of promotion. what is being promoted? And what will you do with the locos after the promotion ends?

Again, just curious.

After a couple of weeks of searching, it seems that Athearn does not have undecorated, dummy Geeps. So we have ordered 50 GP38s, undecorated. They should be sent this week.

Do the new Athearn locomotives have the metal, unpainted handrails and stanchions, or have the converted over to plastic handrails?

My friend owns some railcar storage facilities - companies rent space for their currently unused railcars. He makes the arrangements to bring them in, and then his crew moves them into storage. When the company needs the cars, his crew pulls them out and delivers them to the UP. He wants to give various railcar companies model locomotives painted with his company name and logo as advertisement.

Does anyone need to store some railcars? I can get you a GP-38 and a one-foot section of track!

Jim Sherwin

Haha, I know I speak for most of us here when I say that model railroading already has what can be termed a "railcar storage facility"... the ubiquitous Athearn blue box (or in my case, big Rubbermaid totes, filled with Athearn boxes).

As far as your models go, if you ordered them straight from Athearn, they should all be new production models and will have the Celcon handrails (which are superb) and the EZ Mate couplers. Did you get powered or dummy models?

Take it from someone who has undertaken such a massive building project....it gets tedious and extremely frustrating and boring at times. Take your time and build them in "lots" of 10 engines. The project will seem to move along quicker.
Once you assemble all those Athearn metal handrails and stanchions.....you'll NEVER want to look at another one again. There are 29 stanchions per engine....times 50 engines....thats almost 1500 stanchions you'll need to thread together, hold in place and apply!! Maybe you'll get lucky and get the newer ones with the simple to apply (and much better looking) plastic handrails....GOOD LUCK with the project!