Have you ever bought a train and never run or tested it?

Yes, several.

Have you been talking with my wife???  Hmmmmm??

 

She's every bit into this hobby as I....sometimes, some Yorks, even outspends me!!!  However, she cannot understand why I am delinquent on running/testing a new engine....sometimes at all, but usually well beyond the purchase event.

 

Well, she's right.....as usual.  I'm wrong....as usual.

 

I remember when 'my' MTH premier 'Blue Goose' came in a few years ago (PS2.0 version).  She accompanied me to the store to pick it up.  "You're going to run it before we leave, aren't you!?!?" 

 

'Yes, dear....OK." 

 

So, it was de-boxed.  The test track was set up....conventional arrangement.  The voltage was applied.  HOLY MOLY!!  The whole store came to the counter to find out what the source of the noise was all about! 

 

'What's THAT?'....from all the non-trains people.

 

Wife: "That's our new engine!  Beautiful, isn't it??  Look at that SMOKE!  Isn't that a cool whistle?  Cool bell?  WOW!!  Move it down the track again!!  Blow the whistle again!!"  etc.

 

I'm doing better checking things sooner.  She's ever the cheer leader.

 

Not all our purchases are A-OK from the git-go, however.  But all are subsequently repaired, problem(s) resolved.  I guess that's why I'm a bit lacadaisical about the priority: I've decided/accepted that less-than-perfect is the norm...my hills-to-die-on have gotten a lot fewer...my resources (like this forum) more plentiful...problems are more regarded a challenge than a deterrent.  Mellowing out, I suppose.

 

You guys are hitting me hard this week!!  There's another thread asking whether we've ever bought something on impulse and wondered why later.  Ouch!  Oh brother...y'all really know how to embarrass me!!

 

 

 

Guilty

 

I have 2 Williams locos (GG1 and Trainmaster, or so I'm lead to believe) still sealed in the original shipping boxes (purchased several years ago).  I will open them up someday and get them running; but I'm not in a hurry at the moment.

No, in over 45 years I have never owned that many engines at one time to have never tested and run one.  I buy to operate, even though some may need repair before they will run.

If I buy it --I run it

Yes, quite often; but most of my purchases are older two-rail stuff. I recently bought an MTH NIB Liberty Liner, took out one cab unit (two cabs and two intermediate sections) to look at, put it back in the box and sent it off for conversion to two-rail. After conversion, it still sits in the box; at least until I put up a layout.

 

I always check it out for damage or defects.  I bought a Williams steam engine one time from a hobby shop and discovered it had been purchased before and returned with a broken coal load and a note from the original purchaser about the broken load.  The seller DID replace it with a new unit at his cost, so I was okay.  If I hadn't checked it out when I got it, I would have been out the cost of replacing the part - IF available.

Guilty as charged, if it were a crime I would have three strikes and would have been locked up long ago. This applies mostly to my bargain buys as I go into the purchase accepting that it may need tuning up or fixed. As mention in the post earlier, Lionel locos I don't worry about but it's the MTH ones that I do worry about.

Back in the mid-'80's when I began my interest in trains, I purchased a group of LIONEL PW locomotives that were mint--2240, 2329, 2355, and 746 short stripe at a very reasonable price.

 

I got them home and thought about how to display them; but, I realized I didn't want trains sitting on shelves--I wanted to run them.  But, since they were mint, I decided to sell them all rather than run them.  Glad I did.

Nope. I bought all my locomotives long before I had any layout to run them on and the DCC system to correctly run them to test the sound out.

When one showed up, I'd take it out of the box, grab a piece of flex track, put it on and hook clips to the rails to an old HO scale throttle I had. At least I could be sure the sound worked (as Bachmann On30 ten-wheelers default to whistle signals each time toy change direction) and the loco could move.

No way would I leave it in the box without knowing. So when the layout got built and the track laid, I could break them out, knowing they should run.

not with any of my locos, no.  they all get plenty of testing and run time.  the only thing I own still NIB is the Lionel Eagle Scout boxcar my father bought for me, that's a display item only

Gosh, yes. Used to do it all the time; I no longer do.

 

When I was Buying Everything In Sight. Back when I still worked (2004 and before), I'd find a box on the porch, bring it inside, put it in the corner and "get to it later". Also,

though I didn't consciously think this, the anticipation was as good as the realization.

(I'm one of those who used to enjoy Christmas Eve as much as Christmas morning.)

 

Anyway, a few years ago a friend brought this up - he's an "in the house - out of the box" kind of guy - and I began to open and test these things. Mostly Lionel and Friends, some MTH, bit of Williams. TMCC. You know the drill. I think I had had my Lionel Dreyfuss for

3 years - in the shipper, untouched.

 

I feared the worst.

 

Nah. Every one of them was fine. Really. TMCC/used PS1/PS2/Williams. Off they went.

 

But, I do test them "immediately" (that day or the next) now. 

Same for me as D500 states,  back in the purchasing hey day,  I tested most but not all.  Have a couple of Atlas GP9 I have never had out of the boxes.

 

No problems so far thankfully.................

I don't think so.

 

Jeff Davis

About half of my engines have yet to be tested or even inspected. I generally don't buy them new from regular dealers so they are pretty much "as is". I just pay to get them fixed and move on. Most are just fine, though there have been a few lemons.

 

The ones that have found their way to the layout fastest were the ones that weren't in their original boxes.

same here...unless it's one of my rebuild projects, it gets run as soon as I get it downstairs.

Just about every one was purchased untested. If it failed it was returned. Never had a problem.

Guilty as charged... for some Lionel CCI engines.  I purchased them all when they first came out, and only one ran is the 773 Hudson.  All the rest have only been on display, or boxed away when relocating.  But I am fine with that.  I purchased because I already had the same original PW engines and did so for display purposes.  Other than that, I do test them, at the least, as with some more rare PW Lionel engines I have.  In the future, I have no doubt, all of my engines (Lionel, MTH, Atlas, Weaver, Williams, Marx, K Line, Am Flyer O gauge, Hafner, Unique Art Trains, Kusan, 3rd Rail, etc) will take a spin around the layout.

Ogaugeguy,

   No sir all engines get run at least after I purchase them, some engines get run even before I purchased them.   When I have any of my engines upgraded, I try to test them as soon as I can.  I recently had an original Lionel Tin Plate 249 Engine & Tender upgraded with ERR and it will not be tested until around Thanksgiving time, seldom does this ever happen.  

PCRR/Dave 

...And right there your MO and mine coincide

 

---PCJ

No.

Yes, like most of the stuff in my collection. After reading the horror stories of temperamental electronics here, I assume I have nothing but a bunch of good-looking paperweights.

Lots... and what I have been reading doesn't give me warm and fuzzies. That said, what I bought 20 years ago has been 100% when run.

 

Am about ready to run more with crossed fingers. One is on the track at home now awaiting our return. Centipede and may have smoke and fan problems I have been reading about.

 

Have to use search when we gat back and read up on it.

I think this happens to most of us.  You buy several trains you want and then you find something you'd never seen out of the blue.  But there are only so many train lines and only so much time.   Relax and enjoy.

Yes, The Century Club 1 and The Century Club 2 all in their display cases and never ran. The entire set of 5 of each Century Club Offering..... I love these engines, especially the Niagara, and the Twin Trainmasters, and the PA Shark Nose set....

WOW.....

Nope!

The CC2 engines I bought have all been ran.  And, as others can agree with, the Niagara has been apart more than once for new U joints (put in stainless steel) and a new cherry switch for the chuff.  Still haven't repainted the drivers, but it runs much better.  Really enjoy the UP M10000 yellow/brown with extra car, and two sets of the milk train for the Niagara.

Yup.  At least 4 locos NIB scheduled for the paint shop about 5 yrs ago.

I tend to hunt on Craigslist for things to sell. Find a good deal, tell myself I can clean it up and sell it for profit, go buy it and then it sits in a box and stays there. I got a few stacks of said boxes....

I should probably cut a lot of stuff loose, I dig through boxes under the table sometimes and find things that I don't even know how I obtained

Trevor

No "Shelf Queens" here. Might take a few days or weeks to get around to it but everything gets tested, lubed & takes a tour of duty and then rotates in & out of the layout on a whimsical basis.  I think I realized long ago that this idea of buying trains & putting them away for resale was not realistic or practical. It only worked for postwar because all us kids from the 40"s & 50"s grew up & realized how much we had loved & missed those trains.