B Units for sale on Trainz

It could also be that Trainz has split up some A-B-A or A-B-B-A sets.

IMO it's because they're overpriced.  Not just Trainz but everywhere.  I'm speaking of dummy B's.  In most cases, they have no functionality at all.  My locomotives are almost exclusively diesels and mostly cab units.  So I own a lot of B's.  I'll buy one if I can get it for less than $100.  Otherwise, I'm not interested.

I believe the reason they show up as separate sale items on the secondary market is usually the decision of the seller (in this case, Trainz).  I frequently buy from Trainz.  They routinely list A units and list the matching B unit for separate sale at the same time.  On several occasions, I've purchased the A.  That orphaned the B unit and added it to the list of 94 you're seeing.

Many years ago. I purchased a MTH DL 109.  Three different rd. numbers were offered and a separate sale B unit. I purchased 1 New Haven A unit. Decided to look for another road number to run with it. These became desirable. The NH never had B units. It took a few years. Many for sale. But you were forced to buy the matching B at a higher than original MSRP price. Eventually I purchased both missing numbers.

I just never got. The ABA concept of marketing. Forcing you to buy all 3. Especially if you have a smaller layout and start adding a string of passenger cars. It takes up a good portion of the RR.

More Examples.  Southern Railway never had EMD E8B's or ALCo PB's. (i'm sure there are more examples).  Yet Weaver and MTH made both.  I've had several hobby shops that know I am a Southern fan try to sell me the ones they got stuck with.  None for me though.

I saved one odd E8B to make a C&NW Crandall Cab out of.  Not that I am a C&NW fan, but the Crandall Cabs are some homely looking they are just neat.

For those of us that don't care, ABA looks cool. ABBA looks really cool.

I was talking about this at my local shop . For the collector who’s looking for the set they  miss out and eventually the b units just remain unsold. Not a great idea looking at it in a business point of view.

@Bill DeBrooke posted:

For those of us that don't care, ABA looks cool. ABBA looks really cool.

I have to agree with  Bill ABA/ABBA do really look cool. My biggest issue with either ABA or ABBA is having a siding long enough to park them when not running them as taking them off the layout(most all of mine are MTH except Post War) is a Really Big PIA with all the tethers between them. I have 2  8 foot sidings just to park ABBA’s on 4 sets of them and a set of E8 that are almost 6 feet long on display no where else to park them. But they are still really cool and would want to let any of them go.

Well, I park mine on shelving.  An E8 ABBA is about as long as the five car passenger set which means you have to go to 8-10 cars to make it look ok.

@PRRMP54 posted:

It could also be that Trainz has split up some A-B-A or A-B-B-A sets.

Seems they have a lot of items without boxes,  maybe that's why. Breaking up sets.

My guess is whoever sets up the sales doesnt know A B A go together.  From what i see on that internet auction site, they cannot grade their trains very good either - alot of C7 and C6 very goods that are very obviously worse for the wear.  I called them out on one that at first glance i was interested in and they did change the rating.  Saw another the other day tho - broken trucks, bad paint, missing parts but graded very good?

Of course the ones I need, a MTH Boston and Maine F7B and a Newer MTH ATSF F7B are nowhere to be found…lol.

Tom

Didnt both Lionel and MTH do some powered B units? I agree with those who just like the "looks" of an AB or even ABB set-up-I agree that some roads did not use B units-but many did. Enjoy !!   

turtle7, I acquired some of those powered B units with idea of mating them with dummy A units!