Ever cannibalize a perfectly good loco?

When I started in the hobby, canabalizing trains was the way to obtain parts. There were even a couple of guys running hobby businesses where they would buy trains and part them out.
Funny how that goes. A few years back, I went through my junker alco parts pile, and put several engines back together. They flew off my table.

I recently had some problems with one of my F3 units, and as it was more important for me to have a fully functioning power unit, I swapped out the necessary sub-assemblies from the unpowered unit until the parts needed for repairs arrived.

Wherever possibly I try to have a selection of ready-replacement sub-assemblies on hand for my locomotives, so that I can swap-out an entire sub-assembly and keep down-time to a minimum. I can then repair the failed sub-assembly at my leisure. But sometimes this isn't possible and so I'll swap sub-assemblies from other units as needed. 

To build my Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, I hacked up a perfectly good RMT RDC for the power truck.

yes I took an Atlas RSD4/5 which I used the Motors and Power Trucks, a K-line GP38-2's frame and body shell and pilot steps, I than cut the gp38-2 shell several time, glued it back together, cut the frame shorter spliced it back together to make a SDL39, It takes 2 good Locos to make one excellent loco

Many times, Lionel GP30, W&R 44 tonner, Weaver RS-3, FA-1, Atlas WDT (several).

Malcolm

Just came across a small RK steam locomotive with ps2 that will be used to upgrade amother locomotive. A friend gave it to me because his kids no longer care for it and it was heading for the trash. Tested it and all works well and the smoke unit puts out a ton of smoke. So my next buy of a proto 1 engine or maybe a early weaver brass will have proto 2.  Just got done upgrading a ps1 MTH blue comet to proto 2 and it looks and runs great. 

Don't know if this would count as cannibalization, but four or so years ago when the conventional Atlas Trainman GP15's were being blown out for under $125, I puchased one so that I could swap the engine, guts, and trucks into an unpowered Atlas GP35.  I was happy with the result as I got to power a "dummy" GP35 and ended up with a "dummy" GP15 that I could run behind my powered GP15.

 

Jim

I swapped the guts form a Proto-1 Bantam Turbine and put them in the larger Railking Turbine so it would have the Turbine sound.

A few years back this was common practice at Lionel. I can honestly say this occurs MAYBE once a year, if at all. Where we would swipe a part off a perfectly good loco/car/accessory, most typically a specific decorated part to make a repair complete. With the system we have had in place for the last 3 1/2 years this really is not an accepted practice any longer! Mike

I bought an Atlas unpowered GP9 when they came out a few years back and quickly realized I had no use for an unpowered engine.

 

Shortly afterwards I won a RailKing/Rugged Rails F3 off E-Bay for around $100 with PS2.  When I found out the F3 was 8 scale feet too short I immediately started the conversion to power the GP9.

 

At first I used the MTH trucks, motors, and PS2 guts and finally got the gears so I could put the finely detail Atlas truck back underneath the GEEP, the correct wiring harness to get all the lights powered, and downloaded a new sound file so the engine would have correct GP9 sounds.

 

For under $300 I got a great scale GP9 that runs like a fine watch.

 

I think the days of getting cheap PS2 engines off E-Bay are just about over.

The week before York I purchased MTH Premier Southern Ps-4 1401 (20-3006-1) from choochoojoe. At last I had a model of the Ps-4 in the Smithsonian! Inside the tender was the original QSI reverse unit and sound system. It had a whistle, bell and chugging. The chug volume was the only programmable feature (#6). The bell could be turned on and off only in Neutral, using the whistle button. Transformers with bell buttons were few and far between in those days. My Ps-4 ran like a Hamilton watch with my postwar ZW but not at all with my MRC Pure Power AC transformer. I thought that was odd. I emailed MTH, J and W Electronics, and The Scaled Tin Rail and summed up the situation. MTH brought a circuit board and chip from a RailKing Ps-4 made in 1997 (30-1125-1) to MTH Parts at York. I picked them up there and gave them to Wayne Renga, who used them to replace the original circuit board. Now my Ps-4 runs like a champ with different transformers. The bell works with a Bell button. Wayne set the whistle to blow in Neutral as well. And I also have PSA (Passenger Station Announcements) for the Crescent Limited.

 

I asked about replacing the Seuthe smoke unit with a MTH unit. But MTH parts people told me I would have to remove some metal inside the smokebox to make one fit and drill a hole down through the cylinder saddle for a support screw. I decided to let the Seuthe unit there. Even without a train (and with JT's MEGA-STEAM), my Ps-4 puts out plenty of smoke.

 

I am a happy operator and Forumite.

 

Wayne told me that he has a spare circuit board or two, so he may be able to upgrade an early locomotive like mine. Just a heads-up for others in this thread.

That reminds me of a guy at York who used to sell lots of those parts. I did business with him for several years. He also passed out an 8 1/2" x 11" newsprint catalog of his parts.

I regularly buy engines to tear down for parts. I usually have a queue of locomotives to be parted out for my 3RS EMD diesels, which seem to always need parts... 

Heck, I canibalized a beautiful and very rare and collectible 1950s Thomas 4-4-0 that even came in its original box.

quote:

That reminds me of a guy at York who used to sell lots of those parts. I did business with him for several years. He also passed out an 8 1/2" x 11" newsprint catalog of his parts.

 

That was Lou C.

At one York, he had a pile of Lionel POP (point of purchase) display boxes of twelve individually boxed light bulbs. I purchased a bunch, wish I had purchased more.

Several years ago, I had a brass USRA 2-8-2 that was made so poorly, I modeled a boiler explosion using that model. Wish I could find the pictures.

 

Larry

I canabalized a brand new K-Line Alco FA-this give life to a KMT FA Dummy that my parents had purchased for me to build, as a child.

 

I always wanted to run it, and finally could!

Maybe its just me, but if you take a perfectly good running train, make it a non-running train by frankensteining out parts to another needy train, you still end up with one non-running train.  I guess I can't see the logic in that.

 

Cannibalizing seems to say that one train is completely devouring another of its own type.

 

Frankensteining is lopping off parts of one to piece together a compete unit.

 

Now parting out a non-running basket case............that's a horse of a different color.

 

 

quote:

Maybe its just me, but if you take a perfectly good running train, make it a non-running train by frankensteining out parts to another needy train, you still end up with one non-running train.  I guess I can't see the logic in that.

 

Normally one uses a lesser train to fix up a better train. Plus, the doner train usually ends up supplying parts for more than one recepient.
According to what I have read, Lionel gets most of their parts from breaking down finished goods. Isn't that canabalizing too?

I agree with C W Burfle.  You wouldn't use a better train to fix a lesser one.  The case I used when I started this this thread is a good example: to me, my Northern was much more important than the donar locomotive.  I started out with one non-running important loco and a running not-so-important loco, and I enedd up with a running important loco and a lot of good parts.  Not the best outcome maybe, but the best of those I had to choose from . . .

Wouldn't think of a wrecking perfectly good engine.

So as far as Merriam and Webster are concerned:

 

Definition of CANNIBALIZE

a : to take salvageable parts from (as a disabled machine) for use in building or repairing another machine .

 

"Ever cannibalize a perfectly good loco?"

 

My answer is no. I would never part-out a perfectly good loco.

As long as parts are 100% compatible, because you'll never know there will be the day you regret. So, I keep open the possibility to restore the former situation.

If any drilling, cutting and so on is getting involved I say nope.

 

Kieffer

there is actually a Marx parts dealer on eBay who has slightly modified this definition.

 

1.b) to completely disassemble an excellent condition working locomotive and sell off the individual parts down to the nuts and bolts at 1000% of their value to people who do not know any better.

quote:

there is actually a Marx parts dealer on eBay who has slightly modified this definition.

 

One of the Ebay sellers that I follow will break down trains and sell the parts if they are unable to sell them whole.
There are several others who are obviously doing this as well.

 

What do you call it when:

 

Folks sell engines and tenders (or powered and dummies) seperately?

How about when folks sell contents and boxes seperately?

 

I see a lot of both actions on Ebay.

 

Given the tight supply of parts for many recently made items, I think canabalization is inevitable.

200 feet?  zowie!  i've never been able to get a Marx locomotive to pull a small train even a scale mile (110').

 

modern Lionel more reliable than Marx? ...i've got to take issue with that statement.  i've swapped double reduction motors into older large gear Marx locomotives (which can always be returned to original condition) and they run just fine on modern trackwork.  i'll be amazed if the mostly plastic Percy motor will eventually make it through the same number of decades most Marx motors have been running.

 

did you at least paint over the green wheels?

lionel bob said:

 

Maybe its just me, but if you take a perfectly good running train, make it a non-running train by frankensteining out parts to another needy train, you still end up with one non-running train.  I guess I can't see the logic in that.

 

Look at my previous post.  I took the PS2 guts out of a semi-scale F3 and made a correct-scale GP9 work great, and saved $$$ in the process.  Not only that, if I had bought the GP9 with command control in it it would have been TMCC, not useable on my DCS layout unless I buy more CC components to make it work, or run it in conventional.  I've even used other parts of the F3 on other projects.

 

I feel my logic was spot-on.

I'm with Bob D on this one. I do the same thing all the time - gut a cheap engine for parts to fix or upgrade a better one. If you're mainly going for the electronics, you can often fit the donor engine with a plain reverse board and resell it for a low price, recovering some of the cost of the donor. 

I have 4 diesel switchers I run in pairs, PW to 90s, all different trucks and/or motors. One is dead, an armature-removed-dummy. One split field runs but poorly, it plays booster on heavy moves, or bad track because it never derails. One has a reversing board & can motor, smooth but weak on bad track without "the booster" to keep it railed. On the last I added a spring, and moved the E-unit so it is lever down. Although not the best tracker, it has the best traction and power(single field!) so it gets the dummy. But if I want a solo run with the Erie dummy, with no screws holding the bodies, or e-unit arm to get in the way, I now just switch bodies every now and then as the mood strikes me. So the cannibalization is ongoing, never ending. One body at a time, taking turns being dead as the dummy, so 3 others may live. Maybe that's more like ritual sacrifice than cannibalism?  

I cannibalized an MTH GP-30 which was not working as the boards went bad.  Was able to trade the can motors for something else I needed and now have a viable dummy engine I can run with my MTH and Williams engines. 

I have often bought low end RTR PS-2 engines for the sole purpose of cannibalizing the electronics.

Anybody want a 2-8-0 hulk or two?

 

Rod

Makes sense, although I always try to buy used I can understand buying new to get a virgin board you know is almost certainly in perfect shape.  

 

Used, fully functioning locos at swap meets are often particularly affordable ways to get boards, motors, etc.  I bought a working MTH diesel for $38 that had gobs of details parts I could use (railings etc.) plus to perfectly good motors that cost about $22 each when new, etc.  

I am with lee on this one. I have bought used engines for the electronics and other parts for up grades for conventional engines you cant find in command and control. Used parts to turn dummy's into powered and repair engines or rolling stock. That's half the fun of this hobby for me.