Thoughts on "dummy" locomotives

I'm a big fan of dummy units.  I normally run conventionally and like to have two powered and two non-powered diesels.  RS-11s, RS-3s, and GPs are some of the dummies that I own.

The only thing I don't like about dummy engines is that they don't have sound.  If I have two engines pulling a train, I would like to hear both of them.   That is what makes a 'lashup' so cool.  Both engines working together and each sounding a bit different.  And they should definitely have working electrocouplers.

On my railroads .... smoke, directional lighting, and electrocouplers are mandatory.

 

I know that they may not be very cost-effective, but I only need one powered unit on my trains. So, if I can save a few bucks ......

 

 

And, Joe..... those CNJ RSD's look so cool!

Thank you, EBT Jim!!

One other thought that illustrates the points I made above. I sometimes run a consist built of two MTH U-25-B's (a PRR and NYC version) and a Lionel NYC GP-30.  This is a typical early (ca. 1968-69) Penn Central consist.  Both U boats are dummy units, and the Lionel GP-30 is doing all the pushing. The single GP-30 has plenty of power to pull a 25+ car train (I concede my layout has no grades). This consist could not have been built without those dummy units.  Granted, Weaver made U boats in these road names, but good luck finding them, especially the later ones with TMCC and getting them to run successfully with the Lionel unit.

 

As you can tell, I'm not thrilled about the expense of lighted dummy units, but since they now come that way, I can put them on the point, and at least the headlight is on, and I have an operating electrocoupler at the rear of the lashed up engines.  More recent MTH dummy units had a switch to control which end of the engine is lighted, so I turned off the light in the tail of the lead U Boat and I hit AUX2 to turn off the headlight in the Lionel TMCC  controlled GP-30.

 

So there you have a beautiful illustration of why I find the dummy units to be so useful.

I like the non powered ones too.  Only wish they had directional lighting.  For the price you pay,over $200, for the Lionel ES44ACs you would think it would have this feature?  Or at least a light in it?

I had a bunch of dummies once, but I had to let them all go.  They just couldn't do the job.

I like them. Only the FM Trainmaster is powered in this shot. I do wish they at least came with lights. Don

My favorite is the Mortimer Snerd signature edition F7B.

 

Pete

I prefer powered locomotives to lash up for the reasons William 1 listed. A lash up even of two engines has a fuller sound than a powered and dummy pair. Also the pulling power of a lash up with two locomotives is going to far exceed that of a single powered locomotive that also has to pull the weight of the dummy along with it. However I am pleased with Lionel's job on my nonpowered F7 A unit that came in the AA set, it has a smoke unit that responds to the speed the train is rolling, directional lighting and an electro coupler. Also for any conventional runners, nonpowered engines make for easy lash ups.

Here is a dummy unit that I have.  Matt

I like, own and use non-powered locos.  But yes I don't pay what a powered costs. 

I like them as I too like to MU units w/o the issues 3 different manufactures cause.

I have a few, but since I went scale-wheeled I've only bought powered units. Haven't looked back, though I did think about getting a non-powered GP38 to switch over to fixed pilots, scale wheels and Kadees, but since I've gotten more practice renumbering locomotives I may just get another powered unit instead.

I love them.  At one point I owned over 75 of them.  I've since sold off about 50 of them. 

 

As others have pointed out, when talking up their merits, I enjoyed having them mixed in between a pair of powered units in a 3, 4 or 5 mu'd consist.  Easy enough to do and allowed for very prototypical looking consists, especially out west where you often can see an eastern road (NS especially) mixed into UP and BNSF consists.

 

Another factor about the MTH dummies is that all the dummy units came with different cab numbers from the powered units.  Lastly, from a collector perspective, the dummy units are always in shorter production numbers and far more limited availability.  Several of them sell for a premium now, as they are so hard to find.

I have three dummy engines and i really like them and to its hard to get two powered engines to mu together. 

I like dummy units because I can add a full cab interior in them. I don't care for the circle l boyz dummy units because they do not have roller pick-ups included. What makes it worse is the additional parts and dctews one has to purchase separately to install. Sometimes one has to guess the parts ad was the case of the rs11 dummy units. Atlas o has them installed and mth for the past couple of years on their premier line had them installed with lights included.  I add themrc ac sounder to the dummy units to make them complete.

1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th units are dummy units.  The 6th and 9th dummy unit have ERR sound and the other dummy units will have ERR in the future.              

For years I was against owning dummy locomotives, especially for some of the reasons mentioned  above (no smoke unit, no electrocouplers, no sound), but things changed when I purchased a passenger set that came with a dummy unit to prototypically match the railroad's push-pull train operation. Things permanently changed for me when Lionel began releasing its line of Legacy-equipped "smart" dummies, starting with the AC6000.

 

-John

I have the Lionel Legacy Lionmaster SD80MAC powered and dummy units.  The dummy's have the full lighting (headlight, taillight, marker lights, cab lights and ditch lights), electrocouplers and smoke features of the powered unit which is great.  I can MU them back to back and get directional lighting and such when I change directions.  To me, those features are worth the cost.  But as somebody mentioned, a dummy unit without any of those is just an overpriced boxcar.

I also used to say "no dummies allowed", mainly because I do not like the sound of a dead engine (no sound).  However, my definition of dummy has changed.  If it has electrocouplers, smoke, and SOUND it is not really a dummy anymore and can be allowed on the layout.

 

However, since I have not found a non-powered engine with electrocouplers, smoke, and SOUND that I want, currently all of my engines are powered with sound (powered B-units that did not have sound have been upgraded with sound).  Plus, the extra power comes in handy with my 12-14 car passenger trains.

I like non-powered engines.  I currently have 20, 1 Atlas, 2 Lionel and 17 MTH.  One of the MTH engines was a PS-1 powered unit that I converted to non-powered due to the fact that it would start to buck when pulling a moderate consist of cars.  Since I've seen numerous different railroads with run through power on the BNSF, it is a less expensive way of adding that interesting variety to my trains. 

 

Larry

 

 

As pointed out earlier,  F3, E8's etc were always sold with a dummy engine.  Single and dual engines on the real RR's were both used and still used. IMO, dual engines look good and with a two motor power unit and a dummy,  they can pull very long trains.

I like a non powered engine for looks but I usually try to have some sort of sound unit in one.

Bought a Williams Shark B unit and installed a True Blast 2 diesel horn in it plus added some power wires to it to go between two other powered diesel engines. Looks good and now I can get constant power to the trailing engine as well, have a problem with traction tires losing outside rail power and adding power wires to the entire consist helped me.

 

Currently WBB(Williams by Bachmann) claims they will no longer be making any dummy or unpowered units in the future. The reason they claim is that it costs about the same to make a powered unit and an unpowered unit, so they say "buy two powered units."

 

Some internet dealers are selling Williams F-7 diesel sets with one powered A unit and one dummy A unit, with a option to buy the dummy B unit for a few dollars off when you buy the three together. So if you want a dummy unit better buy one now before the big three companies stop making any.

 

Lee Fritz

No one has mentioned the calf units that were employed on many lines like Rio Grande and Santa Fe. I think several companies make or did make these in a non operating version that could be lashed up with your active locomotives for that prototypical look.

 

Pete

Since I model the Penn Central I can put three dummy units behind a couple of powered ones and actually be prototypical as there were probably three dead units in the consist anyway.

 

Tom

The story I heard was that their builders' minimum order was too large for the quantity of non-powered units WBB knows they could sell.

 

---PCJ

I've been used to dummy units ever since the early Fifties.  For the relative small size of my layout, one engine could certainly pull any train, but two just look sharper.  Like I say, I'm just used to them.

I call units that are not running dead in tow....unless our real train is very heavy we only use two of the three units we get. if we can get away with just one we by the rules are shall we say encouraged ! to just use one...DUMMYS ARE COOL conrail john

I only run conventional so dummies are a must for me. I also give my 4 year old son one with a couple of cars and he enjoys pushing them around on the tracks

HATE them ...

Just ordered this one today 

http://www.mthtrains.com/content/30-20189-3

 

 

Whatever the story is with WBB, they won't be making any dummy units in the future. I posted a comment on the Bachmann forum about dummy units and one of the admin people commented that WBB is not going to make unpowered units as it costs too much. So if you want two diesels of the same type, like two GP-30's, buy two powered units and put them together.

 

Lee Fritz

If you want a dummy unit better get them while they are for sale.

Looks like at least two companies(MTH & WBB) won't be making them any longer.

 

I have seen an ad from an online vendor on here for Williams F-7's; two A units(one powered & one dummy) and a secondary B(dummy) unit. Looks like slightly older Williams inventory, but I could be wrong.

 

Lee Fritz