Weaver VO-1000

It's a nice little switcher. One good thing is that Weaver used a modular mold that allowed them to vary the stack configuration according to the railroad-specific prototype. There were short and tall single stacks and a four-stack version. The Burlington paint job is one of the most attractive. Three things to watch for:

-- Don't pay too much. For some reason they are not popular and they don't bring high prices on the Bay. I've bought a number of them just to strip for the electronics.

-- Be sure that the one you're getting has been test run and everything is OK. I've had several of them and some have had problems with binding in the drive train. Not that hard to fix but if you're asking here, you probably don't want to mess with it. 

-- The decorative horn is poorly located and weakly attached. No big deal, most of the prototypes actually had the horn on the hood ahead of the cab rather than on the cab roof where Weaver put it. Depends on the individual railroads; there are plenty of photos on line to tell you where yours belongs. I'm going to relocate mine one of these days, and probably replace it with a good brass detail part. 

I have a couple of them lettered for Milwaukee Road and I like them a lot. Don't let the minor caveats I noted above discourage you from buying one. I've been told that the mold is the same as the one now used by MTH, but the bodies are not interchangeable due to some differences in the mounting arrangements. 

I don't know what the MTH part number is. I picked them up at York at their parts booth. I have two of them that I bought but never used. If you are going to York I'll bring them with me and you can have them for what I paid $3.00 each. If not going to York I could mail them to you.

Sounds good. I'm not going to York this year; I live in Arizona and don't get to York very often these days. There's no e-mail in your profile; e-mail me at the address in my profile and we can made the arrangements. 

Trainman9, if you have 2, I would like one too, unless Southest Hiawatha is going to buy both of them. I live in San Jose CA and will not be going to York. Please let me know if one is still available.

Thank you

RAY

Apparently the VO1000 has been dropped?  Went through several of their online catalogs and didn't see mention of VO's.

I bought one, it is ok but the pilot is not at all well thought out, The MTH version is much better in the looks department, the stacks were a nice touch, if the pilot was done better it would be a winner, it runs good but the pilot drives me nuts when I look at it.

I love the VO1000, I saw many working the PRR, Reading and B&O. The headlamp design was the giveaway it was a Baldwin engine. it was a work horse in the Philly area.

It has been said that MTH bought the molds from Weaver. I can't verify this, but the two models are very, very similar and the MTH model appeared some time after the last Weaver one was issued. I have taken them apart side by side and they are very, very similar, but there are some minor differences in the way the body mounts to the chassis that prevents you from making an easy body swap. These differences could easily have been modifications to the mold after it changed hands. The detailing and the way the components go together suggest that the mold could be the same. 

E-mail sent

e-mail sent

I believe that is indeed correct.  As I recall, MTH acquired the VO1000 tooling from Weaver around the same time they also got the SD40-2 & the Alco C-628 from them back in the late '90s.

Both of the horns I have are taken but since I'm going to York if anyone other than Ray of Sunshine, he already asked me to get one for him, let me know at: lugnuttshirts@aol.com.  I'll be glad to pick one up for you and mail it to you.