what is one train you wished you did not buy?

Wow.. if you're talking the 4000 and 4001, dad and I got those on "blowout" in the mid-80's.  Both for the price of one: $275.  Yeah, they occupy a "special" place in the collection (along with the Texas Special F7 of that era.. I refinished it, made it look MUCH better).  I don't necessarily "regret" them - they look pretty good, okay for static display.  I have NEW Williams that I absolutely love and that run great.

There are, however, items I definitely regret letting go that I've been replacing...

This is an easy one for me:  The Lionel B&A Hudson of the 1980's. While "scale size" like the 773, it was a real dog in operation. The whiteface boiler front didn't help either.

Too many to single out just one. This had nothing to do with the manufacturer or any quality issues. My tastes changed over the years and I was fortunate to liquidate them at a fair price all of those I no longer wanted.

Very happy with what I now have.

MTH Alco RS3 with PS3 mint for $210 + shipping. In general all of my engines are MTH and I love them all but this one just wasn't meant to be. Lots of gear chatter or some other noise I couldn't isolate at high speed. No improvement after MTH service plus wire to the tach reader was broken in the process. It now sits idle and half dismantled on the "awaiting parts and service" shelf.

When I first got seriously into O gauge, I purchased a number of traditional or semiscale engines, not considering their difference to scale sized locos.  I haven't run them in years and will surely lose in the resale.

Stack 

Any loco that was priced over $1800.00. Thank god it was only two so far in my life.

The MTH N&W J engine from 2008.  it was not a very good puller.  The earlier version, the PS1 version, appeared to be a better puller.  Also, the earlier version, PS1, appeared to be better made, had more heft to it.   Any how, I ended up selling it off on the OGR board along with its water tender.  It ran fine.  But between the less than desired performance and my plan to downsize to only no more than 4 or 5 Railroads it was time to offload all my N&W stuff.  I now only have PRR, Santa Fe, UP, SP, DMIR.

Lionels remake of the

Union pacific

 Anniversary set.

The powered FA runs like a dog

and I have stripped 3 powered gears

in that locomotive.

it sits on the shelf

A custom run of a Weaver Pacific.....sits new in the box.

Everything Premier Proto 1 in U.P.

Cesar

My AHM 0-8-0 kit...yeah, it'd be sooooo easy to find the needed driver/motor kit for that...

Bob, I saw 3 of the AHM kits, 2 of the motor kits and 1 completed, powered unit at York, almost bought one.

Jerry

I could make a list, but............

Rod

The first one! That got me started!

If only I had never bought that first one.

Oh well.

Greg

Easy the Lionel 18001 Rock Island Northern, what a dog

Good to know, a have one and it is a shelf queen.  I have mostly PW and Pre-War but I do have some MPC era power and a few years ago I wasn't sure whether to use the 784 or a Reading T-1 for layout service.  Took the T-1, looks like  made the right choice for a layout engine

The one on the right - a Williams Challenger, which is ALWAYS challeged when it comes to taking a curve - any curve. Its front truck ALWAYS derails. Always. Here, it is just posing, something it does very well - posing for the camera. Period. It has not been moving on the layout for ten years+.

FrankM

A MTH PS1 Camelback.  It looks great, but it buzzes and has some bad growl in the drive train.  I wanted a Camelback so I kept it but got a partial refund thinking I could swap the boards and fix the sound issue.  I've swapped everything electrical on that thing except the volume pot and it still buzzes.  I should of spent the extra $100 and got a Lionel one I was looking at at the same time.  It's still sitting on my counter until I work up the desire to tackle it again.

Have had several over the years but fortunately, they're all gone now!

Frank, very funny post and nice looking layout.

My new MTH Railking M1 mountain that is ps-3.   Nice engine, runs great, smokes awesome but I had ordered it in late 2010 and it arrived this summer.  We have no Pennsylvania equipment and nor do I plan on adding any.  It looks odd  with BN, Burlington and UP stuff.  She just sits on the shelf watching the world go by. So if someone wants a nice ps-3 engine with less then 10 minutes of run time contact me.   

The Lionel 8801 Blue Comet with "The Mighty Sound of Steam".  Whenever I run it my teeth hurt!

david1 you took the words away form me.

Those 2 Hudson's were among the first 3 rail ones.

They were brass but ran like tin cans.

Jim

You might try looking over this recent thread.  It may help you get your Hudsons running the way you want them to:

https://ogrforum.com/topic/difference-between-773-andamp-783-hudson?reply=22829637026131936&rl=true#22829637026131936

As for the locomotive I regret?  Hands down, it was my first 681 turbine.  It looked good on the shelf of a flea market, but when I got it home, it turned out to be -- literally -- a collection of spare parts, poorly assembled and very well worn.

I eventually used the tender for another locomotive, and some of the 681's parts have made useful replacements.  But I learned my lesson: never buy a postwar locomotive without careful inspection.

My next 681 was mint, and has been happily running ever since.

This would have to be a tie between the Phantom and the clear shell f-3's 

RMT BEEP.  Just does not fit into the way I run my layout.  I like to do a lot of switching which requires slow speed control and I never could achieve it with the BEEP.

I did have fun modifying the shell:

But it now sits in pieces in a box.

Out of my eight Williams brass locomotives four are great runners.  My Challenger runs like clockwork as does my J Class.  I have found that the main issue with those brass locomotives has been consistency in the runs.  Some of them ran great new and other others of the same type did not. 

3rd Rail CB&Q Hudson

3rd Rail CB&Q Northern

3rd Rail CNS&M Electro-Liner

I know, my fault, too hopeful, but I grew up along the CB&Q and now live in Milwaukee.

Well the worst thing I had ever got was and older weaver alco and rs-3 the ones that were desined to be 2 rail that weaver turned into 3 rail.

 If you had one of those then you got a dud!!!!!

Oh sure....ok, how much for one of the drive kits?

Mind you, I like the 0-8-0 kit, it's nicely detailed, but I'm sure it'll be too light if I ever do find a drive kit for it and it's 2 rail, so I'd have to convert her to 3 rail....oh, and the closest I ever got to York was my two friends borrowing my covered snowmobile trailer to go sled in the Adirondacks.

That would be a tie between the Rock Island Northern and the LCCA General set. Both dogs, both hard to re-sell.

My one and only 3rd rail steam loco, the diecast Mercury makes it a three way tie.

Bleah!

Sunset?...

I'm with you on the Williams brass Dreyfus Hudson except I paid full price. It never, ever ran. Not one inch. I couldn't get the thing to do anything. It sat on a shelf for years. I pick it up one day and the front fell off. Many of  the parts are loose and getting worst with age. What a total piece of junk. Don

For Chris Lord who regrets getting the 8801 Blue Comet:  I know what you mean. But, I liked the train so much I sent it off to Boxcar Bill, who added TMCC and an ERR sound commander.  Now, I REALLY like it!

This question does not compute!  Every train I have I still like and enjoy!

Now with that said, I wouldn't have half of the items I do now if it wasn't for you meddling guys on this forum showing all your cool pictures and videos of all the new trains all the time!!  

It's all your fault!!  And Dave, you're not exempt…… you and your Erie Triplex!!    

hasn't happened yet!

Hello turbine681.............

Can you tell us what were the problems you have with your 3rd rail engines ?  I asked because i have the 3rd rail Santa Fe Texan locomotive and is there anything i should be concern about ?

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,2678

The only engine I really regret buying is a Santa Fe Hudson from MTH. It's the only oddball in my collection, as all the rest belong to railroads that ran/run east of the Appalachians.