Why you shouldn't buy two sets of ABBA E-8's

Last year I sold a bunch of steam engines to pay off a tax debt. I created about 12 feet of empty shelving---2 E-8's no more space now.

Scott Smith

It wasn't O scale, but several years ago I saw someone who had three A-B-B-A lashups all together running on a display layout.

It was funny because the train fans all snickered when they saw the 'all power' train going by and the non-train-fan people with them were all asking what was so funny, as they didn't realize that there wasn't a single freight or passenger car in the entire consist.

For  you E7, E8, E9  shelf planners, you will find that the EMD E7 was 71 feet long, whereas the E8s, and E9s were 70 feet 3 inches long.

 

Lew Schneider

More room for N&W steam where the books are on those shelves in the family room.  DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT SELL SCALE STEAM!  Instead, sell those books and other items on the shelves in the family room and replace it with some of the new Norfolk and Western steam from the latest MTH catalog.  

Hmm...just replace the shelves with pieces of plywood and cantilever the whole thing with threaded rods into the ceiling joists to expand the shelf depth. Seems that you got a couple feet of ceiling all around before running into the fan

 

Peter

My God !!!

What keeps those shelves from ripping the wall down?

Steel studs in the walls?

Scott . . . you have 3,000 pounds of trains on your walls.

Your collection will cause more earth tremors than the San Andreas fault.

 

Then it will be YOUR fault !!!

 

The BIGGER question is: where are all the train boxes stored at?

 

The NYC E8's look very nice in the green....Hmmmm...

Yep... that's about right!    I have three of the MTH E8's... two ABA's (Green NYC, and Tuscan Pennsy) and one ABBA (Santa Fe).  The latter will head up my GGD El Capitan train.

 

For comparison sake, an F3/F7 ABBA is about the same length as an E8 ABA.  So yes, the E8 units are noticeably larger and very impressive.  Consequently, an E8 ABA is quite sufficient (since the two A's contain the power).  I only bought the full ABBA for the Santa Fe E8, since the El Capitan will be a very special train in its own right.  So why not do it up in style -- even though the prototype used F7's.  I just prefer the look of the E8's for what will already be a very long train anyway.  And my railroad couldn't pass up on a terrific deal with the E8's as an added bonus!!! 

 

David

@ Scott:

 

LOL! You're outta' control!  Love it.

 

Keep having fun.

 

Andre

With a small layout now I can no longer run the long consists that my MUed ABA PAs requires. Power is longer than the tow.

One A now suffices for my 6-7 car freights or 4 car passenger consists. Same applies for my E units.

My Wife would kill me, all the while complaing that the kids need clothes food and other crap!

Screw it!  I will Ebay the kids ��

I have Pennsylvania E-7 ABA, Burlington E-7 AA, CP Rail E-8 ABA, Southern Crescent E-8 ABA, and Union Pacific E-6 ABA.  Now MTH is pouring more fuel on the fire in 2015 with Santa Fe and Illinois Central E-6 offerings!

What's the old line from the movie Trading Places, "Why Not both". 

LOL.....Believe it or not, some one auctioned his family a while back. He got a few offers before eBay shut him down....

 

Kids are waaaay more expensive than trains 

David, can you post some pix of your massive SF E8's...may be a review is in order? I am looking for E6 in SF or SP....

 

Was there ever an E8/9 in Black widow scheme? some how my old memory cells say yes...

 

It would be awesome for an ABBA E6, not E8 in Black widow

Five solutions to your problem follow.

1. There are some non-train items taking up shelf space. They gotta go!

2. Expand your train space into other areas of the house. Perhaps your wife will be compassionate about your dilemma?

3. Give some trains away on loan to other railroads. Start with the dusty stuff on the shelves. By the way, I have space available!

4. Make York, Pa off limits. Ask Rich Melvin to blackout your access to the For Sale Forum on this site.

5. The next time you see trains you gotta have, take some depressant drugs. Give your wallet, cell phone and credit cards to your son. Strap yourself into a reclining chair and give the drugs a chance to work. No peaking at any Tom McComas videos or RFD TV.

 

Let us know how No. 2 works out!

I don't think I've ever seen trains "displayed" three-deep on shelves!!!  But there's a first time for everything. 

 

Having fun is all that matters!!!

 

David

Display shelves are great for temporary storage but contending with all the dust that accumulates could be a problem. I prefer to store in original boxes all equipment that is not needed on the layout. I also have a few fully enclosed display cases for individual models.

 

I worked at a bakery where all the floors and wall surfaces were varnished. In addition they had fans and filters running continuously that were used to pull air across each area to eliminate dust collection on any of the manufacturing equipment and exposed product. This "laminar" air flow was hardly noticeable when in the area.

That's a great problem to have! Very impressive collection! 

I agree with Bobby, there's a lot of other railroads in need of motive power so why not lease some of your extras! 

Do you have any pictures or videos of 6 UP E8/E9 units on the City of LA? I've only seen pictures/videos of 5 UP E8/E9 units.

 

Gregg - Each MTH E8 ABBA trainset has 2 motors in each A unit. The B units have no smoke/sound/motors.

The BIGGER question is: where are all the train boxes stored at?

 

The ATTIC!

 

Scott Smith

You need to rent an empty building and start a hobby shop and railroad layout exhibit.

 

Andrew

I see LOTS of room in the Attic for MORE trains to display

 

Through away most of them boxes....

 

DO NOT get rid of the boxes.

 

Pack up all the extra locomotives and cars in the boxes.

 

RENT a space to store or display the extra locos and cars.

 

 

Andrew

Scott, I think you should run both sets at the same time. With one sets of e8's, about a dozen scale passenger cars, and the other sets of e8's, the train could be chasing itself on you layout! 

 

Jim

Two words come to mind...

 

 

Fire

 

     Hazard.....

 

Scott clear out that attic and finish it off. It would make a great spot for a new and expanded layout.

 

I run only steam and my passenger trains are just locals and mail trains.  But I also love passenger diesels.  Every time I get the bug to buy some great paint scheme in the future I will reflect on this thread and the length of ABBA power.  I just have to get my diesel kicks seeing photos and videos.

Love the attic pic!     

Lessee...two sets of A-B-B-A E units...plenty of power to pull, say, 40 or 50 giraffe cars... 

 

 

It could work! 

 

Mitch