Large Scale Central

A chance find

General Discussion
#1

…that was tossed in the trash. A buddy of mine spotted this at the dump.

Preliminary inventory -

2 circles LGB R1 track.

10 LGB straights

2 LGB switches and a 30D crossover.

all the track is dirty but otherwise seems in good shape.

Big Hauler loco in poor shape.

half a dozen cheap cars in poor condition, most with fixed hook and loop couplers that cannot be swapped out. I like the ore dump car and can salvage the Bachmann gondola and caboose, but drat…

The building is apparently to hide the transformer. I found a place for it on the layout already.

Transformer and attendant electronics.

Question is ‘what to do with it?’

find 1
find 11080×1440 154 KB

find 2
find 21080×1440 179 KB

#2

Clean it up, set it out, stare at it, and walk away. An idea will come to you. Perhaps the cheap cars can be stripped of the their wheels and couplers and used as buildings, for instance. Also, we’ve had good fun sprucing up a couple 10-wheelers. Even if busted, maybe it’ll be a good set-out piece or stationary steam engine for an industry or a wreck. As for the track, clean it, box it, and wait for the day you need a loop of track for some sort of event.

Just ideas!

Eric

#3

Wow! You’ve got your Christmas tree set up sorted with that!

#4

Or save it for the next MIK build. The cost was zero, a good starting point.

#5

Nice find, That LGB powerpack is worth a sum. Some of that looks like Playmobil, you could convert to knuckles but might need surgery. the Bug Hauler is battery version and probably only good for parts. I might be interested in the Playmobil stuff if your not interested but I would say give it a try, that stuff is bulletproof tough.

#6

With that R1 track, I’d consider doing a 2-tier pizza layout, with plenty of inspiration available from Vic!

#7

I might take you up on that - but be warned - those cars are in rough shape. Industrial strength cleaning for starters. Most of the couplers are broken, and a couple are missing wheels.

Or I could send the Playmobile stuff to Team Mueller.

Either of you interested?

#8

Playmobile can be made to look pretty good with a bit of “doctoring-up”. Worth a try when you have nothing to lose.
Before:

Double Tip Orig
Double Tip Orig800×600 171 KB

After:

DoubleTip
DoubleTip1600×1200 316 KB

Best, David Meashey

#9

It is raining here, so I took another look at the ‘find.’

The transformer has a funky plug (Euro?) that i didn’t care to change out.

There is a bag filled with plastic clips - maybe to keep the track snug.

There is also a second locomotive with a body in horrible shape. Something inside slides with a ‘clunk’ when picked up. I don’t do track power anymore, but I did fetch a sparkling clean piece of track and dug up an old Lionel transformer, The loco moved in fits and starts - likely dirty wheels.

find 6
find 61080×1440 142 KB

find 3
find 31080×1440 130 KB

find 4
find 41080×1440 119 KB

find 5
find 51080×810 66.7 KB

I also looked over the Playmobile cars. Major surgery is required to fit them with knuckle couplers and the wheels are in poor condition. I do kins of like the ore car and the ‘little guy,’ but I am ot especially attached to any of them.

At this point, I am inclined to hang onto the Bachmann gondola and unload the rest on somebody else. (I have half a dozen bobber cabeese, mostly Bachmann, if somebody here wants one…

#10

Tim;

Most Lionel transformers use AC current (the exception being a few from the MPC years and Lionel Large Scale units), but that locomotive is probably DC. The “fits and starts” could be a DC motor trying to run on AC. Can you find a HO DC power pack or even an LGB starter set pack?

The locomotive should be OK it you only applied power for a very short time.

Regards, David Meashey

#11

I applied power for just a couple seconds because of that concern. I will have to see where the Bachmann power packs got off to.

(Can’t find anything anymore)

#12

Found an old LGB transformer and hooked it up. The Playmobile (?) locomotive moved fairly smoothly back and forth along the test track after a nudge or two.

I also hunted through the parts pile - the part of the pile I could find, anyhow. Alas, it seems I am out of metal wheels and Bachmann knuckle couplers.

#13

Thanks, Tim. They would be welcomed, but I think @VicSmith had already asked if he could have them. Please check with him first.

Eric

#14

At this point, I think I will play with the Playmobile cars for a while.

I wonder if Bachmann knuckle couplers could be grafted in place if the loops were severed? It would probably require a spacer… hmm…

I checked the cost of metal wheels and Bachmann knuckle couplers on EBAY. The couplers seem sanely priced, but apparently those wheels are gold plated. :unamused:

It doesn’t help that I have a bum wrist (fall) and that most of my ‘play money’ went to replacing the old computer when it died last month.

#15

would you be interested in a bobber caboose or three? they seem to multiply when I’m not watching?

#16

No thanks, Tim! I have more “cabeese” than we can run!

May your wrist heel quickly and completely!

Eric

#17

Take it Eric I’m fighting to find storage for my stuff

#18

Yeah, ya can’t turn your back on those Bobbers…

:grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

#19

I am fighting that same battle. I spent yesterday rerouting the mainline and creating a ‘service yard’ for rolling stock I can’t run for one reason or another - like ‘it is fake G scale’ or coupler issues.) Said service yard is already almost full - and that iswithout the Big Haulers or the Playmobile stuff.

Before:

rebuild 2
rebuild 21080×1440 191 KB

After:

rebuild 4
rebuild 41080×1440 196 KB

#20

I was going to start a thread in the ‘indoor’ section about this, as the rerouting served other purposes beyond creating the service yard.

More on topic, I am inclined to hang onto the Playmobile stuff and see about clipping the hook and loop couplers for knuckle couplers.