There is another consideration: Was the loco lubed and periodically cleaned or left to it’s own devices…???
Yep, mentioned wear on gearbox and bearings twice already. Hard to tell externally though, since the ones that go bad are internal.
The following videos are by a person that has been at times a USAT “hater” so it’s not typical wear, but it is indeed an example of a motor and gearbox from a Hudson that was not lubed.
Forewarned is forearmed.
Twister
MTH engines - The main PS2 or PS3 board does keep track of total time the engine has been ‘started up’ and then the number of scale miles it has been run. These numbers are tracked over the engine’s lifetime and then there are the same figures you can get for the current run time since last started up. The same is true for engines where Ray does installs of PS2 / PS3 in non-MTH engines, they keep track of the same. I don’t have any MTH engines so I don’t really know anything about this except what Ray told me.
Tom
Tom - Ok, that must have been what I saw. Thx a bunch, guys, for tracking this info down. I will say I don’t really care if the tracking device were within the loco itself or if it were contained in the tender, etc as long as it was accurately tracked. And Greg, thx for making me aware of the need to watch for signs of bearing life, etc. I bet most of the guys here are pretty honest. I just wonder if sometimes one’s perceptions of how much wear/use an expensive loco has actually received is inaccurate or is just a matter of subjectivity. One hobbyist’s “light wear” might be another hobbyist’s “moderate wear”. Thanks for all the help, guys!
Unfortunately, the G scale used market is “paved” with things sold as new, or “test run only” that have miles and miles on them.
Usually you can tell by tire wear, and the exterior condition pretty well, but nothing like running the loco and seeing it in person. If you cannot do that, ask the seller to make a short video of it slowly starting, stopping and reversing, all done slowly (I know that sentence has redundant parts). Normally any problems in the drivetrain will show up as jerks or hesitations.
Besides people who are not honest, there are people who really are clueless about how the loco runs and it’s real condition. Add this to the fact it is an expensive loco and people usually want their money out of it, it pays to be careful.
Greg
Greg Elmassian said:
Unfortunately, the G scale used market is “paved” with things sold as new, or “test run only” that have miles and miles on them.
Usually you can tell by tire wear, and the exterior condition pretty well, but nothing like running the loco and seeing it in person. If you cannot do that, ask the seller to make a short video of it slowly starting, stopping and reversing, all done slowly (I know that sentence has redundant parts). Normally any problems in the drivetrain will show up as jerks or hesitations.
Besides people who are not honest, there are people who really are clueless about how the loco runs and it’s real condition. Add this to the fact it is an expensive loco and people usually want their money out of it, it pays to be careful.
Greg
Been there done that.
I bought a loco of a dealer that was described as “New in Box” only to find wear on the drive wheels that indicated it may have been a demonstrator before being flogged to a person across that other side of the planet.
“Caveat Emptor” applies