In today's video we will be seeing if the box of N scale stuff that I have had stored away for about 20 years works. Like, Comment and Subscribe if you enjoyed the video.
About 1985, my wife and I built a 4' x 6' HO layout that we called Christmas in Connecticut. It was all snow covered and featured a working Walther's ice rink with 4 moving skaters. The layout disappeared after we moved. Before getting out of the hobby I was in a store that was clearing out a bunch of N stuff. I picked up a couple of locos, just in case. One was an Atlas (made by Kato) GE U25B (Conrail), the other was a made in Austria Con-Cor RDC-2 (Pennsy RR). So, with my leftover Troller controller I just tested them on the 2' x 4' layout I'm now building. Incredibly, they both run perfectly, especially the Kato. The RDC almost scrapes the curved bridges (9 ¾" radius) but gets by in spite of its length. The 4 axle GE looks good everywhere. They both have the old Rapido couplers and are, of course, DC only. I'd love to convert them but my hands aren't steady enough and my bifocals are tough with N scale.
Amtrak locomotives are F40-PH units. Life Like models. For their age and budget price, they are great locomotives! Keep them as runners. The 4-8-4 steamer is nice but a mechanical bear. They hate narrow curves as well. The Santa Fe F7 is a staple in the hobby. As long as those Bachmann gears don’t split, the engine serves its purpose. Nice little collection you can use to get a layout started with.
I have n scale atlas gp7 and about 10 cars atlas and micro trains from 1997. I also had them boxed up for 20 years +. Recently built a layout and they run like new. I also didn't run mine much after I first bought them back in 97. Anyway, nice to see some n scale.
Cars with silver wheels are Bachmann. Some could be old Atlas. I remember the cars with blackened wheels being from Life-Like - the Union Pacific 50-foot boxcar, the CSX coal hopper, etc. Those Life-Like F40s are good locomotives. They have a strong 5-pole motor. The mechanism was also in their F7s and GP38-2s. The Bachmann F9 was not the company's best effort - not in my experience. They pull well but not good low-speed runners. The earlier models with metal gears were noisy, but who cares? They ran great!
I do only have one of those Bachmann 4-8-4 steam locomotives however mine is the newer version but however someday I would love to find one of the older versions and compare it to what I have right now. Also I have the Santa Fe version but I also know that there is a Great Northern version as well as another paint scheme with a different railroad logo but I can’t remember which one it is but they are still pretty awesome locomotives!!👍
Not a lot of N scale at the moment. Right now I'm working on getting all the Micro Trains state cars. I have the F7 A and B unit and about half the cars so far.
The 4-8-4 is from a set called the Empire Builder. It's old enough to have white gears that are prone to crack, which causes the drivers to slip out. When that happens the loco is pretty much a display piece. It looks like that is what has happened to yours. The new versions of that loco have different gears, so that problem has been eliminated. It still doesn't like track under 11" radius.
