Another "Do you REALLY need another engine?" conundrum!

LongIslandTom

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Apr 8, 2006
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Did anybody notice the sale M.B. Klein (aka www.modeltrainstuff.com) is having on some Athearn RTR and Atlas stuff?

Today I surfed by there and I am so sorely tempted to pull the trigger.. They got the Athearn RTR stuff like GP38-2s that normally goes for $60+ down to $39. Then there's the Atlas stuff like their B40-8 for $59.99. Wow.

What's stopping me right now is the fact that I got 25 locos and 21 pieces of rolling stock... :D

I wonder if there is such a thing as "Locoholics Anonymous." sign1
 

Ralph

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cidchase said:
Really wish I could be more help, but ...
Try talkin' to Ralph.:D

sign1 I'm off the clock being a behavior analyst while online at The Gauge so I say, I'll enable your purchase if you enable mine! :wave:
Ralph
 

LoudMusic

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I'm going to have to dissagree with these three guys. You definitely need to have more cars than engines. Soooo, buy one of each engine and seven cars, bringing your total to 27 engines and 28 cars. It's the obvious solution.

Yeup.
 

Herc Driver

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Apr 18, 2005
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I'm sorry...am I missing something? Are you supposed to have more cars than engines? I thought the rule was you had to have more cars than engines on the layout at any given time. Therefore, what was left off the layout didn't count...or something like that.
 

LoudMusic

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This rule is new to me. I must review the Model Railroader Handbook ...

... YOU ARE CORRECT! Models on the layout are counted for ratios. So long as there are more cars than engines you're good to go. Just keep the extras in display cases.
 

LongIslandTom

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Apr 8, 2006
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LOL, okay I give up... I gave in to the urge and ordered two Atlas B40-8's in Conrail colors for $65 apiece.. It ought to look very nice consisted with the one NYSW B40-8 I already have (which I bought from Trainland in January for $85, and I thought THAT was a good deal!), and we all know how nicely these Atlases run. Can't wait to get them in the mail. :D

Also grabbed an Athearn RTR GP40-2 in CSX Yn2 ("bright future" scheme) as a gift for someone (yes, doing my Christmas shopping early so I don't get caught flatfooted later, LOL).. And two AMD103 Gennies in the Intercity scheme, which ought to look nice consisted with the Northeast Direct AMD103 I already have.

Plus they got Microscale decals for cheap too... Grabbed a whole bunch... CN dual-flag scheme, CNW Zito Yellow scheme for hood units, etc.

That's 5 engines for $250. Can't believe I just further unbalanced my engine-to-rollingstock ratio to 30:21. sign1

Well, 29:21 once I give away that CSX engine come Christmas.tooth1
 

LongIslandTom

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Right here: http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/manufacturer/atlashosale.html

The ones I got are the DC-only B40-8's (whoops, $60 apiece), but those should be DCC-ready and it should be no big deal for me to drop in a sound-equipped decoder in the future.

Further down the page they got the DCC-equipped B40-8 for $70 (no sound though), and the S-3 and S-4 switchers for $43 apiece sounds like a SWEET deal too.

The Athearn stuff on sale is here: http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/manufacturer/athearnrtrhosale.html

RTR Geeps for $40 a piece! You can never have too many Geeps, I always say. :D
 

David Rosser

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This may help......
On the wall near our layout, we have a framed quotation set.
"A woman can never be too rich or too thin" Gloria Vanderbilt
But....
" A man can never have too many locomotives" Cornelius Vanderbilt
(the first quote is supposed to be a real one, the second....?) Dave
 

green_elite_cab

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LongIslandTom said:
Did anybody notice the sale M.B. Klein (aka www.modeltrainstuff.com) is having on some Athearn RTR and Atlas stuff?

Today I surfed by there and I am so sorely tempted to pull the trigger.. They got the Athearn RTR stuff like GP38-2s that normally goes for $60+ down to $39. Then there's the Atlas stuff like their B40-8 for $59.99. Wow.

What's stopping me right now is the fact that I got 25 locos and 21 pieces of rolling stock... :D

I wonder if there is such a thing as "Locoholics Anonymous." sign1

lol i have exactly the same problem, with one extra one: I don't even have the space for these monsters i've been buying.
 

stuart_canada

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always have space to give a locomotive or crane a new home on my layout when i rebuild it again.

i cannot resist buying more when i am running the trains. just might need that spare from the roundhouse incase the loco in use dies in route
 

LongIslandTom

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Exciting day for me today-- 2 days after I ordered, my stuff got here:

Two of the AMD103 Gennies I ordered (the Intercity paint schemes) were out of stock, so I got the two Conrail B40-8's, the AMD103 NE Direct, and the CSX GP40-2.

I'm pretty happy with the locos... The Atlas B40-8s are DCC-ready (has the standard 8-pin plug), so I can drop in some nice decoders in the future when I go DCC. The two Conrail units are detail-accurate to the prototypes, so I won't have to add anything-- Spray on some weathering and I'm good to go.

The AMD-103 NE Direct is also pretty much ready-to-go-- I can add the Details West AMD103 Superdetailing kit to get the additional underframe details, but that's a lot of effort for details one won't see much when it's running on the pike, so I probably won't bother. This one will only get VERY light weathering since Amtrak passenger engines are supposed to be relatively clean compared to freight locos.

The Athearn RTR GP40-2 does have a good amount of detailing, but it's still pretty "generic".. It's not really detail-specific for the prototype #6341. But that's OK because that's the engine I'm giving someone as a Christmas gift a couple months from now-- It goes back into the box right now to be gift-wrapped.

$200 for four high-quality engines-- Not bad I think. :D
 

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Dave-the-Train

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David Rosser said:
This may help......
On the wall near our layout, we have a framed quotation set.
"A woman can never be too rich or too thin" Gloria Vanderbilt
But....
" A man can never have too many locomotives" Cornelius Vanderbilt
(the first quote is supposed to be a real one, the second....?) Dave

Is that tendered as a solution?
 

David Rosser

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I dont know if is a "solution", considering that I now have 74 locos, but it is a great "rationale", and the female quote is first and has more words than the male quote so that in our polit. correct age I should not have to worry about the layout being boycotted, etc.. Dave
 

n2trains

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I certainly wish there were a place for somebody like me. One who is a locomotice-aholic, but has not the money to spend on such things. Darn that college and their education, not to mention that baseball and football I'm going for heh.

But yeah, I got about 9 locomotives and 30 pieces of rolling stock at my buddy's house in Washington state (I"m in Southern California now, best thing I ever did was move down here)

now all I wish is that I had my stuff and a small layout/room for one