Southern Pacific loco #9725

[Bill Pontin]

I see these on e-bay going for up to $15.00 plus shipping. I sure hope none of my fellow gaugers have been taken in. This can only be used as a static display. I bought a dozen of them in a dollar store for $1.00 a piece, YUP one single dollar. The unscrupuless people on e-bay are selling them saying they are unopened in the original box daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, ya okay, why don't you tell them there is no motor. Several even had the balls to say they had no way of testing the engine. Gave most of them friends for static displays and some to the grandkids to push around. Haven't seen them lately in the stores but I'm not looking have five left.

 

[roryglasgow]

My mom got a couple of these engines and a tanker car from Reader's Digest and gave them to my son. He "let" me fool around with one of the engines. I managed modify it a bit to get it on the track (pushed by a real engine, of course). I'd never use it seriously, though.

I'm really confused as to what the purpose of these engines is... They're so closed to N-scale that I can't believe that they weren't intended to actually be N-scale. The wheels will fit onto N-gauge track. The couplers even look like Rapidos! But they're absolutely useless for anything except a static display--even though the level of detail really puts them in the "toy" class. I don't know...maybe someone got bored one day...

 

[ezdays]

Bill,

Thanks for the warning. This is one reason I say away from eBay. I know people that have had absolutly great luck buying stuff, but I'd rather spend my time looking for bargins elsewhere. For example, if you catch Model Expo at the right time like I did, I got a couple of LL GP-38's, a GP-18 and and EMD-20 all for $15.00 each. And yes, they all have motors and working couplers.

Yeah, there are a lot of sneaky people in this world. Like you, I hope no one here bites on this offer. I'm sure eBay would just say: "Buyer beware."

The only thing I found at a 99 cent store in Phoenix was a ceramic loco and caboose that probably was closer to HO.

Don

 

[Drew1125]

Hi Bill!
My Mother-In-Law gave me that one a couple of yrs ago as a X-mas "stocking stuffrer"...sure glad I didn't have to pay for the thing! The part I really liked were the NON-WORKING RAPIDO COUPLERS!! & some of the cheeziest tooling I've seen!

But hey, give me a lemon, & I'll make some lemonade!
Here's a couple of pics of that that little engine now...
Here's one of the trucks that's been salvaged down at the wrecking yard...

 

[Drew1125]

...& here's what became of part of the shell...an AC unit on the the roof of the train station I'm in the process of kitbashing.
(sorry, I haven't been able to test the motor on the AC unit! )

 

[ezdays]

Charlie,

Leave it to you to make the best of something like that. The sum of the parts equals more than the whole in this case.

Don

 

[guppyman]

I used mine to learn how to weather. People give me these things all the time. Eventually, there will probably be an old rusting out train far back in the back of my layout on some abandoned tracks...

I did see one guy who ran an auction that had a big write up of what these things really are (junk) and telling people not to bid on them when they saw them.

But I still see them going for good money all the time on E-bay.... Kinda makes me wonder if I should sell mine???!???

 

[rcwatkins]

Oh God, i've fallen fer it!

Ezdays-You mean the red & blue toy that's marked "Santa Fe"?


At a "L"HS in Memphis, I saw the same thing for $20! I mean COME ON here. I have 1 of these tonly with mine the trucks keep falling off & the loco falls off N scale track!

 

[shaygetz]

Thanks for posting this Bill. With over 30 years under my belt in this hobby, I take it for granted that stuff like this is easy to spot, never figuring Ebay into the equation. I see these marked for 5 bucks or more at local flea markets. Ebay is great for those who know what they are looking at thru the eyes of experience but can be a nasty trap for the neophite. There is a similar set of two trolleys in HO that try to peel bucks off of the newcomer and the unknowledgable. The bad part about those is that the bodies are made from the same molds that Bachmann uses for their trolleys.

Take a look at Bill's pic, if you look closer at the picture on the box, you'll see metal wheels, thinner profile handrails and working Rapido couplers...a real working model was used.

 

[SD90]

Great use, for a not so great model Charlie! I would actually like to find some locomotives like that to practice weathering. I don't really want to wreck a Kato. Who make these fine units?

 

[rcwatkins]

Originally posted by SD90
Who make these fine units?

I don't know, the hint of that is that there's the wording "High Speed" on the bottom of the "locomotive".


Hi speed? How bout no speed!