I am concerned about the EPA side of things. I wonder if these locomotives are OK for normal trash or not?
If u live where they do the blue plastics bins you could break the shells off and put them in the plastics bin and the rest in the regular bin....JMO
They already told me that they would not do anything about it. I sent them a full listing of all the bad locomotives and was basically told so sad, and too bad, not going to do anything about it, I would have to purchase replacement frames.
Perhaps bundle them and offer on Trainboard for parts... shells, pilot trucks, tenders... some of those might be of use for projects.
I would imagine it would depend largely on what state you live in. Where I am, the list of stuff you can't put in the regular trash is a lengthy one. We can't even put food scraps in it! I believe that, if you follow the regulations to a tee where I am, the only thing that you are supposed to put in the regular trash is non-recyclable plastics and Styrofoam. Everything else goes in the green yard waste bin (this is where food scraps go now here, along with your pizza box), the blue recyclables bin (cardboard, glass, paper, recyclable plastic, etc.) or HAZMAT collection (household cleaners, used batteries, electronic components, paint, etc.). Even empty paint cans with completely dry paint residue in them have to go to the household hazardous waste center which, BTW, will count them as full against your allowed 15-gallon limit per trip here (found that out the hard way with a threat of a 25K fine!). Where my dad lives, there are virtually no limitations of what you can throw away it seems.
Even though where I live is considered by the town to be in their jurisdiction we are in the county. In town you have to separate your trash. Green bin and a blue bin. Out here it's just the green bin and EVERYTHING goes in it.
I would think the motors, trucks, couplers, etc. could be save. If you are truly going to throw them..send them to me, and I will pay the shipping. Thrown away the good with the bad is wasteful. I'm sure a lot can be salvage...Just let me know...
Inquire as to whether or not one of the NTRAK/T-TRAK/NRail clubs in your area would accept the locos as a donation. Given that some of the parts will still have a residual value, it might possibly result in a tax write-off for you. https://nrail.org/page-18081
What kind of locomotives? I'm looking for Atlas GP trucks. And if you have any broken shells, I could use some to practice my weathering!
Take all the affected frames and send them to IM! Don't forget to add a note of "Thank You!" The rest you can keep for parts or even sell them.
The frames crack because they are swelling and the shells can not be removed without severely damaging them. I am trying to figure out what can be done with all of these mini disasters.
Put em on E-Bay for 99 cents each as junk with a full explanation and economy shipping . Bet you'd be surprised .
Re-use is always best. My understanding is that most of those recycle numbers you see on plastic are BS. They were started as a PR move by industry groups. https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1131...y-impossible-and-the-problem-is-getting-worse We are told that while pretty much everything is recyclable in theory, in practice it is limited to milk jug plastic, water/pop bottle plastic, cardboard and paper, cans and glass. Small pieces not worth hand sorting and everything else that we dutifully put in our recycle bins stay in the waste stream and get landfilled. That would include styrene locomotive shells.
I would be interested in some of those F-units for bashing donors. I will take a Dremel tool to the frames so that I can remove the shells. Send me a PM. As an alternative, put them up on the Marketplace here or FeePay. If I see them, I will bid or buy. In fact, in some cases, especially the F-3s, I would not care if the sides of the shell are cracked. It would matter on the F-7s. The road names would not be important. In the Capital Of Your Nation, we have recyclables and regular trash. We do not have "compost" or HazMat, Y-E-T. There are some things that they do not want in recyclables such as plastic six-pack rings, plastic grocery bags (you can put those into the trash, though). (emphasis mine) I was truly amazed at what I got for JUNQUE on FeePay. I even stated several times in the text of the auction, and, at least once in CAPSLOCK, that the item is JUNK. As a rule, I do state specific defects only once, but will state several times that the item is defective. This has paid off, as one or two customers who did not read the text complained, but the FeePay Arbitrator took my part, as even he could see that I had warned all prospective bidders more than once that it was a defective item. In some cases, I got more for JUNQUE locomotives than I got for those that actually ran. Seriously, it totally escaped me that someone would pay fifty three dollars for a C-C RDC that is held together with rail joiners, duct tape and paper clips; barely ran and looked awful. I put it up with the six or so photographs that you were allowed, then, including photographs of the jury rigging. I bought the thing for five dollars at a show and decided not to do the project, so I sold it. I listed it for the five dollars that I had in it plus like three and change for postage. it brought fifty three dollars and positive feedback! Meanwhile, I could not get even fifty dollars for an A-B set of LL FM C-Liners. I listed that one for forty five and got ZERO bids.
