What are folks thoughts on dummy locos? There's not a lot out there in N anyway so what about creating your own? I have a few older engines that aren't worth the time of getting them running again much less going DCC with so I am considering making them dummy units. A couple of examples would be an old LifeLike or Model Power F40. Thinking it would be a good candidate to make into a cabbage and run on an Amtrak train. Another would be an old Model Power SD45 that hasn't run since pre 2000. It might look good in some G&W orange and black and being in transit from one place to another. So, how would that work with an old loco, is it as simple as just pulling the guts out of it or would you have to remove all the gearing in the trucks as well? What precautions so that they don't create a short without any guts in them? Just things I'm pondering as I look through old stuff trying to decide what to do with it. Bring on the commentary and ideas folks!
There were some dummy units available, back during the seventies. I recall Bachmann, Minitrix. They faded away, so I would guess not enough folks wanted them.
I would try just pulling out the worm (screw-like) gears that drive tops of the trucks. If you want to reduce weight, then pull out the motor too. The truck gears do not provide much drag (assuming they are in good shape) so I'd prolly leave them be.
Consider Making: Vignettes Heavily weathered 'junk yard queens', (just rusting away on an olde piece of track Loco on piece of track with trees that have grown up around it. Cut the shells up for junk yard. As Dummies Reduce weight: Remove motor Try trimming the frame If Running Large critters just for grins - Maybe check with 3D printers to see if they could make interesting shells or parts
ConCor also made dummies as well (especially the PA's). I don't see any reason not to do what you are thinking about. If the engines don't run, or are too difficult to add DCC, then dumb them down and use them. I wouldn't ever take an engine that was running and/or DCC compatible and convert it...two pullers are always going to be better than one, but if they aren't going to get used, at least this lets them run.
Start with inspecting the trucks un-clipped from the chassis. If you can spin the gears on the gear-tower freely then they're good candidates for dummy use. The thing that will keep them from rolling freely in the loco is the worm-gear, as BigJake pointed out. That sucker needs to go either way. I'd leave all the gears in the trucks though, as sometimes they help stabilize the axles. Clean them up good, add a little oil, and if they spin freely they should be fine. Mike
I have gutted a few older GP's and run them with some Newer Atlas DCC GP locos. Just think of them as another freight car. If you normally run 10 cars...run 9 and the dummy.
I did this with an old Model Power/Mehano C-420 from the 1970s and it was a fun project. With such a horrible drive train, I removed the gearing, electrical contact strips within the one powered truck and the motor too, then painted it in LV. It rides in unison with my powered Kato GP-38-2s (which I also painted) and I've never had a minute's trouble with it. I sometimes couple it on the end of trains and pretend it's a pusher.
Most of the companies making the old dummies, did so primarily by leaving the motor out.........the result was that the dummies were not much cheaper to produce than the powered unit . Faced with a $15-20 difference in price , most people opted for a second powered unit. The only current company I know of doing dummies is BLI on some of their N scale F units. As far as the conversion, take out as much as you can, starting with the motor/worm gears. I always remove the idler gears in the trucks as well.........we worry about changing out all our wheels on our cars to get better rolling, the same applies here. The difference between a loco truck with and without gears isn't great, but it's way more than the differences between different wheelsets for cars. On that subject, dummy locos will never be as free rolling as our cars, which makes them not track over turnouts, crossings, ect. as well as cars........because of that, I leave as much weight as possible to help them stay on the track. I also over-oil the trucks.......not enough to be dripping, but more than I would if they were running. My only current dummy is an Athearn SD70 that the motor died on........I can't find a motor, so I pulled the drivetrain out and made a dummy out of it. It rolls well enough that I use it on the rear of trains on the club layout (DC) with no problems.
One possible use for dummy locos is a place to put decoders or sound equipment. Use thin earbud wire for a cheap set of earbuds to connect the two locos. It is possible to put the decoder now into the dummy rather than mill a frame and lose weight, Use both units to pick up power.
My pike is small, so I really need only one powered locomotive to handle most of the trains that operate on it. In many cases, despite the size of these trains, their purpose in the prototype world would dictate two locomotives so the dummy is a viable option. There are two exceptions. One is where there is nasty grade. As a result, either prototype practices or actual modelling conditions dictate two powered locomotives. The other is in the case of using small power in pairs of powered units, such as the B-mann 44 or 70 tonner or the PIKO Whitcomb. The first two have small footprints and light weight, so two powered units would work better than a powered unit and a live dummy. The Whitcomb has sufficient weight but has only one powered truck. The powered truck is electrically live but has traction tires on one of the wheelsets. The result is less contact and less pulling power. Running these in pairs addresses both problems. This is important. Some of those do not freewheel well. See the comment of a poster infra on this subject. Even some of the factory dummies do ot freewheel well. The C-C SW B-unit is one such. This. the difference in freewheeling between a dummy with no weight and one with some can amaze you. I have not tried to use excess lubrication on the axles. The last editions of the B-mann Davenport in the cardboard box as well as those in the plastic box run well. Those are split metal frame. The problem with them is that due to the small footprint and the balance, they stall frequently. There was a guy at a show who had several of them with fried motors for five dollars each. I bought four of them. I made sure that the motors would not function; they did not. I removed the motor and some of the gears. The frame halves have sufficient weight on their own to allow for freewheeling. The now dummy still is electrically live. I then hardwired the live dummy to the powered Davenport (also, of course, electrically live). This eliminated the stalling. I use these units mostly as industrial switchers. They shuffle one or two; no more than three cars at a time so there still is sufficient pulling power for them to perform their tasks. Occasionally, they might pull a train of two or three cars and an industrial hack from the plant to the junction. There is sufficient pulling power for that, as well. I do have two Kato four wheel JNR brakemen's vans that are electrically live. I have hardwired them to small power, as well. While it does reduce stalling, it is not as satisfactory a solution as hardwiring the dummies. If you do a minimum amount of surgery to them, you can make a convincing North American industrial hack out of one. Kato also sells some JNR brakemen's vans that are eight wheel and electrically live. The Kato North American center cupola caboose also is electrically live.
I think dummy units have their place. I have a Precision Craft powered E7A and dummy E7B set that effortlessly pulls 10 Kato passenger cars. 2 powered locomotives aren’t needed and I don’t have to worry about speed matching and consisting. If you have some dead locomotives I think making them dummies is a great idea.
I have a Kato F7B dummy. During my very brief experimenting with DCC, I had a decoder that just didn't get along with a Kato F unit chassis. Ultimately, the motor fried and the DCC experiment ended shortly after. I pulled a healthy motor from an ATSF F7B and left the Santa Fe unit as a dummy? Why? Kato replacement motors aren't a huge expense. Well, I liked some of those mountain ATSF lashups with about six F units on the front. The Kato Super Chief and ElCapitan sets "require" exactly one Kato F unit to be pulled around, so the other five ain't doing much other than creating a larger load for the power source. So, I just left the B unit without a motor and bagged/tagged the worm gears and bearing blocks. It can easily be returned to its original configuration if somebody wants to do so some day. It won't be me.
To build on what Grey One said… -cut the empty shell open and model the inside details being repaired -use it as a flat car load on the way to scrap -model a wreck along with any repair train you have Last but not least, consider calling them “knowledge challenged” since DUMMY may not be politically correct!
Yeah, I like the idea for a heavy flatcar load, e.g. salvaged from a wreck and/or headed to scrap. Seems like I saw something like that once upon a time, with the trucks on a separate flatcar (perhaps for height clearance)?
I refer to unpowered units as, well, "unpowered units." I stopped calling them dummy units a while ago, but mostly because that term wasn't as clear as "unpowered."
You guys are funny "knowledge challenged ", "unpowered " in place of "dummy". I guess I should be glad no one has accused me of making a "pot to kettle" comment yet. Oh well, some great discussion and ideas so far.
The old LifeLike plastic frame locos like the FB2 and the E7B were good for this. I have an ABA set of E7's using two Kato E8 chassis with the LifeLike E7A bodies and an unpowered LifeLike E7B. I want to install a sound decoder powering two speakers in either end of the B unit. Those old LL units weren't bad runners either. I still have four GP18's and four GP20's along with an ABBA set of FA/B-2's that are strictly analog DC and I plan to keep them that way.
My Con-Cor dummy PAs are extremely free-rolling. Even the slightest grade will set them rolling. That being said, I have always had a psychological hang-up with dummy locos. I know they have no motor/power so it ruins the illusion for me. I want all locos that LOOK like a power unit to actually HAVE power, like the real thing. Doug
