Where is a good place to buy brass locomotives

[bc6]

Id like to purchase a brass locomotive and was curious where is a good place to purchase one from.

[C855B]

Oh, dear. You've done it now. Just wait for the "WHY do you want to buy brass?" naysayers to jump on you. 

IIRC, you're a recently converted HO'er. Brass doesn't have the cachet in N as it does in HO, and, in N, it doesn't come anywhere close to solving the problem of making rare(r) or low-demand prototypes available like HO. Not helping, there hasn't been any truly new brass locomotive produced in several years, ever since the last remaining maker of serious brass N (Overland Models) priced themselves out of the market.

To answer your question directly, the widest variety of N brass I've seen in the flesh is at Caboose Hobbies in Denver. Their inventory is entirely resale, or, if you're lucky, new old-stock. Other than that, the best source would be eBay. There is a "Brass Imports" section, so browse there. Uncle Dave's Brass Model Trains is another resource, he has an inventory of unused but 4- to 8-year-old stock at list prices.

EDIT: Shame on me. I forgot to link you to a great... no, fantastic resource for what models have been produced in brass: the N Scale Locomotive Encyclopedia. If you are foraging for a specific prototype that you think might have been available in brass at one time, it'll be on Mark's list. If he was able to get one to test, you'll get the straight skinny on whether it was usable on a layout, a shelf queen, or a "don't bother, a better version was made in plastic".

[bc6]

Oh, dear. You've done it now. Just wait for the "WHY do you want to buy brass?" naysayers to jump on you. 

IIRC, you're a recently converted HO'er. Brass doesn't have the cachet in N as it does in HO, and, in N, it doesn't come anywhere close to solving the problem of making rare(r) or low-demand prototypes available like HO. Not helping, there hasn't been any truly new brass locomotive produced in several years, ever since the last remaining maker of serious brass N (Overland Models) priced themselves out of the market.

To answer your question directly, the widest variety of N brass I've seen in the flesh is at Caboose Hobbies in Denver. Their inventory is entirely resale, or, if you're lucky, new old-stock. Other than that, the best source would be eBay. There is a "Brass Imports" section, so browse there. Uncle Dave's Brass Model Trains is another resource, he has an inventory of unused but 4- to 8-year-old stock at list prices.

Sorry C855B youve got me confused with some one else. Maybe one day in the future I'll try to install grab irons and fan grills before the eyesight goes but until then I'll grab myself a brass locomotive to save me the hassle.

[VGN50]

bc6,

My opinion: C855B just gave you an excellent answer to your question.

Good luck with your search.

[C855B]

Sorry C855B youve got me confused with some one else. Maybe one day in the future I'll try to install grab irons and fan grills before the eyesight goes but until then I'll grab myself a brass locomotive to save me the hassle.

Alrighty, then. You're going to be mightily disappointed. A typical brass N diesel (let's call a 20-year-old Hallmark model "typical") sometimes has solid castings to represent the fans - no see-through grilles - and the grab irons came in a separate little plastic bag so they could be applied by you, the modeler, after painting. There is, or rather, was no free lunch.

Some models may have been produced in the manner you are looking for, such as some later Hallmark production. However, assuming better, finer detail on "just any" brass diesel than on current plastic production is not a safe assumption.

[Nato]

            Some older Brass models  Hallmark in particular had nylon (plastic?) gears that were prone to cracking,even with proper lubercation. Bobby Hall (a wonderful woman) offered replacement gears,but these haven't been found for years. The old Key Imports F-7/5 diesels made by Endo Microcast,(should be a clew) were not solid brass,but cast metal and brass parts. With out stripping the paint off of one would some of us ever know this fact. The old Key Steam locomotives,GS 4 unlighted & lighted,AC12 Cab Forward,and UP Challenger manufactured by Nakamuria of Japan,locomotives towed the tenders, pickup was on the locomotive, were the best running smoothest brass engines of their day,1970's era. Todays brass is considerably improved,but pricey,most locomotives run very smoothly,but you pay for the quality, and in some cases the model. We will probably never see a Plastic Milwaukee Road "Little Joe" Electric Locomotive so brass it is although very pricey. As an owner of quite a few brass items over the years,some of which I do not operate any more ,FT diesels for example,I say buy it if you like it,but early brass has a poorer operating ratio. Dealers like "Caboose Hobbies" in Denver sell new brass and some used  in N scale. I'am sure there are other places, but I stopped getting those lists many moons ago.                                               Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.

[UP4-8-8-4]

      I still buy brass engines off Ebays Brass N auctions.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Brass-Imports-/78177/i.html
As far as replacement brass gears to replace the cracked nylon ones, Gene Maddox replys on N-Yard-Sale all the time.
Each engine uses two brass tower gears, he sells them for $10.00 a set plus $2.00 shipping. You can buy many sets and the shipping is cheap.
They are factory replacement gears to fit Hallmark, Key, Oriental Ltd.,PFM, W&R Enterprises and other manufactures that used the Samghongsa drive.
I stocked up with brass gears for many of my diesels from him a year or so ago.
He still has them in stock.



Ernie

[u18b]

BC6.

I agree with VGN50.  Mike gave you a good and thorough answer to your question.

I'm wondering if you must think his first statement is directed at you.  It is not.  He's making fun of portions of our community who have passionate feelings about subjects.  It would be as if you were an honest to goodness newbie and came here and asked- "should I go with DCC?"  Well if you were to do that, you should be prepared that such an innocent question is sort of a landmine with passionate opinions in different directions.

So Mike is not criticizing you for wanting brass- he's saying from the experience of being on discussion boards-   "Oh boy.  Now get ready to have other people on this board attack and interrogate you (my words) for simply wanting brass."  And it is clear to me he's sort-of serious- sort of making a joke.

But the rest of his answer is the answer to your question.   Good sources.

And he's right.  Some brass doesn't look that great or is not that accurate (ever seen a "U36C" in brass?  The grills are all wrong).  And some of it (esp more modern) looks great.

Best wishes on your search.

[Ian MacMillan]

What I would like is to find the Overland Jordan Spreader and Ohio Crane again... I'd like to get a spreader in CNW and the crane in yellow to decal for CR.

[bc6]

BC6.

I agree with VGN50.  Mike gave you a good and thorough answer to your question.

I'm wondering if you must think his first statement is directed at you.  It is not.  He's making fun of portions of our community who have passionate feelings about subjects.  It would be as if you were an honest to goodness newbie and came here and asked- "should I go with DCC?"  Well if you were to do that, you should be prepared that such an innocent question is sort of a landmine with passionate opinions in different directions.

So Mike is not criticizing you for wanting brass- he's saying from the experience of being on discussion boards-   "Oh boy.  Now get ready to have other people on this board attack and interrogate you (my words) for simply wanting brass."  And it is clear to me he's sort-of serious- sort of making a joke.

But the rest of his answer is the answer to your question.   Good sources.

And he's right.  Some brass doesn't look that great or is not that accurate (ever seen a "U36C" in brass?  The grills are all wrong).  And some of it (esp more modern) looks great.

Best wishes on your search.

Thanks my sense of humor must have got lost in the interwebs and tubes. I see the jest now, Ive actually learned a lot from this thread like brass isnt always what it's cracked up to be and it isnt all prototypical correct either. Thanks for the clarification once again U18b.

[peteski]

Just like others have said, some N scale brass is really crap while some is actually pretty nice.  Here is one of the nice ones:



It looks great but I don't know how it runs because I couldn't afford the rest of the train (so I never really ran it on anything but a piece of test track).   

I also have the brass Schnabel car which also looks great but even after some tinkering does not run well on anything but a perfectly flat track.

Then I own the brass Amtrak Genesis loco which after some minor tweaking runs pretty well.  The mechanism sounds strange but it runs smoothly.

[TrainCat2]

I truely Looooooooooooove brass. Yes I know I'm cheating Tony, but I can not resist.


I buy most of my brass on eBay and at shows. Mainly B&O and some PRR. TexNrails has been buying several collections recently and had about 100 N-Scale pieces at the NTS.

[robert3985]

           Some older Brass models  Hallmark in particular had nylon (plastic?) gears that were prone to cracking,even with proper lubercation. Bobby Hall (a wonderful woman) offered replacement gears,but these haven't been found for years. The old Key Imports F-7/5 diesels made by Endo Microcast,(should be a clew) were not solid brass,but cast metal and brass parts.

Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.

WOW Nate, I get to quote you!  This is a first!

Yes, I talked with Bobby Hall shortly after she folded up the brass import business about several of my Hallmark F's and Geeps having cracked idler gears.  She graciously sent me the last of her inventory, which are brass gears instead of Nylon.  My Geeps and F's run pretty smooth for brass now that their idler gears have been replaced, but my Atlas and Kato engines run MUCH better.

Also, the Hallmark F's have this little non-prototypical platform that sticks way out on the back of the B unit that you mount a coupler on, and they won't run with the stirrups on the sides in place.  Luckily, the stirrups are removable for running, and you can put them back on for static display (which I never do).

I happen to have stripped an A-B F7 Key Imports model because the paint was so atrocious, and I wanted to add details to them, such as uncoupling bars and several grabs that were cast on rather than applied separately, and I found (much to my astonishment) that I had purchased a brass and Zamac model!  Lots of the parts, including the cab and nose I believe (it's been a long time) are cast in a zinc alloy.
However, after it's painted and detailed, it's one of my favorite models...even though it runs kinda noisily!

Right now on the workbench is a Hallmark GP30 B Unit, and it came in raw brass, with a little package of details for the owner to solder on, such as certain lift rings and all the grab irons.  The details on the cast fairings on the sides and top are nowhere near as nice as those on my Atlas GP30 A Units, and if I had a spare body, I'd mill off the vent details and replace them with the Atlas plastic vents.  I'm also replacing the fans with BLMA's etched fans, which are a whole world better than the stock etched ones.  It'll be going up for sale in a few days on eBay.

Several brass locomotives fill out my roster and are pretty nice.  I picked them up years ago in preparation for operating on my U.P. modular layout, and include several Key (first run) FEF's, several U.P.-ized USRA Light Mikes (with big Sweeney stacks), a Harriman era Consolidated that is perfect for my Park City Local...which has been stripped and is waiting for me grind off the cast-on grabs, superdetail it, DCC-ize it and put it to work.

I also run a set of Alco FA/FB's which are very nice, with the proper big front U.P. numberboards, etched side grill panels and separate grabs.  I'm gonna use the numberboards as masters to cast up resin parts to apply to my Life-Like FA/FB's when I get some time.

However, there are some brass models that really don't require any extra detailing, as the details are phenomenal.  First runs are usually cheaper, simply because their "quality" isn't as good as the later runs.

One thing is for certain, the quality and detailing of plastic engines and cars is increasing drastically (generally speaking) and I believe that's because of N-scale brass models pricing themselves out of the market.  Nowadays, manufacturers can expect customers to pay up to nearly 400 bucks for a plastic engine of a big prototype, which used to be brass pricing territory. 

Truthfully, as plastic models come online of some of my brass models, I pack up the brass and sell 'em, since I'm not a collector, but a runner...and almost ALL modern plastic is detailed in many ways better than brass, and plastic runs and pulls better than most brass, unless it's radically tweaked.

Here's a photo of my brass F7's..the brass and zinc ones...pulling a U.P. Livestock Despatch train through Echo


Here's one of my Light USRA Mikes, going upgrade on my friend Kelly Newton's Weber Canyon module


I've found the best place to buy brass engines is on eBay.  But, ya never know what you're gonna get, or...how much they're going to cost you.  Sometimes, if they're up for bids, you can get a really great deal on them, or they may arrive in pieces...which has happened numerous times to several friends of mine.

Sometimes, if you have model railroader friends, they'll sell you some of their brass, especially if they have mountains of it! ....like some of my friends...'specially if you beg.

Time for bed...

Cheers!
Bob Gilmore

[u18b]

Two of my favorite brass pieces.

GP60 phase 1 demonstrators.  There were only three like this.  Unlikely to ever be made in plastic since there are only three.
I'm not a collector but a runner- so this one has DCC and working gyralights.




And the C27A caboose.  Have all four paint schemes.  Wow.  They are great.  Not made in plastic yet- but would love it if they ever got made.



   

[peteski]

Ok, one more from me. I bough this fully decorated brass B&M caboose, I didn't like the paint job, so I repainted (using the identical paint scheme) and installed window glazing!  Feel free to call me anal!    Or does that make me an  ? 

Here it is, repainted.