WALTHERS

[VOLTS]

greetings,

comments please:

first - a local seller here in the philippines is selling his LIFE LIKE TRAIN or WALTHERS. the two set will cost 7,000 philippine pesos or around $152 USD.

one set is the F7 superchief and the other is the GP 38 for the locos. have their own tracks, controls, no box and no manuals for both sets as the seller said theres no need for a manual since it is easy to operate.

the seller said the two sets can be interconnected and have overlap bridge. the tracks can be made oval or circular.

in general, what is your comment on these train sets for the price and performance? will it be a good buy? what sort of things do i have to look for or examine before closing the deal if ever?

second - i have a bachmann train set but unfortunately damaged by flood. if ever there's no other way to fix it, the tracks will be a waste. can it be fitted with the life like tracks to add it on? and if ever i can fix it will the bachmann loco run on LIFE LIKE tracks? can i connect the bachmann loco with life like rolling stocks or vv, in other words mix them up.

in the near future sir, can i get bachmann locos and rolling stocks and use them on life like brand tracks and controls?

third - we often visit hong kong. i'm planning to buy bachmann chinese model locos there. will it work on bachmann or life like brand tracks and will it run on these US controls (bachmann or walthers)? what sort of conversion kits will i buy?

hope didn't forgot anything.

thankyou
steve

[pdlethbridge]

Steve, If they are all (Walthers, Life Like, Proto, Bachmann, Athearn, Atlas) HO scale, they can share the same tracks, even if they are different brands. What you want is the same type of track. Such as Atlas code 100 which is just rails and ties. Code 100 means the rail is .1" inch high. They also have  Code 83 which looks more like the real thing and is .083" high. Bachmann track comes with the road bed on it and can be used with the Atlas if you use cork road bed under the atlas track to bring it to the same level as the Bachmann track. Those prices sound high, you might want to save your money for Hong Kong. If you can , use the largest radius for the layout like 22" or 24"

[jettrainfan]

$152 for life like?! WOW! if you got no choice, go for walthers!

[Doneldon]

jtf - Life Like and Walthers are the same, although I think it's fair to say that the Walthers branded products are better quality than those carrying the Life Like logo.

Steve - All HO models will work together on any HO track so you don't need to worry about that.  Look at quality first and foremost as there is wide variation.  Couplers aren't all fully compatible but most knuckle couplers will work satisfactorally with one another.  It's probably best to have couplers from the same company but it isn't imperitive.  The same is true for track: they will all work together and the trains will run on any of them but it is easiest to have all track of the same brand because then you don't have to jury rig the connections between different brands.  And you want to use the same height track throughout as different sizes (codes) will complicate connecting tracks.  It's not impossible to do by ay means but it's not very rewarding or fun work.

Someone, somewhere on one of your threads mentioned running your damaged motor in alcohol.  That will work but be absolutely sure to keep the entire motor under the surface of the alcohol while the power is on.  If you fail to do so you will probably end up with a nasty, hot and fast burning fire.  So keep the motor fully submerged.
          --D

[SteamGene]

I use Code 100 for mainline rail and Code 83 for sidings.  It's a matter of using 83 to 100 rail joiners when connecting the two different codes.  It is not a big deal.
Gene

[jward]

if i were you i would take that $152 and use it to buy something of a little better quality. life like made some very good locomotives under the names proto1000, proto 1000. just about everything else was not worth what you paid for it. look at the sets in the bachmann catalog, particularly the ones featuring the gp40 diesel as it is a proven runner. i think you'll find something you like for less than $152 list, and you'll probably be able to get them for half that online.

[ABC]

if i were you i would take that $152 and use it to buy something of a little better quality. life like made some very good locomotives under the names proto1000, proto 1000. just about everything else was not worth what you paid for it. look at the sets in the bachmann catalog, particularly the ones featuring the gp40 diesel as it is a proven runner. i think you'll find something you like for less than $152 list, and you'll probably be able to get them for half that online.

jward, that would be fine for regular circumstances, but he does not have regular circumstances. He lives in the Philippines and the cost of shipping for a train set from the U.S. to the Philippines would be around $250 with the original box and $200 if you consolidated everything into a smaller box. He is just in a bad predicament, I was going to send him a loco for $5 to help him out, but I checked and the shipping for one loco is $100+, so it just is not feasible for him to buy anything that is not located in the Philippines. And in case you were wondering about USPS it is not reliable/safe to ship items via USPS over there, so he says at least.
As far as couplers go, all you really need is one transition car to go from a car with talgo trucks and x2f(horn-hook) couplers to knuckle(Kadee) couplers. It would be easiest to do on say a Athearn, Walthers, Atlas, or Bachmann car as opposed to a Life-Like, Tyco, or other talgo truck car.

[NarrowMinded]

Run an electric motor in alcohol?! I say it and I don't care who I offend that is just stupid! And a dangerous. And I don't care how long, how well, or who's uncles brothers dads friend used to do it all the time. DON'T RUN ELECTRIC MOTORS IN FLAMMIBLE LIQUID!

NM

[Doneldon]

Narrow-

I would agree with you except that so many people have mentioned doing this that it must work.  I do understand that the motor must absolutely be kept under the surface for this to be safe.  There's no oxygen down there to allow a fire to start.  Running a motor above the surface is a recipe for disaster.  Sparks from the motor would set things off in a (NPI) flash.

          --D

[NarrowMinded]

Please don't use the word safe, people do unsafe things all the time and get away with it, but it does not make it safe. There are to many kids on this board to suggest such a risky thing to do.

Also it is possible however unlikely that you could run the motor fast enough to create cavitation around the submerged windings which could separate enough oxygen from the liquid to allow combustion, then presto blamo you have a problem.

NM

[Jim Banner]

The idea with running a motor submerged in alcohol is that you need three things to start a fire - fuel, oxygen and heat ("source of ignition".)  Take away one, you cannot start a fire with just the other two.  Running submerged in alcohol, you have heat and fuel but no oxygen.  It is rather like the electric fuel pump in your car, running submerged in gasoline.  Or like welding the pipes in an oil refinery.  You can't get away from the flammable/explosive hydrocarbons and you can't weld without heat, so you flood the area with propane to exclude the oxygen.

I suspect running the motor in alcohol would work fine if the problem was water but the flood was some time ago and the water presumably is long gone.  The problem now is rust and possibly dirt from the muddy water, and running the motor in alcohol, if you could get it to run, would do little or no good.  Alcohol dissolves neither rust not silt.  The silt might wash out with water but rust requires mechanical abrasion which would probably damage the windings requiring either a new armature or rewinding the old one.  Rewinding is not for the faint of heart and where do you get a good armature?  From a working motor, of course, which would solve the motor problem in the first place.

Warning - Pouring a bit of alcohol into the motor, then running it is NOT the same as running it submerged in alcohol.

Jim

[NarrowMinded]

I agree if you can ensure you are missing one of the needed items you mention you won't have a problem, as far as fuel pumps being submerged, I believe they are brushless and sealed well otherwise an almost empty tank would surely ruin your day.

Anyway I've spent my 2 cents+1, if any one tries running your motor submerged in alcohol please do it outside and remember  a motor started hanging from wires is going to torque, and if a fire starts alcohol burns nearly invisible. Oh and lastly before you start throw the motor in the trash and buy a new one.

NM

[Jim Banner]

... and lastly before you start throw the motor in the trash and buy a new one.
NM

Now THAT is the best advice of all.

Jim