Overland Brass HO Scale Conrail Dash 8-40CW What's The Deal With Brass?
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- Today we take a look at an Overland Brass Conrail Dash 8-40CW. I have always been curious about these brass locomotives and have wondered are they worth the high prices they command.
I bought some in the late 90's. When overland came out with the conrail 70 & 80 MAC. Along with the 3 set of Conrail E 8's. Mine have been shelf queens, but have ran them from time to time. I took them to a club once and ran 75 live loads of coal with no issue.
The Overland 70 and 80 MAC’s have always looked better than the plastic ones to me. Glad to hear some positive info on them operating!
Howdy Steve! Heck yeah, show us the upgrades you do! I find the upgrade videos fascinating and very useful. Thanks for sharing 🤠
Thank you for watching! Look for the upgrade video this fall!
All in all it's a very nice model of a Conrail workhorse from the 80s and 90s Steve, an added bonus is the era you model, Conrail in the mid 90s
was using 8-40CWs in LMX
Livery, they would be cool to
model as they also wore Conrail Blue!!! Yes on Sound and DCC!!
Have a pair of Atlas LMS units in the works now that I hope to work on in July! Then do the brass pair hopefully in August and will be making a video on building them!
@ConrailSteve Sweet!! In the last
days of Conrail I had took some
Great photos of a pair of LMX
Engines Idling at a local crossing
during a crew change, when my Wife and I
moved to our current home 10
years ago they vanished which
Sucks!!!
I personally have a small collection of brass from various builders and various years of production.
Overland models, generally, are very solid runners.
My three main diesels from my brass fleet are a BC Rail C40-8M, a Rio Grande SD39 and a Southern Pacific E2A. All of them are 1990's production units and run very well.
I have yet to try to DCC upgrade any of them because simply put im not skilled in that field and have to outsource that work out to others. But perhaps one day ill get them operational, we'll see.
As for your fleet, im very interested in seeing that slug set you mentioned at the end of the video because there is a former Conrail MT6 that now works the hump yard in Chattanooga TN close to where i live. So i hope you will consider showing that in a video soon.
Personally i would also love to see you work on the 6100 and get it operational even if you have to teach yourself how to do it. It could be a good learned experience for both you and the viewers.
Good to hear more good things about the 90’s era Overland models! I will be making a build series on the two C40-8W’s I have using two different approaches. The 6100 will retains its factory motor set up as it runs very well while the other unit (6134) will be repowered with hopefully a new Kato motor. I do plan on show the Overland SD38 and MT-6 sets I have in a video but that’s probably won’t be until the fall as I will be posting a build video for a MT-6 I recently built using a resin shell.
Could not believe how bare the cupboard was when you popped the bonnet !!! so little - why so expensive ?? Mate i would like to see what you do to her over the next few weeks. great vid stevo. plenty of room for additions to her.
They definitely do not have too much to them for the price but being that they are handmade and from the 90’s this was top of the line back then. Look for a video this fall on the sound instal and build! Have a few more projects to work on before I get to this build.
steve... nice engine but i had several problems with mine... 1) couplers that came with my unit were very poor and did not match well with anything else 2) speed matching was difficult 3) received as a gift so i really wanted it to run smoothly, which it did not, esp. with other engines even when speed matched as closely as possible and lubricated correctly, so.... i sent the unit to enginehouse services in green bay, wisconsin and they were great !!! their shop is right next to the packers stadium and they were very cordial and "up front" as to gettin' her going nicely !! a bit pricey, yes, but she still does not run with other engines well ( s. trains/bowser/atlas/etc) so she works as a yard dog by herself. still a great addition without a doubt !!! it is a real nice addition to your cr/crq pike and looks great !!! ps... what did she cost ya' ???
Interesting that even with speed matching they still don’t run well with other units. These will definitely be a challenge of a build when I get to them. Im going to try to do it all myself and learn as much as I can along the way in the process! This one ran me around $300 when I purchased it.
Hey Steve! I recently picked up one of the CR Dash 8 locomotives too. My intentions were to add DCC but haven't gotten around to it just yet. I did add an ESU V5 decoder board with keep alive (58921) and a Scale Sound Speaker along with LED's to an Overland GP59. Reading through some of the comments below, I experienced a lot of the same issues, slipping driveshafts (fixable) and a terrible time speed matching to my plastic locomotives. That is really what made me put the brakes on the DCC investment. I LOVE the look of the brass and I own several (used) Overland models but I may just keep them in a display case at the end of the day .. Would love to see the DCC outcome here if you decide to go that route.
Thank you for the info! I have been following along with the comments on this and I may go two different directions with the two Overland Dash 8’s I have. One (in this video) runs rather well and seem to be in mechanically good condition and will probably keep the factory setup and figure out to make it run well. The other barley runs and I may attempt a Kato motor swap on it although I haven’t done any mock up work yet to see how feasible that would be.
super cool and yes would like to see you put dcc in it
Thank you! DCC and Sound video will be coming this fall
Yes, show more videos of your brass, also on the dcc install. I'm starting to get into brass as well. Just something about brass makes you say, wow I have brass lol
More videos to come! Probably going to keep it around one brass video a month for the next few months and hope to start the sound instal around August if everything stays as it is.
Hi CRSteve & it's is Randy and i like yours video is Cool & Thanks CR Steve & Friends Randy
Thank you Randy!
Brass models, to me, are more of a novelty than that of operation. I have a brass SD60 that I have yet to get around to. To convert them to DCC and sound is doable, but from what I have seen, it will take quite a bit of modifications to get the most desirable results.
I can definitely see it as a novelty in a way as well. It seems as though those that put the time and effort into upgrading them really enjoy them and I plan to do that to mine in the coming months.
I’ll share with you change the motor the Buehler motors were in original Stewart. They were known to be loud. You can’t get them that quiet. Your best bet is to put a kato s motor in there and it will be really quiet.
Thank you for the info! One of the two of these I have I will be trying a Kato motor swap on as it barely runs.
I don't own any brass, so I have no comment on their operation, BUT, they do look sharp. Since you have it gutted, you might as well install dcc/sound/led, it's only going to make it better. Probably pull a ton of rolling stock. Terry
Just something about the way the look is soo good about them. Will be doing a sound and DCC instal this fall!
Great video! I'd love to see a sound install video in one of these.
Thank you! Look for a sound instal and build video this fall. Hope to start working on these around the end of July provided the other projects I am working on go as planned.
I was always curious about overlands as well. That will be an interesting build. I heard they produce great sound due to the open space and brass body.
They are definitely interesting modes compared to the plastic versions available today. Plenty of room for a good speaker on a sound instal.
The brass guys don't hold secrets to make money. They hold secrets so they can pick up crappy brass for less than perfect brass. Division point just picked up where omi left off with the sd70ace's selling for $2000 versus 2010 price of $1000. But they are true Cadillac's of the hobby.
Union terminal expensive but all thier. Awesome product.
The brass guys are rather secretive in this hobby thats for sure. Division Point does some neat stuff but is way out of what id be willing to spend on a model.
Got to go for it, how else are you gonna learn how to do it.
I will be soon! Going to be a challenge but will be well worth it when its done and a great chance to learn some new things.
I’ve bought 10 overlands this year 1986-1995 they usually require some massaging and the drive yoke slips all easy fixes have installed lighting and tsunami sound and have had great luck track pickups have not been a problem occasionally had to solder feed wires back on also on some years the pickups are slightly different I run the shit out of these and have had few problems they are great middle of the road product. Union terminal is tops but expensive and hard to find. Also check out pfm United can be bought cheap are built like a brick shit house. Lots have open frame motors they say don’t work well with dcc that’s bullshit got 3 berkshires with tsunami mobile decoders and they run great you just have to clean the brushes and comutator. None of these draw more than .6 apms stalled.
Thank you for the great info! I am really looking forward to building these Overland units now hearing good things!
@@ConrailSteve ya give me a shout if you need brass does have some quirks but I have figured a lot of them out especially with dcc. A little massaging and they run great.
What would you recommend as far as lubricant for the gear boxes on these? Would like to start by cleaning up the drive and lubing them to get them as smooth as possible before adding DCC and Sound.
@@ConrailSteve I use a product that I got when I worked for caterpillar it’s Dow Corning vacuum grease hard to find these days and pricey but it will not attack any type of plastic or silicone based gears. when I don’t have it I use a synthetic bearing grease you do not need much all the brass gear towers I’ve come across in brass have been brass.