Show Us Your Locomotives with the Highest Run Times

Great topic, Melgar.

#1 for me would be this Lionel #2065 because I've been running it since I was 3 years old.

#2 would be the Lionel trolley, gang car and  US Army switcher because I've been running them since I was 4 and 5 years old.

I forgot to mention, I am almost 67 years old, so that is a lot of running time.

And my #4 is this Lionel Postwar 626 B&O 44 tonner diesel, that I got when I was about 9 or 10 years old:

During past 10 years, this MTH Proto 1 smokin' NJ Central FM Trainmaster gets a lot of miles pulling coal and oil on my layout:

Another winning topic...thank you.  Mine would be this 264E from the 1930s. It's a lot older than me..born in 1951.   I have had it about 20 years and have run it frequently.  It had much play wear when I got it and was probably someones favorite toy.  A big shout out to Brasseur Electric Trains for finding and replacing 2 drive wheels...the original ones were cracked.  I think it's time for a well deserved rest..maybe just run it around Christmas.  Arnold, I think it's great that you still have trains from your early childhood.   Fendermain

Although I don't have a photo of my Korean-War-Era Lionel 2026 (I've got to do something about that), I have had it since Christmas, 1951.  And it's been running ever since.  Nothing has failed, nothing has needed to be replaced.  Still runs, whistles, smokes and looks just fine.

And it'll be running again this Christmas.

This is mine and this is no illusion I have run this that much and it has never given me a issue

Well, my highest mileage is not O Gauge, but this Loco made in or around 1921.

It's my 2037. It was there new, the day I was born. Ran HARD and rebuilt twice; the second time it needed new drivers as they had concave grooves by then. It finally got some rest when I was 16 or 17 and only pulled holiday duty for the next 30+ years till I injured myself and the track box on the closet floor was all I could reach to occupy myself.  (I was waiting for opportunity, but not like that, lol)

  Needs a third rebuild but I can't find the magnetraction bushings and won't swap motors or rebuild without them. It's disassembled waiting for one of you parts horders to save it.... and a part of me .  Email is listed if you have any

Adriatic posted:

It's my 2037. It was there new, the day I was born. Ran HARD and rebuilt twice; the second time it needed new drivers as they had concave grooves by then. It finally got some rest when I was 16 or 17 and only pulled holiday duty for the next 30+ years till I injured myself and the track box on the closet floor was all I could reach to occupy myself.  (I was waiting for opportunity, but not like that, lol)

  Needs a third rebuild but I can't find the magnetraction bushings and won't swap motors or rebuild without them. It's disassembled waiting for one of you parts horders to save it.... and a part of me .  Email is listed if you have any

Adriatic      You might contact Brasseur in Saginaw, Mi.  They have been very helpful over the years with parts and repairs. I think they are a forum sponsor. They pulled parts from a donor engine for my 264E.    Fendermain

fl9turbo2 posted:

 

Just as a comment - I don't own one of these but was curious as to the units of the odometer reading (302545.7) which, in this case, is a big number. I assume the chrono (90:33) is the operating time in hours and minutes - which corresponds to 325980 seconds. If the odometer units are in feet traveled along the track by the model, the average speed along the track works out to 0.928 feet-per-second. Applying a factor of 48 gives 44.55 feet-per-second as the equivalent full-scale speed - which corresponds to 30.375 miles-per-hour at full scale (smph). Seems reasonable. Does MTH explain the odometer units anywhere?

MELGAR

Thanks for the responses. I would also like to see some examples of high-time modern models as well as traditional.

MELGAR

Scale miles

Fendermain posted:

Another winning topic...thank you.  Mine would be this 264E from the 1930s. It's a lot older than me..born in 1951.   I have had it about 20 years and have run it frequently.  It had much play wear when I got it and was probably someones favorite toy.  A big shout out to Brasseur Electric Trains for finding and replacing 2 drive wheels...the original ones were cracked.  I think it's time for a well deserved rest..maybe just run it around Christmas.  Arnold, I think it's great that you still have trains from your early childhood.   Fendermain

That's a beautiful photograph, Fendermain. Love the colors.

george posted:

Well, my highest mileage is not O Gauge, but this Loco made in or around 1921.

Gorgeous, George.

Scale miles like 48’= 1 mile?

Guitarmike posted:

Scale miles like 48’= 1 mile?

Our models are 1/48th scale. One full scale mile has 5,280 feet. Therefore, one model scale mile is 5280/48 = 110 feet traveled along the track.

My comment above led me to conclude that the reading on the MTH odometer is the number of feet the model has traveled along the track.

MELGAR

fl9turbo2 posted:

This is mine and this is no illusion I have run this that much and it has never given me a issue

Did the CHRONO turn over (maybe a few times?) at 1,000 hrs?  With 304.5K scale miles w/ the displayed 90hrs 33min or 90.5hr power on time the Average scale mph speed is 3,343 scale mph (assuming that chrono time was never at idle).

The above seems unique.  I've seen high CHRONO numbers due to the chrono clock runs while the engine may be sitting on a powered siding though idle or asleep.

Great topic...

I will agree great topic. It would be a toss up between these guys. When I restored that F3 it had some miles on it looked liked it wasn’t clean in years

Keystone posted:

fl9turbo2 posted:

This is mine and this is no illusion I have run this that much and it has never given me a issue

Did the CHRONO turn over (maybe a few times?) at 1,000 hrs?  With 304.5K scale miles w/ the displayed 90hrs 33min or 90.5hr power on time the Average scale mph speed is 3,343 scale mph (assuming that chrono time was never at idle).

The above seems unique.  I've seen high CHRONO numbers due to the chrono clock runs while the engine may be sitting on a powered siding though idle or asleep.

I just did the same math!  Lol...  3,343mph is well over Mach 3...  i would say something is quite off in the units of that MTH system.

You guys sure about the units?

Lee,

The entire train, bus and Pacemaker truck in that video are terrific.

MELGAR

Super O Bob posted:

Keystone posted:

fl9turbo2 posted:

This is mine and this is no illusion I have run this that much and it has never given me a issue

Did the CHRONO turn over (maybe a few times?) at 1,000 hrs?  With 304.5K scale miles w/ the displayed 90hrs 33min or 90.5hr power on time the Average scale mph speed is 3,343 scale mph (assuming that chrono time was never at idle).

The above seems unique.  I've seen high CHRONO numbers due to the chrono clock runs while the engine may be sitting on a powered siding though idle or asleep.

I just did the same math!  Lol...  3,343mph is well over Mach 3...  i would say something is quite off in the units of that MTH system.

You guys sure about the units?

Super O Bob,

That was the point of my first comment. If the model has traveled 302545.7 scale miles, as indicated by the odometer, the run time at a reasonable assumed speed of 50 scale miles-per-hour would be more than 6,050 hours. The chronometer says 90 hours and 33 minutes. Something is wrong. If the chronometer units are hours and minutes, it seems that the odometer units are feet traveled along the track by the locomotive. I don't have a DCS system on which to get this data and check it out. If someone is interested, I can explain to them how to do it.

MELGAR

maybe the hours units in the chrono don't handle any extra digits?  & maybe that turned over! ( a few times )

Since all my stuff has come to me second-hand, I can only guess it's one of these:

...(that is, if you ignore the engine to the left.)  In the middle is a late 40s Lionel 2026 2-6-2; the right hand loco is an American Flyer #310, also from the late 40s. Both still run beautifully...of course! 

Mark in Oregon

I have my dads train its a 706 loco with 2 coaches and a baggage made in 1915 the first year of lionel o gauge me and my brothers ran 1/4" grooves in  the  pickup wheels  I still run it and today is my 80th birthday.

Engineer-Joe posted:

maybe the hours units in the chrono don't handle any extra digits?  & maybe that turned over! ( a few times )

The chronometer is useless if it doen't have enough digits to show the total run time of the locomotive. If it can't correctly show the total run time, why have it?

MELGAR

At least some early Proto 2 engines could exhibit such an anomaly.  I have an original R21 subway set (1st subway set with P2) that did something similar, but it was much more blatantly obvious since the hours of run time were only about 6 hours (roughly correct), but I had miles reported as something like 29000!

This was way back when MTH still did repairs at York.  I brought the engine there to have it checked out/reset.  The tech said "nothing wrong with the engine".  I pointed out the physical impossibility of the engine traveling that far in that little amount of time.  (Apparently division was not part of the MTH training back then! )

Eventually they begrudgingly agreed to reset the odometer for me.  (I can see them not wanting to since the odometer was touted as a great tool for keeping track of actual use - this occurrence obviously called that into question, at least for this engine).

I may have seen it in a few other engines in my collection as well, but that first one stands out in my memory due to my experience.  Later on I may have noticed (possibly a different engine) that this bug could happen with lower than 18 volts on the track.  (I routinely used TMCC and DCS with slightly lower voltage on the track).  On at least one occasion, I think I saw the anomaly and then when I powered down and restarted with a higher voltage, the odometer behaved normally.

-Dave

MELGAR posted:

Lee,

The entire train, bus and Pacemaker truck in that video are terrific.

MELGAR

Thanks Mel

 The layout looks different now since I made that video 

5 engine multi-unit... 3 mins 27 sec into of video.

My first proto 2 I got at York from a break up set that I didn’t know was command control around 2002 or so. Has 2499 odometer and 295 hrs with just a new battery and lube for service. Small in comparison to some of the posts but a great engine. 9951 0-8-0 PRR from a ready to run set I think.

MELGAR posted:

Super O Bob posted:

Keystone posted:

fl9turbo2 posted:

This is mine and this is no illusion I have run this that much and it has never given me a issue

Did the CHRONO turn over (maybe a few times?) at 1,000 hrs?  With 304.5K scale miles w/ the displayed 90hrs 33min or 90.5hr power on time the Average scale mph speed is 3,343 scale mph (assuming that chrono time was never at idle).

The above seems unique.  I've seen high CHRONO numbers due to the chrono clock runs while the engine may be sitting on a powered siding though idle or asleep.

I just did the same math!  Lol...  3,343mph is well over Mach 3...  i would say something is quite off in the units of that MTH system.

You guys sure about the units?

Super O Bob,

That was the point of my first comment. If the model has traveled 302545.7 scale miles, as indicated by the odometer, the run time at a reasonable assumed speed of 50 scale miles-per-hour would be more than 6,050 hours. The chronometer says 90 hours and 33 minutes. Something is wrong. If the chronometer units are hours and minutes, it seems that the odometer units are feet traveled along the track by the locomotive. I don't have a DCS system on which to get this data and check it out. If someone is interested, I can explain to them how to do it.

MELGAR

Yep...  somethings strange...

I've had this ABBA set of Lionel Santa Fe freight F3s for 23 years, since I was 10 years old. In that time they have had hundreds of hours of operation. The powered unit has had two sets brush replacements (worn down to nubs both times) and two sets of brush springs. Both A units have had there bulbs replaced at least twice. The B unit has gone through countless 9 volt batteries. But with regular grease and oil they still run like new today. The locomotive pulls a block of scale Lionel SFRD refrigerator cars on my layout and is permanently assigned to that train.

On my layout, it would be a tossup between:

The RTR 4-4-2 (which my Dad bought in 2011 or 2012 and ran on a piece of 4x8 plywood until '16 when I built the 12x6 table)

The Lionchief Plus Hudson which I've had running since May of this year ('18)

It sounds like it would be no contest but I really  enjoy the sounds and features of the Hudson.

The Super Chief has only been here for 2 weeks but I'm sure it will get plenty of run time.

Fantastic thread, BTW thanks everyone for sharing.

K Line scale Hudson run for years and now sitting dead awaiting new rc system.

Fenderman,  thank you but I'm very partial to new on bushings here. If it were wheels or gear or an axle etc. I might feel different.

I should not even weigh in on this, since I am new to Lionel and O Gauge. 

In March, 2017,  I bought my first O Gauge- an O27 Lionel 2055 Steam Engine, at a local show.  It had  been "serviced" by an expert (who was the seller), but never restored.  I paid what I think was top dollar- but didn't really care, since it looked better than any others i saw.

I have run it, probably more than any other of the engines I bought since- and it (to me) is unbelievable how good these old postwar products were and still are.  I really like the Lion Chief Plus, and MTH engines that I have bought new... but I can't believe THOSE will be running in 66 years (the 2055 is of 1952 vintage).  

AND- these were Lionel's price leader (O27), and Made in the USA- in the even then high labor cost New Jersey area no less.  I think we (USA) could do it again, and would like to see it!!

Mike Wyatt posted:

I should not even weigh in on this, since I am new to Lionel and O Gauge. 

In March, 2017,  I bought my first O Gauge- an O27 Lionel 2055 Steam Engine, at a local show.  It had  been "serviced" by an expert (who was the seller), but never restored.  I paid what I think was top dollar- but didn't really care, since it looked better than any others i saw.

I have run it, probably more than any other of the engines I bought since- and it (to me) is unbelievable how good these old postwar products were and still are.  I really like the Lion Chief Plus, and MTH engines that I have bought new... but I can't believe THOSE will be running in 66 years (the 2055 is of 1952 vintage).  

AND- these were Lionel's price leader (O27), and Made in the USA- in the even then high labor cost New Jersey area no less.  I think we (USA) could do it again, and would like to see it!!

 

Mike, that 2055 like my 2065, is a wonderful baby Hudson. Glad you are enjoying it.

Here’s another with some miles. This was my first O scale engine it was all Orange UP 202 I repainted it NYC but kept the number 202 

I got back into the hobby a few years ago after growing up with HO. My Dad's pre-war stuff only ran at Christmas.

I would say that these have the most hours just by age- I've only owned them for a couple of years.
The 623 had major grooves in the rollers but runs great ( I have a photos of them just can find it right now)
I had to replace the motor in my ATSF 218 but also a solid runner
Finally my 2026 is all original except for new brushes

These are two of my HO's that I have owned since new, both by Rivarossi

The Hudson is 48 years old and the Mallett 42.