Gilbert HO ALCO DL600 Repair and Review
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- čas přidán 31. 03. 2024
- Got another interesting one! The DL600 was one of Gilbert's few HO models from the mid-50's, initially offered under their own name before switching it to the American flyer brand. They weren't around long, but if nothing else, they were built to last!
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I am glad you were adventurous enough to pry out the studs in the truck plates and show us it worked. I was worried for a moment. I do think you should revisit this locomotive and replace the incandescent bulbs and install LED lights. Then that old locomotive would have directional lighting. Great video in any case.
Thanks, that is under consideration! Those old lights get really hot with all the amperage going through them, and I've seen plastic shells melted by hot bulbs before.
I see these for sale on line periodically....didn't know much about their HO products...thanks for the history lesson!
Nice review and repair... I have the BLI DC 600 and Snd Dcc 601... nice models. John
Another great job. My first train set was American Flyer and I enjoyed building stuff with a Gilbert Erector set too. Better days long past. Keep up the good work.
One of my grandpa’s first train sets was the American Flyer O gauge Royal Blue from 1940. I did some major restoration work on it a few years ago and it runs and looks great!
Excellent find and restoration Darth. Thank you for posting this. This model has been on my acquisition list for some time now after reading an article about the DL 600 by Gilbert in HO Collector 1st Quarter, 2018 (pages 28 to 35). I am really happy to see this particular model covered to the extent you did. Best wishes and do keep bringing these rare items that you showcase on your channel. Sincerely, George.
Thank you for another wonderful installment of your classic restoration train videos. Professional, on point, and really a pleasure to watch. I'M a big American Flyer fan and this my friend made my day! Thank you.
Dang that loco looks like a tank! I might have to get something similar at some point!
Just FYI those "pins with threads" are called Type U Drive Screws in industry, and are still available from industrial suppliers. Really enjoyed the video! Great resto. Never saw a Gilbert apart before. Cheers!
Thanks, I didn't know what the proper name was for them!
@@DarthSantaFe 👍
I found one of those on ebay a while ago. It only needs the driveshafts. I'll probably have to look for NWSL parts or maybe drive tubing for temporary. After watching how well yours runs I need to get mine going, looks like its a very powerful drive train. I wish American Flyer had built a S scale version of that, and also that type of drive train. I think it would have been better than their twin truck motor designs. The Gilbert HO Hudson steam engines are also really great to work on, you might enjoy that if you come across either a prewar or postwar version. Most prewars are AC powered, but I just hooked up an AC transformer to my HO layout and it ran just fine.
It should be possible to install NWSL driveshafts. Since they're typical ball and cup joints, you can probably send the inside diameter measurement of the original cup to them and they'll let you know if it'll fit or not.
Those Gilbert Hudsons do come up more frequently than these. I might get one eventually.
I HAVE SEVERL OF THOSE ENGINES IN RUNNING SHAPE AND PARTS ALSO I HAVE CHESSI ENGINE TO WITH THE BELL RINGER IN IT .
Didn't know they had a bell option! There is a lot of empty space in the shell though, so they definitely had plenty of room to fit one.
@@DarthSantaFe the SSCALE ENGINE DOES THE SAME THING AS THE TRAIN RUNS DOWN THE TRACK THE RINGS FROM GEAR BOX IN THEM .
Another great video Darth! Take care, Jeff.
I have a set of Gilbert HO scale Northern Pacific, 4 car set, that I changed the incandescent lighting to LED strip lighting and ruined the resale value of the set. Last time I checked fleaBay, a set of those cars went for $400 to $600. From what I understand these cars are quite rare. I also chopped off all the horn hook couplers and installed body mounted Kadee couplers.
Your model is a good candidate for neodymium magnets which will greatly improve the performance. Cheers from eastern TN
The ALCO RSD-7 was a diesel-electric locomotive of the road switcher type built by ALCO at Schenectady, New York between January 1954 and April 1956. Two versions were built, with the same RSD-7 model designation but different specifications and power ratings, although both used the ALCO 244 engine in V16 configuration. Specification DL-600, of which only two were built, developed 2,250 hp (1,678 kW; 2,281 PS) and used the 244G engine. The revised specification DL-600A, numbering 27 locomotives, was rated at 2,400 hp (1,790 kW; 2,433 PS) and used the 244H engine. The RSD-7 was superseded by the ALCO 251-engined ALCO RSD-15, which looks very similar. The RSD-7 was the last ALCO diesel built with a 244 engine.
The 244 had been a disaster, which damaged ALCO's reputation badly. As a result, only 29 RSD-7's were built,12 for ATSF (including the two refurbished demonstrators), 12 for the C&O (which Gilbert offered) and 5 for the PRR.
ALCO had a lot of trouble developing combustion engines at that time. The 241 engines went through a lot of testing and failures before they were torn down, inspected and replaced with the 244. From my understanding, they were in development for years but were technically "rushed" because they had to focus their resources on war production.
Well that war excuse was unfair. EMD got the ", big HP production and all otjers, the switchers.
Who do you think was in a better position to got the market of mainline units. Alco copied the EMD E models with dame type of body that was en vogue at that time with 2 switcher engines. 244 was rushed out and we all know the results. FM was a newcomer with excellent diesel engines....in marine applications. Not so successful sadly in railroad service. Lima as a steam builder almost quit instantly with about 100 switchers. Baldwin, the last giant of steam era didn´t believe in internal combustion. Try to improve up to the end those steamers. When he got in, was way to late. Ironically, EMD was the less efficient in term of adhesion and electrical ruggedness. That weakness really ended up with SD40-2 production. And where was mister washing machines and toaster ? He plays in critters...until he made few demos that will be later on U25B.
Alco fall in 69, then EMD closed and survived in Canada under GMD, then Cat and.... mister washing machines is the King now with few dust of competitions.
If i ask an all time, who was the smallest to sell to a class 1 who is it ? NO...not Krauss Mafei, nor Porter, Davenport, Plymouth etc... the big winner was : Ingalls Shipbuilding of Missoula with a world record breaking of.....
1 ! ! Yap, their total production was 1 locomotive, model 4S. Their demonstrator bring zéro sale and was finally sold to
Gm&O. The reason ? Well, Ingalls was quite a good client for that railroad...that make a favor to the builder in purchasing that unit that got good years of service. Sadly it was scrapped. I would love to have that bizarre contraption. Sort of streamlined nose and front cab à la Baldwin baby face, à covered body sides like an elongated F or FA with a clerestory roof like heavyweight passenger car and at the end, a vestibule, just like à coach. That unusual roof line offered with higher cab roof, some vision for the crew running backward. If my memory is good it was a Superior engine 1500 HP.
Back to the model, never heard about before today. Like its sound. It breathes power. If there is a way to extend its motor shaft, add a flyweel it should improve it.
Thanks for that interesting unusual catch. Sort of Ingalls😊😊
Awesome restoration. There's plenty of room on that chassis to add some weight. And considering the amp draw of those lights I would replace them with LED lights.
I was looking at getting one of these recently. Instead I pre-ordered a Rapido ATSF EMD FT set!
The DL600 is fun for having a bit of history, but those FTs are going to be much nicer units!
@DarthSantaFe Yes, they are. It's almost impossible to find the Stewart ATSF freight units online. Can't wait till they arrive.
I've got 2 of them in my collection. Really interesting diesel locomotives. Awesome video and I like the history about it as well. I sent you an email on a particular engine. I don't know if you do upgrades or something like that. Please let me know. But awesome video.
Gilbert's first HO products were actually much older- dating back to the late 30s/early 40s, with their diecast 4-6-4 hudson that had a universal type motor and electromechanical reverse unit.
Frankly I've found that these Gilbert DL600 locomotives aren't super easy to find on the cheap, the $50-100 range really doesn't seem proportional to what you get. They seem much less plentiful to me than the HO steamers Gilbert offered (especially the 0-6-0s with their preposterously high top speeds). I'm still looking for one, though not in any particular hurry.
Rebuilding a prewar HO hudson was a challenge but they are really nice engines! Mine sings around the layout.
Thanks, didn't know the HO line went that far back!
Nice video. I was wondering why you didn’t clean the armature with a q tip and some alcohol! Always a needed step with the S and O scale armature. But great job and a good history. Thanks for sharing! @Cbtrainnut
Thanks! The motor appeared to have very little use overall, so the armature was surprisingly clean. These HO motors also tend to get a lot less carbon buildup than the AC O and S motors since they don't need nearly as much power to run.
Thanks for the video on this old Gilbert gem. So replacing the bulbs with LED lighting would really benefit the models electrical efficiency. I gave up on the stock drive on mine and got an Athearn drive for it .Seems they lengthened the steps and let the tank hang a little lower on the Gilbert shell then scale to cover the gear case on the factory drive . .I am going to use a Athearn trainmaster drive and splice some Bowser side frames on it that i have on hand.Tricky and shorten the long steps and see how it looks and run it with older Athearn wide bodies...
Yeah, I'll probably do that for the lights. These old bulbs get too hot for me to feel safe having them in a plastic shell.
The Athearn Trainmaster trucks will definitely give you a quieter and easier to maintain runner. The Gilbert chassis seems pretty bullet-proof as long as it's well kept, but it sure is noisy!
@@DarthSantaFe .By the way the lower gear in the gear case is held in by the friction fit drive shaft nylon universal coupling .It is a one piece universal coupling assembly and presses into and through the center hole in the gear in only one direction because the hole in the gear is tapered along with the universal coupling.. No bearings .Just the nylon riding in the metal case holes. These thing were pretty pricy for their time and this is what you get .Hummm?
Don't forget AF also had their 'HO' trains made by Mantua/Tyco as well.
Yeah, I saw a lot of that kind of stuff in their catalogs. They also offered the Marx F2 for a short time.
@@DarthSantaFe Wow! I did not know that! Who knew? I see that A.C. Gilbert was all over the place making their 'HO' gauge trains from many different manufacturing companies which i don't find surprising that outsourcing to other parties was very common in the industry, Also, Thank you very much for answering my comments.
Thank you, you happy Railroader!
hello Darth Santa FE & it's is Randy and i like yours video is cool & Thanks Darth Santa FE & Friends Randy
May 6th I got the C&O 31022 which has a bell in it. I just fixed it and is running. There is a spring that applies pressure to the bell armature that I need to be replace. The body is not in great shape.
[thank, you for you're video]👍
like the three worms in each truck
It was actually a common driveline for the day. It wasn't really until about 1964 or 65 when Athearn created the modern gear drive chassis that manufacturers started to get away from the 1 worm per axle setup.
I just think worms sound better than a bunch of gears that can strip
@@DarthSantaFe
Great video. I have a Gilbert Industrial Switcher that needs to get the gear replaced, like the one at 11:17. How would you remove the wheel from the axle and how would you remove the gear?
NWSL's wheel pullers work best for this kind of work. I've gotten a ton of use out of mine!
In a lot of things from that era, remove the solder blob on top of the kingpin and you’ll find it’s a slotted screw.
I figured that was the screw, but I decided to leave it since it looked like I could finish things without taking it apart further.
@@DarthSantaFe Oh yes, I agree just tossing ideas in hopefully a constructive way 🙂
Your videos are great, if I could make a request, convert a standard Tyco diesel to a twin motor one. Thank you.
Thanks, I actually did that once a while back! czcams.com/video/7cB3L_Derbg/video.html
It's not a how-to video, but it was an easy conversion. All you have to do is solder the motor wires back and forth to each other, watching the polarity, and the rest snaps together.
Was the Arbour 2-8-4 kit worth 5yrs of aggravation?
Even if it's not up to the running quality standards of my other kits, I'd say so! There are some projects that give a sense of satisfaction simply from the fact that everyone was saying it couldn't be done, and then I did it. :)
Looks nice, but that sound
Yeah, I don’t think they were going for quiet when they made this one.
what is the compond you use on the wheels
It’s a white rouge compound that came with an aluminum buffing set.
can it be purchased from Amazon or ??
@@mitchbosley5008 I picked up the set from Menards. If you don’t have a store nearby then it can also be ordered: www.menards.com/main/tools/power-tool-accessories/abrasive-wheels/tool-shop-reg-aluminum-buffing-polishing-set-14-piece/apk-1/p-1444421184844-c-10154.htm
The sets I’ve found on Amazon are more expensive, so I’d consider the Menards set a better deal.
@DarthSantaFe I have a few old locomotives that have plastic gears and they are split into two .is there a place to buy replacement gears?and also plastic drive shafts.
@@mitchbosley5008 That depends on what you have, but NWSL makes a lot of replacement gears and universals. Sometimes you can also find original parts from old stock at train shows, some hobby stores or eBay.