I can't remember how long ago......8 - 10 - 12 years ago when the Spectrum dash-8's came out, several members of the club bought them and they were painted up in club colors and decaled for our road.
At the time they were a pretty hot item but over the years they have all basically crapped out and as Kato, Atlas and Proto;'s came along the dash 8's became static displays in the engine shop. Between sounding like cement mixers and other wonderful problems, no one at the club has ever looked back at them as they gather dust in the backshops.
While digging through stuff behind the counter at one of the local shops, I found at least 30 of the old dash 8's still in cases not even out on the shelf. With the vast amount of more recent stuff, they also have been long forgotten under the counter.
When I inquired as to how much he wanted for them, the shop owner said " oh, I guess $35 each" to which I replied " Well they are not moving sitting here so if I bought say 6 or 8 of them would you knock it down to $25 a piece?".
So here I sit thinking that I could pick them up and swap out the shells and get another 8 or 10 engines back in service..........................BUT
The members who actually did engine repairs etc have either passed away or have been relocated to other states becuse of Katrina.
I remember that when we fist got the dash 8's there was work that had to be done on them right out of the box to make them decent running. I just don't remember what or how much work had to be done. So before I go pick up a bunch of these I come to the motive power experts here and ask:
What has to be done to them and is it simple enough for a scenery guy to do ?
Thanking you in advance...........................