Wow that is an amazing resource. I quickly found several diagrams and
instructions for old locos I have and look forward to searching for
more. I enjoy finding, repairing and running trains from the 40's -
70's. Thank you so much for this link!
And I have many well kept trains with their paperwork from these eras.
I hope to be able to "return the favor" by submitting some of the
paper plans I have.
Nice to "meet" you and someone who also enjoys the craft. Here's a
story - I can hear my friends say "Oh here he goes again!!" (:
Recently retired from the Feds after 39 years I set up a nice work
bench in the basement to work on all those projects I had accumulated
over the years. Had cleaned lubed and repaired about two dozen locos
with great success. Then got an old 0-4-0 steamer of unknown make.
Wasn't too bad but it was a bit hesitant - just needed a good
cleaning. Removed the shell and cleaned and lubed the wheels and
bearings and gears, and cleaned crud off the armature. Put it back
together but it ran worse!! Dang! must have done something wrong. Took
it apart again and rechecked all my steps. No change. so then
completely took apart every moving part and cleaned and checked and
lubed to make sure there were no binding parts. Put it back together
and it would hardly run at all!! Yikes. I was starting to get that "no
good deed goes unpunished" feeling and was very discouraged. So I took
it apart again and took every thing apart that had to do with
electrical pickup and checked out the motor, carefully with a meter.
All checked OK and I put it back together, but when checking it - it
was now completely dead!!!
A whole day wasted for nothing - I had intended to only spend a half
hour, and I was ready to give up on the hobby altogether, I was so
exasperated. But then, for some reason I don't remember, I put a meter
on the old toy grade transformer I had been using for a power supply.
_IT_ was dead. It was what had been dying while I was working on this
loco. I got another supply and checked the loco I had been working on.
It ran beautifully, smooth and quiet - nice bright headlight.
I always especially enjoy that smooth running loco when it is pulling
a train on my small layout. It is probably the most well maintained of
the fleet that I own. And yes, I now have a better power supply with a
real meter.
Hope you all enjoyed my story,
Best Regards,
Robert B
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I certainly enjoyed the story. Often, when troubleshooting trains (or
anything else), one doesn't "see" what's really causing the problem. I
remember, back in the 1980s, I had a small two-rail O scale and when I
was testing a new locomotive, everytime I'd turn the power pack on, it
would short out. I blamed the power pack...but a replacement did the
same thing! I had already tested the locomotive off the track so I knew
the locomotive was ok. Was it the track? Nope. What was causing the
dead shorts was a Lionel freight car someone had placed on the track!
Metal wheels and axles. Fortunately, I didn't spend a whole day finding
the problem, but a couple hours looking for something that was right in
front of my eyes!
Bill
Bill's Railroad Empire
N Scale Model Railroad:
http://www.billsrailroad.net
Brief History of N Scale:
http://www.billsrailroad.net/history/n-scale
Model Railroad Bookstore:
http://www.billsrailroad.net/bookstore
Resources--Links to 1,100 sites:
http://www.billsrailroad.net/bills-favorite-links
No, no. Remember, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade! Think of
it as time well spent on both getting that loco to run *perfectly*, and
on learning to check *everything* that may be causing the problem.
Stevert
I have that book, and engine repair / mainetenance is not my strong suit in
the hobby (i.e. I don't take the shells of my locos and tinker around for
the "fun of it," it usually needs to be a pretrty serious situation before I
get the guts to take such a drastic measure). I got the "Maintaining and
Repairing Your Scale Model Trains" book a few years back in the hopes of
improving my confidence level when working under the hood of models.
To be quite frank, I was diappointed with the Kalmbach book, especially in
light of the quality of many of their other hobby books (benchwork, scenery,
weathering, etc.). The author seems to presuppose a bit too much out of the
reader for what I was looking for.
I wish they had a book that was a little more basic in scope. I guess one
problem is that every commercial model has a slightly different method of
removing the shell, attaching trucks and sideframes, making electrical
contact, gear and motor placement, etc. -- making it hard to write a book
that's very basic: it would probably come of as not being applicable to
anything.
__________
Mark Mathu
The Green Bay Route: http://www.greenbayroute.com /
"I started out with nothing and I still have most of it."
Hey guys has anyone else had trouble getting to the
http://www.hoseeker.net/lit.html web site. I keep getting a 403 message
stating access to this page is forbidden. Server configuration does not
allow access to this page.
I've tried it from home at from work and get the same message.
PeteC
Polytechforum.com is a website by engineers for engineers. It is not affiliated with any of manufacturers or vendors discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.