Restarting an Unused HO Engine

True fact:

When I was a kid, our local ice cream vending trucks all used to play the melody to the above kid's rhyme/jingle* to let the neighborhood children know they were coming. I have a feeling that the ice cream truck people probably didn't know where it had originated, though... (I always thought it would be cool to have a 1/87 scale ice cream truck parked somewhere on a '50s layout surrounded by children and with an endless recording of that tune playing almost subliminally in the background to see if anybody ever made the connection.)

*Children -bless their black little hearts- preserve and originate some wonderfully grim rhymes. For instance, the macabre "Little Willy" rhymes were still popular with kids when I was in grade school. Herewith a railroad-oriented example:

Willie on the railroad tracks Didn't hear the whistle squeal Now the engine's backing up Scraping Willie off the wheel.

And one that isn't:

Little Willie in a spell Pitched his sister down the well Now his parents have no daughter And they boil all the water.

Cheerily, ~Pete

Forsooth!

Or "The Grabes of Raath"; a science fiction tale that featured a displaced family of migrant-farm-working aliens who'd been fleeing a galaxy-wide depression for so long that they'd lost track of their home world (Raath) entirely and were seeking repatriation help from a welfare worker.

Turned out that they'd accidentally teleported here to our galaxy from Andromeda, and there was no way to get them back home.

~Pete

After two other suggestions which you fail to acknowledge. That makes you the dummy, mate.

-- Ray

One can just imagine Haddad being asked the value of 2 + 2.

Haddad offers three suggestions: 2 + 2 = 116, 3333 or 8889999887.

When challenged about the absurdity of the last suggestion, Haddad again draws attention to the first two.

Yep. That's all you have left. Enjoy.

-- Ray

On 8/16/2009 1:10 AM Twibil spake thus:

Of course you probably know that "Ring Around the Rosy" is a reference to the Black Plague.

And it's not children who "preserve and originate" that grimness, but those who write and tell them stories and songs. Most children are completely oblivious to the grim references; I know I was.

True fact:

When I was a kid, our local ice cream vending trucks all used to play the melody to the above kid's rhyme/jingle* to let the neighborhood children know they were coming. I have a feeling that the ice cream truck people probably didn't know where it had originated, though... (I always thought it would be cool to have a 1/87 scale ice cream truck parked somewhere on a '50s layout surrounded by children and with an endless recording of that tune playing almost subliminally in the background to see if anybody ever made the connection.) ===================================================================

I'm going to do a Pennywise the Clown one of these days.

Bob May wrote: ...

See for an exploded view of the engine.

What oil should I use? Light oil of some sort? How do I get the body off the supporting chassis? Use a think straight edge screw driver to pry it off? I don't see any screws.

On 8/16/2009 3:49 PM W. eWatson spake thus:

Yes. Best would probably be LaBelle, available at a local hobby shop if you're lucky enough to have one nearby (a diminishing breed), or online at several places (f'rinstance,

If you can't find LaBelle, use any decent light oil, like 3-in-one (yes, Virginia, it's safe to use on model railroad locos) or sewing machine oil.

No screws. You need to gently spread the sides of the body at the center away from the frame. If your hands alone don't do the trick, try to get something thin in there, like a knife blade or thin piece of metal. Not all that hard to do.

On 8/16/2009 1:07 PM David Nebenzahl spake thus:

Hmm, Snopes says I'm wrong about that:

Although I can't say I'm totally convinced by their arguments.

----------------------------------------------

Speaking of gruesome railroad-related ditties, remember this one?

A peanut sat on the railroad track His heart was all a-flutter Along came a railroad train Toot-toot! Peanut butter.

Snopes says it isn't, but I'm with you: I think it's quite likely that it is. Rhymes and melodies can hang around for a *long* time, as is evidenced by the fact that almost everyone raised in our western culture can still hum the melody to "Greensleeves" right up until this day, and that tune dates back to at *least* 200 years before the 1665 London plague..

(For the musically bereft; Britain's King Henry the 8th [1485-1547] wrote a well-known set of words to the tune, but the melody is thought to be much older than that. It may have come across the English Channel with the Normans in 1066. Alas, the Normans had no railroads.)

There I *dis*agree with you. Children are naturally blood-thirsty little savages who must be carefully brought up if you wish them to some day become civilized adults, and even then it doesn't always work.

Re-read "Lord of the Flies" and consider how Ann Coulter turned out...

Nope, that's a new one to me!

(And the poet/musician in me demands I point out that it doesn't scan worth a darn, either!)

~Pete

On 8/16/2009 4:59 PM Twibil spake thus:

Well, we sorta agree and sorta don't. I don't dispute what you said about rugrats^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hkids and adult abominations and all; but for the most part children are not responsible for their own repertoire. Which makes ya wonder what kind of sick and twisted adults think up this stuff.

Of course, this excludes my best friend at about age 10-11 teaching me all the verses to "Barnacle Bill" while sleeping out in his backyard in a tent ...

Who's that knooocking at my door? Who's that knooocking at my door? Who's that knooocking at my door? asked the fair young maiden ...

Good. Thanks. I pried it apart. Pretty simple inside.

I hope the exploded view provided above clarifies some of the mysteries other respondents were probing.

Just to make sure I'm doing the right thing, take a look at the exploded view in the link. A part of the diagram show the motor, fly wheels, and so on. Starting on the left, I would think I should put a small drop of oil on the worm bearing, worm & shaft, coupling?, and worm gear at the right end. The worm&shaft look like they are covered with the housing shown in the diagram, so maybe it would be difficult to get oil in there. Maybe the L-shaped light bracket can be detached, so the housing can be removed? The bracket is resistant to finger tugs, so maybe a long nosed plier.

The diagram doesn't show enough details of the motor, but the left end has about a 3/8 to 1/2" copper shaft, 1/4" dia?, that spans the distance between the motor and flywheel. A 1/8 or so, band encircles the copper cylinder. There are electrical contacts on the top and bottom, so I would think there's no need to oil anything there.

On 8/17/2009 12:41 PM W. eWatson spake thus:

You could lube those points. However, I seriously doubt that lack of lubrication is the cause of your loco not running properly.

Think about it: the gears really require little or no lubrication, as they're made of Delrin or some equivalent plastic that's pretty much self-lubricating.

If you do use oil, remember that just enough is too much. Really. Just a tiny drop on a toothpick is all you need.

I'd concentrate more on the electrical pick-up from the wheels to the motor. One thing I really do not like about the way Athearn and other similar locos are put together is the iffy electical contacts, which rely on nice tight, clean connections between parts. I replaced this haphazard system with soldered wire connections on a few of my locos. Not saying you should do this, but do check all the electrical connection points, particularly from the trucks to the motor. This is another good reason not to over-lubricate and risk getting oil on the contact surfaces.

On 8/17/2009 12:41 PM W. eWatson spake thus:

Forgot to say, for the truck assemblies, a little grease would be a better lubricant than oil. Any grease is fine (I use a general-purpose white lithium grease). Again, just a little goes a long way. A toothpick is your friend here.

The truck assemblies are very easy to open up: they just snap apart and snap back together, using the plastic retaining clips.

I agree with your assessment on the need for oil on those parts even not knowing they are made from Delrin. The simplicity of the chain of parts and virtually no lubrication suggested it doesn't need much, if any, lubrication.

Actually, I haven't gotten to the "proof" for the need for anything. I've only run the engine. The layout has been solidly assembled for 22 years and suspended a huge majority of that time from a ceiling in tow garages. My kids didn't take to it, and I figured some off spring might. None that I care to wait for.

Proof. Here's what I need to do rather than concentrate on the engine assembly as discussed. I need to start adding cars to the engine, and see if it makes it around the tracks. It used to make it fairly easily. If that shows some difficulty, then I need to, I think with your suggestions above, check electrical connections.

You mention trucks to the motor. What does that mean? Wheels? I was told by a local shop owner to use sand paper on the wheels to the engine, but that's not so easy. They are tiny, and getting a good grip on them while sanding is not easy.