How do I break in my new engine?
If you are comfortable in opening and taking apart the engine, then I would suggest to disassemble the engine trucks, clean them from the manufacturing grease with water and soap. When thoroughly
dry, check the gears for any flash from manufacturing, so that they are smooth, then reassemble the trucks lubricating the gears with plastic compatible oil or grease. I use Labelle oil (I forget the
item number), which is plastic compatible. I then run the engines at half speed each way for 10 min. on the club layout. Nowadays I use this method only on Athearn and few other engines.
I have found though that in the last years, manufacturing methods have improved. Engines from Kato, Proto2000, Stewart, Roco, the new Lima, run fine right out of the box, so I leave them alone and
deal with them when I do maintenance (which is a few years away).
How do I tune two engines for double-heading operation?
One solution is to use a computer controlled command control system. This would allow the computer to control each locomotive in such a way that everything runs together smoothly regardless of the DC
response of the individual engines, as long as you don't try to run the consist faster than the slowest loco will go. This should also improve reliability of pushers and mid train helpers.
The cheap and dirty way:
Run heavy trains with all the power at the front end and put the faster locos in front, so all the couplers will be in tension at all times. This works OK if the difference between the engines is not
too bad. If it is a gross mismatch, one or locos may not run at all.
Obviously to make two engines run the same speed, they must be geared the same and the motor has to be the same make (generally speaking). If the speed difference is small (don't ask me the values,
please), the consequences to the engines are minimal. But, if the difference is great, (e.g. Athearn GP9 and Proto2000 FA1), then I would not run them together and just live with it.
My personal rule of thumb is that in general not to run different makes engines.
If the trains pulled are long, or the cars are weighted to NMRA standard, the speed difference should not count much, because both engines will work to pull the train.
Example: 30 weighted cars going up a steep grade will require 2 or 3 engines. A typical train like that at the club would have a Kato in front and 2 or 3 Athearns following.
BTW, slower engines, where the difference is small, are great for using as helpers. Sometimes at the club, we run trains with about 60 cars and mid-helper engines. We try to put the slower ones as
helpers so that the danger of derailments is minimized.
Another note is that dirty wheels also contribute to difference in speed. So, clean those wheels.
One of the best sources of photos for BN and BNSF is this site:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/2501/
He has over 2000 photos of locos, organized by roster. He has an abbreviated history of each loco (build date, pre-merger road and number, retire date, and some idea of the disposition). I use this
site whenever I'm researching an RTR loco from Atlas, Kato, or Life-Like.
Scott Whitmire
What is the easiest way to clean the wheels of my fairly new locomotives? They are accumulating black gunk.
If you're in HO or N, a "Kadee Driver Cleaner" works well for powered axles. This is an "electrified" wire brush that cleans the wheels as they rotate under their own power.
Before those came out, we used to "clip lead" from the track to the motor, and clean the wheels as they rotated with a "bright boy" track cleaner.
If the idea of "abrasive materials" on your wheels bothers you, use any commercial "track cleaner" fluid and a Q-tip (we've also had good luck with "GOO-GONE" or even "WINDEX".)
Don Dellmann
Something you might want to try.Alcohol wipes from a drug store.They are pre soaked towelettes.Just lay one across a piece of track,I use Life Like with the terminal connectoin ,put one set of wheels
on the wipe and hold it with your fingers and run the one set of axles ,try rocking them side to side helps clean the flanges.
Richard P. Kubeck
There are several products on the market aimed at cleaning loco wheels...In N Scale, the easiest way is to remove the shell and connect wires with small alligator clips (available at Radio Shack) to
the brush connectors and rails...apply some "Goo-Gone" to a paper towel laid carefully over the track. Put the loco on the rails (with the wet spot in the towel under it), and holding the loco in
place with just a SLIGHT amount of pressure, run it. The wheels will spin and you'll SEE the gunk...slide the loco over to a dry spot to further remove the softened crud. Repeat as necessary until
all wheels are clean, reapply the shell, and railroad on...! For tender wheels and rolling stock, just slide the car back and forth over the wet paper towel until the wheels are clean. It's both easy
and effective...
Lt. Jim
Another way to keep the loco's wheels clean is to change the plastic wheels on the rolling stock. I have reduce the amount of cleaning on my railroad by changing ALL the plastic wheels to metal. I
have used KD, JB, and the Proto 2000 wheelsets. They look great, sound great and best of all, don't shed plastic gunk all over everything, and , as they roll, they develop a prototypical "tread"
pattern as the wheel coating wears down and the area that touches the rail takes on a shine.
Frank Rosenbaum
I was writing to see if anyone can tell me which is the most powerful (able to pull a lot cars) locomotive?
Pulling power is generally a matter of weight. The heavier the engine the more resistence its wheels have against slipping. Generally this is not an overwhelming concern for most model railroaders
since few layouts can accomodate very long trains and those that can would use multiple engines just like real RRs. For example, I doubt that the Union Pacific (the only RR which had them) often ran
their DDA40Xs solo, but in multiple unit lashings with other engines since their job was to pull long trains over significant grades.
Paul Tackowiak
You've just got to watch out that you don't overdo the additional weight such that your loco wheels never slip under high load. You can get the situation where the loco motor is working in overload
condition and it will burn itself out sooner or later. Adjusting your loco weight until the wheels slip just under the maximum current permissible for the motor provides a good "safety valve" to
protect your mech.
Jim Guthrie
My experiances are due to club life. Running 100 car trains are not unheard of.
At the old place we had a tractive effort tester. It coupled onto the rear coupler of an engine, and you would add lead weight to a hook. When the engine went into full wheel slip you would stop
adding weight. Adding up the weight (fishing weights 1/4 oz., 1/2 oz. etc.) would tell you the tractive effort.
A similar contraption can tell you what each of your engines can pull, no matter how large, or small your layout is.
Larry
One club I belonged to had a little "test bench" with one of those "fish scales" attacked to one end, worked well. Not totally accurate, but at least able to give a comparative reading between
various engines.
Don
For a time I worked at a place had a gauge that I could use to test pull of a engine (in ounces). I used to compare my engines to the results in MRR tests. If I ever get back into the hobby I would
fix up a test rack - adjustable slope, etc to see what engines can pull and what grades they are useable on.
Charles F Seyferlich
Actually there is an easier way for diesels with all wheels powered (it's a bit more complicated with steam engines). Set up a ramp with a section of track on it and tilt it up until the engine is
standing still with wheels slipping. The tractive force is equal to the loco's weight multiplied by the slope of the board. The slope is the "rise" divided by the "run" (height of the elevated end of
the board divided by the horizontal distance from one end of the board to the other).
If you are willing to accept an approximate value, multiply the loco's weight by 0.22. This only works when all loco weight must be on the driven wheels and the loco must be capable of spinning its
wheels.
Paul Welsh
Much of this came from the book "MODEL RAILROADING WITH ATHEARN LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS" by Robert Schleicher, ISBN:0-9612692-3-5. This is an excellent reference for tuning up Athearn equipment, with
numerous examples of specific locomotive types and pictures,etc.
Many of the steps in tuning up locomotives are "trial and error" types of processes. In my opinion, the important things are to eliminate any play in the drive train, replacing the wheels with nickel
silver wheels from Northwest Short Line, and eliminating the contact bar between the front and rear trucks.
The first thing that I do is to eliminate any flash, etc in the gear train. This is the time to replace the wheels with nickel silver, if you are going to. Remove the shell and set it aside. After
replacing the wheels, pry off the bottom of the gearbox. Fill this area with Pearl Drops toothpaste and replace the gearbox bottom. Hook up some jumper wires, and run the loco at high speed for a
while until the gears "wear in". You will be able to hear a change in pitch, and they will speed up when this has happened.
Once this is done, completely disassemble the loco (note which way the motor is pointed). Wash all drive train parts throughly in dishwashing detergent, and set aside to dry. At this point, I like to
remove any play in the motor by adding additional thrust washers between the motor and bearings. Lightly oil the motor bearings with Labelle 102 gear oil or equivalent. When reassembling the motor to
the frame,make sure that the motor makes good contact with the frame. Many modelers will solder a contact wire to the bottom of the motor and drill and tap a screw into the frame to attach this wire
to. If you are to install DCC, this is not necessary (and a completely different topic).
While the motor is disassembled, solder fine stranded wire (a stiff wire will interfere with cornering) to the clip that holds the upper brush spring (remove from the motor). When the motor is
reassembled, solder this wire to both of the upper truck contacts. You can install a constant lighting kit at this point if desired, or just solder a wire to the bulb to complete the circuit. When
reassembling the drive train, check the play in the worm drives. Often additional thrust washers are needed here to remove play in the worms.
Lightly oil all of the bronze bearing blocks. Grease the gears lightly with Labelle 106 grease or equivalent. Important note: overlubrication will slow down your locomotive and cause excessive wear,
along with spreading oil and grease along the track, which adds to track cleaning problems. A little bit of lubricant will work fine, more does not help.
Clay Dulaney
I never understood what is a pole motor and what is a can motor. Would someone be kind enough to point out the different carateristics?
The distinction is usually made between can motors and open-frame motors. An open-frame motor is one which has sides that are open, so that you can (usually) see the motor's armature (the part that
spins) from two sides. Skewed pole motors have a slight twist to the pole alignment that smooths operation of the motor. The can motor by design is enclosed which keeps out dirt and helps contain the
magnetic flux to increase torque. Also little bits of magnetic scrap cannot get sucked into the magnets. Sometimes the can design will have a continuous ring magnet which can be very strong (rather
than two separate magnets) and is made to a close fit to the armature. A can motor is totally enclosed in metal, except for one end, which is usually a plastic cap.
As for poles, the armature of a motor is built with an odd number of coils that act as electromagnets. In model railroading, this is usually three or five, but I think I may have heard of some having
seven. Generally speaking, the greater number of armature coils (which we refer to as poles), the more smoothly the motor will run. Five pole motors are typical in most "better" locomotives.
The other part of an electric motor typically used in model railroading is a pair of stationary magnets. These are the magnets that attract the energized coils of the armature to make the armature
spin. On can motors, these magnets tend to be a bit larger than on open-frame motors.
The general consensus over the years in the hobby seems to be that can motors are preferable to open-frame motors of comparable size.
The number of poles a motor has is independent of whether it is an open-frame motor or a can motor. There are five pole can motors and five-pole open-frame motors. I can't remember seeing any three
pole can motors, but I've seen plenty of three pole open-frame motors.
As far as fly wheels go, they are large metal rods attached (usually) to the end(s) of the motor. As the motor turns so do the flywheels. when you cut the power, the motor starts slowing down but the
flywheels keep it turning longer than it would normally. This is useful over dirty track where the flywheel will keep the loco running untill it can make contact again. It's also used to simulate the
momentum of the real locos and make the loco run smoother. If you have a loco with flywheels take the shell off and watch it run after you cut the power and you'll see why it's so helpful
Reading about using Pearl Drops as a polishing agent for Athearn gears leads me to ask:
Is 'Pearl Drops' a brand name?
Yes
Is it a paste or gel - or something different again?
It's neither... its a thick liquid in a squeeze bottle. A suspended abrasive.
I had thought of using baking soda in suspension - and might try it yet. I find dry baking soda an effective abrasive in the grit blaster for tidying up styrene or ABS work where regular grits (no,
no, not the 'grits' thread again) would be too harsh.
The whole Pearl Drops thing has reached the legendary status of such sage advise as "peeing on your feet in the shower prevents athlete's foot".
I don't tend to believe legendary advice, nor do I automatically disbelieve it. I think science often fails when common sense isn't used in the methodology - and this can work either for or against
the legends.
Here's the snag with the whole Pearl Drops thing, which no one has ever addressed in a reply to the issue - just huffy defenses of the method:
Athearn gears are *Delrin*.
Now before we start talking too much about the effect that a suspended abrasive might have on them, what are the properties of Delrin or "acetal plastic"?
1) It's flexible but firm
2) It's very resistant to breakage, not very brittle
3) It has a low friction surface right from the mold, even un-polished
4) It is very resistant to adhesives or solvents as in paint
5) It requires little or no lubrication
6) It's resistant to abrasion (ever tried to sand it cleanly?)
What the helpful soul who invented this technique was going after was the practice known as "lapping" which is done with tightly meshed *metal* gears to break them in, by coating with a suspended
fine abrasive and running them. This deburrs fine imperfections and polishes the tooth surface, as well as hastens the wear-in process to allow everything to move freely with no slop.
This works great on those NWSL gear sets, assuming you can get them installed and calibrated closely to begin with... or and of the fine-toothed straight or helical brass gears found in brass and
older diecast locos.
I have yet to see an Athearn diesel (not Genesis) that had gears that "needed breaking in". I've seen them binding due to bent motor shafts, I've seen them lurch due to slop and run-out, I've seen
them bind due to contamination in the gearbox or an out-of-round gear. I've seen them overheat due to the old style two-piece worm housing binding. I hear the term "gear noise" on r.m.r. in reference
to Athearn often enough to make me scream. Athearn locos have virtually ZERO gear noise. Don't believe me? Take the motor and worms out of one and pull it behind a Kato and listen. The noise comes
from other places, most notably the poorly made flywheels (that's another story I've told before, but not in public), the rattling U-joints and the motors which are always pot luck.
I have *never* seen an Athearn diesel with "tight" gears. If anything, they are sloppy beyond redemption. You've heard about people replacing Athearn trucks with P2K trucks... it's for the tighter,
more accurately manufactured gears. Athearn puts lots of slop in their gears... that's how they can have unskilled laborers slam them together and they'll still run.
I've read some interesting accounts of "hard evidence" in favor of Pearl Drops. They remind me of a little trick my chiropractor does. I like my chiropractor and he is good at what he does, but part
of his dog n' pony show is a "grip test", in which he checks your thumb-to-pinky finger strength while you're laying on your back. He then does a neck adjustment, and rechecks... and, surprise... a
noticably stronger grip!!
The equivalent in the Pearl Drops test is the thing that says after you've loaded the gearboxes up with the stuff, run the loco and "as it breaks in, watch your ammeter drop slowly... amazing!"
Amazing... not... neither. I figured out (he's good, it took me a while), that my chiropractor *always* slips a neck support pillow under my head immediately after doing the neck adjustment. This
seems logical, to encourage the neck to stay in alignment while you relax. But... it rigs the "strength test". I'm convinced that, alignment or not, I'd flunk the post-adjustment strength test if the
neck pillow were left out of the deal. Now the neck adjustment is a good thing, and I have many very substantial reasons that validate my monthly visit to the bonecracker, but I don't really need to
be bamboozled with this "pinky grip" stuff. BTW, he does a leg strength test based on the low back adjustment that is perfectly valid... I can feel the difference immediately without him even pushing
against my leg.
So back to our suffering Athearn dental hygiene special. Naturally your ammeter will load down quite heavily with a fresh couple of gearbox loads of cold Pearl Drops. What's happening as you "run in"
the loco is that the stuff is warming up a little and being gradually squeezed out of the teeth, and as it does so, the friction is reduced. The equivalent of doing this test without the neck pillow
is to have recorded the ammeter readings *before* the whole Pearl Drop thing... both cold and as it warms up. I'd bet a months subscription to Haggis that afterwards there isn't a damn bit of
difference once the gears are washed, re-lubed, and put back together.
I did the Pearl Drops thing once, just for the hell of it. The only indication that there was any abrasion taking place is that the toothpaste did turn black after about 15 minutes of running time.
Well, no doubt its abrasive and no doubt in spite of the Delrin's resistance, it was rubbing some of it off. But does it really do _anything_ to improve the performance of an already sloppy gearbox?
I doubt it.
What I will stand behind though, is that my GP38 that was treated with Pearl Drops has had no cavities so far.
Andy
O.K. - I have installed Utah Pacific marker lamps on the front of my 2-8-8-2, as I have on several other locomotives. I have installed a SoundTraxx decoder using an NMRA plug conversion. When I
installed the marker lights with resistors, no lights. I assumed the power to the front lamp was 12 volts, and installed appropriate resistors to reduce the power from 12 volts to 1.5. When I
measured the voltage, however, it was 2.5 volts, with the headlight bulb in the circuit. The Utah Pacific bulbs are 1.5 volt, and frankly a devil to replace. How can I reduce the voltage to 1.5
volts, or as an alternate, do I need to reduce the voltage? Is the single volt over voltage enough to significantly alter bulb life, etc.? Is the 2.5 volts I have at the headlight caused by the
SoundTraxx being powered from 16 volts on the rail, or is that just the nature of the power on the 2-8-8-2 circuit boards?
To lower the voltage to the markers, just wire them in series. That is, connect together one wire from each marker; then connect the other wire on each back to the board, as if you were connecting
just one bulb. That will give you 1.25v for each marker bulb, and increase the bulb life indefinitely, besides. And yes, a 67% overvoltage will fry those bulbs in a few minutes, if not seconds.
Gary M. Collins