I have a beautiful pair of OMI brass f 7’s. One runs like a swiss watch, is quiet and stays on the track. The other is a different story. I noticed it would run maybe a foot or so then derail, even on straight track.
So, I removed the body and watched the engine move on the tracks and sure enough, it would do it again. Apparently as the engine moves, some how the back wheels of the front truck rise up and the coupling from the truck to the engine (shaft) twists as the wheels come, thus causing the engine to derail.
Somehow I’ve got to figure out to do two things, keep the back wheels of the front truck from rising and preventing the couplings of the drive shaft from bending. It’s almost as if the multiple couplings need to be replaced with just one straight drive shaft, and maybe using a large washer between the truck and the under side of the engine would keep the back end of the front truck from rising off the track. Does anyone think rubber tubing might keep the drive shaft straight? Hope I hear some suggestions.
Yard Master
WTRR
another thing to check is the gearing in that truck - maybe its tight or has something stuck in it, so it binds up and the only place for it to go is up…
Since you have two of the same model, I would closely compare the front trucks and their mounting on both. It sounds to me like the one unit may have had its front truck removed and then not correctly reinstalled or something. I agree that binding somewhere in the truck part of the drive may be a place to check closely. Does it turn freely when disconnected from the driveline?
I would not attempt to modify the driveline. This is very unlikely to be the source of the problem, provided its joints move freely and aren’t binding.
Couldn’t sleep, so I plundered out to the train room, it’s the garage, at around 4 A.M. this morning. I think my sleep was interupted due my thinking of this F-7 problem. I noticed that when running backwards lashed to the good engine the front truck perform a little better but it still rises and you can hear a clicking noise, as if one of the gears is sticking, so I have disassembled the entire truck and it is now soaking in a cleaner to remove all of the grease, then I will be able to inspects each gear and see if they match, re-assemble and see if it all meshes together smoothly. I tend to agree that it is in the grear mechinism, and that is what is causing the lift in the truck, in other words the gears jam and that is what the clicking noise is. The driveline moves freely and couplings appear normal and turn freely.
Thanks
Station Master
WTRR
I don’t pretend to be an expert on things like this, but you may find that you have a gear that is cracked or is otherwise damaged.
Jeff, that’s a good thought too, I wondered if a gear could be cracked. After I clean things I will inspected the gearing well and go from there. I am still trying to understand how you put the gifs at the end of your comments in the forum, I know you tried to expleain before, but I can’t find the browser, don’t even know where it is, and pasting what’s that, I push button and it don’t seem to fly. I did find the gifs and down loaded or up loaded, which ever, to photobucket and clicked the third line but, no go, can’t get them to go to my forum responses. Thanks for the info will look for cracked gearing.
Yard Clerk
WTRR
I think you might also want to check the gauge of the wheels, and just for fun the track. If one set of wheels is a little wide. they’ll get forced up if the track is a little narrow. I’ve seen this more on curves, with a tiny little kink in a joint, but it could happem on the straight, too. Does it happen at the same spot every time?
Jeffrey: correctomundo! When I took apart the gearing of this expensive brass baby, ($275.00) for one brass engine, and put everything in a cleaning solution, I then examined each gear with a magnifier, guess what, a small crack from one of the gear teeth to the center. Following a good cleaning I was able to insert a small amount of super glue in the crack and hold the gear together with some pressure until it dried. Used a very sharp hobby blade #11 and with the point and cleaned out the groove of the gear, placed it back in the gear box, re-assembled the shaft mechanism, soldier the wiring back to the truck and motor, then greased the gears: voila it runs. Both units are permanentely MU’d together and now work beautifully.
Thank for the expert help from all.
Yard Engineer
WTRR
Superglue may not hold permanently, you may end up having to replace that gear (eventually).
Brad
The cracked gear strikes again. Almost every locomotive I had that did what yours was doing had something wrong with the gears, and they were usually the more expensive units. Maybe that’s because they sit on the shelves longer or in storage before being sold, whereas the cheaper units sell out quickly.
Jeff: I’ll check back, or anyone, do you know where I could purchase a gear, we don’t have an LHS in Jackson, TN for trains, we do have how ever an RC Hobby Shop, and they might sell all types of gears because of the RC clubs here. In fact we are having RC races this weekend at the West Tennessee Fair Grounds, it’s a big event, lots of member. I’ll check there, but did not know if there was some one out there that sells gears for brass engines.
Thanks
Yard Master
WTRR
You might want to see if an Athearn gear would fit or a gear from a proto 2000 locomotive. Check out walthers.com