I recommend 5W-20 motor oil for everything. It never dries out or gets sticky. I cannot recommend any other lube as I can’t find vapor pressure data for anything but motor oil. I have cleaned out white lithium grease that had hardened like concrete. The old Lionel Lube dried out pretty quick. I know from direct experience that motor oil will last 40 years without drying out or getting gummy.
One other thing to note about the 1615 is that thee s supposed to be a copper strip on the tender’s drawbar that makes a tight fit to the engine’s drawbar. This is supposed to help with conductivity for the AC return. If you cleaned the engine’s wheels and center rail rollers, and it still doesn’t run good, try cleaning the tender’s wheels and making sure that the engine’s drawbar fits tightly into the tender’s. Make sure that copper strip isn’t corroded too and clean it if necessary.
Hope this helps,
J White
[%-)]
I know from my experiences that motor oil draws dirt and dust like fleas to a dog. So if you want to leave anything on your engines for 40 years and not clean or re-lube,shame on you.
I use motor oil where there is bronze, or no easy way to lubricant into the system. Otherwise, I use the good old lube that my family used in the past [swg].
He post his motor oil thing on every thread that ask about lube. Do what you want but the gears on my engines will get Labelle 106. Axles? I guess gummy motor oil would do if you clean the old off.