Got my PFM brass Southern RR PS4 Pacific back from the custom painter out in cali. Looks awsome, now I get to address the running qualities of the chassis. Mine is an early run with an acutal Pittman DC70 motor. Normaly they run smooth and quiet, but this one vibrates and wasnt very smooth. Probably the many years of not being run. The model was unrun, or new in the box and dating from the late 50’s or early 60’s era. I tried all my tricks from a different style rubber drive tube to dressing the armature ect. So today I was at one of the local hobby shops and he had a NWSL repower kit for Athearn engines that had a double shaft Sagami with single flywheel that would be perfect for the Pacific, along with drive shafts and cups that I needed for my hobbytown RSD5 project. I have the motor in the chassis, mounted with my favorite clear bathtub caulk and waiting for it to cure. I test fit the shell, it fits ok so its just a mater of waiting for the caulk to cure completely. Gotta love the old PFM/United brass models, simple, almost bullet proof and many times dont need a can motor. You can see the hobbytown RSD5 chassis in the background. The paint wasnt going on right when I first tried to airbrush it, guess I didnt get all the oil and crud off, so it just went thru the dishwasher, and I will try painting it again shortly. Mike
What a beautiful paint job! You’ve got me wondering who the custom painter out here in California is–he sure did a bang-up job on that beautiful PFM Pacific.
I have a feeling that the Sagami will smooth that loco out quite a bit. I’ve changed out a lot of my PFM brass to either Sagami or NWSL, and had very good results. You’re right about those PFM’s–they’re absolutely bullet-proof. For my money, good old Japanese brass is absolutely INDESTRUCTABLE!
Again, that’s one gorgeous Lokie. Let us know how it runs once the sealant sets, okay?
I ran it a bit with the trailing truck removed the motor held in place with electrical tape, much smoother, bit bit of a growl from the gear box, that should go away with some run time since its never been run till now. The gentleman that did the painting runs Blockchoice hobbies out in calie, Josh B. is his name. His pricing is super affordable compared to some guys that paint brass. And his work is really really good! I had him leave this one super shiny to match the one that is preserved in a museum. I have the full Rivarossi/AHM Crescent Limited passenger train new in the box ready to go for it. I headlight has a nice 12vt bulb in it that give a nice golden glow under normal track voltages without the need for any special circuit. Normaly I dont need to repower my PFM engines, but the Pittman in this one just wont run smooth and quiet like many will. Feels like the armature is out of balance or bent from the factory. Oh well, now she has a smooth running Sagami with flyhwheel in her. Even those are hard to get since the Kobi earthquake destroyed the Sagami factory and the family that owned it decided to retire rather than rebuild. The hobby shop probably has had this motor kit on the wall for 10+ years, cost me $40 for the motor. Here is a pic of the old girl prior to her 2.5 mouth down time at the painters. P.S. tender and full loco pics as soon as the motor mount dries enough to wire it up and reassemble the engine. Mike
Because it ran decent for a dry unlubricated model, what noise it had, I assumed would clear up with a new rubber drive connector and fresh lube in the gear box, which it did not. When I run the old open frame in my hand with the test leads it vibrates so it has a shaft balance issue. Some old open frames run smooth as glass, others dont. Just not as precision made/balanced as newer motors are. The Sagami runs smooth with only the slightest bit of gear box noise, which is typical for a model with 0 track time on it. After a few laps at club this saturday night pulling my 8 car Crescent Limited, it will quiet down quite a bit. Cheers Mike
Pic of the engine and tender back together and ready to run. The new Sagami can motor runs very smooth and quiet, just a bit of gear noise till the worm and gear wear in. While its a very old model, 1961 production with serial number, it had never been run when I bought it. I do have several Pittmann and Pittman copy open frame motors from brass engines if anybody is looking for a replacment original style motor. I am digging out the matching passenger train in a few min to get it cleaned up and ready for club tonight. Mike
Wow, a 1961 and never run before you bought it. Ain’t it amazing, sometimes? I remember about four years ago at a train show talking to a guy who owned a Max Gray Southern Pacific MT-3 he had for sale. Must have been about the same vintage as yours, and he was bragging about how it not only had never been run but he only took it out of the box to look at it occasionally.
When I bought it, he looked at me and said, “It really needs a nice display case.” I told him it was going to get one–my model railroad. He just stared at me and said, “You’re not going to really RUN this, are you?” I just grinned and said, “WATCH ME!”
Thank God for ‘brass collectors’ . With the economy the way it is these days, it lets the rest of us ‘runners’ buy up their collections for pretty reasonable prices.
The older brass was ment to run, not be displayed, granted there were a few duds as the Japanese learned to make decent gear boxes and put decent size motors in them. Brass was just the convient metal to make them from back then. Heck, PFM imported over 4500 of the Southern PS4’s over the years. Todays brass is more of the opposite. Most run very smooth, but feel very fragle when handled. Not that way when you pick up a vintage PFM/United, Akane or one of the other better imported models of days gone by. I am now on the hunt for the late run Mantua Southern green 2-8-2 they made and sold in the red boxes. I just bought a black late run Mantua Mikado with Sagami drive to become a Southern freight engine. Cheers Mike
