I’ve been reintroduced into the hobby and was wondering if you guys can help me with some engine maintenance. I have a Mehano N scale engine that was purchased over 10 years ago and has been in storage for approximately the past 8 or 9 years. By itself it runs smoothly but the moment I start adding rolling stock to it (only 4 - 5 cars), it becomes sluggish and at one point adjacent to the power source, it completely stalls for about 15 seconds (however you can still hear the engine going as if its trying to move). It’s almost as if there’s not enough friction between the wheels and the track. Just by its age I can tell it needs some maintenance, but I’m not sure if the problem is entirely the engine, or the track, or both. I ran a life-like engine across the same area and it doesn’t appear to stall the same way the Mehano engine does.Any ideas?
I’m learning how different companies produce different quality engines. What is the quality of a Mehano engine? How about a Life-like engine?
If its helpful, I can take a video and post a youtube link of the problem.
In HO, older Life-Like doesn’t have much of a following. Mehano seems to be a fairly good running, basic, moderately priced choice. Again, that’s their HO reputation that I have picked up from here.
To address your running problem. You say you can here the motor running. Are the wheels turning? Some older engines had a rubber band drive, not sure about yours. If it does, it could be slipping under load. The other thought that comes to mind is that it may have been equipped with traction tires and they are missing. Someone who has or has had one would have to tell you if it should. If you have the original sheet that came with it, that could tell you about the drive and traction tires.
I thought I’d include some pictures of the engine and its interior. The wheels are definitely turning when its stalled. Do you think it needs some lubricant?
Thank you all for your help and advice so far! It’s great having such helpful people all in one place!
As stated if the motor runs and the wheels are not turning something is slipping in the drive train. Check U-joints and/or coulpings slipping on metal shafts or loose or cracked gears on the drive axels. This may only show up under load.
You’d probably be much better off just purchsing a new locomotive instead of trying to repair something that old.
Mehano of Slovenia made products that were imported and sold by IHC in the US. Mehano declared bankruptcy and IHC went out of business.
Mehano has reportedly been resurrected under new ownership but no one that I know of is importing their products, so repair parts are going to be extremely hard to find.
OK, you say the locomotive runs be itself, but pulling just a few cars makes it slow down and stop. The motor whirs, suggesting that it is turning, and the wheels are not. If this is a fair statement of the problem, then something is slipping in the drive train. Could be a loose worm, a loose U-joint, a loose belt (if belt drive) or something.
Take the shell of the locomotive and run just the drive. If you look really hard, with a good light, you ought to be able to see something turning and something that is not turning. A drop or two of THIN superglue (CA) will bond metal to metal and plastic to metal. The thin superglue is like water and capillary action will suck it up inside the slipping gizmo. The thick (gap filling) superglue is too thick for capillary action to move it anywhere.
If you had a rare brass model or a superdetailed, expensive plastic one, I’d try to repair it, but with a run of the mill loco like that one, unless it has some sentimental value, rip the motor out and use it for a dummy, or park it in your engine yard as a “roundhouse queen” or “parts depot”.
Looks like you have a worm gear drive with a flexible coupling from the motor to the worm shaft. See if the coupling slips while running the engine without the body. If it does check to see if it has any set screws or other means to tighten it to the shafts. I had some older Rivarossi engines with coulplings that slipped because the molded flat shaft hole was worn. Also, I would clean all the wheels and track to eleminate those possible sources of trouble. If none of these work then I would also recommend purchasing a new engine if you are planning to stay in the hobby for a while. Good luck.
It would probably be of more help if folks would read what you said. [sigh]
If the wheels are turning, the only thing wrong with the loco is that it doesn’t have enough weight to provide sufficient grip on the rails. As the pictures show, only the rear truck is powered, and even with that substantial weight above it, the wheels are slipping.
Those flanges look especially deep, although a lot of older equipment was so equipped, so it’s difficult to tell if it may have, at one time, had traction tires. My suggestion is to get a better quality loco with both trucks powered. Even older Athearn Blue Box locos are much superior to what you have. Other good choices are almost any loco from Atlas, old or new, Athearn Genesis, Stewart, and any Proto locos that don’t have issues with split gears.
I’m sure that others will have more suggestions - I’m modelling steam, and not totally up-to-date on current diesel offerings.
If your wheels are turning when under load, it is not a drive train problem, gears are not slipping or jumping.
First, how do the cars roll. They should each roll freely on a slight grade.
Second, I would think your loco was suppose to have traction tires. Are a couple of the drivers grooved or smaller than the others? If you cannot figure out what tires you need, you could try bullfrog snot. A few members seem to have tried it and hopefully they can give you some pointers.
I recently purchased a Kato N scale P42 Genesis locomotive. Now I see what you all mean by a high end locomotive compared to what I have! However, since this was my first locomotive, it does have some sentimental value… plus, I can never find to this day another one like it, so I decided to link it up with another locomotive. Now I have a dual locomotive freight train pulling 8 rolling stock. With the other locomotive pushing it, it’s working just fine - for now.
In the future however, if I ever decide to investigate the problem further I’ll always consider everyone’s advice. I just don’t know that much about the innards of a locomotive to start messing around with it. Thanks everyone!
You learn by taking stuff a part. How many cars will your new engine pull by it self? I am not into N scale, but if the rolling stock is right I would say it should 15 to 20 by it self.
Don’t burn up the new engine dragging the old one around.
Based on the flange depth of the drive wheels compared to the dummy wheels, it looks like your diesel is missing two traction tires. My dad also got a Mehano diesel from Model Power a while back. It had 4 out of 12 wheels powered, and all 4 wheels had tires. They’ve all dried out and begun to crumble. Unfortunately, I don’t know of anyone who sells tires for N scale diesels.
You mentioned you haven’t found another diesel like that one. It’s called an ALCO FA-2, and this particular one has been offered by Life-Like and Model Power. Life-Like brought out a much better one later in their Proto series with better detail and all wheel drive, which you can find occasionally on eBay or at train shows. They’ve more recently made an FA-1, which can be found more easily. Except for yours, nobody’s made one of these in Conrail.
