This question is aimed more at the operations people out there. We all know our locomotives need routine maintenance, but how do others determine when to do it? One of the projects I had while I was still working was to determine when to perform robot refurbishment on the 1500+ industrial robots we had in the body shop. One of the primary criteria we used was the hours of operation, which the robot controllers recorded automatically. The other criteria we used isn’t really applicable in this case, so does anyone do any tracking of locomotive running hours? If so, how are you doing it? I know of one modeler who basically waits until the locomotives are squealing or not running very well before doing any kind of maintenance, but that idea really just doesn’t work for me. Is there an “hour meter” for lack of a better term in the common DCC decoders we could access? My fleet has a mix of decoders, but I am working towards narrowing down to Soundtraxx and ESU.
I keep an EXCEL spreadsheet with all of the maintenance information. I really don’t have a schedule. Depends on how often I run them.
Since my locomotives are usually of the older variety, they often let me know when they need more maintenance by being particularly belligerant. Since the gears in all of them are visible, I check the lubricant whenever I’m holding them. I often do a more serious check before some kind of display, but that’s about it. If they look low, I give them a good lubrication and maybe some cleaning. I also do so when they’re starting to sound louder than usual, or when I start to see other operational defects. After I deem that it’s been a good long while (which is based on no real number), I do a heavier cleaning and maintenance–cleaning the commutator, checking the brushes and so forth, and the like.
I guess my “concern” (and yes, it is probably overblown) is trying to figure out a reasonable schedule. For example, during a 4-hour operation session the yard switchers probably get, say, 2 1/2 hours of run time. But the locomotives on a road freight may get 20 minutes. Do you log this time in your Excel sheet manually and then perform maintenance on a schedule?
I don’t run things often enough to keep a record of run times.
I include the maintenance date but no schedule.
Don’t decoders have run time on them?
The only easily accessible one I’ve come across is ESU. You can read it with the Lok Programmer.
Toward the bottom of the Information tab:
Cheers, Ed
I used to do annual maintenance. My locos and cars were run a few hours per week. I think annually was overkill.
I grease gears, oil bearings and graphite lube couplers. I don’t think any of these needed replenishment on an annual cadence. Grease gets gloppy after about ten years. Oiled bearings get sticky after about five years. After thirty years, I’ve finally had to start re-lubing couplers.
None of this is based on recorded hours of service. Just my experience.
I also lubricate locos only when they either start making noise or run slower. I own many locos and running time is highly irregular. I would need to keep track of running time, which I have no appetite for. The risk of regular maintenance for me would probably be over-lubrification. And there is always the risk of damaging the loco while opening it up. I do clean the wheels before bringing them to the club, where the track condition is awful…
Simon
What maintenance do you envision doing?
Honestly I don’t track anything. At most they’ll run 3 hours a week. I tried regular maintenance once, but the end result was over-lubrication. The worst maintenance I have had to face other than user-created over-lubrication is basic stuff like an occasional cracked gear on Proto2000 if I accidentally forgot to replace them before. Hypothetically gears can become worn, motors break, etc., but I’ve never had anything like that happen regularly enough that preventative maintenance was a necessity.
I guess wheel cleaning and the very rare coupler replacement are exceptions, but I clean wheels based on cycles of track cleaning (usually once every 4 or 5 track cleanings), and treat coupler issues or other mechanical issues as they arise in-operation as an extra challenge: moved out of service, and repaired between operating sessions.
On my layout, I’ve used an Excel spreadsheet, both printed and on my laptop, and on my locomotive cards from MicroMark, I note on them (in pencil so I can update them). I basically just note when the wheels were last cleaned and when the locomotive was last checked over/tuned up. I also have an Access database of all of my rolling stock where I put detailed notes for all of my rolling stock as to work done on everything, including past maintenance items (motor replacement, coupler replacement, etc.).
Kevin