Invasion of the grease blobs

Classic Toy Trains Forum
1

One quirky problem on two different train cars.

First was a K-line steam passenger set i bought a few months ago. It has a Railsounds tender. Out of the box the sounds were intermitant as it rolled down the track. I turned the tender over and inspected the wires, oiled the axles, and jimmied the sensor. Nothing fixed the problem. After a few days and some frustration I noticed a tiny grease blob on the axle with the sensor. The grease had hardened somewhat and was keeping the axel from turning easy. With a swipe of a rag it was gone and the problem solved.

Flash forward two months to my latest train item, a MtH passenger set. Unpacked the cars an gave them a test run. Everthing was fine except the observation cars lights flickered. Checked all the connections and bulbs. Still flickered. Long story short - there was a build up of grease on the axles under the ground contacts. Cleaned off the axles - problem solved.

Is anyone else running into this? Do axles really need grease at these points?
Maybe this can help others if they have these problems.

2

Paul,

MTH has a habit of heavily greasing the axle contacts (for AC common) on there lighted and operating cars. I have had the same problem. One does need to have a bit of lubricant for these contacts. As you found, removing the excess resolves the problem.

Regards,
Roy

3

When everyone switched to delrin pocketed needle point axles you needed some way to complete the circuit to the outer rails. Older wheelsets were gounded to the metal truck frame (back when truck frames were metal). If there isn’t some lubrication, the wiper may start to squeak/whine. There are conductive lubricants including light weight grease usually with silver in a silicone base. This is probably overkill for toy train use:)