Always pays to check out the “used” section in my LHS. This time it was a NIB Proto 2000 S3.
The two shell mounting screws were still enclosed in the factory sealed parts bag. The screw holes in the shell were not threaded. The shell hadn’t even been test fitted tomthe chassis previously. Even the scotch tape on the clear plastic cover over the parts bag slot was undisturbed.
I love it when this happens. Like time travelling back to when DCC was pretty new.
It’s a bit strange now to buy a DCC ready locomotive with an 8 pin socket and so few new decoders are being made with 8 pin plugs…
I bought a few Protos like yours also. Some from various train shows, more recently I bought an A-B pair of Alco FA-1s. Still in the Life-Like shrink wrap, like cellophane.
During the years of storage the worm gear bearings seized but I was planning a total overhaul regardless. Today they both have sound decoders and run beautifully.
Sheldon and others have commented on the Life-Like strategy of producing huge volumes of product. There’s still lots of NOS tucked away in closets and basements around the world.
IIRC, the old Proto S1 & S3s were built about the same tme. If so, you may want to double-check that the motor brushes on the Proto S3 are isolated from the frame. This was a known issue with their S1 - even though it stated on the box that is was “DCC-ready”. If the locomotive accidentally derails with a decoder installed, the decoder could go poof and let out the magic smoke.
Will do. I assume a multimeter set to ohms will show closed or open circuit as the case may be?
As for the possibility of unlubricated bearing blocks the first thing I do with these Proto 2000, conveniently delivered with shell off, is inspect each worm gear for lubrication. Interestingly, this model showed squeaky clean and bright worm gears. No sign of any grease or oil. I applied Labelle 107 and let it sit a while to flow down a little onto the plastic gears beneath. Then I toothpick applied a little Labelle 106 grease to the top of each worm which then spreads over the worm when you first run the motor. Some of the 107 oil should eventually sneak into the square bearing blocks at each end of the worm shaft when the locomotive is run back and forth at full power.
The required “starting voltage” seems quite high when driven in DC mode by my Tech 6 but often these locomotives run better when powered by the DC only MRC 760 so the locomotive will be run in using that powerpack.
Maybe these little switchers are designed to run slowly as that’s how they ran in prototype.
