I will be picking up a really nice old Hallmark 2-8-0 steam engine this week, I got it for next to nothing for one reason, one pair of drive wheels have pot metal disease and are bad, its on the geared set and has jammed the gear box from the swelling diecast centers. I know there are sources if one can pull and requarter them, which I can. Once I get it home this week, I will get axle dia and driver dia. Does anybody have a good idea for new drivers? Bowser maybe. I will do more research once I get the engine home, for the price it can sit on the shelf and look nice. Mike
Here is a pic of a duplicate model I found on the net, this might give someone an idea of what I am needing. Mike
Trying to replace just one driver may be next to impossible. Not only does the size need to be the same, but the distance between the axle and crank pin need to match. The later can vary quite a bit, even on the same size drivers. You should figure on replacing all four driver sets.
http://greenwaybrass.com/s_87_drivers.shtml
Greenway products has a large assortment of HO drivers. I believe they are left overs from imported brass steam. I used a set of their 64" drivers on an engine of mine and they are good quality parts. One problem with the Green way drivers is the thread size of the crank pins. Newer brass use a small 1.4 MM thread where as older brass like yout 2-8-0 tend to have a larger standard thread. (the exact size slips my mind at the moment). You can simply redrill and tap the new drivers to your thread size if needed.
Bowser drivers may also be a possibility, but Bowser uses a different thread all together.
John
Thanks for the link, I may just send the engine to my buddy Dave out at Kelley Creek Backshop and have him redriver it, regear and put a can motor in it. Other than no box, the model is perfect. Strange how only one driver set has the issue, not supprised being an early Korean import. According to the Brass Guide, model was imported in 1976. I only gave $25 for it, so I have room to invest some $$ into getting her running again. Thanks Mike
I love reworking old brass steam. I would have picked that up in a heart beat for 25$. Good luck with it.
John.
That engine looks like the spitting image of the Spectrum 2-8-0. I wonder what the possibilities of repowering it with a spectrum drive would be. It would probably be cheaper in the long run as well.
That spectrum drive is junk in my opinion. Seen way to many with split cogged gears for the funky belt drive. And I fear an issue with getting parts for it in the future, Bachmann isnt the best on replacement parts. I am betting Dave can redriver the engine and stick me a small can motor and gear box in it. Then she will run as good as she looks.
climaxpwr:
Definitely try Greenaway for the driver set. Can the gear on the present wheelset be removed? If not, you may have to go to NWSL for an entirely new gearbox assembly.
I’d stay away from replacing the driver with a Spectrum set–those drivers pick up current from both rails, and as you already know, brass locos pick up from one rail with the other side insulated–you’d end up with ‘shorts’ all over the place.
Good luck. Keep us informed on the progress, okay? I somehow don’t think you’re going to be either the first or the last person to run into this problem with old pot-metal brass drivers.
Tom [:)]
I plan on a new gear box anyway, the drive is just a tyco/mantua open frame motor with a worm on the motor shaft and a worm wheel on the axle. Very rudimentary drive that is far from smooth and quiet. It would be nice to not have to replace all the drivers, but I am gussing it will have to be done, thats gonna be fun, they are all sprung with bronze axle bearings ect. Cheers Mike
The Greenway drivers should have the same axle diameter as your old ones. It will just be a simple matter of putting the old bearings on the new drivers and re-quartering them.
John.
Here’s my opininion and I have been down this road and it sucks. If your engine is an import then your axle diameter will probably be 3mm. If you buy wheels from Bowser they use 1/8" stock for the axles meaning that if you plan to reuse your gear box, it won’t work. Even if you buy all new drivers from Greenway (which are expensive - $18.00 for one) there is no guarantee that they won’t bind because once you put the rods back on, there may be a very slight tolerance differance wich can cause the drivers to bind. I have two engines that I have tried to save because of messed up drivers and have been unsuccessful in both attempts. If you figure it out let me know. About the only way I can think of to salvage this engine is to find a new frame with drivers and rods.
Chris
The engine is obviously the one that the Spectrum model is based on. It’s an Illinios Central 2-8-0. The Spectrum model is the same engine, but as delivered to the IC from Baldwin. The IC put that funky square sandbox on top in their Paducah shops.
Well, there is no gear box, if you read my post you would have seen where I said it has a mantua cheapo style motor with a worm on the motor shaft and a single gear on the axle. I plany from the begining to regear it with a NWSL reduction gear box and small can motor. I have another Dong Jin model that I think shares the same drivers, its missing its tender and the porpotions are really odd with a huge gap between the trailing truck and the firebox, so it looks odd. I may try to salvage a driver set from that engine and fix the 2-8-0. I will pick up the actual model this friday, then I can see what has to be done. Mike
IS it rwally that cute and chubby? It almost looks like a disney steamer with the boiler and short tender. Baby fat comes to mind. Cute though
Flash:
‘Cute’ and ‘Chubby’ kind of sums up most classes of ATSF 2-8-0’s, LOL! Actually, the biggest selling HO brass import during the '50’s through the '70’s was the PFM 1950 series of ATSF 2-8-0’s. I think something a little over 8000 of these little puppies ended up on model railroads everywhere, which is probably about 7900 more than Baldwin ever produced for the prototype.
I’ve got one from 1962 or so, and it’s still wobbling smoothly around my layout, pulling almost anything you want to put behind it, charming the heck out of anyone watching it.
I’m just hoping that I don’t have to eventually replace MY drivers! [:O]
Tom [:)]
I wouldnt think so on a PFM, they seem to us a high quality diecast center. This little thing is an early Korean import, so it has the usual issues accociated with an early import from a company learning how to build them. The later Dong Jin imports are very highly spoke of. Looks like they went to a coined brass center after a couple years of this junk. I picked it up today and all of the drivers have issue, most of the crank pin bosses in the drivers are cracked, 1 of the driver sets are shorted out. I have a call into Dave Long out at Kelly Creek Bachshop to see what he can do with it. I still lack a few certain tools from NWSL that I would need to fix this one. Its not a sprung chassis, but does have bronze bearings on each axle, so as long as the new axle matched in diameter, we would be ok. The detail, even on this early Korean import is very good and the soldering, unlike many is really decent and nothing is falling off the model. With a fresh set of drive wheels and a better gearbox/can motor, it should make a very nice model to run. Probably wont get fixed right away, but soon. I can use the tender behind my Frisco 2-8-2 that I also got very cheap. I was able to fix it, its painted decently and runs good now that I put a Sagami motor in it. Its made by the same builder/importer (Hallmark/Dong Jin) but has a sprung chassis and idler gear box. Cheers Mike