I reasently bought a used tenshodo,burlington 982 brass engine at a garagre sale .and when i tryed it i found out that the motor was worn out.if you could give me some information about tenshodo ,are they still around and were could i get a replacement motor ,it would be greatly appreasiated.
Tenshodo was a Japanese manufacturer whose locomotives were imported by Pacific Fast Mail in Washington state. They’ve been out of business for at least ten years, but don’t despair–older brass locomotives can be re-motored with Northwest Short Line can motors quite easily. I’ve remotored many of my older brass locos this way. I’d take the chassis to my local hobby shop, take a look at the replacement motors available. I’d reccommend mounting the motor on the chassis with silicone, running the approproate wires to both the drawbar and then to the frame. This also will isolate the motor in case you are thinking of converting to DCC in the future. Brass mechanisms are rather basic, compared to some of the newer steam locomotives from BLI or Spectrum, so the conversion is quite easy. In fact, it takes the silicone mounting longer to set than it does to make the conversion. Most Tenshodo locomotives were well built and smooth runners. with a new motor, you might have a real prize, there.
Tom [:D]
Tenshodo was, and still is, a jewelry manufacturer and retailer who got into model railroad work when servicemen assigned to Japan after WWII wanted somebody to build hand-crafted brass at American Flyer prices. These days the jewelry side of the business has reasserted itself, but they still do some model business in Japan under the Evergreen Shop banner (not related to Evergreen Scale Models.) They are still advertising in Tetsudo Mokei Shumi, the Japanese version of MR.
I strongly doubt that they have any spare parts left over from the Pacific Fast Mail era. Those PFM locos really were hand-made.
All is not lost, check Northwest Short Line’s website. www.nwsl.com The list lots of driveline parts for older brass stuff. Question is does it have a center mounted motor with shafts going to each truck or a KMT type drive (truck mounted motor with a driveshaft to the front truck)
Not sure, but by his description of a Burlington *682, he may be talking about a Tenshodo steamer, possibly either a 2-8-0 or a 4-6-0. I don’t think Tenshodo built many diesel models.
Tom
Opppps, my bad[:0]
Still have thoughts of repowering a Tenshodo GP9 in my head!