Well tonite I finally set up the Christmas layout. Its not as complete as previous years, but I can still run some trains. We just got the tree set up last weekend and had limited time this week to put together a layout.
Anyway, I had purchased a Lionel MPC Milwaukee Road set on e-bay to run under the tree this year. It runs great but the madison cars look a little big on a small loop of track under the tree. So just on a lark I took my pre-war Am. Flyer set, headed by a 3113 engine, off the shelf to see how it would run on the layout. I bought this set off e-bay last year. The listing read that it was a restored engine. And from the picture it was obvious that it was a repaint. Of course the listing also said runs good. Well when I recieved the set the only restoration was cosmetic. The wheels were swollen, and the motor ran very rough. I had my local hobby shop rewheel it. It ran somewhat better, but I was still disappointed. Every once in a while I would take it apart and clean it, lube it and see how it ran. At best it was rough. Always jerky, loud and lots of sparks.
A couple weeks ago I was working on it and gave the motor a good soaking in electronics cleaner. Oiled it up and cleaned the rollers etc. It ran a little better but just a small improvement.
OK, so I get the 3113 and 3 passenger cars down from the shelf and take it up to the living room. Didnt expect much but it looked good under the tree. I turned up the juice on the transformer and it took off nice and smooth. It was quiet, ran smoothly, no grinding noises, no sparking(well a little). I love it. All I can figure is the electronics spray really penetrated and cleansed the motor.
A great little bonus for Christmas.
Nice set, and nice story.