2 questions - is running in a locomotive neccessary and secondly if you have a shelf layout (which I do) how do you run them in? Presumably a continuous loop makes running in easier?
I model HO and have locos from Athearn, Atlas and Bachmann Spectrum.
TIA
You could make a circle or oval of Bachmann EZ Track. That could be put anywhere, even on the floor!! And it’s portable!![:)]
Hey Crox
2.Shelf layouts are traditonally Point to Point and are geared more on switching rather than continious running, thats not saying a shelf layout (Point to Point) cannot offer many hours of enjoyment during an operating session, again up to you many people in here have shelf layout’s for one or more reason’s and enjoy them.
Mike
It is entirely up to you, Crox. I use mostly steam, and I have found that they do benefit from some break-in time. However, I don’t like to leave my engines unattended for more than a very few seconds, so I just play with them right from the start. I just make a mental note to run them at varying speeds and in both directions. Then, I lubricate them after about an hour or two.
On the other than, there is nothing that I would call wrong with setting up a well-supported and constructed oval of track and just letting an engine move around in each direction for 20-30 minutes, as long as they were safe. I could do other things.
My layout is a few years away from having continous running, the first stage is basically a shelf layout. I’ve been using an oval of 22"R (well, 21.75" or whatever it is) Kato track on the living room floor to break in engines and test decoder installations etc. I like to run a new engine (on DC) for 15 minutes forward at about 2/3rds full power, then 15 minutes in reverse. Eventually I’ll probably put something on a sheet of plywood that I can use, I’m getting a little old to get down on the floor to play with trains - though the dog does have fun with them.
Whether it really makes a difference or not is hard to say. I think it does, so it does for me. Some people say an engine that’s not broken in never runs as good as one that is, some people say it doesn’t really matter. It’s probably not as necessary as it once was; engines now are less likely to have worm gears with big casting flanges on them that need to be worn off and such.
I usually put about four hours of break in time on my new loco’s before they are ready to go into service. I very the speed and run them in both directions. Breaking them in tends to loosen them up a little and you end up with a better running locomotive in the end. 99% of my loco’s were great right out of the box but I have had the odd one that needed to be run in for awhile to make them perform the way they should. Steam especially…
Crox, I’ve been running in steam locos for more than 40 years, usually by turning them upside-down and attaching leads from the power pack. This was suggested in the '50s by several people in MR, including John Page. Even when I had an oval of track, I didn’t like letting a locomotive run around on its own because if something went wrong, I couldn’t get to it in time to prevent a disaster. By running it upside-down, you theoretically put some weight on the mechanism, but make sure everything is lubricated properly with grease and oil. Once the mechanism has been run at half speed for a half-hour in each direction, I’d put it on the layout and see how smoothly it performed. If it started well and ran at low speeds, I’d take off the driver cover plate(s) and clean out the blackened grease (which shows things have worn in a little from the action), and replace it with fresh grease. Oil can be soaked up with the corners of facial tissue and fresh oil applied.
Now that I’m in O scale again (I took a flyer in O back in the early '60s), after 40 years in HO and am living in a tiny poor people’s apartment, I bought a set of “test rollers,” made up a test bed, with tinplate rails for the rollers (the things are made to put on top of the track right on the layout), and can run in a loco with its full weight on the drivers. All this being said, I think Diesels could probably be run in by merely blocking up both ends of the mechanisms, attaching power leads, and running them right on the workbench–or an end table in your living room, if you want. A half-hour at half speed, in each direction, should polish bearings and gears for better operation, but by all means, clean out the old lubricants afterward and replace them with fresh. Even Diesel mechanisms probably need a little wearing to mate the parts, but if they start smoothly and will operate at slow speeds right out of the box, I see no reaso