A BIG problem with cruddy pilot truck wheels, is often the crud will act as an insulator and will not complete the circuit on switch tracks (the auto alignment feature), so the switch doesnt throw before the pilot truck is in trouble, and it off course derails. My layout has the switches all tied to one another so a train will circuit all sections of track in both directions automatically. with dirty pilot truck wheels this is disasterous.
I would have to say my most finnicky is the Standard gauge Ives bodied Flyer 1134/4694 steamer. It runs like a wounded buffalo. No matter how many times i clean and service it, it requires a nuclear power plant to move it, and moves at a snails pace fully cranked on an SW. Sometimes it just stops, and won’t run again until it’s ready. Needless to say she spends most of her time lounging on the shelf these days. The smoothest runner is the 1928/29 3254 electric with the revised motor. Probably the smoothest prewar motor. Yes it’s buttery than a 224e. Shame Lionel didn’t incorporate it into their line after they phased out Ives production, sure beats the early 30’s Lionel motors.
I know nothing about the Flyer motor in that ex-IVES engine, but does the SW have the voltage it needs? The engine may be happier on a diet of V or Z. Many prewar–particularly Standard Gauge–engines need MORE POWER (insert Tim the Tool Man Taylor grunts and laugh here).
this one jumps the track and chases the hound
Boy this is an easy one for me, pre and post-1960 styles. While some run better than others all my locomotives with the plastic Scout motors sound like electric pencil sharpeners with a ball point pen jammed in them. But I love them all the same.
My lionel master hudson is having problems. its gotten to the point where it wont chuff while rounding bends. not to mention the startup speed of 60 MPH.
My most finnicky locomotive is my Santa Fe FT from the passenger set released in 2001. For some odd reason, once in a while, the lead truck’s gears slip out of alignment, causing the front wheels to lock up and have the rear ones do all the work. The gears aren’t stripped out - all I have to do is take the truck off the frame and re-align them, and the enigne runs fine. Strange…[:P]
A good Q for shir; Mine would be a tie between the 2332 GG1 which likes to short out on a certain section of track for reasons yet unknown and a Prairie Steamer which runs fine in reverse but sounds like it’s grinding coffee forwards. Every one of my 6 postwar Lionel Steamers has a different running characteristic, and I suspect if I got 6 more they would all be different yet.
Runtime
My most finnicky loco, hands down, is my 8406/783 MPC scale Hudson.
It’s like trying to move a stubborn, oversized, mule. Like it’s PW cousins (773), it is also not the best puller, and it’s top speed is slow.
Still it is a handsome engine, it smokes great including the steamchest, and the MSOS and whistle work well.
IF it only ran better.
Ken
The 773 is geared low and, like many of the prewar locomotives, needs a fairly high voltage transformer, like a Z, to run well.
MY new Lionel CC Niagara stopped chuffing forward. Chuffs great in reverse but when going forward will get one chuff every so often then nothing. Other then that it is a real gem of a piece. Runs great, smokes nice and has a great whistle, different. I guess I got to take it to the LHS. I don’t want to open it up.
laz57
Ok, I’ll confess, I have a bunch of postwar stuff with gunky wheels, which I guess my dad and I never got around to cleaning, because it was more fun spending the time running. So after the screwdriver scraping bit, what else do folks recommend in the way of wheel cleaning (and I’m not talking about axle lubrication)?
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Runtime, there’s several ways to go depending on how bad they are. If there’s no rust (in which case you’d want to remove the trucks and spray them with WD-40 and let that soak on them for a day or two before more cleaning), you can use a Dremel tool with a soft polishing bit, and a polishing metal brush wheel.
If you use the soft polishing wheel, you can use that as a dual purpose to also spin the wheel as you use your other hand to hold a small tissue dampened with 91% isopropyl alchol which will really help clean them up. The metal brush is useful if there’s a good deal of build up on the wheels. Getting the wheels good and clean really helps operation. Not just pulling power of the loco (by having wheels clean and then axles lubed) but also with insulated rail operated accessories.
As far as the thread topic, my most finnicky loco by far was the RMT BEEP which simply did not like 027 switches. Finnicky is actually a polite way to put it. It shorted constantly through the switches. I more than suspect it’s the long pickup arm design of the rollers that is the problem as no other short wheelbase loco I have has given the throuble the BEEP did, I’m very sorry to say. There’s so much to like about the looks of the BEEP and the available road names, but my track is 027 and if a loco won’t run through 027 switches, it’s not much good for me.
Brian, thanks very much for the wheel cleaning advice! I’ll have to get a Dremel tool and try your recommendations.
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