I have seen only a few expensive test stands on which to lube/clean/adjust loco’s on. I am hoping you can post a few pics of nice homebuilt stands that you use for your fleet, and mainly what kind of rollers are used to keep the engine stationary while turning the wheels.
I have a few old Rivarossi’s from my youth I’d like to (try) and resurrect.
All I’ve done is get some nice thick pieces of foam & use them to keep the loco from falling over when doing maintenance on them.
Gordon
I was wanting a rack that I can power up the engine, vary the speed, and observe its’ operation.
Hi,
I just used my test track yesterday and it does the job just fine…
Get a 3’ foot 1x4, sand it and paint it. Lay your roadbed on one side. I am doing HO and the roadbed is cork.
Lay track (I use code 100 flextrack) with an Atlas bumper on each end. Install two bolts on one end of the board, facing up with two nuts on each. Wire one to one rail and the other to the other rail. This is your hook up to your powerpack. I picked up a basic MRC for this purpose.
Get a Kadee couple height gauge and attach on one end. Remember that you need to remove this BEFORE you turn on the juice as it will short.
Ok, this is all fine for testing, but what made the most improvement was the Aristocraft rollers I picked up from Polk Hobbies. They are not cheap ($55?), but they are high quality and should last for a long, long time.
These just set on your test track, and then you set your loco frame on them. This allows you to troubleshoot motors/gears in place, and/or to break in new locomotives much more easily. Note that I thought about those rollers for some time before I bought them, and now realize they were one of my best MR buys I have made.
Mobilman44