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 Posted - April 06 2007 : 7:00:35 PM
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This is why TYCO can be hated so much by us all AND ONE REASON THEY GOT SUCH A BAD WRAP-power torque failure-snapped this picture while test running loco and motor fried in it-notice the white smoke=TYCO OZONE 
Edited by - Brianstyco on April 06 2007 7:01:20 PM
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Posted - April 06 2007 : 7:44:06 PM
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| Ouch, hope the shell is ok, looks so nice I'd like to buy it. Hint, hint.
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Posted - April 07 2007 : 7:08:06 PM
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Brian,
If you tear it down does the armature surface look as if it has brush sized spots and as if it has a more copper look to it. I've noticed this on one or two of mine, like the regular surface has vaporized or something. I have cleaned these and put them back together but they haven't run well. Don't give up!
Sorry Bud!
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obtrey
Little Six
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Posted - April 07 2007 : 11:55:06 PM
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Excuse me sir! This is a non smoking layout, you will either have to put that out or play elsewhere.
In Malfunction Junction:
When all else fails get a bigger hammer.
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Posted - July 30 2007 : 11:27:20 AM
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I just got a GP20 that did that and it continued for 2-3 seconds and seemed to run OK afterwards. Yours was probably nib but would it run after it quit somking?
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Posted - July 30 2007 : 1:03:33 PM
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| A rather dramatic shot there, Brian, and such an otherwise pristine loco too.
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Posted - July 30 2007 : 2:08:12 PM
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that's not smoke! You have visitors from the other world on your layout and it's not even halloween yet.
/lame attempt to be funny and all the "ghost" pictures of vortexes and swirls and haze that's on the internet that look JUST like this picture!
Cool shot!
~anna
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Posted - November 04 2007 : 08:50:13 AM
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It's just doing what all good ALCO's should do....throw up alot of smoke!
;)
Actually....did the engine run afterwards or did it just die? Oil in the contacts maybe? In any rate...hope you get the Silver Streak running....it looks sharp!
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Posted - February 26 2008 : 01:16:33 AM
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thatmustbe the
samereasonwhy mine dont work
_____________________________________________________
WAFFLES!
What to do with a balloon, a needle, and ketchup: get ketchup all over yourself, pop the balloon, then yell "i've been shot!"
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Posted - February 26 2008 : 01:17:34 AM
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thats probably whymine dontwork
What to do with a balloon, a needle, and ketchup: get ketchup all over yourself, pop the balloon, then yell "i've been shot!"
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Posted - February 26 2008 : 02:15:48 AM
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Your Alco smokes better than my Chattanooga! [:D]
Ah, the smell of frying insulation and the fiberglass pc board they printed the commutator on. Mmmmm....... [^]
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Posted - February 26 2008 : 04:26:24 AM
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| NickelPlate--Only a Tyco can do this. Can't believe it smokes better than your Chattanooga. This Silver Streak has been repowered with a Mantua MU motor. TycoGuy--This is what happens to poorly maintained loco's and sometimes new ones out of the box did this. It is a crapshoot with Tyco Powertorques.
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Posted - February 26 2008 : 10:35:55 PM
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quote:NickelPlate--Only a Tyco can do this. Can't believe it smokes better than your Chattanooga. This Silver Streak has been repowered with a Mantua MU motor. TycoGuy--This is what happens to poorly maintained loco's and sometimes new ones out of the box did this. It is a crapshoot with Tyco Powertorques.
Originally posted by Brianstyco - February 26 2008 : 08:26:24 AM
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ok, thanks. but what do i do? [?] thamks [B)]
What to do with a balloon, a needle, and ketchup: get ketchup all over yourself, pop the balloon, then yell "i've been shot!"
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 Posted - February 27 2008 : 12:23:58 AM
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quote:quote:NickelPlate--Only a Tyco can do this. Can't believe it smokes better than your Chattanooga. This Silver Streak has been repowered with a Mantua MU motor. TycoGuy--This is what happens to poorly maintained loco's and sometimes new ones out of the box did this. It is a crapshoot with Tyco Powertorques.
Originally posted by Brianstyco - February 26 2008 : 08:26:24 AM
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ok, thanks. but what do i do? [?] thamks [B)]
Originally posted by thetycoguy - February 27 2008 : 02:35:55 AM
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Don't run them in a no smoking section! [:D]
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Posted - February 27 2008 : 11:34:33 PM
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quote:quote:quote:NickelPlate--Only a Tyco can do this. Can't believe it smokes better than your Chattanooga. This Silver Streak has been repowered with a Mantua MU motor. TycoGuy--This is what happens to poorly maintained loco's and sometimes new ones out of the box did this. It is a crapshoot with Tyco Powertorques.
Originally posted by Brianstyco - February 26 2008 : 08:26:24 AM
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ok, thanks. but what do i do? [?] thamks [B)]
Originally posted by thetycoguy - February 27 2008 : 02:35:55 AM
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Don't run them in a no smoking section! [:D]
Originally posted by NickelPlate759Â -Â February 27 2008Â :Â 04:23:58 AM
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well really, it dont run at all!
What to do with a balloon, a needle, and ketchup: get ketchup all over yourself, pop the balloon, then yell "i've been shot!"
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Posted - February 27 2008 : 11:58:39 PM
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quote:well really, it dont run at all!
Originally posted by thetycoguy - February 28 2008 : 03:34:33 AM
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Buy a junker loco on eBay to replace yours if it's burned out. Have you cleaned the brushes and commutator?
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Posted - February 28 2008 : 10:00:03 AM
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I haven't run enough early Power Torques like what was in the early 70s Mantua Tycos to know but do you think that those early PTs were more dependable than those put in later Tycos like the Alco, GP20, and SD24 etc? Were they or are they more stout?
Also most of us have operated PT Tycos that were used and abused by improper break-ins, done by us as kids or kids like we were, or maybe NOS that had been in the box for how long? How many of us have actually had new Tycos, as in just manufactured and properly broken-in , that have taken up smoking and failed? I'm thinking that if we had they might be more dependable.
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Posted - February 28 2008 : 1:03:15 PM
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quote:I haven't run enough early Power Torques like what was in the early 70s Mantua Tycos to know but do you think that those early PTs were more dependable than those put in later Tycos like the Alco, GP20, and SD24 etc? Were they or are they more stout?
Also most of us have operated PT Tycos that were used and abused by improper break-ins, done by us as kids or kids like we were, or maybe NOS that had been in the box for how long? How many of us have actually had new Tycos, as in just manufactured and properly broken-in , that have taken up smoking and failed? I'm thinking that if we had they might be more dependable.
Originally posted by Alco Fan - February 28 2008 : 09:00:03 AM
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This is a good point.
I have come across a few PT locos that looked like they have never been on the rails. After a quick lube they ran great.
All it takes is a little carpet fuzz to put enough drag on the motor to overheat it.
As for smoking armatures, most likely caused by the armature being locked up at one point and power applied, the result, burned insulation and shorting of the armature windings. frying the commutator or overheating the brush springs which makes them loose tension.
Weak brush springs and/or over oiling will cause arcing from the brush to the commutator toasting the commutator in a hurry.
We should also realize they were only designed to pull the cars that come with the set. 2 or 3 extra cars will cause the armature to start overheating slightly, burning off the oil in the bearings, which causes friction that generates more heat.
Once the armature shaft starts to heat up, the heat is transfered to the pinion gear which being a different material that expands faster than the steel shaft starts to slip on the shaft. Once it starts slipping it wears to the point it will not stay on the shaft.
So it is possible that with proper care the PT would be a good drive, but the slightest abuse or neglect will send them spiraling downward.
Ray
Edited by - Ray Marinaccio on February 28 2008 1:09:28 PM
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Posted - February 28 2008 : 1:45:31 PM
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Hey Ray:
Good point, however by definition you've identified that these are weak or poor units. If your typical Tyco Alco C-430 can only pull a few cars without overheating or dramtically impacting it's longevity then it has a low capacity and by definition that means poor. They were what they were. Do many of us have nostalia for them sure. I liked the original Batman series but you couldn't bribe me to watch it now or "I Dream of Jeanie" reruns.
Take a 1975/6 Atlas/Roco SD24 and compare it with an actual Tyco SD24 (not the Atlas rebranded one). They just don't compare.
My problem with many of the Tyco's is that whle they do fair turns as representers of a given EMD F7/9 or Alco C-630 they are lousy engineering in the sense that they were the lowest common denominator. My first locomotive was the ubiquitous Tyco Santa Fe Switcher. Do I have nostalgia for it sure, hey ALL WHEEL Drive!!![:D] OK, so it was only a 4 wheeler.
I consider however an overindulgence in nostalgia to be unhealthy. If you're colecting history great, I am. I think a 1950 Varney Super Pacific with a sprung frame and a 7-pole skewed armature motor with ball bearings is very cool. Not because of nostalgia but rather as a benchmark of a kind. Hope that makes sense. I like the Tyco's I have but they will always be a limited piece of my collection for the reasons above.
Hope I haven't upset anyone with this opinion. It's just mine.
-Gareth
Edited by - romcat on February 28 2008 1:55:23 PM
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Posted - February 28 2008 : 5:54:14 PM
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I think it all depends how you look at Tyco engines and what you're comparing them too. All of the above points are true because even though they are different, you are looking at them differently. I think the best way to judge a Tyco loco is to look at what it was designed for, and the time period it was made.
When Tyco designed the PT motor, their goal was probably to make a lightweight, simple and cheap to build motor. They sold alot of R-T-R train sets, dressed in fictional and colourful paint schemes. Because of all this, most, if not all of their products were probably aimed towards beginners (most of which were kids). Now I seem to remember a topic a while back where people were sharing their stories of how they used to abuse their toy trains... Making expensive toy trains and then selling them to kids would not have been smart (especially in the 70's when everyone had access to fireworks).
I agree that Tyco could have made their motors a little more durable, but maybe if they had been broken in and taken care of properly, there would not be so many broken ones today.
-cheez
Edited by - DaCheez on February 28 2008 5:55:30 PM
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Posted - February 28 2008 : 9:40:44 PM
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The Mantua made stuff was basic, but it was always solid. The problems for Tyco began around 1975, when Consolidated Foods bought them out. The first cost saving measure I noticed was a Roco plastic version of the MU-2 truck that was in an F7 I was given for my 12th birthday. The truck ran OK, but IIRC it was weaker than the original Mantua product. Then came the Powertorques, which were much farther down on the quality scale.
The Powertorques still stand as a low-water mark in toy train design. They took the pancake armatures Aurora had been using for years in their slot cars, and decided to put them in an HO power truck with exposed, wafer-thin gearing that ate hair and carpet fibers for breakfast. If the gearing didn't strip, then the pinion (what is that thing made out of anyway? Zamac? Aluminum?) loosened up on the motor shaft, or the puny bearings had every drop of oil cooked out of them, and wouldn't absorb any new oil that was applied. That ended up on the commutator.
I got a Chattanooga in '75, and it ran great for maybe a year, but once it started to go you couldn't catch the parts. What's strange is that if Tyco had simply beefed up the pinion and large gear like Bachmann's design they would have lasted, but they never did. I do have a later version with the permanently attached brush retainers that has a brass pinion, which is the only evidence I've seen of them trying to address that issue. And they did add bearing packing in one version to keep the bearings from drying out, but for the most part they just cheapened everything, stripping the Chattanooga down into an 0-8-0 with no valve gear and a plastic boiler weight.
The final nail in the coffin for me with Tyco came the next year when I bought a Pacific to replace the Chattanooga. It had such bad driver slop that it couldn't get a grip on the rails, and pulled next to nothing. I tried everything I could to tighten up the axle bearings, but nothing really worked. I didn't know at the time that Tyco (or Consolidated Foods) had eliminated Mantua's brass axle bearings to save pennies per engine, which rendered it completely useless. Not knowing this, I assumed Mantua was crap as well.
I think when we discuss Tyco here, we have to divide them into the Consolidated Foods and pre-CF eras.
The Tyco Depot
Edited by - NickelPlate759 on February 29 2008 02:20:42 AM
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Posted - February 29 2008 : 12:54:20 AM
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quote:quote:well really, it dont run at all!
Originally posted by thetycoguy - February 28 2008 : 03:34:33 AM
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Buy a junker loco on eBay to replace yours if it's burned out. Have you cleaned the brushes and commutator?
Originally posted by NickelPlate759Â -Â February 28 2008Â :Â 03:58:39 AM
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i dont know how to do that 
What to do with a balloon, a needle, and ketchup: get ketchup all over yourself, pop the balloon, then yell "i've been shot!"
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Posted - February 29 2008 : 01:29:43 AM
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Hey Cheez:
Unfortunately the point you're making is that they were succesful marketers Tyco not engineers. But as a device, well if it was a computer or car you'd want your money back.
As to NP759, well a chronological seperation based on Tyler family and post Tyler family I think has merit just as with Lionel and the `72+ period.
-Gareth
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Posted - February 29 2008 : 1:54:53 PM
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quote:Hey Cheez:
Unfortunately the point you're making is that they were successful marketers Tyco not engineers. But as a device, well if it was a computer or car you'd want your money back.
As to NP759, well a chronological separation based on Tyler family and post Tyler family I think has merit just as with Lionel and the `72+ period.
-Gareth
Originally posted by romcat - February 29 2008 : 12:29:43 AM
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What happened with Tyco and Lionel is a good comparison.
Once bought out the lines were redesigned to preform a specific task (a train running around the Christmas tree) at the least cost to the manufacturer.
To compare a PT loco with an Atlas loco is like comparing apples to oranges.
The Atlas loco was designed to preform a different task.(a model railroad locomotive)
Ray
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Posted - February 29 2008 : 4:15:17 PM
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Gareth: I agree with you on that. Since they were marketing "toy" trains to kids, they had to find a balance between price and quality: if the price was too high kids couldn't afford it and parents wouldn't buy it for their kids, but if the quality was too low no one would want to buy it. Tyco was very close to getting this balance. If you think about it, Tyco motors ran fine. Their only problem was that they often had a very-short life span, and this was partially due to improper maintenance. I have about 15 Tyco engines with PT motors, and I've only ever had one die on me (and it was mostly my fault that it died).
-cheez
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Posted - February 29 2008 : 4:53:04 PM
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Cheez:
You're not a kid anymore, you're a hobbyist and so what for you seems normal maintenance is not for a child who as you said was the target audience.
They were the lowest common denominator that could be gotten away with. They were fun, but this is where comparing them to a same era Atlas is fair, precisely because it was the same era. It's not apples and oranges as Ray suggested, rather a really delicious orange and an edible one.
Doesn't make them less collectible. Are you old enough to remember "pet rocks"? Collecting flawed things is often popular, hell I bet there are Yugo car collectors out there!?
But I think you get my point.
-Gareth
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Posted - February 29 2008 : 5:50:16 PM
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quote:
What happened with Tyco and Lionel is a good comparison.
Once bought out the lines were redesigned to preform a specific task (a train running around the Christmas tree) at the least cost to the manufacturer.
To compare a PT loco with an Atlas loco is like comparing apples to oranges.
The Atlas loco was designed to preform a different task.(a model railroad locomotive)Originally posted by Ray Marinaccio - February 29 2008 : 5:54:53 PM
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However, this description is in my Chattanooga instructions:
"Tyco's exclusive 'PowerTorque' Drive now combines unprecedented power and traction with the smoothest starts and stops ever! 'PowerTorque' has more pulling power, climbs and descends grades easier, and helps keep your cars on the tracks better (huh!?)---AND---it uses 20% less current than conventional motors."
[:O] 
This paragraph of unbelievable marketing BS makes it sound like they had developed a better drive than Atlas, and it certainly doesn't make it out to be a cheap toy train drive requiring kid glove treatment. Besides, a toy drive should be more rugged, not less, but in the 70's most toys weren't as sturdy as they are today.
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Posted - February 29 2008 : 6:02:45 PM
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| Everyone has made some excellent points here--spirited yet respectful! It makes for good reading! My childhood Tycos were red-box, so they ran somewhat better and were more realistic. I also had parents that required me to disassemble everything and put it away in the train set box when I was done playing with it (I still have that box!). Even so, when I became a "serious" modeler at about age 11, I went to Athearns. As a 40-something adult, I really do enjoy the nostalgia of the Tycos, the excitement of collecting, and the challenge of having them operate as well as possible----and, by the way, if you are using nickel track, modern transformers, and powered frogs, your Tycos are probably running BETTER than new! I only own one PT (a 630), but it runs well, and is fun to watch. It works fine on my "Tyco-friendly" layout, but I wouldn't depend on it for realistic operation on a major pike. ---by the way, someone mentioned a Tyco Pacific with no axle bearings---I always wondered if my 70's Chessie Pacific came that way, or if it was a mistake--the axles ride right in the square channel of the cast frame! Can bearings be put in? Or are the axles larger/or channel too small?
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Posted - February 29 2008 : 6:31:00 PM
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quote:---by the way, someone mentioned a Tyco Pacific with no axle bearings---I always wondered if my 70's Chessie Pacific came that way, or if it was a mistake--the axles ride right in the square channel of the cast frame! Can bearings be put in? Or are the axles larger/or channel too small?
Originally posted by Adams - February 29 2008 : 10:02:45 PM
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Yep, that's it. Mantua's brass axle bearing are little U-shaped channels that fit into slots in the frame, but those slots have to be wider and deeper than the space provided for the axles, so unless you know how to machine it, I'd buy a new frame from Yardbird Trains: http://www.yardbirdtrains.com/YBSMparts.htm
There's no reason that the loco couldn't have worked without the bearings, but Tyco didn't get the tolerance right. The plating wore off my drivers pretty quickly from all the lurching and slipping, and the motor would often stall at startup from the binding no matter haw I tuned it up.
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Posted - February 29 2008 : 6:46:42 PM
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quote:quote:
Have you cleaned the brushes and commutator?
Originally posted by NickelPlate759 - February 28 2008 : 03:58:39 AM
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i dont know how to do that
Originally posted by thetycoguy - February 29 2008 : 04:54:20 AM
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Isn't there a Powertoque clinc somewhere on this forum? Doesn't Ray have one? Ray has a how-to for everything. [:D]
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Posted - February 29 2008 : 7:55:34 PM
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quote:
Isn't there a Power toque clinc somewhere on this forum? Doesn't Ray have one? Ray has a how-to for everything. [:D]
Originally posted by NickelPlate759Â -Â February 29 2008Â :Â 5:46:42 PM
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I haven't done that one yet.[:D] I thought there was a thread where we discussed how and posted some photos.
I was planning to write one but got onto other things.
It would be nice to have a few how-to threads on servicing the different Tyco locomotives on this forum and the Tyco collector site.
Ray
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Posted - February 29 2008 : 9:11:30 PM
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"I haven't done that one yet."
Sounds like we have a volunteer!!
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Posted - February 29 2008 : 9:23:06 PM
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quote:"I haven't done that one yet."
Sounds like we have a volunteer!!
Originally posted by Hypoponera - February 29 2008 : 8:11:30 PM
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[Oops!]
Ray
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Posted - February 29 2008 : 9:49:20 PM
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Are the 630 Alcos more dependable? I'm thinking yes.
Alco Fan
Edited by - Alco Fan on February 29 2008 9:50:13 PM
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Posted - February 29 2008 : 11:27:14 PM
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| AF, are you talking about the PT motors in the 630's as opposed to the PT's in other locos? I think they were all the same. However, I think the 630's seem to perform better partly because they have two extra wheels helping to pick up current (and provide extra traction). A trick that I once used on a PT Shark was to simply drop an extra axle in the middle section of each truck--they'll drop right in, because the only difference is in the look of a 2 or 3 axle sideframe. So you basically end up with 3-axle trucks disguised by a 2-axle sideframe!
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Posted - February 29 2008 : 11:50:51 PM
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quote:Cheez:
You're not a kid anymore, you're a hobbyist and so what for you seems normal maintenance is not for a child who as you said was the target audience.
They were the lowest common denominator that could be gotten away with. They were fun, but this is where comparing them to a same era Atlas is fair, precisely because it was the same era. It's not apples and oranges as Ray suggested, rather a really delicious orange and an edible one.
Doesn't make them less collectible. Are you old enough to remember "pet rocks"? Collecting flawed things is often popular, hell I bet there are Yugo car collectors out there!?
But I think you get my point.
-Gareth |
Nope, not quite old enough to remember pet rocks. The things I remember are Crazybones, Pogs and FURBEES[:D]. OMG...I remember when McDonalds had plastic furbees in their happy meals.[:p]
Hmmm...you're right about that. It's like Tyco made engines that were appealing to kids, but needed someone with experience to keep them going. Although, the basic oilings that Tyco recomended in the diagram they included were fairly simple, and based on pictures I've seen of these sheets, they looked very similar to the diagram that came with my first train set. It still runs fine, but it was better made.
So it looks like were right back to where we started...the PT was just too cheaply made. But like Adams said, the challenge of keeping Tyco's running well is fun.[:)]
-cheez
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 Posted - March 01 2008 : 12:40:27 AM
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Fun? Tell that to the Rock Island C430 I set sailing in the wind off my back porch!
Carl T.
President of the Cape James Terminal RR.
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Posted - March 01 2008 : 12:46:00 AM
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Do they fly any better than they run? [:D]
If there's anything left of it, I there might be some parts I could use for a repair.
The Tyco Depot
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Posted - March 01 2008 : 12:48:54 AM
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NP759,
PM me and let me know what you're looking for,and I'll see if I have it.
Carl T.
President of the Cape James Terminal RR.
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Posted - March 01 2008 : 08:32:55 AM
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Has anyone had a 630 Alco go POOF? I have a Golden Eagle and a SF that I run alot, one for over a year and it is a super performer, the one in the avatar, and the GE is stout also. Maybe the extra axle allows for more consistent power pick-up and is better for the PT electrically, and makes it last longer, than spotty pick-up of power with 2 axles. Adams, good idea about adding the extra axle.
Alco Fan
Edited by - Alco Fan on March 01 2008 08:36:48 AM
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Posted - March 06 2008 : 8:31:14 PM
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quote:Has anyone had a 630 Alco go POOF? I have a Golden Eagle and a SF that I run alot, one for over a year and it is a super performer, the one in the avatar, and the GE is stout also. Maybe the extra axle allows for more consistent power pick-up and is better for the PT electrically, and makes it last longer, than spotty pick-up of power with 2 axles. Adams, good idea about adding the extra axle.
Originally posted by Alco Fan - March 01 2008 : 12:32:55 PM
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Any Powertorque armature is at risk of burning out, no matter how many wheels are picking up power. I've only had a few, but I never had one burn - I had bearing and gear problems. My guess is that those that do burn have poor insulation on the windings, or the commutator printing burns thru.
The Tyco Depot
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Posted - March 06 2008 : 8:31:44 PM
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quote:NP759,
PM me and let me know what you're looking for,and I'll see if I have it.
Carl T.
Originally posted by choochin3 - March 01 2008 : 04:48:54 AM
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Carl, check your PM's.
The Tyco Depot
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Posted - March 07 2008 : 8:02:30 PM
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quote:| "Any Powertorque armature is at risk of burning out, no matter how many wheels are picking up power. I've only had a few, but I never had one burn - I had bearing and gear problems. My guess is that those that do burn have poor insulation on the windings, or the commutator printing burns thru." Originally posted by NickelPlate759 |
NP759,
Based on my experience the big Alcos perform better than 4 axled versions and there is some reason for this. They run more smoothly at slower speeds and get better traction. Some guys add extra axles to their 430s to improve it's performance.
Alco Fan
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Posted - March 08 2008 : 12:04:37 AM
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Hey AF:
Ray, Hypo... and I were just talking about the Machiavalian 12 wheel Tyco C-430/GP20! -Insert sinister laugh.....[:x] [:x] [:x] [:x] [:x]
-Gareth
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Posted - March 08 2008 : 02:20:37 AM
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quote:NP759,
Based on my experience the big Alcos perform better than 4 axled versions and there is some reason for this. They run more smoothly at slower speeds and get better traction. Some guys add extra axles to their 430s to improve it's performance.Originally posted by Alco Fan - March 08 2008 : 12:02:30 AM
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The extra pickup can''t hurt, in fact I put extra wheels in an old PT Shark that I also double-motored years ago. Eventually it succumbed to bearing an gear issues tho, and I threw it in the trash. [:o]
The Tyco Depot
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Posted - March 08 2008 : 03:06:01 AM
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Hey NP;
Did you add the wheels before, after or concommitantly with the dual motors? What were the results like in terms of run quality and pulling power?
-Gareth
Edited by - romcat on March 08 2008 03:06:40 AM
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Posted - March 08 2008 : 07:57:12 AM
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Gareth,
IIRC I gave it six axles before I added the 2nd power truck, but we're going back over 25 years. In my experience two PT trucks are bad news, because one is always faster and they fight each other. I think that's why the pinions ultimately gave out. In the beginning one truck was definitely a bit faster, so I slowed it down with two diodes in parallel, which worked fine until the fast truck started to slow down.
Speed variations are inevitable because the bearings are too small to hold much oil, and the commutator is too close so it ends up slinging onto the brushes. That will slow down any motor, but it's especially bad with NoTorques. I cleaned the brushes and commutator countless times, but it was inevitable that it would happen again no matter how sparingly I oiled them, and it was critical because they needed to be in sync. When the pinions gave out I stripped it for parts and tossed it.
Edit: I forgot to add that it pulled like a freaking beast, so I may have overloaded it as well, but the pinions started going when the trucks began fighting against each other.
The Tyco Depot
Edited by - NickelPlate759 on March 08 2008 08:02:34 AM
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Posted - March 08 2008 : 11:45:46 PM
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Gareth,
I believe that Model Railroader did a kitbash more than 10 years ago to a GP30 that became a SD30 with the addition of 3 axle trucks.
Alco Fan
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