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 Posted - August 01 2019 : 9:39:47 PM
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Those of you who regularly read the "Locomotive of The Week" forum will recognize this Varney F3 as the model I showed off in the LOTW July 28 to August 3, 2019 thread. To recap, I found this model in the "parts-not working-no returns" bin at a Chicago area hobby shop called "America's Best Trains & Hobby". Priced at a very reasonable $9.99 it followed me home...
In this thread I will discuss this piece in a little more detail...
First a little history. The first incarnation of this model was first introduced in the December 1947 issue of Model Railroader magazine. Varney was clearly proud of this new model because they splurged on a two page spread ad on pages 1024-1025...
Note the interesting belt drive system with an adjustable variable speed feature! However the mechanism on my model looks nothing like this.
The locomotive I have is actually the second incarnation of the F3 that was first introduced in the April 1949 issue of Model Railroader. Again with a two page spread on pages 70-71, Varney re-introduced this model with a new "deluxe" drive powered by a "V-4" motor...
 
The May 1949 issue of MR featured an additional ad for this new Varney "deluxe" F3...
Clearly, Varney thought they were onto something trend setting with this new design! If I can get my model running it will be interesting to see if this locomotive lives up to the hype! In my next post I will show you what I found when I disassembled this thing.....
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Edited by - Srenchin on August 01 2019 9:41:12 PM
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Posted - August 01 2019 : 10:02:02 PM
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Awesome restoration project - good luck Srenchin!
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." - Matthew 5:16
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Posted - August 02 2019 : 10:12:20 PM
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Well, regarding my F3 there is some good news and some bad news. First the good news, the disassembly and cleaning process went well. Take a look at what I found under the hood!!!
Check out that huge light bulb and that mass of wire for weight!
On closer inspection the wire that connects the lead truck to the motor was disconnected, the model was labeled as "inoperable", could this be the only reason why this model won't run? I am cautiously optimistic...
But before I try to run power through the motor, I want to clean the mechanism, the fist step is to remove the power truck from the frame. Check out this massive power truck, I have never seen anything like it before...
Next step is to disassemble the power truck and motor to clean the parts. This is what I found when I disassembled the truck...
And this is what I found when I disassembled the motor...
After I cleaned all the parts with electronics cleaner and scrubbed off the little iron filings in the motor, I reassembled the mechanism and put power to it to see if it works.
It didn't. The motor wanted to turn but the mechanism was jammed.
Ok, so I decided to remove the cover plate off the truck to see if the motor would spin at all. I found that if I held the end of the drive shaft down the motor would spin quite well...
This brings me to the bad news, upon closer inspection I noticed that one of the brass bearings that holds the drive shaft in the center of the truck mechanism is missing....
So, until I can find a replacement bearing I guess I am in possession of a static display piece. I checked Ebay and found one intact and operable model like mine selling for $50 bucks. With any luck, a "only for parts" model will show up sometime soon. If anyone out there knows of or finds a suitable parts donor, please PM me.
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Edited by - Srenchin on August 04 2019 11:13:14 PM
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Posted - August 03 2019 : 01:26:20 AM
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Unfortunately this is one of the less common varieties of power truck that came on the Varney F's over the years--out of 5 F's and 4 spare power trucks I have, and the various ones I've seen at shows in the 2 years since I started hunting these, I have yet to actually run into an example with the original V-4 motor like this hung off the end of the truck. I'll keep an eye out for them though. Best of luck finding that bearing, this is a very cool unit that deserves to run again while staying all-original!
--CRC
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Posted - August 03 2019 : 09:10:27 AM
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Great restoration work, Srenchin, and I will certainly keep my eye out.
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." - Matthew 5:16
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Posted - August 03 2019 : 10:02:07 AM
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I did a little research on "HO Seeker" to see if I could find any parts lists for this particular mechanism. While I wasn't able to find exactly what I was looking for, I did discover that Varney used a standard bearing part for several of these applications. What I need is....
The Varney 1012 Power Truck Bearing
A number of Varney mechanisms used this bead shaped brass bearing, that makes the potential parts donor list
for this project much larger including...
V-1 Varney Motor
V-2 Varney Motor
V-3 Varney Motor
Varney F3 Spring Belt Drive mechanisms.
If anyone comes across a dead Varney that may have this part, please let me know.
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Edited by - Srenchin on August 03 2019 10:16:02 AM
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Posted - August 04 2019 : 08:55:30 AM
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If memory serves me right, I think that the old Mantua General used this type of bearing. And maybe
the old MU-1 did too. Might not hurt to check on these. Just checked with HOSeeker. Both the MU-1
and MU-2 used the bead type of bearing. The 1959 version of the General did as well. Hope this
helps you.
Edited by - oldtimer52 on August 04 2019 09:05:09 AM
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Posted - August 04 2019 : 11:57:33 AM
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Very interesting post, but alas I could not read the
text about the bearing as it rolls off the right side
of the screen and there is no way to drag the
screen more to the left to read it.
Sort of like this, if one does not hit the return on the keyboard the text goes over the edge.
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Posted - August 04 2019 : 5:07:28 PM
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I think I have my parts source, I found this wreck on ebay....
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Varney-F-3-Diesel-Locomotive-HO-Die-Cast-Metal-for-Restoration-Vintage/202630228758?hash=item2f2db3eb16:g:DxcAAOSwQVlcaclH
I just used the "Buy it Now" option to get this thing!
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Posted - August 07 2019 : 11:31:11 PM
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Today I received my Varney F3 parts donor unit....
I was concerned at first that I was going to dismantle a perfectly good locomotive,
but as I took this unit apart I quickly discovered that this model was only good for parts.
The following pictures show what I found....
First I removed the shell...
Next, I removed the bottom truck cover plate...
Note that the insulated wheels are falling off the axles.
With the truck side frames removed, I can now get to the bolster screws...
After removing the power truck from the chassis I can now inspect the motor.
As it turns out, the motor armature won't spin freely. This unit never had a chance to
run again.
Now I can disassemble the power truck to extract the bearing...
At this point I finally have access to the power truck's drive shaft...
The crucial bearing has been removed!
Dead motor and wheel sets...
The replacement bearing is installed in my V-4 mechanism....
The old fiber wiring was replaced with a quick disconnect wire threaded
through the light bulb mounting bracket hole. The light bulb had burned out so
I just removed it.
Next step, reassembly of my V-4 F3 and a test run on my layout...
How about that, she runs! Next step, installation of a coupler and cosmetic restoration!
Stay tuned!
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Edited by - Srenchin on August 08 2019 4:05:14 PM
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Posted - August 08 2019 : 10:31:48 AM
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Whoa, you didn't waste any time getting her up to spec.
That transmission is among the most complex I've ever
seen, nice that it runs so smooth and even. This is a
terrific thread, but may I encourage you to hit the
return button more often so that all your text is
visible; I can only read about 2/3 of it as it runs off the
right side of the page.
That looks to be a rather complete and nicely done layout.
Can we get some more photos? How big is it? From the
excellent video it seems mega huge, but I have a feeling
you did a lot in a smaller space. Darn nice work.
Edited by - Chops124 on August 08 2019 10:33:54 AM
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Posted - August 08 2019 : 4:28:32 PM
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quote:Whoa, you didn't waste any time getting her up to spec.
That transmission is among the most complex I've ever
seen, nice that it runs so smooth and even. This is a
terrific thread, but may I encourage you to hit the
return button more often so that all your text is
visible; I can only read about 2/3 of it as it runs off the
right side of the page.
That looks to be a rather complete and nicely done layout.
Can we get some more photos? How big is it? From the
excellent video it seems mega huge, but I have a feeling
you did a lot in a smaller space. Darn nice work.
Originally posted by Chops124Â -Â August 08 2019Â :Â 10:31:48 AM
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Hi Chops,
I will try to remember to hit return when writing text, I just edited
my last post so you can read everything.
As for my layout, it is actually quite small, measuring about 7' 9" long by 5' 0" wide.
It looks bigger than what it actually is because I put a dividing wall right down the center of it
and I built my scenery so that you can never see the whole thing from just one vantage point.
Another thing I did was to build vertically; notice that I have cliffs, tall buildings, and elevated
tracks that make your eyes look up and down as well as side to side. Finally, I always try to
keep my viewing angles as tight as possible when ever I shoot videos or photos on the layout,
paradoxically less is more when taking pictures of model railroads.
PS: I keep meaning to do a thread on my layout but it seems like what ever project
I happen to be working on at any given time always takes up my attention. I hear you
though, a thread on my pike is over due.
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Posted - August 08 2019 : 11:01:09 PM
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Nice work, Srenchin! Can't wait to see this Varney Union Pacific F3 get restored!
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." - Matthew 5:16
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Posted - August 13 2019 : 10:14:34 PM
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I made another quick video featuring my F3 pulling a short train on my layout.
I hope you guys don't think that the music is to "over the top".
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Posted - August 14 2019 : 08:14:20 AM
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Awesome - the music was epic!
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." - Matthew 5:16
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Posted - August 14 2019 : 09:51:25 AM
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Enjoyed the vid, great watching her in and out of
those interchanges, so smooth. Always a delight
to see an early HO piece doing the deal.
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Posted - September 11 2019 : 7:55:46 PM
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Very nice! I believe the V-4 motor drive was designed for Varney by Lindsay, so it's no wonder it runs so well. Those are some rare motors too, so you've got a great find there!
Darth Santa Fe, doing weird and challenging projects for the fun of it!
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