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 Posted - November 07 2010 : 5:10:26 PM
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Just a note, have tried unsuccessfully to upload photos.
Just purchased an unopened Mantua New York Central F7A on ebay. I have collected mainly Tyco and Mantua trains for 37 years. This was a Mantua in a blue box - estimate that it was made in the early 1980's. Must confess that I thought I was buying Mantua's later 8 wheel drive can motor diesel.
The box said "Made in USA". I have about 15 MU-2 locomotives and about 8 of the newer 8 wheel drive can motor engines. All of my MU-2 diesels were Mantua-Tyco pre-1977 made. I had not seen one of the later generation Mantual MU-2 diesels.
I noticed some differences I would consider upgrades. The metal plate of the powered truck has screws already so it can be removed. The four metal wheels that contact the track for pick up are silver, not brass. I removed the plate on the power truck, lubricated properly since this is probably a nearly 30 year old loco. Hopeful, I tested the loco. It ran okay, a little rough at first - then it got better. It was irratic going over switches and would stall. I decided to run it for 20 minutes or so in each direction to break in..... The irratic performance got worse! - Fast!
This was a new problem - usually MU-2's get better the more you run them. Here is what else happened. I removed this loco, and grabbed an old Athern engine and ran it around my layout. My layout has about 25 turn outs, nasty 2 curves and curve radius as sharp as 15"...
The Athern ran fine - so, while it was running, I put my new Mantua F7 on the track. It stalled when it hit the first switch - and I noticed that the Athern engine stalled and I got the overload light on my transformer.
I removed the plate on the power truck, pulled the geared axles out and started looking at the brass cradle where the axles run - it looked black, the axles looked dirty. Some light sandpaper polished the cradle and the axles - some lightweight oil on the axles after polishing - reassembly - and putting the loco back on the track, I was stunned. This thing runs totally perfect. Not even a hint of a stall since - no matter what it encounters. This spot in the electrical path to the motor, apparently, it absolutely critical.
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Posted - November 07 2010 : 6:45:01 PM
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quote:| Just a note, have tried unsuccessfully to upload photos. |
I hear that It may take a few tries to load a photo & to load a photo click on the camera logo in Format its the last pic 
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Country: USA ~
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Member Since: February 23 2009 ~
Last Visit: March 27 2026
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