Comments on: Model Railroaders Need Advice From Others In The Hobby

By: Larry

Larry — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 02:00:15 +0000

An additional note, you didn’t say what scale Marklin locomotive you have. If it’s a Z scale loco, ten volts DC maximum! Anything more you risk burning the motor out.

By: Larry

Larry — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 19:16:10 +0000

Agree with what Tony says, in addition Marklin uses a strange type of grease that turns to stone, especially on their Z scale locos. Clean well with alcohol to dissolve the old grease and apply fresh light oil, sewing machine oil works well. Be careful not to over-lubricate.
Old motors will work just fine as long as they are not gummed up with old grease.

By: Tony P

Tony P — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:59:27 +0000

Hi Zachary and Derik, Sounds like you 2 have a similar problem. Zachary, motors that have not been used for a long time should work, they may need a little cleaning and if they are in a loco, you may have to oil the gears and try to manually turn the gears and give them a little push and run them for a while. Derik do the same, clean the motor and lube or oil the gears and manually rotate them to get them started, or your motor may need to be replaced if it is shorting out. If you have any experience in any kind of electric motors you can remove them and clean the armature and replace the brushes, but do this with some one who has done this before, it can be tedious and frustrating especially on the smaller scales of model RR. Oh by the way it should be 12 volts. The clicking sound could be it is shorting out or it needs a push or what I said before, clean it and or replace the brushes. To get more details and pictures on how to do all of this and more, you may want to invest in Roberts book. Tony P