Comments on: Diesel Locomotive Maintenance

By: Mike Lee

Mike Lee — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 06:59:37 +0000

All comments excellent. I would add if you have done all of the above and you motor draws a lot of current compared to your other engine motors then have the motor re-magnetized. This really brings them back to life. The running current can drop to 20% of not magnetized motor. If you can find a Slot Car Shop where they race that shop will have a small motor magnetizer.

By: Colin

Colin — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 01:49:38 +0000

Obvious one I know but keep your work area completely clean. I once was fitting led’s to an old Class 37 I had freshly converted to DCC and the magnetised wheels had unknown to me, picked up one of the legs I’d snipped off earlier to shorten the LED. As soon as I placed the engine on the track there was an audible pop and the decoder went to the DCC graveyard in the sky. Always know where your debris is and dispose of it straight away folks 😉

By: Newman Atkinson

Newman Atkinson — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 00:51:58 +0000

These are a lot of good tips. Also taking your older engines and adding new DCC Chips to them and especially adding ones with sound, find trying to fit all that in will take up all that room you thought you had and make it a squeeze play to get it all in your engine body. Taking your time and plan where everything will fit will help a lot. That speaker if you are adding sound might just be the one that pulls your hair out to get it to fit. All these wires, speaker and chip will challenge you to fit it all in and not rub a flywheel, or contact. One of the biggest items I have found is something rubbing a wheel truck or something on it keeping it from turning or swiveling to stay aligned with the tracks. These are some small but added issues that will give you problems.
from Newman Atkinson