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Model Train Locomotive Gears
Electric motors need gears to reduce the speed of the motor and align it to gears mounted on the axles of the locomotive. To reduce the speed of the motor a small gear is mounted to the motor shaft and a large gear to the drive wheels. Because of wear, the smaller gear is usually brass, and the larger gear, plastic.
The drivers of a steam locomotive are usually large enough to allow a plastic gear large enough to make the speed reduction with a single set of gears. The gear is only on a single axle because, like the real locomotives, the side rods transmit the power to the other drivers.
A model diesel locomotive has smaller wheels mounted in trucks at opposite ends of the unit. Therefore diesel models usually have motor with shafts out each end, leading to a set of several gears mounted in a tower above each truck.
Dirt, lint, and cat hair are bad for any gear set. Too much oil or grease on the gears attracts those contaminants to the axles, as well as the gear sets. Be sure any cleaning solution or lube is intended for use on plastic gears.
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Over the years, I have purchased several older steam locomotives, primarily American articulateds.
I found that gears were sometimes frozen by old grease. If an older loco won’t move, check to see if the gears have dried on grease. Also some older locos have the motor drive shaft connected to the running gear by a piece of rubber or hard plastic tubing. This sometimes cracks and although the motor is running, no power gets to the drive wheels. Checking this can save some heartache. Hope this helps.