Why you should check a new-to-you engine, inside and out.

There are all sorts of things that can happen to an engine during assembly and shipping.  You should always check a new-to-you engine inside and out.  With a used engine, you need to verify it is clean and doesn't have problems from age or abuse.  Too often today we must double check the assembly quality.

Part 1 July 2023

Part 2  Feb 2024

The Williams Dreyfus, again, a lot of work for a new in box engine.

Part 3 June 5 2024

I purchased a RailKing Aerotrain with PS3, 2017 era.   It was in good shape, but looked unrun..  It had not had the initial oiling.  I oiled it as shown in the manual and checked the gearbox grease as stated in the manual.  Everything looked good except for 1 thing.    The rear pickup on the engine was coming apart.  The pin that held the pickups was falling out.

I took the truck off, got the pin back in. Using a backup plate and small hammer was able to upset the end of the pin so it stayed in place.

When I tried to run the engine, it wouldn't move.   I found someone had locked it in neutral.  Using the correct bell/horn sequence I unlocked it and away it went.   It is working well.

Part 4 June 22 2024

 The 746 Locomotive and 746W tender, Variation A 1957-58

I bought this locomotive in an Auction.   When I got this engine it was all original.  It showed very little track time.  It appears to have been a shelf queen most of its life.   Even though it was all original, in good shape does not mean it would run right away.   Things that had to be checked and fixed.

Locomotive.

• Oiling, the engine was completely dry of all oil.   I had to do all the standard oiling.  I also had to add good modern grease to the gear box. 
• Oil the motor.  The motor has an oiling hole.  Normally this oil hole only provides oil to the lower bushing on the motor shaft.   I had to point the nose of the engine in the air to get oil to the top bushing.  I also had to oil the top bushing and thrust bearing from the armature side of the motor.  Also add oil directly to the bottom thrust washer .  Needle nose oiling bottles required.  The engine ran much quieter once the thrust bearings had been oiled.
• The plastic front cover of the boiler is sluffing off the paint.   After 67 years I can understand that.  Lionel didn't scuff up the plastic cover before painting. 
• The light lense had fallen out of the front cover and was rattling in the shell.  A little cleaning and a dab of glue to help hold it after snapping it back in. 
• E-unit and wires were in good shape and working.
• I thought I might need to clean the brushes and brush plate, but they looked very good.  I put it on the track to test.  It jerked for a few feet then ran smooth.  Just cutting through the thin layer of corrosion.

The Tender, a little more work.

• 2 of the wheels were frozen on the axles,  The other 6 had to be lubricated and worked to get to turn easily.  To fix the 2 frozen wheels I had to disassemble the truck to be able to work out the old hardened grease an little bit of green corrosion.    New light weight oil and they now turn easily.   Luckily the corrosion had not removed any significant amount of metal and the axle and wheels were still usable.
• The outside of the wheels were clean and looked like new.  Very low run time.
• Pickup rollers were also sticky.  Appears someone long ago tried to oil them.  Some electronics spray cleaner to cut and remove the old oil from the roller pins and the rollers soon turned freely.  Oiling the rollers that have pins through them is NOT recommended. It causes poor pickup.  Maybe this was why it was a shelf queen?
• Replace the pickup wires.   The insulation was hard and as the trucks turned insulation broke off.   A common problem with 60+ year old plastic insulated wires.
• The whistle motor did not turn freely.  The grease on the bottom bushing had hardened.  Luckily applying a liberal amount of light weight oil to this area helped free up the motor.   Sometimes the motor has to be disassembled to fix this problem.  
• Again the brushes and brush plate looked great.   A few seconds with power and they are working great. 
• The horn relay is working well and the contacts are clean. It needs about 14 volts or more for the whistle to work well.  
• It made a lot of sparks to begin with at the wheels etc. when the horn was applied.  As it ran and the excess oil worked its way out, the sparking diminished. 

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Last update June 22, 2024