Interesting history, Frank...just recently I was reading about Lionel's Italian connection via the "Brute" - the monster Bipolar JLC decided not to put in production, possibly because he thought no one would be able the lift the thing. The helical vs. square cut gears is also interesting...I have a motorcycle with square cut 5th gear that is noisier than comparable helical gears, but I don't mind the noise.
FWIW: I've greased the spur gears on my bipolars with small dabs of white lithium grease...even though the instructions don't state to do this. I assumed they were metal but after reading your post I am not sure. If it wasn't for so many wires I'd feel more comfortable about taking these modern engines apart...I took off the center cab unit last weekend from one of the bipolars because I had overfilled the smoke unit and it took me 3 hours to get it back together - just due to the wiring and trying to get it to fit in without pinching, etc.
