Hello all thank you for your kind words ...
several points have been brought up ....I'll start another posting with the early / late ScaleCraft drives .
Yes I try and respect a piece for it's age .... born as a tinplater were original is the word .....scale world seems to vary ....but if I can preserve original finish ...great ... ... and yes it is fun to get the mummies to dance .... 99.9% of these early pieces are bullet proof ...a bit of cleaning, aligning, new oil , solder here or there perhaps new wire ..and good for the next 80 + years ..
Icken was all about making an engine that would run forever ....commercial fairs / shows 8 + hours a day for months on end ... Icken's cost a bunch but you got what you paid for ... the video is of the early double gear reduction 1928-32 .... he improved it by 1933 ..and seems to have continued through the rest of his building days.
here are some links to see other Ickens in motion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46v4FRmsqBE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8ONqT9Fk9k
Cheers Carey
