John Rowlen posted:
The engine was inspected and appears cosmetically good. On inspection of the bottom to check the number of pick-up rollers, I saw that the engineer's side traction tire was off and the other tire shows slight run wear. The side rods on the Niagara do not use a traditional wrench included with most Lionel steam engines. The drive rods are fastened with Philips screws. (I am not sure how I feel about that, but it looks weird.) Maybe they used Phillips screws on the proto-type.
I don't see why do you need to remove a screw just to remount the tire? It's already where it needs to be, just slip it back on the tread.
Could it be that you need a JIS screwdriver to remove the screws? And, I wouldn't put it past them to have some loctite on them too that may need some heat to break the bond.
