Hudson J1e posted:I agree with John Rowlen. For what they charge for these locomotives would it kill them to include the proper sized screwdriver? And no offense to anyone who owns this locomotive but I don’t like the Phillips screws at all. All my locomotives from all different companies including Lionel use Hex heads. Why change from something that worked?
Its not a change, but a return to what was used on the CCII Niagara. When Lionel reuses tooling they use ALL of it, right down to the siderod screws.
In Johns case, I would think the tire could be replaced without removing the screw. Unless he plans on removing the entire drive rod, theres no advantage to just that one screw. Simply make use of a thumb and forefinger on one hand, and a small flat blade screwdriver carefully in the other.
If the brake shoes are rubbing. On most Lionel steamers they are seprately applied and held on by screws as well. The screws can be loosened and the brake shoe can be rotated away from the drive wheels.
Having said that. I started a thread asking about the proper "phillips" style screwdriver for my trains. The screws used on O guage trains are not standard phillips but JIS screws, Japanese Industrial Standard.
To minimize the risk of stripping screws on O guage trains these JIS screws are what you want. Thanks to Hotwater bringing this up months ago I never would have guessed.
Yes you can get away with a standard philips most of the time, but if you have $1000's of dollars in trains. Why not pony up $20-$30 for the proper tools
Heres my thread regarding these JIS Screwdrivers: Screwdriver Set Recommendation
