This always upsets (well, you know...) me when it comes up. The Niagara is my second-favorite loco (guess #1) and I have a Lionel, an MTH and more-than-one Samhongsa (Williams) version. The Lionel is the best-looking, and has been a problem-child from day 1 - my gears are still fine, but the driveshaft split (fixed).
I hope one of you guys comes up with a "kit" for this (gears and joint) - I'll buy at least one, maybe two. I would pay a decent price for it. (Wouldn't it be nice if someone - oh, say, Lionel, just to be crazy - did just that? Not for free; I'd pay.)
BTW, my MTH PS2 Niagara is an awful runner (surges) and, even at Factory Defaults, won't answer my DCS Remote Commander; it will get ERR one day. Lionel sound is better (this is not new loco). MTH uses plastic in it's steam drive trains, also. Don't know about the gears, but a Premier Hudson that I ERR-installed this year has plastic driveshafts and u-joints. Saw them myself.
The Samhongsa brass Niagara (with ERR) seems to be a tank. Tracks better (sprung), too. A bit typically "brass-noisy".
