David, . . . . a lot of the trouble was heat related.
In my mind, Pulmores have 3 undesirable characteristics:
- As mentioned earlier, they are not very smooth at low speeds.
- They draw more current.
- They are noisy.
Heat is the major sign of impending problems and a surprisingly useful indicator of developing problems: I have never had a motor-related problem where heat was not a major sympton. I bought a small IR heat measuring gun from Amazon (laser pointer shows you the spot its measuring temp at, then just pull the trigger) and have learned to check locos while running. On can motor locos, more than 8 degrees rise in the body, near the motor, means trouble . . . on Pullmor it can be more, but still I check any loco I am suspicious off -
I agree completely with you three points. Pullmor motors are actually a pain all around, and I only keep them out of respect for tradition. I addition, I will add a fourth point: you can take them apart easily and that makes people think they are easy to repair, when I fact its rather subtle to fine tune they so they really do well.
