@RoyBoy posted:I just finished some 652 heavyweight cars and some 649 circus cars.
Now I am rebuilding a 332 Gilbert 4-8-4 that had a DC motor and a burned out smoke unit. Boy are these buggers hard to disassemble, especially when they are packed with 70 years of congealed smoke fluid.
The loco has a nice patina and all the drivers are straight. It will get a Timko can motor and a new smoke resistor wire and wick from LBR enterprises. It will be the first time I have ever replaced the smoke element heater, even though I have been working on my Gilbert trains since 1956. I hope it goes well.
The Northern turned out well. Smokes great, but somehow does not sound as smooth as it did before the motor change.
Upon investigating its Hudson brother (from the same original owner) the clunking and apparent lack of traction is likely caused by the front drivers being out of quarter slightly.
It was probably built that way as the original owner scratched the word "noisy" onto the bottom of the chassis. The holes in the front ends of the rods are worn in an unusual pattern. I have some quartering tools coming, but that type of mechanical work is not my forte.
Does anyone know when Gilbert changed the driver quartering from 90 degrees to 87 degrees?
