I ran my Big Boy at a show today. It was pulling about 18-20 cars (mostly SHS, Hoquat, and the like) fine until I noticed a clicking almost grinding sound. It never stopped running or showed signs of struggling, but got loud enough that I notice and parked it. Could this be the dreaded D-coupling issue? I previously enhanced the rear truck with a small shim washer under the worm gear per Carl's great web site instructions, but I did not do so to the front engine. I figured then that the rear would be more likely to go than the front. Maybe, however, the front gave way. I have yet to inspect it at home. BTW, it ran silently in reverse. Any tips on performing the worm gear shim-washer procedure on the front truck as compared to the rear? Thanks.
One final note, I was thinking that's the most cars I've pulled with the Big Boy at a show by about 3-4 cars. Maybe that was too many. But when the Big Boy went down I replaced it quickly with one Gilbert T&P Geep. Off it went, no problem - lap after lap.
