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Dick Middleton sent me his SGL brass Reading heavy Pacific to see what’s making this thing run so poorly on his layout ,....as many of you know that own these SGL’s one of the problems right out the gate is the lack of a flywheel....and really no place to put one,...there’s no room out back, so we had to look at the nose shaft and see what could be done,....I figured a slim but heavy flywheel could hide behind the belt drive and live there happily, so that’s the route we went......first order of business was to true up the belt drive pulley, although it looked round, it was far from true, hardly a good place to mount a flywheel,....runout on the belt pulley’s outer surface was border line ugly, so a quick trip to the lathe brought it in true, I had to knock off some of the protruding lips on the pulley to make the flywheel set in and over, so while it was chucked up, I machined those surfaces down as well,....now the flywheel is completely serviceable, with a snug slip fit, and drilled & tapped for a 4-40 set screw,....the aging QSI electronics will be gutted like a fish, and Dick plans on conventional operations, so we’ll outfit it with a Dallee reverser, ERR sounds, 4 chuffs, and fan smoke in time,....stay tuned, ...Dick is through the worst of it now,..😉

PatC7EB9A72-A572-45ED-B927-D4795359B0DE28B1B07E-C344-4942-86CC-2FEC9527A01D9F6E2D69-D823-4863-9400-A7431F4ABBD2

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You know what I like best about all these Harmon Shop posts? Steam, steam, glorious steam. That sure is a snug fit in there Pat. Reminds me of a couple of years ago at the park playing horseshoes with my brother and cousins. I got a ringer(I'm terrible) and my brother had to top my ringer or knock out to win. Well, he topped mine, and won because it also knocked out mine. Also, he's a great player. No idea how you got in there, must be like that horseshoe, sneaky.

You know what I like best about all these Harmon Shop posts? Steam, steam, glorious steam.

I like the peace of mind I get knowing that if I ever have a problem someone can fix it.

We have more qualified/ talented techs on this forum than all of the manufacturers put together. No need to sit on hold either.

Another interesting mod thread Pat! Your delivery is like reading a good book.

I'll be following along.

@RickO posted:

I like the peace of mind I get knowing that if I ever have a problem someone can fix it.

We have more qualified/ talented techs on this forum than all of the manufacturers put together. No need to sit on hold either.

Another interesting mod thread Pat! Your delivery is like reading a good book.

I'll be following along.

Agree with you Rick on those among us who can fix it and the talent. Always seeing what was to what should be is amazing indeed. Watching these engines get fixed up in such a way is awesome!

Thanks fellas,....this one was kinda weird, ....I can’t wrap my head around the fact that this thing is such a fine model, and yet they skimped or skipped on a flywheel ...especially with a belt drive,.....from what I’ve been told, the fella that made SGL was anti-flywheel .....I can not confirm it or deny it, but it sure needs one......before the flywheel install, when the throttle was turned down to stop, this thing would lock up tight,.......

Pat

@E-UNIT-79 posted:

Okay Pat I know that I should probably know this after being on this forum for so long but what does SGL stand for? I can't figure it out.

SGL Lines is a small brass O scale importer based out of Chesapeake Va.......very detailed brass locomotives.....outward appearance right on par with the big brass importers. The one I’m working on is Korean made....factory Pittman powered. To me, they seem a little clunky in the mechanical dept., but we’ll sort all of that out,...otherwise, a fairly well built machine,....as I mentioned before, and this is all hear-say, so don’t take it as gospel, the fella that did the builds, didn’t put much emphasis in flywheels, seems to be the biggest Achilles Heel, .....

Pat

@harmonyards posted:

SGL Lines is a small brass O scale importer based out of Chesapeake Va.......very detailed brass locomotives.....outward appearance right on par with the big brass importers. The one I’m working on is Korean made....factory Pittman powered. To me, they seem a little clunky in the mechanical dept., but we’ll sort all of that out,...otherwise, a fairly well built machine,....as I mentioned before, and this is all hear-say, so don’t take it as gospel, the fella that did the builds, didn’t put much emphasis in flywheels, seems to be the biggest Achilles Heel, .....

Pat

Thank you Pat. I'll keep my eyes open for that manufacturer at the next train show when we get back to having them. I'm sure you'll work your magic with this one too. Waiting for the video.

Since Pat started this thread I thought I'd better check in to keep him honest.  It's my engine he is giving the make-over.  As far as SGL is concerned, he is correct.  It was a small importer, however I think the Reading G-3 and five car trains, the King Coal and the Schuylkill, were their only products.  They never made anything after those as far as I can determine.  The engine came in two road numbers, 210 and 219.  Pat already commented on the engine, it and the coaches are excellent matches to the drawings I have in my files.  Coaches are brass, 72 scale feet as the prototype.  I have every confidence I will be getting a great engine back when he finishes.  I'm looking forward to following the thread and getting the engine back at the head end of my King Coal.  Presently I'm using a Trainmaster to power the train, but that's ok, the Reading did also.  However I will bump the diesel to put steam back on the head end.

Here’s you video Lou,....🤣🤣🤣.....

          This is a test on the rollers to set the belt tension, and check the smoothness of the drivetrain,....I did add shims to the gearbox tonight....there’s a lot of shaft walk from the factory, the lost motion was really noticeable........the motor would turn the shaft, but going from forward to reverse, you could watch the shaft screw in and out before it turned a driver.....Pittman motor shims were a perfect fit for the shaft end play,..those of you that own these, check that shaft end play,....I settled on a total of .003......this still lets the shaft “float” on the bearings, but removes virtually all the lost motion,.....note on the video, I don’t have the belt retainer ring on the end of the cog pulley as I’m still optimizing belt tension,.....

Pat

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Last edited by harmonyards

SGL stands for Samual G Lenhart. He and his son were heavily involved in the production of the 2 G3s and the two 5car trains. For whatever the reason, Sam was anti-flywheel. Maybe b/c he was really old school? I don't know. I'm still trying to run the story down on these 2 sets. They ARE drop dead gorgeous, and must haves, especially if you are a Reading steam fan!

Chris

LVHR

@Lou1985 posted:

Well there's the video that proves the flywheel works .

Belt could be a little tighter but it seems to be in the ball park. Looks pretty similar to a 3rd rail drive mechanism.

Not so fast sunshine, ....this locomotive’s worm shaft has the cog pulley hanging out in the middle of nowhere,....too much tension binds the shaft up,....the hanger bearing is closer to the gear box than it is to the cog pulley,....

Pat

@Lou1985 posted:

Well there's the video that proves the flywheel works .

Belt could be a little tighter but it seems to be in the ball park. Looks pretty similar to a 3rd rail drive mechanism.

I think the belt should have some slack in it. The cogs keep it from slipping and too tight might wear stuff out?

I thought of an idler pulley on my conversion as well. With the belt very loose, it still never slips. Other stuff on mine will fail first.

I think the belt should have some slack in it. The cogs keep it from slipping and too tight might wear stuff out?

I thought of an idler pulley on my conversion as well. With the belt very loose, it still never slips. Other stuff on mine will fail first.

Correct Joe, the slightest bit too much tension on this particular model, and it tries to literally pick up the lower shaft and make it bind,.....it’s a fine line not to cross even the slightest,...

Pat

Update on Dick’s SGL Reading Pacific,.....after some back and forth with the gear box eliminating a ton of lost motion, I’m happy to report we have a very smooth running locomotive!....Dick’s complaints with the locomotive were horrid Jack rabbit starts, and slamming to a stop,...after adding the much needed flywheel, I noticed the worm shaft would turn a full 1/4 revolution before moving the locomotive ( lost motion ) so as I reported earlier, we’ve remedied that.....I will say adding the flywheel did make mounting the shell back to the locomotive kind of interesting at first, but for those of you wanting to add your own flywheel to these SGL models, the remedy for easy shell install/removal is to relocate the the tether receptacle to the body side instead of the chassis side,....easy peasy, and makes shell removal a breeze!!.....here’s the first test video, no electronics yet, we’re running on a simple rectifier for testing purposes....we’re pulling 31 freight cars in this shot,...stops and starts are smooth as silk, if you watch closely, you can even see the moment the slack is let out and the tug begins,....priceless!...I’ll follow this video with a video of the SGL doing it’s thing cruising around the layout.....😉

Pat

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Here’s Dick’s SGL cruising beautifully, as if it had cruise installed,....31 freight cars in tow,....the last thing mechanically I don’t like is the sheet metal pilot truck makes some tinny sounds as it glides around the layout, probably trivial, but a small flat weight will remedy that,....other than that, I couldn’t be happier with the performance, all the attention to detail in the driveline paid off, amps are in the dirt pulling this drag ...less than 3/4’s of an amp!...that’s efficiency!....time to add a reverser, some sounds, and fan smoke and get her back to Dick’s pike!..

Pat

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I like sound and smoke too. The engine has to perform before all the bells and whistles.

Whenever I have any issues, I shut everything else off and listen and watch for clues from the drive.

Great work, again.

Almost as quiet as my 2 rail.

Joe, I’m going to get it even quieter when I deal with that noisy pilot truck,....that thing is a speaker on wheels,....😉

Pat

You know what I like best about all these Harmon Shop posts? Steam, steam, glorious steam. That sure is a snug fit in there Pat. Reminds me of a couple of years ago at the park playing horseshoes with my brother and cousins. I got a ringer(I'm terrible) and my brother had to top my ringer or knock out to win. Well, he topped mine, and won because it also knocked out mine. Also, he's a great player. No idea how you got in there, must be like that horseshoe, sneaky.

First of all, An outstanding job you did on that loco. Im just curious why the Dallee reverse and not ERR with railsounds?

Finally, I bet you sing the same thing about cheese too! " Steam, Steam glorious steam"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2-eGm3LU9w

Last edited by prrhorseshoecurve

First of all, An outstanding job you did on that loco. Im just curious why the Dallee reverse and not ERR with railsounds?

Finally, I bet you sing the same thing about cheese too! " Steam, Steam glorious steam"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2-eGm3LU9w

Dick’s layout is all conventional, so no need to spend the extra bucks on command equipment,....hence why I really needed this SGL to be smooth as glass via throttle,..😉....Dick inputs the commands,...with his hand on the throttle,....

Pat

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