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@Alex M posted:

I use to file them down with a 6 inch sanding wheel. Now I send a bunch of them to Pete (Norton) and he cuts them down to size with his Metal lathe. 

Alex

 

Good to know I wasn't the only one filing them down by hand.

My lathe may arrive before I do the other Niagara.

This post inspired me to fix the one sitting on my workbench last night.

It was much easier than I thought; the second will be a breeze.

The gears were really chewed up:

Gearbox with broken plastic gears

I used the brass gears from Lionel but I also have the delrin gears from NWSL.

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Niagara all fixed

I didn’t like the universal joint coupling system in those CC Niagara’s for one second....this locomotive is just such a **** poorly engineered toilet, I took a whole different approach, I divorced the motor from the gear box altogether, then modded the gear box to be self standing with a floating spring design, this way, I could use a dog bone and coupler set up....took all the stress out of the driveline, and allowed the gearbox to float around and do it’s thing....this is just my solution, Alex & Pete have their own fixes as well.....Pat6AA83319-32DF-468A-B080-07421286E00D6F93E037-8959-4E5B-AE39-2060D75EDA2FAE2BCC4F-4708-48B4-AB18-7528FD5D06B2

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I have 2 projects in process. The first is my scratch-built, free-lanced Union station.

0326201549

The second is my custom painted and decaled Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines coaches for 0-31 curves.

0821201627

Both projects are on temporary hold while I care for my elderly uncle, a train enthusiast also, who is preparing for his 3rd major cancer removal surgery in two years to take place this coming Thursday.

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I have 2 projects in process. The first is my scratch-built, free-lanced Union station.

0326201549

The second is my custom painted and decaled Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines coaches for 0-31 curves.

0821201627

Both projects are on temporary hold while I care for my elderly uncle, a train enthusiast also, who is preparing for his 3rd major cancer removal surgery in two years to take place this coming Thursday.

Very nice, Randy, particularly your Union Station.

@harmonyards posted:

I didn’t like the universal joint coupling system in those CC Niagara’s for one second....this locomotive is just such a **** poorly engineered toilet, I took a whole different approach, I divorced the motor from the gear box altogether, then modded the gear box to be self standing with a floating spring design, this way, I could use a dog bone and coupler set up....took all the stress out of the driveline, and allowed the gearbox to float around and do it’s thing....this is just my solution, Alex & Pete have their own fixes as well.....Pat6AA83319-32DF-468A-B080-07421286E00D6F93E037-8959-4E5B-AE39-2060D75EDA2FAE2BCC4F-4708-48B4-AB18-7528FD5D06B2

I knew that Niagara was going to the right guy!

@harmonyards posted:

I didn’t like the universal joint coupling system in those CC Niagara’s for one second....this locomotive is just such a **** poorly engineered toilet, I took a whole different approach, I divorced the motor from the gear box altogether, then modded the gear box to be self standing with a floating spring design, this way, I could use a dog bone and coupler set up....took all the stress out of the driveline, and allowed the gearbox to float around and do it’s thing....this is just my solution, Alex & Pete have their own fixes as well.....Pat6AA83319-32DF-468A-B080-07421286E00D6F93E037-8959-4E5B-AE39-2060D75EDA2FAE2BCC4F-4708-48B4-AB18-7528FD5D06B2

Just swap a MTH Niagara chassis under it and be done. You know that's the best option. It's a better chassis from the start. I think you can do it .

Fried the motor in this guy last Friday at the club...19183D5D-6AC7-42B5-AA2F-8A72C889F09499097157-11AB-4C18-A06F-AAA2110718EA

It had been running for a while, and at some point I realized it had been too long since it had gone around... found it barely crawling along, and it was pretty hot... was hoping it would be fine after it cooled off, but nope... you can see the windings on one pole are black... Atlas’ website says they actually have the motor in stock for this!

Got this one back on the rails! Hardest part was swapping the worm gear on to the new motor...

In the first part of this video is a Lionel 6-18071 S.P. Daylight. It is my first and only Timko motor conversion. It along with ERR Cruise Commander runs like a dream. On my workbench in the end of the video is a Lionel 6-18045 Commodore Vanderbilt. I sent off the motor to Timko and now awaiting for another ERR Cruise Commander to arrive. 

@harmonyards posted:

How’d you do it??.....please share!..

Pat

Ok, let’s see if I can put it into words... motor removal requires removing the boiler shell from the chassis, then removing the lower cover from the frame followed by removing the drivers. The motor bracket is then unscrewed from the frame (the screws are behind the rear drivers). The motor then unscrews from the bracket, and the hole is big enough that the worm gear fits thru...

The worm gear is very securely pressed on to the motor shaft. There’s probably an appropriate puller, but I don’t have one... I used some pliers, a hammer, and a tiny screwdriver to drive the shaft out of the gear. Not pretty, but it worked... I used a c-clamp to press the gear onto the new motor. I made extra sure the other end of the c-clamp was only touching the other end of the motor shaft to avoid damage, and I carefully pressed the gear on a tiny bit at a time...

Reassembly is basically the reverse of disassembly. I found it easier to remove the side rods before reinstalling the drivers because it’s a bit fiddly to get the drivers in sync with each other due to the idler gear between the drivers...

Hope that helps!

I haven't even started on that ATSF Texas project and picked this up, a Premier UP FEF. My first non ATSF or SP locomotive, but it's a western road so it's ok. Little paint work, a PS3 kit, and a motor and it should be a runner. So now I've got 2 locomotives to work on when the weather cools off. That should keep me busy/out of trouble.

20200910_21405820200910_214152

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Two projects going on.  The first is applying new K4 decals to a Legacy GP7.  *Mucho striping*.   Of the 2 variations SL-SF had for black and yellow geeps, this one is the more difficult...I have another GP7 to strip and redo later, but it will not be this scheme.  I find one to be sufficient.

IMG_3686IMG_3687

Next is a reproduction of an actual QA&P tank car (unlike the 2 fantasy tank cars I did last year).  I am working from two poor quality photos scanned from two different QA&P books.  Among the duties this car performed were providing water for the bridge gang cars, and hauling fresh water to the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Paducah, TX.

IMG_3690qap_tank 310_1qap_tank 310_2

I have not yet printed the decals for this project as I am still monkeying around with some cushion car graphics (another 2 car fantasy project).  The artwork for the tank car is finished as seen at the bottom of this photo:

HYDRA-CUSHION

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My workbench is overloaded and cluttered.

Model boat slow build process.

20200915_051933_HDR

This is a spinoff of a previously posted buildup in this forum,  using Plasticville Hospital parts. It is in crude shape needing a good weathering coat to cover lots of blemishes. Also need to add light system.20200915_052154

 

This is my first attempt to motorize a dual blade helicopter. The first installed motor/blades works. The second blade got destroyed in the process and waiting parts from Atlantis-models. Helicopter is an Army Mule 1/48 scale model from Atlantis-models.20200915_051712

My attempt at “Move the crane not the train”. Having difficulty mating motor shaft to ¼” rod. Still working on solution20200915_052248_HDR

Sinclair Gas station and truck. Need to finish interior windows of building.  Old Plasticville gas station repainted. Atlantic-models 1/48 scale Sinclair gas truck model.20200915_051918

20200915_052010040 Switcher engine #1615 needs front headlight added and a few other minor parts. Engine runs great.

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  • 20200915_052248_HDR: 282 Crane
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  • 20200915_051933_HDR: Model Boat
  • 20200915_052010: 040 1615  Switcher

These two Scale-Craft  K4 chassis were tested just this morning after looking over several locos.  Early version with center axle drive and a later one with the rear axle drive.  Turns out the later one is rough due to lack of stack up on the motor install. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42iGFNvshK8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzkFM-Pjv2Q

Also one of my Scale craft Mikado from a few years back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX00w9e81FI

Neither of the K4's was insulated for two rail and I think they will stay that way.

 

Last edited by Dennis Holler
@Ted S posted:

Wow Dennis, pretty amazing!!  What's the gear ratio on these, have you ever measured it?  I noticed the middle driver is blind (unflanged).  Will they run on 3-rail track?

 

The k4 and I think Hudson could have come with blind drivers but you find them both ways. They could run on Gargraves pretty easy but the smallish flanges would make it hard on tubular radius aside. Not sure on the gear ratio, the catalog states 16:1 but not sure if sll mine reflect that.

Did some engine maintenance today. Put a battery in my Lionel D&H RS-11, wired a WbB GP-9 in series to slow it down. I was going to do my WbB Center cab but when I opened it I found that it only has one motor.  Need to build a diode string for that one. 

Freshened up the lubrication on all three too.

20200828_1943152018-07-07 08.17.502018-08-17 14.48.29

Bob

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Last edited by RSJB18

I recently bought an Atlas SD-35 on that auction site. Good price and I expected some problems. First problem was the gearbox in one truck was bone dry and the worm wheel on the idle shaft as well as the worm was totaled.  Luck would have it that I had an identical chassis with motors also from that auction site which I purchased with several other such chassis for parts about five years ago.  So I had all the mechanical parts to repair the new SD-35.  Another problem that I intended to address was something I have had to repair on several other locos which had plugs on each end of the motherboard where the chassis ground and the center rail connected. When these locos jump the track you can get a short running through the traces on the motherboard which quickly burns through the trace. This can burn either center rail or outside rail traces. The outside rail traces are not as likely to short out as the center rail however on many locos the trucks are electrically isolated from the metal chassis/frame so the short runs through the motherboard rather than the chassis.  I have added PTC polyfuses to these locos to protect the traces on the motherboard. The photo was made after adding a center rail buss between the pickup rollers and the PTC polyfuse on that buss but before adding the buss for the outer rail conductors.  The wire is superflex silicone and can get very hot without melting the insulation. The connections to each end of the motherboard connect to the same place on the buss so the potential to each connection on the MB stays the same should one of the trucks derail and it's pickup roller gets grounded. I did the same mod to the connections to the truck frames also.  I do have a question about why the trucks are insulated from the loco chassis/frame.  Does this improve the signal to the R2LC ?   On some of my early pullmor TMCC conversions I made a ground strap from the trucks to the frame trying to suppress any arcing between the trucks and the frame. I am guessing that is the purpose here but seems it is much more complicated way to accomplish the same thing while making the trace on the MB more likely to get fried.    j

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Last edited by JohnActon

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