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I am new here and a novice in the large world of railroading, my only experience having built a 4x8 foldup with my father many years ago. The set up is very basic, but it does have an upgraded power unit. Currently, I have 3 locomotives: a Mantua 1396 "crescent limited", a tyco 5628 "burlington northern", and a RSO "rock island".
It was a few days ago that I noticed something odd and all three locomotives exhibit this behavior. The locomotives we have all run better backwards. Not knowing much about the locomotives I turned them around on the track only to have the same result occur. Is there any reason to this madness?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
p.s. It's an HO scale, and not knowing if all scales operate essentially the same way felt it appropriate to ask in this forum.
That's an indication of mechanical wear. It's been my experience that hunting for parts for old locos is akin to hunting for hens teeth. Time to consider getting some newer locos. By the time you spend the money for parts you will have probably spent enough to get new ones anyway.
That's an indication of mechanical wear. It's been my experience that hunting for parts for old locos is akin to hunting for hens teeth. Time to consider getting some newer locos. By the time you spend the money for parts you will have probably spent enough to get new ones anyway.
I should have guessed that running backwards better would indicate that the backside of the gear teeth were in better condition. Thanks for the input, you saved me some time and money.
Automatic transmission fluid, in very small amounts, is also a good gear lubricant and won't damage plastic. It's possible the trains run better backwards because the gears are picking up more of whatever lubricant is left in the gear box in reverse.
In use it on my Athearn's and Proto 2000's all the time. It's safe for plastic and doesn't just sling off. It takes only a drop on one gear in a truck and one bottle will last for a LONG time.
I haven't used it in the drives as mine are so new, even after several years. But I have used it to lube the wheels, rods, and valve gear on the last six steamers I purchased. I'd say I'm pleased at this point, and won't change.
I've been using Dextron for gear lube for about a year. I have an Athearn BB SD-9 that hadn't run in almost 30 years. After cleaning out all the gunk from the gear boxes and lubing them and the drivetrain with Dextron, it ran betterr than when it was new. Like Jeffrey said, you only need about one drop per gearbox and it makes even old Athearn's run smooth.
Luckily, I got Dexron III sitting at home. I have been using Labelle Oil for awhile and been happy with that. I'm going to give it a try on my noisy Athearn's (Dex III).
With the mantua, most need some tuning up to run decent. They can also be easily remoted with a newer can motor. You wont beat them for pulling power as they are diecast, rather than plastic. Yeah MTH is doing stuff in diecast, but I can have a fleet of smooth running Mantuas for the cost of 1 MTH engine. If you lived near me, I would tune them up for you. I prefer older engines, easier to work on and cheaper. Parts are out there, you just have to know where to look. I spend more time under dealers tables in their junker boxes picking up chassis and dead engines that I will either restore to run or part out to keep my others up to spec. My newest engine is a Mantua Classics 2-6-6-2T, still all old school design other than the new style can motor and DCC wiring mess that I will remove to simplify the wiring.
That is so correct! I keep several grades of oil in Labelle needle tip bottles on my work bench. 1 is heavier oil for gear boxes, one is light grade for motor and worm gear shaft bearings. The light duty stuff works great on valve motion on all my steam locos to. Mike
