Preparing old mainline locos

10386 Views 11 Replies 8 Participants Last post by 5696Arethusa, Oct 24, 2006

millerk

Discussion Starter · Oct 22, 2006

I have a lot of old mainline locos which have been stored for about 20 years. I am now working on a new layoutand propose to use as much of the old stock as I can. The Mainline locos look to be in good nick, although I believe the steam locos can be a little fragile. However, they never did get a lot of use when I was a kid, because I favoured the diesels in those days. Is there anything I should do, in terms of servicing them, before firing some electricity through them for the first time in 20 years, all tips welcomes

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DS239

· #2 · Oct 22, 2006

Make sure that the motor brushes and springs havent seized in their guides,as well as checking for any obvious faults such as damaged valve gear on the steam locos etc.

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Gary

· #3 · Oct 22, 2006 (Edited by Moderator)

Things might be a bit stiff as any lube will have dried up or evaporated. Check to make sure everything is free running else you might damage a drive gear tooth which tended to be nylon not metal. Some models are more fragile in this area than others (the small tank locos are particulary bad) as they have several transmission gears. Also make sure gears are lined up correctly as if they are not this also can damage teeth. If its a split chassis avoid getting lubrication on the wheel axles as this will affect power pick up. It is always worth lubricating the motor bearings.

Do not panic!

Mainline locos are very sweet running models when set up right.

Happy modelling
Gary

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dwb

· #4 · Oct 22, 2006

I have a few Mainline locomotives from the late 70s / early 80s. Take a good look at the traction tyres; it's highly likely they have perished.

David

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millerk

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 22, 2006

Thanks for all the top tips guys, I'll proceed careful, after striping and lubing.

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Mercator II

· #6 · Oct 23, 2006

I also have a collection of mainline loco's and they all run lovely although a little noisey compared to todays standards.

I am a big fan of the J72's and have 4, only problem with them is the drive axle is spaced with a nylon spacer which can become very brittle especially on older loco's and when stored. Check to see if yours are fine, if this starts to go the two halves of the axle will turn independ of each other and reck the quatering making it impossible to drive, this also has a sizable cost add on, as its nylon you cant simply glue it so you either find a donor wheel set from another mainline loco (the new bachmann has fatter axles so cant be used) or buy a complete new chassis from bachmann and lose that fanstic mainline pulling power! If choosing the first opion, beware that it too may have the same problem.

I hope you have lots of fun building your new railway and running those classics from mainline

Bro Sewell
(Brian)

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millerk

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 23, 2006

QUOTE (bro sewell @ 23 Oct 2006, 10:52) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I also have a collection of mainline loco's and they all run lovely although a little noisey compared to todays standards.

I am a big fan of the J72's and have 4, only problem with them is the drive axle is spaced with a nylon spacer which can become very brittle especially on older loco's and when stored. Check to see if yours are fine, if this starts to go the two halves of the axle will turn independ of each other and reck the quatering making it impossible to drive, this also has a sizable cost add on, as its nylon you cant simply glue it so you either find a donor wheel set from another mainline loco (the new bachmann has fatter axles so cant be used) or buy a complete new chassis from bachmann and lose that fanstic mainline pulling power! If choosing the first opion, beware that it too may have the same problem.

I hope you have lots of fun building your new railway and running those classics from mainline

Bro Sewell
(Brian)
Thanks, fortunately I dont have a J72 so should avoid this problem.

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DS239

· #8 · Oct 23, 2006

QUOTE (keekster64 @ 23 Oct 2006, 13:18) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Thanks, fortunately I dont have a J72 so should avoid this problem.

I think we've been here before with this one...
All the Mainline locos with the split-chassis design suffer from the same fault,-it's not just J72's,-and I've also seen the same thing happening to older Bachmann ones...
Although listed in the catalogue,a lot of the Bachmann replacement chassis are not available [and,I think,never likely to be again..],they include the BR Std 4MT,57xx,J72,CL.03 Diesel,GW Mogul,GW Manor,B1...

Oh,and Brian,what is this 'fantastic Mainline pulling power' of which you speak

Methinks it is some mystical quality that I have not had the fortune to encounter...

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millerk

Discussion Starter · #9 · Oct 24, 2006

QUOTE (DS239 @ 24 Oct 2006, 00:02) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I think we've been here before with this one...
All the Mainline locos with the split-chassis design suffer from the same fault,-it's not just J72's,-and I've also seen the same thing happening to older Bachmann ones...
Although listed in the catalogue,a lot of the Bachmann replacement chassis are not available [and,I think,never likely to be again..],they include the BR Std 4MT,57xx,J72,CL.03 Diesel,GW Mogul,GW Manor,B1...

Oh,and Brian,what is this 'fantastic Mainline pulling power' of which you speak

Methinks it is some mystical quality that I have not had the fortune to encounter...

I had a look through some of my boxes of stuff last night. The two I have found so far were a Collet goods and a Class 45. Have yet to pull them apart, but found the instructions no bother. I guess as the collet is a 0-6-0 it may well suffer the same potential problem, must check. Its definitely not tender driven which is handy.

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pedromorgan

· #10 · Oct 24, 2006

i'v never had much luck with mainline peaks. but the jubilees anmd royal scots are good pullers.

The peaks suffered from puney motor syndrome.

Peter

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7113

· #11 · Oct 24, 2006

I recently repaired a Mainline Manor for a friend. He advised me it would not run as the quartering was out. On dismantling I discovered that a previous repair had resulted in the motion being put on upside down, with the result the motion fouled, the split drive axle turned and everything jammed solid! twenty minutes work with a good clean and service and of it went - no problems. Pulls quite well too!

regards

John

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5696Arethusa

· #12 · Oct 24, 2006

Oh,and Brian,what is this 'fantastic Mainline pulling power' of which you speak

Methinks it is some mystical quality that I have not had the fortune to encounter...

[/quote]

Well the Mainline J72s i have have been the backbone of all shunting opperations on my layout for some time now though I must confess to not having tried the Bachmann version.
However I did buy a Mainline Manor a couple of years ago to re-name Ditcheat Manor and after a few months it suffered the curse of the split Nylon axle so I decided to replace it with a Bachmann unit and have found that it runs quieter but can't haul as much as it used to. Fantastic Mainline pulling power!
Arethusa

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