HELP with Gilbert HO

[Anonymous]

Recently inherteted my father's first locomotive. Its a diesel with what i believe is called a "shaft drive" (dad made a big deal of it being what ever it is as opposed to a rubber band drive). Any way it barely runs on the power pack i have. I'm not sure if its the pack or that the loco needs renovated. I'm leading toward renovated since it does move when the pack is at full power, but barely, and it sat in my grandparents basement for who knows how many decades. Anyway any ideas on who to get the thing moving again would be welcome. As well as any tips on maintance.

[lionelsoni]

Although many here would like to help, I'm sure, you will find much more expertise on HO at the Model Railroader forum.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like what you have is a Gilbert Varney F-3 clone. Clean and oil the gears and bearings in the motor truck and run it in on a cradle without the drive shaft for a couple of minutes then clean and oil the gears and bearings on the non motor truck.. Reinstall the drive shaft and run the loco on track by itself at full throttle for a couple of minutes. Things should free up so that you should see an improvement in performance. Remember, this loco is darned near FIFTY years old so it will NEVER run as well as a modern KATO diesel.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice to both of you. I'll do both.