For those that like the old Tyco brown box era trains but despise the running qualities, there are some tricks to make them run well Over on the Tyco forum, some of the raving mad(probably have to be this way if you spend time tweaking Tycos!!) have figured out a few tricks. First is to totaly disassemble the motor and gear train. Most of the cast shafts that the gears spin on will have hardened grease and even corrosion and sometimes even zinc pest. If you have a good but dirty motor casting, polish up the nubs the gears spin on. I use a brass wire wheel in my dremel after flushing the bare casting with carb cleaner. Once all the gears spin freely, I relubricate with plastic compatible oil. I also polish up where the axles turn in the motor block. Then you super glue or JB weld the little bitty pinion gear to the motor's shaft(they like to come loose). Next up is to replace the curved magnets with ones for the Aurora Thunder Jet slot cars. This restores the motors power. The original magnets were cheaper and not that strong to begin with. The motor design is almost identical to the slot cars of the era, so hop up parts for the slot cars does wonders for the trains. For diesels and thier brass wheels, you can go two ways. There are services online to get the wheels nickle plated and you can "MU" a pair of diesels together to get past the power power pickups. I would recommend doing both if running in a pair like two Sharks ect. Some have put twin power trucks in the Sharks. Adding metal wheels to the tender drive unit also helps with its power pickups. Guys report with the full rebuild, new magnets and such, that power is restored and the model can pull trains much easier. Just stay ontop of oiling the tiny bearings in the motor and they run well. I have two mint Royal Blue engines that are going to get this treatment, and a Chatanooga that is getting a NWSL gear box and can motor in the locomotive(just because I can). While they wont be stump pullers, the old 2-8-0 has nice lines and makes a nice little branch line engine and can be had quite cheap at shows for those willing to take some time to rehab the drive a bit. Mike
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
Since my autistic brain has slept overnight, more thoughts came to mind. For the newbie, he/she might be asking whats the magnets in the motor have to do with it? Magnets back then were not what we have today, they would become weaker with age, some quicker than others. And the ones Tyco used were not that great to begin with. Weak magnets cause a motor to draw more Amps and thus causing the rotating armature to get much hotter to do the given work of pulling a train. Heat is the number ONE enemy of the Tyco power torq motor system. The armature is small(remember its a slot car design and slot cars are light weight and go fast!). SO any weaking of the magnets only make the issues even worse. Most Tyco diesels have brass wheels, the tender drive steameres did have nickle silver though. Higher Amp draw will cause pitting on the wheel tread surface and visable sparking when going down then track, even when wheels and track are clean to start with. So now you quickly develope poor power pickup from the pitting on the wheels. Double whammy to the locomotive. By replacing the weak magnets, you kill two major issues that plague these engines. To many the old Tyco 2-8-0 has nice lines and size for small layouts and branch lines, and many lament the use of a tender drive. But please keep in mind that many very high end European models use tender drives that are as smooth and silky as a Kato diesel, and thier drive is very similar to the Tyco one, just much better in excution that Tyco achived. I have seen Tyco tender drives that are rebuilt running as smooth as a modern diesel, just not as quiet. But the noise isnt very loud and would be easily hidden by a sound decoder. A nice sound decoder in the tender with keep alive would be the icing on the cake. Going thru old issues of magainzes, one can find pics of one of these "toy" engines so nicely weathered and detailed, that unless told, you would never know it used to be a starter set Tyco. While most of us moved on, me included, it nice to get our childhood train out and run it once and awhile. With a few upgrades, they can hold thier own and maybe be a more regular runner on short peddler freights on your layout again. Mike