Hello Everyone,
A year ago I got back into the hobby and pulled out my old 1970's era trains. Managed to get most of them running including my favorite, The Royal Blue. It worked fine on my oval on the dining room table made with Bachmann EZ Track, video below.
https://youtu.be/2egTGfai94c
I have since started building a permanent layout made with Atlas track. Everything runs fine so I decided to give The Royal Blue a tour tonight. It ran great in reverse but seems to grind and/or spin its wheels moving forward. I lifted the tender off the track and the drive wheels feel as though they are running smoothly, maybe a little bit of skip on the back set but no grinding noise.
I did not have a charged device to video it, I will post a video tomorrow. Does anyone have an idea what may be causing the problem? As you can see it worked fine a year ago but when I took it out of the box today this problem surfaced.
First thing I'd do is lube the motor and worm bearings. The others, too, if you're in the mood.
Ed
Here's a video I found. Goes along with Ed's post.
Good luck with your Tyco.
Mike.
My You Tube
By Royal Blue do you mean the time honored Mantua/Tyco 4-6-2 Pacific? Tyco had a Royal Blue trainset featuring that locomotive which is why I ask.
There are some things you can do to troubleshoot.
One of the first things I do with a steam locomotive (brass or die cast) that runs funny is put it in one of those foam rubber cradles that Bowser sells or sold and try running the engine upside down (with alligator slips providing the juice), and reverse directions and change speeds.
Sometimes the problem is that the motor is mounted with a screw and if that gets changed, or if the motor is a little bit loosely mounted, it can run better in one direction than the other.
Another problem is if the side rods have gotten worn or loose that they can cause changes in running quality depending on direction.
Another oddity is that the electrical pickup from the tender can differ with change in direction.
Sometimes on very old engines the brass bearings that Mantua used to hold the drivers show some wear - but they can be reversed and get a few more years (or decades!) of service.
Dave Nelson
Call me crazy but I love old tyco stuff. Mostly buildings and that kind of thing. I have even bought some of the things I had as a kid on EBay like the intermodal forklift and the other animated deviceds. I have even been using Plasticville fixtures I bought a KayBee toys on clearance for a buck. I need to add the detailings a bit but here is one. Sometimes these so called cheap inferior products can be amazing.
Robert
dknelson By Royal Blue do you mean the time honored Mantua/Tyco 4-6-2 Pacific? Tyco had a Royal Blue trainset featuring that locomotive which is why I ask.
I'm going to guess it's a Tyco variant of the Chattanooga Choo Choo. It's a 2-8-0 or 0-8-0, but the drive is in the tender:
http://www.tycoforums.com/tyco/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6704
Gary
I’m surprised that an old Tyco still runs. Most of them didn’t last long at all. I had a couple of F7s. One lasted less than a year. The other lasted maybe two or three years. I’ve bought a couple more on eBay but they were both dead on arrival.
Ya that's an Tyco/Mantua 2-8-0. I have an 0-8-0 with the same body, basically the same engine but without the pony truck up front. Kinda surprised the motor's in the tender however; mine (built c. 1995) had the motor in the engine. I swapped it out for a Mashima can motor using Mantua's replacement kit and it runs very nicely.
Anyway, with a tender drive, it could be the engine when running forward is pulling away from the tender slightly (if there's a little play in the drawbar) and that might be causing the gearing to not quite line up properly.
wjstixAnyway, with a tender drive, it could be the engine when running forward is pulling away from the tender slightly (if there's a little play in the drawbar) and that might be causing the gearing to not quite line up properly.
I would be inclined to believe what is happening is what Stix is suggesting.....too much play in the thrust fore/aft bearing causing forward motion to make the gears tight, making a grinding noise. Maybe checking to see if You could replace some thrust washers in the drive-line.
Take Care!
Frank
The tender drives are known for the little pinion gear coming loose on the motor shaft, which is also tiny. Also some zinc pest issues with the motor block casting can cause swelling and binding of the two smaller idler gears. This can result in stripping of the teeth since the gears are so thin. If you keep up with the constant maintance of the motor, the power torque drive can run decent, just dont try to pull more than a short train with it. There are two methods of making the old RB run really good. One is to put a different power chassis under the tender, a single motor Bachmann 44 tonner drive has been used by others. Another way is to install a NWSL gear box and motor in the locomotive, you just have to gut the puffing smoke unit out. Or swap in a power chassis from the 0-8-0 like you have and add the pilot truck to it. I have 2 RB's myself, one is mint and lives in my display case of my childhood trains, the other is nearly mint and I plan to do the NWSL conversion sometime in the future to it. Mike
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
You are not alone in your Tyco love! Check out this site -- he has history on a great deal of equipment from Tyco, Mantua, and other "toy" manufacturers.
http://tycotrain.tripod.com/
Ooops, looks like he's re-doing the site... I hope that happens soon. Meantime, I used the wayback machine... he mentions the Royal Blue Consolidation but no photos, I am afraid.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160722224337/http://tycotrain.tripod.com:80/steamengines/id2.html
Some small steam engines didn't have room for the motor in the boiler, so it was mounted in the tender. They uesd a drive shaft to transfer the power to the drivers. The drivers were actually driving the loco. In Tyco's Chatanooga Choo Choo, the motor was in the tender and powered one of the tenders trucks, pushing the engine. When new, they weren't very good. At this age the OP should consider himself lucky it even runs!
Hi great video I bought the same engine a while back in a garage sale and it was sitting in my basemant for years now with this quarentine I have spent some time trying to bring it back to life. However the wheel assembly looks all cracked as if over heated and all wheels are stuck beyond lubricatio. is there a place were \i can purchase the whole assembly or should I abandon the project?
Thanks