Excellent!
I have also had the noise in one direction problem on a couple of British engines I have and quelled it with some lubrication on the bearing end of the motor... VERY SPARINGLY!
Hope this helps.
Regards from Australia
Trevor
Sounds like the worm and worm gear are not meshing properly. It may break-in with time, but as explained by others, you can disassemble and see what is going on. If you have never done this, you can get a pro to do it, but why not try yourself? If you like steam, it is a good skill to acquire. That loco is among the easiest to work on.
Simon
snjroy The "red box" generation is fairly recent, so unless the product is defective, there is probably no need to replace the gears. I have a recent 4-6-2 "red box" product and it runs very well. Lubrication is pretty straightforward - just put the loco on its back and remove the screws that hold the bottom plate. Be careful not to remove the screw that holds the boiler, and the ones that hold the pilot wheels and the trailing wheels. The one that holds the boiler is near the pilot, under the pilot wheels. After removing the cover plate, all you need to do is add a small drop of appropriate oil on each of the axles (where they touch the frame). Don't overdo it. For the main gear, you can either put Labelle grease or 106 oil, depending on your school of thought... I put Labelle gear grease myself. A dab on the gear will reach the worm, which I believe in enclosed in that model. This is easy to do and to check, but it might not fix your problem. Removing the motor as explained by others would allow you to check that the wheels run freely. By the way, I don't know about yours, but mine had issues with the wire connections between the engine and the tender. I had to add new wires - the connection was defective on mine and the engine would stall. Keep in mind that the pulling power of this loco does not compare with a good diesel. What type of rolling stock are you pulling and what does the track look like? Are there slopes? S-curves? Long passenger cars? Are the cars freerolling? That loco is the descendant of many generations produced by mantua, odds are that it is fine... Simon
The "red box" generation is fairly recent, so unless the product is defective, there is probably no need to replace the gears. I have a recent 4-6-2 "red box" product and it runs very well. Lubrication is pretty straightforward - just put the loco on its back and remove the screws that hold the bottom plate. Be careful not to remove the screw that holds the boiler, and the ones that hold the pilot wheels and the trailing wheels. The one that holds the boiler is near the pilot, under the pilot wheels. After removing the cover plate, all you need to do is add a small drop of appropriate oil on each of the axles (where they touch the frame). Don't overdo it. For the main gear, you can either put Labelle grease or 106 oil, depending on your school of thought... I put Labelle gear grease myself. A dab on the gear will reach the worm, which I believe in enclosed in that model.
This is easy to do and to check, but it might not fix your problem. Removing the motor as explained by others would allow you to check that the wheels run freely. By the way, I don't know about yours, but mine had issues with the wire connections between the engine and the tender. I had to add new wires - the connection was defective on mine and the engine would stall.
Keep in mind that the pulling power of this loco does not compare with a good diesel. What type of rolling stock are you pulling and what does the track look like? Are there slopes? S-curves? Long passenger cars? Are the cars freerolling?
That loco is the descendant of many generations produced by mantua, odds are that it is fine...
I'm using Freight cars from the steam era, at the moment I'm having fun with this engine on my EZ track Loop, it's all flat, and the cars roll very great.
Also when I'm running this in Reverse it's making a terrible noise.
snjroy Labelle lubricants are generally recommended - other products might have additives that may harm something, like paint or plastic. Do other steam locos perform well with your rolling stock? Simon
Labelle lubricants are generally recommended - other products might have additives that may harm something, like paint or plastic. Do other steam locos perform well with your rolling stock?
Yes I have another Mantua Mikado from that era "Southern Railway 4501" and it pulls cars without a struggle, it even runs faster.
I just remembered some Mantua catalogs from the 1990's in my library that showed some nice upgrade motors for the Mantua steamers.I suspect they were the last tun of can motors. My PB pictures are gone but they might be at HO Seeker.
I was able to buy an upgrade for my Mantua General with an adapter at that time. I doubt these motors are even on ebay today.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
You could pull the motor and push the loco on a piece of flat glass and see if the wheels turn freely. I remember an article in Model Railroader magazine many years ago mentioning this.
A dab of Labelle 102 gear oil on the motor worm. The worm drives the worm gear on the driver axle.
I thought at one time Mantua had the power drive. Might have been when they had the open frame motor. I was just looking at HO Seeker about Mantua Mikado.
Edit.
Just thought of NWSL. Dave has helped me a lot. Great products for many years.
Charles,
Probably a local term referring to an Adult "toy" shop ... whatever you call them there! The lubricant works really well for model trains... I promise I have never used it for its actual intended purpose(s)!
Regards
Hello!I would diconnect the motor(and worm gear) and manually push the wheels around. It should be relatively freerolling. If not, you can add some oil to the axels, siderods, etc. If the wheels are freerolling, but the motor still struggles, sounds like a bad motor.
PS xdford - "Sexshop"?!?! Did I see that correctly?
Charles
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Sorry I should have recognised the words "Red Box" ... I also have a 2-6-6-2 and a 4-6-2 with can motors which I had similar issues with the lack of pulling power like yourself to the point that I was preparing to find a size can motor to fit both the cavities of these locos as I was disappointed with both until...
My "local" hobby shop had a number of interesting products including a "personal purposes" lubricant which when I lubricated both really improved the pulling and slow speed performance and a couple of other markers.
The wholesaler was into model railway chemicals (glues, cleaners etc) also owned a sex shop which he made his main living. If you want the name, please PM me!
Again sorry for the misread!
Regards from Oz
Sounds like your motor either needs new brushes or the slots between the commtutator segments need cleaning out with a pin and the armature needs cleaning.
If you have a spare can motor, you could fit such a motor in place of the open frame motor and that should improve the performance greatly as my 15 year old conversion to my Berkshire (same frame as the 2-8-2) can attest!
Cheers from Australia
Please define "strains"? Drivers slip or stop turning? We assume DC.
How many cars? On level track?
I have a Mantua Mikado from the red box era this is its picture.
This locomotive strains to pull cars. Is there anything I can do to get it to run better?