My "New" 2055 Arrived Damaged

[jwse30]

Yesterday I got my 2055 train set I was high bidder on. Once I got all the pieces unwrapped, I grabbed the engine and headed to the train room.

I put it on the tracks, and it derailed about 3 feet later. It turns out the leading truck was bent. I grabbed a pair of pliers and bent it back as clase as possible to the right shape. I'm glad the 2046 and 2055 use the same front truck. I had a nice reference beause of that.

So I put the truck back on, put the loco back on the track, and it shorted out when the cowcatcher hit the center rail at the first switch it ran across. After looking at it for a while, I realized the cowcatcher was bent downward quite a bit. I grabbed a pair of channel locks, and tried bending it back, but it wouldn't budge. I went out to the shed and get a small propane torch, and heated the cowcatcher for a few minutes. Te channel locks were able to bend it back now. After I was sure I liked where the cowcatcher was, I dipped the front of the engine in the snow to cool it off . Amazingly, the paint didn't burn off the engine where the heat was applied.

Put it back on the track, and gave it a few test laps with just its tender. Then I added 15 or so 9700 series boxcars, and let it run for about a half hour. It's a nice runner, though it needs a little tweaking on the e-unit. The whistle works very well. This engine may give my 2025 a run for its money as far as favorite engines go.

J White

[Anonymous]

Glad you like it! Did you give it a good lube? Hows the smoke unit? Just spray some tv tuner liquid into the plunger on the e-unit, and all the problems will be solved.

[jwse30]

I haven't lubed it yet, as it seemed pretty wet when I received it. I'll try the contact cleaner on the E-unit, but I'm guessing this is a mechanical problem, since it cycles properly everytime, except the neutral to forward But it consistantly works the second time you go from neutral to forward.

The smoke unit seems to be working great, at least until I got crazy with the smoke fluid I added to it. I love running postwar engines, but I cannot stand the smell the of smoke pills. I think I'm being punished for something evi I did in a past life :)

The other issues I have with this engine, and these are major :) , is that the handrails are missing; the cotter pins are all present, but no handrails. The other issue is that the tender shell is missing a set of steps. Also, the tender's drawbar is slightly bent, but it doesn't appear to affect the operation on O42 track. I haven't tried it on O27 yet, but I'm reasonably sure I can straighten it enough to make it work if it won't do those curves.

J White

[jwse30]

Well, my 2055 started running poorly yesterday. It would stall and lurch occasionally. This morning I tore the shell off of it (the easiest steamer I own to do that to), and degreased everything I could see with contact cleaner, q-tips, and elbow grease. I cleaned up the brushes, as my parts bin is getting a bit weak (time to place an order). I then oiled everything that moved. I opted not to grease the gears, as I wasn't able to clean them very well, and they still had a fairly "fresh" coat on them.

After putting it all back together, and test running it, it appears to be fine again. Of course I was test running it by itself (not even a tender), since my wife was upstairs sleeping (it was only 5 am when I was doing all this; I'm currently working 6pm to 4am), and my train room has a duct that might as well be a PA system to our bedroom. I'll try some more testing after she leaves for work.

J White

[Anonymous]

J White, I have had that prblew with a 2025 that I was working on. It turned out there was a load of grease on the commutator/brushes. Take off the brush plate and clean the brushes until they shine again. Then spray a generous amount of degreaser on the commutator. Take the q-tips and mop it until the q-tips come out clean. It should be fine after this. Also, make sure the grooves between the sections are crystal clean.

[jwse30]

jerrylovestrains,

We must've had the same locomotive! When I pulled the brush cover off, there was grease caked on the cover. I cleaned up everything in there, though I only used contact cleaner on the brushes themselves. I used rubbing alcohol, and qtips on the commutator and brush cover. Ran like a champ from around 7 to 8 this morning, and from 3 to 4 this afternoon. Though I do have to lube something on the rear truck; there's a bit of a squeal coming from it when it's going through curves. It seemed to go away once I added the tender. Perhaps it just took a bit longer for the oil to get where it needed to be than the rest of the points I lubed.

J White

[Anonymous]

There you go my friend, a well working loco for you! Do you want to keep it a pellet smoker or convert it? If you need more pellets, get some repro ones at www.toytrainsunlimited.com .

[jwse30]

It's going to get a new smoke unit when I order the handrails and cotter pins. I'll guess that trying to reuse the ones on it now will be far more trouble than coming up with the $.80 or so (always gotta buy a few spares of parts) for new ones. Also need to order new brushes, since I'm out of those, and one of the brushes had a chunk missing from it (where the brush spring hits the brush, there's a groove. On one of the brushes, it's missing everything on one side of the groove). I generally replace the brushes on any engine I buy the first time I tear it down, just because it's easier than trying to clean off 50 years of poo from a $.50 part, or whatever they cost.

Until I place my parts order (gotta see what else I need, or anticipate needing; my parts notepad by my "workbench" got misplaced), I'll be using fluid in my pill smoke unit.

I personally cannot stand the smell of smoke pills, as stated earlier. All of my postwar steamers have been converted to fluid, except my 2020 Turbine. That one used the smoke bulb, and it's still original (though the engine isn't in collector state), so I'll keep it that way. One of these days I'll get around to taking the engine to Radio Shack and seeing if I can get a bulb for it so it will at least have a headlight.

I also have a bit of touch up painting to do on this 2055. When I did the torch trick, I scratched the heck out of the "front coupler" with the pliers. This is to the point that the Dremel may be needed to smooth it out (oops!) before paint. There's also a bit of paint missing on one of the domes. If the paint on the coupler matches the rest of the shell OK, I'll repaint that dome; if it's too far off, I'll live with the specks of missing paint.

This engine could easily work its way into my favorite 5 if it continues performing like it is. It easily pulls my 15 or so 9700 series boxcars around my O42 loop, and pulls my 10 or so 6456 style hopper train around my O27 loop.

J White

[Anonymous]

your smokeunit will work just fine with liquid, and will be a super-smoker...

first break it down and clean everything off, if needed- replace the fiberglass wadding with new,
on the smokeunit element- remove 2-3 turns of the ni-chrome wire and re-assemble.. i dont even re-solder the wire, i just wrap it severwal times around the ground tab...... ive yet to have a problem using this method.

thats it, that simple

of course, the 5.00 l;iquid conversion kits will work.... but at lower voltages the smoke output will be anemic at best

[4kitties]

Sorry about your problems. You gotta love the 2055. What I would've given to have one as a kid! I was glad to read the posts about yours not running well and what you did. Sounds like mine needs the same attention.

Cheers,

Joel

[jwse30]

bignumber99,

This engine's smoke unit had no wick when I received it. I thought that was rather odd. I didn't do anything to it but add some smoke fluid, and it works quite well. The smoke unit replacements I buy put out an adequate amount of smoke to me, at the speeds I run the trains. I've never put a VOM across the rails while I was running trains.

4Kitties,

I regret not putting some kind of softener on my pliers when I bent the cowcatcher back into position. Now the dummy coupler is shiny zinc (or whatever metal these engines are cast from) and has a small bite mark on it as well.

As to yours needing similiar attention, this engine is the easiest postwar steamer I've worked on. Four screws, and the shell is off the frame. Two more screws, and the brushes are loose, and the commutator is exposed. If you leave out the cowcatcher straightening, the only tools I've used on this engine are a flat blade screwdriver, and a pile of q-tips. If you're new to this type of thing, post it, and either myself or somebody else will explain it better.

J White