First, let me make this clear, this engine is a beat up pile of parts! I bought it for parts only. I believe it was dropped. It's an older MTH G scale Amtrak dash 8 that I just got. It was missing the whole rear truck. Luckily for me, that one didn't have the tach. Even more, the boards worked except for a blown speaker which I shared about last week. The mounting area for the rear truck had to be rebuilt as it was ripped open.
All in all I was pleasantly surprised that I got her going fairly easily. I put her on the track and she started right up. I ran her around and noticed another issue. As soon as the speed is set anything higher than 40 MPH, she really moves out. I'd say at 45 MPH she might be doing like 60. It does respond to any changes in the speed setting even at these higher speeds. She must be missing the count? Once she's doing any of the faster rates of speed, the throttle has to be brought down below 40MPH and then she jumps to the correct speed.
So any speed between 1 and 40 and she's fine. Above that I feel she's doing about 30% faster as a guess. It's hard to gauge as she really takes off above 40. The higher the speed above forty, the faster she seems like she's over the correct speed. I stopped at fifty because she's flying outside and she may jump my track work.
It may sound crazy but because she's an Amtrak, I probably will run her alone and leave the speed problem until it gets worse. I'm guessing that the tach spacing is off or the flywheel is dirty with grease. They are packed with an axle type grease that looks like the old stuff in car bearings. I have seen it make it's way inside the tach area.
I just wanted to share this as I found it interesting. Usually for me, the speed is either correct, or way off.
