Athearn rubber band drive alternative

Another possibility is obtaining one of the Ernst regear kits for it. Don'lt think they are still made and were always a bit of a fiddle. Keep an eye on EBay. There is one there now for Athern 6 axle diesels.

Scotie

PeterA posted:

You may remember Athearn's disastrous rubber band drive from the '50s.  I have several "dead" locos with it, but one of them came with a spring loop on the same drive.  And it still runs fine.  So, I was wondering if anybody here knows if there is still a source for those springs to go onto the original Athearn's locos?

I never saw the spring loop on an Athearn but I do remember such a setup on the the Lindbergh switcher. Personally, I never considered the rubbers bands to be that much of a disaster, considering the price of the loco. They tended to run too fast and did require occasional replacing, but the last time I checked their website, Athearn still listed them as available. I doubt you can find one of the spring belts anywhere. I never had much luck with the black rubber belt replacements from Perfect Parts, but I know some folks preferred them. I tried one of the Ernst regear sets, but not one of the ones that replaced the rubber bands, it just gave a lower gear ratio to the standard Athearn geared drive of the day, and I agree, it seemed a bit quirky and fragile. I do remember a friend who had a lashup of F units with the Hi-F rubber band drive that out pulled almost everything else at his local club layout, brass included. Of course that was about 55-60 years ago...

Bill in FtL

I still run a rubber-band drive Athearn RDC on my HO layout occasionally. It's fun for outrageously fast high-speed runs. I've clocked it at 216mph on the full circuit around my layout including sharp curves and switches. Amazing how it holds the rails. Also have an old rubber-band drive Hustler chassis I picked up at a train show for 25 cents, repaired it and put a "Silver Streak" caboose body on it for laughs.

The rubber bands tend to rot with age. Some rubber bands are better than others for longevity. The rubber bands have to be just the right size and flexibility so the trucks will still turn freely for curves.

I've tried the Ernst re-gearing kits and never could get them to run consistently well. The thin counter-rotating gears are a sloppy fit and don't always turn smoothly, in my experience. The Ernst kits were made to convert the later gear-drive locos, not rubber-band drive units.

I haven't seen any of the spring-drive arrangements. If you want to get your old "Hi-F" units running again, just use some new rubber bands. Or put your old body shells on the better gear-drive frames.

Athearn RDC at left, 45+ years old with rubber-band drive.

I still run a rubber-band drive Athearn RDC on my HO layout occasionally.

I purchased a number of rubber-band drive Athearn RDC locomotives within the last twenty to twenty-five years. Also a few Hustlers. I thought they were current production when I purchased them. My son and I did not care for how they ran. Very jerky operation if I recall correctly. So some of the RDC units wound up unused. I still have them, mint, unassembled.

Thanks for the replies fellows.  I have tried using new rubber bands but initially they are so jerkey, as to make running impossible.  Then they dry and rot pretty quickly.  Actually the locos I am interested in are Lionels from when they were made by Athearn, both steam and diesel.  The one with the spring drive is an Alaska F-3 and still runs like new.

FYI...Athearn still sells replacement rubber bands for their infamous notorious 'bubba-rand drive'....p/n 90101, 24 pcs, ~$5. 

Memories?....The Hi-F Hustler at 'Notch 8' was my "friends" (non-model railroader neighborhood buds) favorite to run on the ol' attic HO layout.  Ran like the proverbial scalded cat!

Ernst drives?....I'll echo ACE's comments.  They did, indeed, make a kit for the Hi-F RDC.  But the multiple spur gears in the gear train on each truck were so crude/sloppy-fitting, they rattled like hazel nuts in a blender.....which was a disappointment since the bubba-rand drive was, for all its other faults, very, very quiet in comparison to almost any open-frame motor, geared drive train locomotive of its day.

Nowadays?....I'd be looking at Northwest Shortline's Stanton Drive....motor built right into the truck....smooth, quiet, ready-wired for DCC application, available in several wheelbase lengths, wheel diameters, tread profiles.  Need help selecting?...Call Dave/Lynda at NWSL......VERY helpful, pleasant to deal with.   FWIW, I've purchased two (2) of these to retrofit into early brass HO EMC Doodlebugs.   For the Athearn RDC it would eliminate the obstructive motor in the center of the car, allowing you to fill it at every window with two-legged revenue!

KD

PeterA posted:

Thanks for the replies fellows.  I have tried using new rubber bands but initially they are so jerkey, as to make running impossible.  Then they dry and rot pretty quickly.  Actually the locos I am interested in are Lionels from when they were made by Athearn, both steam and diesel.  The one with the spring drive is an Alaska F-3 and still runs like new.

Lionel HO by Athearn (1958-60) used a "belt drive". If you can't get an original-style replacement, maybe you could find O-rings that would serve the purpose. O-rings are made in multitudinous varieties for automotive and industrial purposes.

Some rubber bands last much longer than others. Rubber-band drive was never known for good slow speed operation, but they can be made to cruise OK. An MU lash-up might help smooth out the slow-speed jerkiness.

I found some Lionel-HO service manual pages in another post:

https://ogrforum.com/t...el-ho-service-manual

I have several Hi-F F7s and never noticed any jerky operation. They do,however, run too fast and stop on a dime; no coasting action here. They still run better than some of the contemporary geared stuff of the day.

Jim Mc

Here's my tiny rubberband-powered Ho engine:

Not sure any other type of drive train would fit (that's a 4" drink coaster it's sitting on).

The rubber band is long gone, can't recall when it was last run.

Mine all got Ernst gears....still not up to todays standard.

I just like the old Hi-f drive stuff for what it is. In spite of the noted shortcomings it still ran better than some contemporary equipment.

Jim McC

Oh! The memories of HO in my youth. I owned an Athearn Hustler. Were they ever fast. Surely they were the world's fastest HO loco, and probably the least expensive.

Wide open mine wouldn't negotiate even the first piece of 18" radius curve before flying off the track. 

For spring belts, search for either Wilesco or Mamod.  Both companies appear to market steam engine models of things like steam tractors and rollers as well as fixed steam engines. Spring belts are shown on the Wilesco web site, although some of them are branded as Mamod.  So I presume belts can be obtained from either company.  And I also believe they are available on ebay.  Q-car is a third traction oriented company that may have the belts.  I couldn't find them on the Q-Car website, but I understand them to be used on their drive trucks.

Hollywood Foundry in Australia is a drive manufacturer that now seems to have replacement drives for both the Hustler and the RDC.

Jim