Meet the "Giraffe Express", a former Lehigh Valley 627 pressed into service for my train of giraffe cars:
The GX has something of an interesting history; I picked it up (as a stock 627) as part of a finder's fee at the Springdale (AR) train show last February. When my customary Gi-Raffe Train motive power (the RMT GG-1 at centre right) proved unable to deal with the sharp grades of the prewar Lionel mini- Heck Gate bridge (centre left) without derailing over the hump, I had to a) design a logo, b) repray the loco and caboose and c) reassemble, including installing a pantograph, literally overnight.
The GX performed flawlessly at the Frisco Festival in Rogers, AR (where the above pic was taken), but only because I used the chassis from the "Red Rocket One" (a proven performer, equipped with an electronic horn)...
When I got around to reassembling the GX after tearing down the power unit, cleaning it (very little needed; the motor and gears were pristine) and regreasing and oiling, the story was rather different; even freshly cleaned and lubed, the gearbox sounded like a smallish coffee grinder when operating with the power truck towards the rear...
The solution? I propped the power wheels off the ground and let it run at full power for about 20 minutes. At the end of this, the motor was still cool and the loco now takes off with a minimum of gear grinding!
The lesson here? Even if a loco is 60 years old, it STILL might need a break-in period!
Mitch
