Lionel PRR T1 drive wheels issue?

Guessing on some switches Sam the wide wheel may overhang and touch the diverging center rail?

Had to bevel my blind drivers.  Shorted on Lionel 072 switches.

Just  don't go slow over sensitive spots. I have just one 072 Ross switch to worry about.

C.SAM - Can't quite make out the engine # in your pics but I'm assuming this is the scale version of the T1 - not the LionMaster one (6-38020)?

I use Atlas and Ross switches.  The drivers shorted on both because the tread was too wide.

I beveled the wheels by running the engine slowly upside down in a foam cradle and using a Dremel with a grinder to take off the excess metal on the inside of the drivers.  I had to test it on the track several times to get just enough but not too much metal off.  All of my switches are O-72.  I might have had to take off more metal if I had sharper switches.  

It worked.    The engine has been running fine for the last 10 years.  

Some other people took the engine apart and beveled the drivers using machine tools.  This is the proper way to do it but I didn't have the tools or talent to do this.  

There are some old threads somewhere on the forum on this topic.  

NH Joe

This is good to know, I to just picked up scale version to perform a LEGACY upgrade. Ill have to make note of the possibly shorts when moving over switches at slow speeds.

PH1975 posted:

C.SAM - Can't quite make out the engine # in your pics but I'm assuming this is the scale version of the T1 - not the LionMaster one (6-38020)?

Yes,  No 5511.

If you're going to bevel the wheels using Joe's method, be SURE you protect against the shavings getting inside  I'd have to consider some sort of magnet to attract them, and try to shield the innards as much as possible.

I would hesitate to take the wheels off to do this as quartering them after the job might be challenging without the correct tools as well.

Bruk posted:

This is good to know, I to just picked up scale version to perform a LEGACY upgrade. Ill have to make note of the possibly shorts when moving over switches at slow speeds.

Hey Bruk, I actually began thinking about obtaining another one of these after reading your recent post about your conversion on the N&W Class A.   I regretted selling my T1 a couple of years ago and you provided the impetus to find another one.  This was barely used and smokes surprisingly well compared to my other one.  Sounds are good too  although the chuff rate is only 2 per I believe.

I have a solution for the 2-chuffs, as well as improving the smoke performance.

Bruk posted:

This is good to know, I to just picked up scale version to perform a LEGACY upgrade. Ill have to make note of the possibly shorts when moving over switches at slow speeds.

You can always place a piece of tape over the end of that rail. Have an MTH engine that does it at one 096/072 Ross switch. 

It is a nice Lionel engine.

c.sam posted:

Bruk posted:

This is good to know, I to just picked up scale version to perform a LEGACY upgrade. Ill have to make note of the possibly shorts when moving over switches at slow speeds.

Hey Bruk, I actually began thinking about obtaining another one of these after reading your recent post about your conversion on the N&W Class A.   I regretted selling my T1 a couple of years ago and you provided the impetus to find another one.  This was barely used and smokes surprisingly well compared to my other one.  Sounds are good too  although the chuff rate is only 2 per I believe.

 

 

Glad to hear that I am convincing people to buy more trains! you can never have enough! I do enjoy doing the LEGACY conversions. I'm also excited to finally convert someone else's loco(s) one of these days so they can enjoy what I can offer and I can build a reputable name in the hobby. The cost to upgrade to LEGACY is way cheaper than waiting to have Lionel offer it again, then pay their ridiculous prices for basically the same loco with the LEGACY electronics. 

I beveled my drivers, installed an ERR Cruise Commander M, and a Super Chuffer for 4 chuffs.  Its a great engine.  The only mod left is puffing smoke.  Since its such a big engine, adding the extra electronics for the upgrades is easy.  There is a good amount of space to add everything.

Joe, I remember you doing that years ago...

I don't recall Lionel re-releasing the PRR T1 since 2001 or so.

You're correct Paul - the T1 was in Lionel's 2000 Centennial Catalog along with the N&W Class A and the B&O EM1, 3 amazing steamers in one year!

Joe Fermani posted:

I beveled my drivers, installed an ERR Cruise Commander M, and a Super Chuffer for 4 chuffs.  Its a great engine.  The only mod left is puffing smoke.  Since its such a big engine, adding the extra electronics for the upgrades is easy.  There is a good amount of space to add everything.

If you added a Super-Chuffer, you have the capability of chuffing smoke.  I suspect you're talking about the Chuff-Generator for the 4-chuffs.   There is a lot of room in there, so additions should be pretty easy.

My Lionel scale T1 would spark on MTH RealTrack O72 switches.  It also had no cruise and two-double chuffs/rev.   I had the engine upgraded with EOB cruise and at the same time had the center drivers beveled.  The EOB board gave me four double-chuffs/rev as well as cruise.  I should have had him do an upgrade on the smoke unit.

The guy who upgraded the engine took it apart to grind down the drivers.  That was a big mistake.  He had the engine for months trying to get it back together.  While you will need to be careful of the metal filings, my recommendation is to bevel the wheels while the engine is in one piece.

What part gets beveled? The inner edge of the blind drivers? The outer edge of the blind drivers? Something else?

The inner edge of the blind drivers gets beveled so it won't short out on switches.

Thank you.

If I'm understanding this, its just the two inner axels with 4 wheels that need to be beveled?  What would be the easiest and safest method to do this at home with limited tools please?

My earlier locomotive never had any issues running on ScaleTrax and a few times when I ran it on the club layout it was fine with Gargraves and a Ross dbl crossover...

Can someone post a photo of how much to bevel is necessary?

c.sam posted:

If I'm understanding this, its just the two inner axels with 4 wheels that need to be beveled?  What would be the easiest and safest method to do this at home with limited tools please?

My earlier locomotive never had any issues running on ScaleTrax and a few times when I ran it on the club layout it was fine with Gargraves and a Ross dbl crossover...

I am not surprised. I use scaletrax and the shorting I get is with the inner edge of the center drivers of the 2-10-4 PRR J1s, both MTH and Lionel.  The T1 has no driver at that centralized location. My MTH PRR T1 doesn't short, but I don't have the Lionel, so maybe the Lionel has wider drivers, i don't know. 

Also on the scaletrax switches, for the shorting of the 10 drivered locos, I pinpointed the spot and added a piece of black masking tape. I will add a pic later. It's on one half of the triangular hot piece of the switch. 

A different problem with Atlas turnouts is the electrical rollers getting caught in the gaps between the middle rail and the outside rail when going thru the turnout.  The rollers are the standard size rollers, not the smaller rollers found on some Lionel engines and other brands.

My temporary fix is to cut a piece of plastic(I used electrical ties) and place in the gap so the roller won’t drop into the gap.   Pic one shows the gap(screwdriver points to it) that the roller drops in and hits the outside rail causing a short derailment.  Pic two shows the gap filled with the plastic I inserted allowing the roller to glide over the gap.  This works.    Looking for a way to make something that looks better.  Any suggestions welcomed.