I have a couple of MTH PS1 locomotives that I run pretty hard over Christmas. They run fast and hard and smoke like crazy. Now they have more than a few hours on them and they have never once had a problem.
Tonight I was running the Pennsy 1014. I put it in reverse and two things happened. First it did not move, second I heard the mashing of gears. I then tried forward and it would not move until I gave it a little push but didnt sound right.
No big deal I figured as old as it is maybe I would be lucky and just need fresh grease in the gears if I was lucky. Since I had never opened this locomotive up I was hoping for any easy fix. At worse I figured I might have to replace some gears. Something I have become pretty good at.
Once I got it open I notice that two screws that hold down a plastic cover and the motor was loose. This is right over the gear case and attached to the motor. Not a big deal open it up check the gears, put new grease in and secure the screws.
Well you could figure it wasn't going to be that simple. The grease looked like new and was not the problem. The gear on the motor and the drive wheel had no wear they were fine. The problem was the casting that the screws were in cracked and fell apart. Because of this the motor will lift up enough and there is the problem.
There are three screws and two near the motor had the broken casting. The issue is it is very thin where the screws tighten down the gear and motor cover. Thus now the screws had nothing to grip.
I came up with a solution that may work. I cleaned the surface of all grease and used JB Weld to fill in what was left of the screw holes in the casting. This is more of a permanent fix if it works. Mainly because it it works I doubt I can take it apart to repair the gears if they would fail.
The bottom line is this engine is probably around 25 years old and if this solution works great if not then if I can't figure something out I have some spare parts.
NOTE there was not enough metal to work with such as tapping or using a longer screw. Another possibility would be to drill the whole way through and use a screw with a nut.
