Came home tonight to a couple of packages and decided to not read the latest on the forum until I had some quality play time. First on the agenda was a 10 second burst of flat black on a $2.00 Grant line cow catcher for my Porter. A couple of tabs of double sided tape to mock it up and then I opened up the $25. NIB 1972 Docksider set that I bought just for the tender.
But I was still waiting for the matching Raritan 3 pac ore cars with caboose coming from the west coast so I decided to play with the Docksider. True to form for Lionel even though new and in the box for thirty years some little kid would of been disappointed if he got this as a gift and he was expecting it to perform like it is depicted on the box. I can understand the new electronic stuff having issues but this is as basic as you can get. In an TCA article this engine was once described as the " cheapest" engine Lionel ever made.
Started with a simple lube job and it barely ran, e-unit would trigger but it took a push to get it to move. Wire brushed the wheels and roller contacts to get a good connection. Still no go.
Now this is where it gets fun. Field strip the entire engine on the kitchen table. Polished the armature commutator. Sprayed everything with contact cleaner.
Resurfaced the brushes which even though it was never ran, had the oddest lumpy faces like they were cast.
Then I noticed the major problem. One of the brush springs was never installed properly and binding and barely pressing on the brush.
Re-lubed everything and put it all back together.
And then ran it for a solid hour. No bells, whistles, lights, or steam. Plastic shell and weird gold plated oversized numbers. Two position e unit that amazingly did not buzz.
But when tuned up properly, this little unit was outperforming the Porter in every aspect. Slow running, pulling, and highballing. Lost the entire train once going too fast around an 0-31 curve on my test oval. Very exciting and felt like a kid again.
Gave me a fresh perspective on what this hobby is all about for me. All the hours planning, sweating the details and getting it just right are wasted if I do not have fun and explore my inner Gomez Adams.
Thinking back as a kid, walking the tracks, riding dirt bikes along abandoned sidings and even hopping a freight car to jump off the trestle into the pond was pretty fun, but nothing was as exciting as the day the P&W freight train lost a bunch of cars on a curve and just totally tore up everything in its path. It seemed like the whole town came out to see it. And the big hook was the most amazing thing that I had ever seen up to that point in my life.
Fred
