Let's see if I can make this story short enough to be less painful? I spent sometime inside since the weather has started to turn. I looked for what needed work since I last was down here. My Niagara came first as the polarity switch had failed and would short if thrown to run in the opposite direction. Other than a first choice mistake placing the switch on the frame where the speaker under the coal load was and would hit, that went fast. So I said "who's next?" Staring at me and mocking me for a long time now, my eyes found the next target. An engine that would not run reliably on the rails no matter what I tried.
I finally got around (got up the nerve) to modify my wheels on my MTH 2 rail engine. She just kept jumping the rails on my curves. I had added a larger radius outside loop and that still didn't work. I contacted MTH about some optional parts. I was hoping for a set of blind drivers. They didn't have any.
I contacted a shop about turning the drivers down and they wouldn't accept the job! So she sat here like a shelf queen waiting for something to happen.
I went at her with my tools and dumped my pride. She needed surgery! After grinding off a set of wheel flanges I also swapped out the speaker without as huge of a success. I think the sound set is lacking on this version.
Now, she runs reliably around even my inside loop at 50MPH. I should have done this work myself a long time ago. Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith!
My work isn't pretty, surely isn't perfect, but she finally runs without worry of jumping the rails.
