Steam Locomotive Service Life

Don't know.  If anything, they'll be sidetracked by the next "latest and greatest."

Meanwhile, there will probably still be 2037's running out there when the sun goes supernova.

Rusty

The life will probably largely be determined by how good the maintenance on the engine is.

Maintenance is key, as gunrunner states, but to an extent, you usually can simply replace worn parts.  I've had favorite locomotives that I ran so much the side rods had egg shaped holes.  New ones fixed the problem, but then I had to replace the trailing truck, even though I had lubed it fairly regularly, because the axle holes, which were not bushed, grew so elongated that the truck frame sides dragged across the rails at switches, eventually stalling the engine.  New truck took care of it. 

I have yet to have a quality can motor "wear out" even after several hundreds of hours.  Those things are as close to bullet proof as anything.  I have had to replace a couple of can motors on imported brass engines, but those motors, upon closer examination were really cheap little things.  A good Pittman or Mitsubishi motor fixed the problem.

King of reminds me of the story of the guy who was selling George Washington's original "cherry tree" hatchet that he had used.  Of course, he has had to replace the handle several times and the head one time, but it was still George Washington's original axe and a priceless antique as such.

Paul Fischer

Can motors can go, I have a Canon one on a fairly new Legacy locomotive short, and it took out the main logic board in the process!  It was not a happy picture!

In my limited PS2 experience, I have seen many starter set locos run for years, with hundreds of hours of run time. Maintenance is the key, frequent replacement of traction tires, and occasional replacement of rollers is often needed. It also seems that occasional battery replacement helps keep the boards happy. It seems that the circuit boards, when trying to charge a partial kaput battery have a shorter life. I have a Railking S2 turbine with protosounds, it has been running well with a BCR since I bought it new. Also, fast blow fuses protect expensive circuit boards from short circuits. 

I don't have any steam, diesel only. My oldest and only PS2 engine is now close to 4 years old (2011) and still going strong as are the rest of my MTH fleet that are all PS3. They were all purchased new, some time after my first PS2 to present.

I have no idea how long to expect them to last, but I am hopeful they will last for some time to come and possibly even out last me (which I hope is also some time far into the very distant future).

Like many here I have 2020, 681 and 736 PW Lionel that

run now as good as they did back in the day.  As stated

above, good Maintenance is the key.

My new TMCC have run very well over the last five years.

If they last as long as PW Lionel, well put it this way, I

will be in that big Train Yard in the sky.

Of late I have gone with Diesel over Steam due to cost,

and Maintenance.  I have had little Maintenance problems

with MTH, Lionel and WBB diesel Locomotive's. 

Good Topic.

Many thanks,

Billy C

Too funny!  The problem really isn't the service life, it's the obsolescence.  Meanwhile the 2037 . . .

Pete

maintenance is key,  however dumb luck takes over. Sometime you just get a lemon and sometimes a derailment spark could do some damage.

Don't have a limit and have a few MTH Proto-1 engines from the mid 1990's that still run like champs. I also have a few Williams all Tru-Blast-II engines over 10 years old that are great runners and show no signs of aging.

With my stable of engines 40+ I have had a few repairs and have not yet come to decision on any that would render hem shelf queens or to be cannibalized for parts

Since I run mostly pre and post war with stone age technology I expect them to be running long after I am gone!

I don't run DCS and don't have a digital count of hours, but I keep a log of run time on my engines and I think it is roughly accurate.

I have an PS2 RK Y6b with about 3,000 hours on it.  I've replaced some tires and one pickup, and had to do work on the tether twice - it was my first O-gauge steamer and it is special to me. 

I wore out a Lionmaster Big Boy with  3,500+ hours.  It just got very loose, noisy, etc., began to frequently burn out the IR coupling between tender and loco. 

Those are my two extreme cases.  I have nothing else with anywhere near enough hours to be a concern.

Lee,

You posted the kind of info I was looking for. I have the Y6b also, but fewer hours run time than yours. Thanks all.

I have a Premier SF 4-8-4 Northern with the early 5 volt PS-2 boards, and it has in excess of 2800 scale miles. Works like a charm still, no sign of any adverse wear.

Rod

If you want to know what the expected life of an engine is, ask the people that run the Choo Choo Barn or Roadside America. The engines on those layouts run 100's of hours a month. I would guess that the operators run very simple conventional operation-pickup to rectifier/electrolytic cap to can motor in one direction only at 10-12V.  I'd be very surprised if they get more than 2000 hours or one year of use.

The San Diego Museum has a 2-rail section, and I get the maintenance tasks.  We run 8 hrs a day, six days a week.  MTH so far has the best reputation by far for longevity and ease of replacing parts.  We go through axle gears about every two-three years, worms get replaced on about the third axle gear, or almost a decade, and only one unit has required new axles and axle bearings.  So far, no motor problems.  My experience is maybe a quarter- century with these units.

All-Nation 2-rail transmissions did not last a year, and could not be economically fixed.  Atlas Diesels are more difficult to work on, and while Atlas has been very gracious at supplying parts, they are often out of stock.  Weaver gave us a 2-rail Diesel a decade ago.  It is still running, but like Atlas, it is a bit more difficult to keep it going.

We do wear out steam, but it is rare, and usually it is just the side rods.  Easy to re-bush.  Early Max Gray steamers had brass crank pins - they get replaced with steel.

The average individual with a passion for model trains will never wear out a good model.

IMO, too many people on this forum worry about how long their trains are gonna run after they're dead.

Frankly, as long as they last even a minute longer than me, that is good enough.  I do not care beyond that.  

exactly, mine will be on the bay the day after I'm planted.

That works for me as well!