Do you think these junk motors will be in the Cab Forward that is in the catalog that just came out?
Very good outcome.
Great job! Hopefully you have made a young man see what model railroading is about! There's lots of help here for the asking! But on the downside Lionel should be ashamed to put out an inferior product like this on the market. Shame!
Congratulations! Job well done! That young man will be astounded. That made my night.
Chuck, that was a nice final chapter to read. You're dedication to fixing that young boy's train is admirable. It'd be great if there were more repair guys like you.
Paul
You're THE MAN Chuck! The final result is surely the BEST part of repairing trains!
I'm glad that you figured out a new replacement motor solution Chuck.
My only thought was to see if one of the earlier design DC motor trucks (with the round motor inside the truck) would fit on this particular model. The only 6 wheel diesel truck that I know of is the one for the RSD-4. But heck, if it were my engine, and a 4 wheel motor truck fit properly, I'd go with that over the motor set up Lionel used on this particular engine.
But the issue, outside of having incorrect truck sides, is would the mounting stud that the "C" clip attaches to, be in the right location to fit on this particular model locomotive. My guess is probably not, given the photos you took, with the far forward position on the frame of the hole that the truck mounting stud inserts through.
At my local Lionel shop, now closed, I was very friendly with the repair guy. He used the word "junk" to describe many of these new starter set motors. Now that word gets tossed around a lot, so I tend to call folks out on it. But the guy explained that he didn't see the motor burn out issues with the previous commonly utilized truck mounted DC motors. He said there was no comparison between the standard 4-4-2 starter set steamer and newer locos like the Dockside and 0-8-0, which he replaced motors in very frequently. These new worm gear smaller motors are what he though of as junk.
So why Lionel would take such a small motor and put in into such a large diesel, is well, beyond me. I certainly have not had any issues with my engines with the round gear drive truck mounted DC motors. I've only had 3 of them burn out in the time frame of over 30 years. I think that is to be expected. Even on the plastic framed RS-3, I've made some minor revisions to them so that they have improved pulling ability. For that matter, even the mid-1990's vintage Industrial Switchers (a small unit for certain) use the larger round DC can motor and I haven't had any issues with those. Or the small die-cast 0-4-0 (based on the post war 1615) also uses this same round DC motor, and again, no issues with those as compared to the motor problems of the Dockside and newer 0-8-0.
These newer smaller motors seem to be another story entirely. Is your experience with them Chuck, similar to what my local repair guy had? That these smaller motors seem to go bad at a much higher rate?
Good work Chuck. In addition to fixing your customer's train you gave everyone here a preview of repairing trains in the future. Besides all the train companies that have left or will be leaving the scene, even Lionel seems to have fewer and fewer replacement parts on hand.
Might be time for some of the cottage industries that make the parts for the pre and post war trains start making these parts for current production.
Pete
