Don't overlook the oil!

[nachoman]

I pulled a locomotive off of my RIP track (work shelf) and have been tinkering to try and get it running well again. I fixed drivers out of quarter and some binding side rods, but the locomotive would still bind up about once per rev of the drive wheels. I put it back on the RIP track and moved on to other projects. Last night, I took it apart again to see if I could figure out what was wrong. The lubrication had become congealed and sticky. I cleaned it off the best I could, and re-lubricated it with labelle oil and grease. Now it runs great after a little breaking in. I also took another locomotive and put a tiny drop of oil on each side rod bearing. It runs much better now. Even through the side rods didn't feel like they were binding before, a tiny drop of oil made a huge difference. Lesson learned: If you have a locomotive that isn't running quite as well as it used to, take time to clean it and re-lubricate. It may solve your problem.