10-01-2017, 07:01 PM
Just got back from playing with the world's biggest toy trains. 
Our operating season is winding down, with just a few weeks left till we put em in the shop till spring. We still have a few trips left ( East Stroudsburg, Tobyhanna, and Delaware Water Gap ).
It looks like the B will not be going on any on these trips. we gave her a close inspection today and decided against putting her out on the main because two air leaks. We don't need any unscheduled stops on the main.
We also finished up the 92 day inspection on 664. We discovered that the main generator will need some maintenance, nothing major just a cleaning and some new brushes.
In this pic of 664's generator you can see the black carbon dust building up on the bronze brush holder. This is caused by normal wear of the brushes against the turning commutator. But, if you get too much,,, you can have some arcing. It's evident that this has happened as the clean spot on the left side of the holder shows.
It also has a lot of worn (low) brushes. This pic shows the difference between the two.
We cleaned off the carbon build up with some contact cleaner which will be good enough for now. After the operating season is over we'll hit it with a pressure washer and change out all the brushes.
We also have a modern controller to install for the cooling system to swap out for the old one.
Our operating season is winding down, with just a few weeks left till we put em in the shop till spring. We still have a few trips left ( East Stroudsburg, Tobyhanna, and Delaware Water Gap ).
It looks like the B will not be going on any on these trips. we gave her a close inspection today and decided against putting her out on the main because two air leaks. We don't need any unscheduled stops on the main.
We also finished up the 92 day inspection on 664. We discovered that the main generator will need some maintenance, nothing major just a cleaning and some new brushes.
In this pic of 664's generator you can see the black carbon dust building up on the bronze brush holder. This is caused by normal wear of the brushes against the turning commutator. But, if you get too much,,, you can have some arcing. It's evident that this has happened as the clean spot on the left side of the holder shows.
It also has a lot of worn (low) brushes. This pic shows the difference between the two.
We cleaned off the carbon build up with some contact cleaner which will be good enough for now. After the operating season is over we'll hit it with a pressure washer and change out all the brushes.
We also have a modern controller to install for the cooling system to swap out for the old one.
My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew