Thanks again, Wayne.
I started with the 4-6-0, since I was going to keep this one and it's the most complete. I needed to see if the motor actually ran so I took the front truck and boiler off to check 'under the hood'
I found that the motor turned and ran freely with the idler/compound gear, but there was an enormous bind in the drive train. I also found that this is the earlier version that has 0-80 screws holding the side rods onto the drivers.
Well it didn't take long to find the bind. the pervious owner had bent the yoke quite severely and that was causing the guide rods to pull down and pinch the crossheads. I tried to gently bend the yoke straight but it broke in the process. Fortunately the 2-8-0 kit that I was given two weeks ago that was missing all the parts had the same yoke and I swapped that in. If I can't find the parts for that kit, it may as well become a parts kit for other engines. I've also discovered that the 2-8-0 and 4-6-0 Harriman models share many parts including cabs, boilers, drivers, steam chests and others.
I re-assembled the drive train without the motor and pushed it back and forth on the workbench, no binds now.
I also took a look at the gears in this engine. Black delrin and brass, could this engine have been retro-fitted with NWSL gears?
I re-installed the motor and compound gear and ran the engine for a couple minutes in forward and reverse it break it in a bit. it ran in both directions but was considerably noisier in reverse. It also has a small hitch in it's motion, probable due to loose axles in their slots. Not much I can do about that.
after running for a bit I striped everything down for paint stripping. Since the cab and tender are already painted in Canadian Pacific I left them and stripped the paint and everything else.
one last thing I noticed was that the end holes in the side rod are elongated, is that a factory design or would this be from wear on a layout?