Tackled a major mental obstacle Saturday evening. Four years ago I picked up an unpainted Omnicon PRR I1 2-10-0; added a Tsunami medium steam decoder and was happy. Sent it to my custom painter, an old O scaler, great painter but he can't test run DCC equipted models. When I got it back, the model ran great for about 30 minutes, then locked up tight - major clunk!! Spent several evenings working but couldn't find the issue, eventually tore the locomotive completely apart. I grew increasingly frustrated and boxed up all the parts before I threw it across the room into the wall!
So, after two years in the box, I dragged it out Saturday to take another run at it with the collective wisdom of Sam McCoy, Chuck West and others at the DPV gathering. Rather intimidating to open the box and try to figure out what to do first when you are looking at a brass locomotive in "kit" form with no notes! After removing all the side rods and drivers, it finally hit us that there were two issues, a mis-installed main (piston) rod that had ground off the cross head guide and bearing blocks out of position on the front driver. Long story short... after assembly, testing, re-assembly, more testing - punctuated by updates on the progress through Chicago of the real, 12" to the foot gauge, Schnable car by John Griffin, I had a 2-10-0 that runs (and sounds) like a champ. Remove the motor and you can roll it down the rails with your little finger. Maybe perseverance does pay off, at least it felt better than throwing it at the wall - although I have momentarily enjoyed taking a three pound sledge hammer to a few things!! <G> The only question now for all you Pennsy wonks: is the "Pennsy Banshee whistle" on the Tsunami medium steam decoder (CV115, setting #3) appropriate? It sounds a little wimpy to me... Great fun and a successful Saturday evening with a bunch of great friends - Sunday morning breakfast too!! Jim --- In [email protected], "mhrywest" <mhr...@...> wrote: > > I did a little <snip> building, ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
