01-01-2018, 12:14 PM
Well, the photos illustrate the validity of my memory quite well. 
You may be able to use either Evergreen styrene tubing or, perhaps more preferably, the harder plastic tubing from Plastruct, to replace the sleeves on the non-geared drivers. Use a short section of the next biggest size to re-create the centering hub mid-axle.
The geared driver presents more of a problem...NorthWest Short Line offers a replacement gear for the Bachmann "Daylight" 4-8-4, but I think that it may not fit any of the other Northern types. You could send Dave an e-mail at NWSL to see what he has to offer. I'm surprised that they don't list replacement parts for all axles on Bachmann Northerns, as I'd think there to be more of them needing such a repair than the number of Daylight GS-4s out there.
If it were mine, and I really needed to get it back in service, I'd attempt to enlarge the slot for the geared driver, then use brass tubing sleeves over the plastic hubs. There's already some slop in the slots anyway, so if you measure the total amount needing to be removed, using calipers, you can then reset them to half of that amount and set the points on a divider to match. You can then use the divider's tips to scribe the frame halves around the slots for the geared driver. A flat file will do the vertical portions, and you can finish the curve at the base of the slots with a round needle file.
(A decent set of dividers will allow you to adjust the length of the tips, so that one can be positioned slightly longer than the other. The half-measurement from the calipers is then transferred from the inside edge of the longer tip to the tip of the shorter one. When the long tip is placed against the inner face of the slot, the dividers can be slid down into the slot, around the bottom and back up the other side, with the short tip scribing a line indicating the amount of material needing to be removed.)
If you're really ambitious, you could do all of the slots in this manner, and then use brass tubing on all axles for a more permanent repair.
One cure that works well for screws which back themselves out as the locomotive runs, is to coat the threaded end of the screw with contact cement. Let it dry for the time specified on the tube or container, then re-install the screw. The contact cement provides enough resistance that it usually won't back-out on its own, but because the screw isn't actually glued in place, it can be removed easily if necessary.
Contact cement works in a similar manner if you have Kadee couplers losing their knuckle springs on a regular basis. This was more common on the early Kadees of the '50s, which used a mechanical, rather than magnetic, method for uncoupling. Simply apply a tiny dab of contact cement to one (or both) nubs on which the springs are mounted, then, while the cement is still wet, re-install the spring. The coupler will function as it should, and the springs will stay in place.
I'm certainly no authority on Pennsy operations (or anything else, for that matter
), but I'll hazard a guess that it's something to do with the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines.
Wayne
You may be able to use either Evergreen styrene tubing or, perhaps more preferably, the harder plastic tubing from Plastruct, to replace the sleeves on the non-geared drivers. Use a short section of the next biggest size to re-create the centering hub mid-axle.
The geared driver presents more of a problem...NorthWest Short Line offers a replacement gear for the Bachmann "Daylight" 4-8-4, but I think that it may not fit any of the other Northern types. You could send Dave an e-mail at NWSL to see what he has to offer. I'm surprised that they don't list replacement parts for all axles on Bachmann Northerns, as I'd think there to be more of them needing such a repair than the number of Daylight GS-4s out there.
If it were mine, and I really needed to get it back in service, I'd attempt to enlarge the slot for the geared driver, then use brass tubing sleeves over the plastic hubs. There's already some slop in the slots anyway, so if you measure the total amount needing to be removed, using calipers, you can then reset them to half of that amount and set the points on a divider to match. You can then use the divider's tips to scribe the frame halves around the slots for the geared driver. A flat file will do the vertical portions, and you can finish the curve at the base of the slots with a round needle file.
(A decent set of dividers will allow you to adjust the length of the tips, so that one can be positioned slightly longer than the other. The half-measurement from the calipers is then transferred from the inside edge of the longer tip to the tip of the shorter one. When the long tip is placed against the inner face of the slot, the dividers can be slid down into the slot, around the bottom and back up the other side, with the short tip scribing a line indicating the amount of material needing to be removed.)
If you're really ambitious, you could do all of the slots in this manner, and then use brass tubing on all axles for a more permanent repair.
gna Wrote:.....Runs ok, but lots of minor problems--screw backing out, stray metal screw on bench sticking to motor when fixing :oops: Think I've got it now. It needs to run quite a bit more to break it in.
One cure that works well for screws which back themselves out as the locomotive runs, is to coat the threaded end of the screw with contact cement. Let it dry for the time specified on the tube or container, then re-install the screw. The contact cement provides enough resistance that it usually won't back-out on its own, but because the screw isn't actually glued in place, it can be removed easily if necessary.
Contact cement works in a similar manner if you have Kadee couplers losing their knuckle springs on a regular basis. This was more common on the early Kadees of the '50s, which used a mechanical, rather than magnetic, method for uncoupling. Simply apply a tiny dab of contact cement to one (or both) nubs on which the springs are mounted, then, while the cement is still wet, re-install the spring. The coupler will function as it should, and the springs will stay in place.
gna Wrote:....Any guesses what I'm trying to model here?...
I'm certainly no authority on Pennsy operations (or anything else, for that matter
), but I'll hazard a guess that it's something to do with the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines.Wayne