Old steam train drive links jam

[Robert the third2]

how do i aline the drive links on my steam engine?
I have a Bachmann HO 4-8-4 Niagara that was purchased Dec 1993.
I am tyring to install a DCC decoder and started out running the train on a DC power pack and the drive links got out of sink with each other locking the wheels.

[Doneldon]

R32-

You need a driver quartering tool to align your Niagara. NWSL makes one but I question whether the original loco justifies the time, effort and expense of upgrading it to DCC. You will still have a nearly 20-year-old plastic locomotive with 20-year-old technology.
                                                                                                                                                              -- D

[rogertra]

R32-

You need a driver quartering tool to align your Niagara. NWSL makes one but I question whether the original loco justifies the time, effort and expense of upgrading it to DCC. You will still have a nearly 20-year-old plastic locomotive with 20-year-old technology.                                                                                                                                                  -- D

20 years old, from the Botchmann era. 

[Jim Banner]

Aligning the wheels is only part of the problem.  Keeping them aligned is the other part.  I have a similar locomotive stored unserviceable because of split hubs allowing the wheels on one side to turn relative to the wheels on the other side.  I have fixed these and their Lionel predecessors by fitting the hubs with custom made sections of tubing to hold the axles tight.  Before the axles started slipping, it ran very nicely and if I can get to to run as well again, I plan to install a decoder.  I like to use decoders with back emf motor control in steam locomotives for the best in smooth starts and low speed operation because I enjoy seeing all the valve gear working.

I agree with Doneldon that there were some pretty awful locomotives on the market 20 years ago.  But there were some very good ones as well.  I have some of the original Atlas/Kato RS-3's that are fast approaching 30 years of age and as far as I am concerned, they run as well as anything produced today.  I also have two GP-38's on my roster, even though they are too new for my layout.  Both were purchased about 20 years ago.  One is plastic, the other is brass.  The plastic one will run circles around the brass one when it comes to performance.  But a comparison of details is also revealing.  The plastic one has more and finer details than the brass one.  The brass one I would definitely put in with the 20 year old stuff Doneldon wrote about.  In fact, it probably contains technology that was outdated 20 years ago.  The plastic one was built with the leading edge technology of its time, technology that is still good technology today.

So where does your Niagara fit in?  If it is like mine, it is basically the old Lionel body with an updated mechanism.  It does not have all the details we have some to expect today but it is still a good looking locomotive.  Mechanically, it has a can motor with a large worm gear that also serves as a flywheel.  I won't say that it runs as well as my RS-3's but it runs far better than the train set locomotives of 20 years ago.  Bottom line, I look forward to getting mine back on the road, the railroad that is.  Once you have yours back on its wheels, you can make your own assessment as to whether or not it merits a decoder.

Jim

p.s. to rogertra

It was similar "Botchmann era" Bachmann Plus locomotives that allowed a group of us to meet our contractual obligations with the local museum when we set up a model railroad 20 years ago.  We agreed to provide a railroad that would run through a set routine any time a member of the public pushed a button to start it.  The first locomotives we ran wore out in less than 1000 runs.  At 20,000 locomotive runs per year, we faced a financial disaster.  Enter the Bachmann Plus 2-8-0 locomotives with their shells from the sidewinder days and their new, can motor mechanisms.  Now we were looking at 50,000 runs per locomotive and financial solvency.  My Northern and presumably Robert's Niagara (same locomotive, different name) are also Bachmann Plus locomotives with the same new, rugged mechanism.  You may call the era whatever you like.  But in my opinion, they were already in the "Bettermann Era" and have been getting better and better ever since.          

[Robert the third2]

Thanks to all of you for all the good info. I looked up the quartering tool and found it cost a lot. I think I will park this project for a  time.
Thanks

[rogertra]

I have several older steam locos that I picked up a various meets.  I look for old steam, not to run but to place on the "dead line" by the roundhouse.  I model 1958 so steam was on the way out and almost every roundhouse had a "dead line" where retired steam was stored prior to scrapping.

Older "models" like 20 plus year old Bachmann locos, i.e. pre Spectrum days are great for this.  While the motors and running gear may be awful, the bodies aren't too bad and even if not 100% accurate are great for weathering, removing the rods and other bits and bobs and parking on the "dead line" awaiting scrapping.

So, if your loco isn't worth repairing, remove the motor and throw it away, remove the coupling rods and tie them on top of the running boards, cover the headlight and cab windows with "plywood", tie a piece of "canvas" over the stack, weather her up a bit and park her against the wheel stops on some spur hear the roundhouse.

[Rangerover1944]

I think I know what your problem is. When you took off the gear pan, and removed the wheel train, I think you may have the linkage out of sync when you replaced it. If I were you, take the gear pan back off, "and unfold" the wheel train, look to see and make sure your axles are all parallel and look at the linkage, turn the wheels slightly until both sides (linkage) look the same, carefully replace the wheel train. I did this same thing once, and thought it was done for good, LOL that was 35 years ago, when that linkage was real fragile. Now when I take them down, I know what to look for before I put her back together. Hope this helps! Jim

[Rangerover1944]

Oh this forum is gonna hate me! I know what it's like to try to salvage our old (50 years or so) "stuff" from when I couldn't afford $9.99 loco's, I bought the $6.99 line. I have a Tyco Chattanooga that I'm wanting to "rebuild" and put DCC in'er. I found a modeller on line who has done that and it is cool. The old pancake motor's are replaced with pancake motors taken out of destroyed computers, and other motors in the dvd drives are great too, so they say. Those tiny little screws that we pay .40 to a dollar each are there for the taking too, in old unwanted desktop computers, it's all good.

But you can't beat the technology today, plastics that are superior, and the detail on all loco's, rolling stock and buildings, and scenery goody's, and the internet making it so simple and enjoyable and fun. Look how far Bachmann has come and what it's done and doing to the industry, affordable DCC for those who care to just get started in DCC. and other manufacturers, LED's, track, turnouts, it ain't just good, it's far far better!
Jim