Can We Make This Strange Japanese Train from eBay Run Again?

One day when randomly browsing eBay I found this strange, damaged Japanese train set. It wasn't going for much so I decided to take my chances on it and see what it was about. I haven't ever worked on anything quite like this before so it was a unique experience. I did manage to get it running through a bunch of "zip tie" style repairs, haha.

[@fernsnyder7072]

I'm an old fart, and I can remember those style motors powered almost every cheap japanese toy when I was a kid. They weren't 12 volt though usually more like 3 or 6. Great video I had my doubts you'd get it to run at all.

[@canadianbehaviour8280]

I appreciate the honesty, old fart 😂

[@SMTMainline]

I suspect the motor was designed to run on batteries, my 20 volt controller might be a bit much for it.

[@evancarr7392]

@@SMTMainline 20 volts! I can only guess that's what happened to the brushes last time! I have the same set and it runs on 4.5 to 6 volts.

[@ThePeninsulaRailfan]

@@canadianbehaviour8280 you are welcome whippersnapper

[@tommurphy4307]

mabuchi

[@canadianbehaviour8280]

He was probably one of the assembly workers for tyco in his previous life. Not sure how else he’d be able to bring back that fossil.

[@randallellison6421]

Him and DirtyDan were probably brothers in that same past life and both of them worked at Tyco!🤣

[@dbtech7914]

Impressive fabrication on the brush assembly.

[@SMTMainline]

Thank you

[@MMRails]

You’re the only person I know who browses eBay for broken trains. Haha. Ad: “Great train in working order!” Harrison: “Pass” Great work as always. Pretty impressive actually.

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks Mark. Honestly I find the broken stuff more entertaining.

[@May-The-Tank-Engine]

@@SMTMainline me to

[@Petemonster62]

SMT - You may want to connect more " feeder wires " to different spots of your mainline track. That should help the locomotives that don't have all of their wheels picking up current.

[@randallellison6421]

Another great restoration Harrison! Looks like the cursed Acela has some competition now!

[@stefanschneider3681]

„I don‘t know anything about this kind OF motor“ - and takes it apart without hesitating a second 😱😅! And again: You just DON’T GIVE UP! Great job 👍!

[@trainst]

It all most looks like a classic Lionel O scale set scaled down

[@4everdc302]

Speciality chapter of the SMT shop manual.👍🚂🇨🇦

[@caboosech]

nice to see you restore a nice train set back to runing shape

[@davidstrainsandlego]

Those old Japanese trains are pretty interesting

[@leverettrailfan5414]

Quirky little set. I always love oddball trains, I tend to collect them when I can get them cheap enough. Most either don't run, or run very poorly, so I tend not to use them ever. Sometime I may be able to work things out, but for now there's easier and more fun things to work on.

[@magform]

Try fifty to sixty years old. Louis Marx always built items to a price, and they were all toys to be played with. No intent to be model railroad, this was toy trains, and play value for the price was the game. Like Marx' O gauge offerings, they weren't afraid to steal other manufacturers ideas, with just enough difference not to be copyright infringement. As a collector of Marx for many years, I have always found them simple to repair, though I have never owned a HO F-unit. But Athearn, Varney, Tyco-Mantua, Revell, Lionel and others all had HO F-units. And all had Santa Fe warbonnet livery available. Really deep flanges. I'm surprised it does not bind in the switches. Have Marx O guage Santa Fe units with similar livery. From the days before the NMRA X2F coupler became standard. N guage also went through this dilemma before Arnold Rapido allowed, about 1968, other manufacturers to use a copy of their coupler, allowing interchangeability between different manufacturers. Runs too fast like any toy train!

[@arrow1414]

I forgot to add: I strongly recommend that you think about getting a 3D printer! You are so good at fabricating things! And I am sure you can get a lot more locos and rolling stock up and running again making your own replacement parts especially gears and universal joints!

[@The_Phone_Bin_Diver]

I think TOMY Plarail made a similar looking model but it is slightly larger than ho scale and ran on C cell batteries.

[@ta22stcoupe]

I just love these oddball machines with their quirky mechanisms

[@Trains-With-Shane]

Nice job on this one. Especially nice fabrication on that brush system. Sure is a ripper! The Japanese do like fast trains.

[@danieltaylor5306]

Hi Harrison, I recently visited a toy train museum in Wheeling WV and they had one of these sets. They identified it as a British Marx set that was made in Hong Kong. No date given for it though.

[@Jigoku_Samurai]

definitely an interesting train, different band drive than what we're used to seeing. nice to see it running. anyone else though started thinking 'cursed accela' when it was running?

[@MBTA-1028]

If this wasn’t smt I would be surprised that it was running but this is smt that we are talking about here

[@SMTMainline]

Someone is laying it on thick, haha. Thanks through.

[@MBTA-1028]

Do you know what maker this loco is

[@crsrdash-840b5]

Great video! There goes the fuel costs.

[@myvideosetc.8271]

Top restoring work, I also love how you leave the mistakes and the things that don't work in the video.

[@MovetoSEPRAILnTheRealRajo6466]

Japanense Rail Gauge is 1,067 mm Gauge so that train set it basically United States beacuse the engine is a F unit, there no F units in Japan

[@Petemonster62]

SMT - There is a story in the Spring 2023 edition of Classic Trains magazine about a Penn Central E unit that struck a trailer of a semi-truck by Delta, Ohio back in 1970. They had to remove the pilot & a photo of that diesel resembles this pilot-less F unit!

[@TomzTrainzandAccessories]

#10 rubber bands is what probably would work best with this. I use those on my older Athearn RDC’s because they too use the rubber band drive system.

[@JBofBrisbane]

A second-hand train dealer I see regularly has two of the carriages from one of these sets. They appear to be based on Triang tooling, but are shorter than the Triang coaches. There was no loco - presumably thrown out long ago when either the motor stopped working or the rubber bands perished.

[@alanwbelcher]

Amazing job turning a junker into a runner!

[@Queen_Vibri]

the passenger cars could be good for making the silver streak train -Hank

[@zvonkobarbaros1145]

This way of transmision have some European made locomotives. I have seen two or tree types of gumm rubber transmision from electro motor to wheels.

[@RedRiverRailfan]

thanks for sharing Harrison! Love your channel

[@stacy3]

Harrison ford

[@mercuryoak2]

When i first seen this i was thinking Hard telling not knowin if it was to run. I love the Way you did a macgyver of the brushes and the bands which I use myself for my small band drive diesels that have. Basically slot car motors. Very interesting locomotive set. Amazing the couplers look like Kadee. Its so neat its of Athearn band drive roots. Very unique . bang up job. Funny to see a f unit go like a bullet train lol zoom at least it didnt go on the floor thank goodness.

[@raymondleggs5508]

I have an old Piko set and the engine needs a push to get going, if I touch wires directly to the motor it goes instantly...most of the time

[@williamsantangelo]

Hi Harrison that set appears to be Hong Kong Marx very nice find!!! LI NY portjefferson loves Marx

[@NERRP2017]

I get the cursed Acela vibes this gives Harrison’s crabby Acela set a whole new look lol

[@jarrettdurrant3199]

I love old band drives. I have a couple myself!

[@ChristopherBrown-mq1lg]

Another great save ! 👍

[@jacksnavely559]

Very good VIDEO, neat and different train 👍👍😎

[@MattKonsol]

The Impressive Japanese train set I wonder what Japanese company makes these?

[@BAKU2K2]

It's definitely not KATO, looks way to cheap to be one of theirs.

[@martinross5521]

Brilliant work, Harrison. Another wreck gets another lease of life. Hope it settles down easily for slower running 🏃‍♂️

[@billmccabe9601]

The drive style is an improved version of the early Athearn 'Rubber Band' drives from the early-mid 1960's

[@CR7659]

Fascinating. Helical cut gears. That makes it like 50 years ahead of it's time. I don't know I've ever seen one of these sets in person. The locomotive shell is a copy of an American Flyer HO I think more than a Marx (although the Flyer one seems to copy from either Marx or Varney). I've run into a few other odd HO pieces which look like the Flyer but are not. Seems like they too were made in Japan.

[@SMTMainline]

I wonder if they worked with Marx or just ripped off the shell and designed their own drive.

[@joezuccardo3245]

American Flyer A & B Diesels units 1955-1959 were made by Varney, A units made 1961-1963 were copies of Marx and were known as pike-master engines, The shell on this engine looks like American-Flyer Pike-master witch was made in Japan

[@CR7659]

@@joezuccardo3245 There is one Missouri Pacific unit that uses the old shell with holes drilled in it so it will fit the new drive.

[@joezuccardo3245]

@@CR7659 Yes the Missouri Pacific set was made in 1963 It used the Varney shell with Pike master drive Never knew the real reason for this Maybe at Gilbert they still had Varney shells and decided to use them up as AF HO ended in 1963 I have 3 or 4 of these sets To run them I put a Varney drive in as the pike master never ran well The axel gears aways split

[@CR7659]

@@joezuccardo3245 Just using up leftovers, Lionel did the same toward the end

[@trs-no8lm]

You should always check when wiring locomotives just to keep them going the same way. I hate to see you try to run 2 trains both going opposite ways

[@FuzionHyperX]

Hey SMT nice video today, I was watching your video on my lunch break at work 😂

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks

[@FuzionHyperX]

@@SMTMainline absolutely 👍🏻

[@Brianrockrailfan]

great video

[@rwheatley0206]

Glad you got it running.

[@alcopower5710]

Interesting find Harrison

[@38911bytefree]

Have you tried belts for audio gear. This size is very small, but it still you can find them. This size is common on CDROM drives and VCR LOAD sections. They dont strech much, but you usually manage it by using different sizes, O rings do the trick too. But Audio belts are better and have more grip.

[@MSRTA_Productions]

For a sec I thought it was JR lol

[@dewaynejelks9088]

I have recently discovered and have been enjoying your videos. Thanks for putting these out there. I see you do a lot of restorations and a few mods. Do you know if anyone has ever made a train into the "Silver Streak" from the film "Silver Streak"? What kind of train was it?

[@SMTMainline]

The locomotive from Silver streak was a slightly decorated Canadian Pacific F7

[@UnprofessionalFlip]

Rainbow Loom bands made that thing work. I cannot believe it and I saw it.

[@shockstrains5077]

what an interesting locomotive

[@chasesrailwaylinesrr6447]

Looks like something play art made to me

[@SMTMainline]

I agree

[@chasesrailwaylinesrr6447]

Low detail bad drive cheaply made looks like play art building

[@train_man5975]

I recently bought an n scale Union Pacific. F unit. And an n scale lot!

[@rj29productions]

I was watching that listing and saw it sold, it might be a 6 volt motor, Marx used the same motor from that engine in their battery o gauge stuff, which were only 6 volt and go very fast on higher current, so more than 6 volts might overload the motor

[@SMTMainline]

I suspect it was meant to run on batteries.

[@Petemonster62]

I did have one of those Marx 70 ton switchers that was decorated for Lehigh Valley & had the 6 volt DC motor. I used a Tyco power pack to run it around my Christmas tree & the motor seemed to handle the higher voltage well!

[@cbgadget4740]

Nice job bringing that train back to life 👍👍👍

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks

[@robby062]

Nice save! Actually that drive looks like a cross between vintage Athearn Hi-Fi and Revell/Life-Like. And the despite being a Japanese offering, that locomotive shell is definitely (well, most likely) Athearn in origin.

[@SMTMainline]

I see what you mean now.

[@BlaxlandRidge3]

the shell is a marx mold through and through

[@robby062]

@@BlaxlandRidge3, didn’t the Marx casting have the portholes molded closed? Also, the chassis locators are completely different.

[@BlaxlandRidge3]

@@robby062 you are correct, but minor changes in the tooling such as those are certainly plausible, however the shell is still not athearn. look up a blue box f unit shell and compare. you'll notice the nose contours are much more accurate on the athearn.

[@robby062]

I can’t argue about that as I’m certainly no expert. Also, that looks like an F3 or FT and the Athearn versions are usually F7’s/F9’s.

[@jesikebiking]

On this engine, if you get it working == you could be called a miracle worker

[@deno_editz5721]

Good👍👍👍👍👍

[@jeffklockowskisr8377]

Good job

[@thehallfamilylightshow]

Ebay trains don't always work when you get them for like 5 dollars. when you get a train for 5 dollars you know smth bad is wrong about it!! lol. harrison!! im a HUGE fan i like and watched and subscribed to all ur videos!! i also hit that ding ding bell!! have a awesome day!

[@railfanpeninsula]

Love your videos

[@sleepy8490]

I love how janky the brushes are. Great job!

[@petemiksich5760]

Very impressive Harrison! It takes a lot of skill and knowledge to mod your way through a repair like that!

[@tiam4152]

i love that this one looks so similar to the dinner train in my home town :)

[@jeffsikes5312]

i had those sets in there original boxes a few years ago they were battery powerd sets but fit on ho scale track !!!.

[@staufferfamily9629]

Just subscribed!

[@szappitello]

GOD BLESS TO ALL and im in the hosptital i had a bad bike crash

[@wheeling827]

That's cool!

[@xavierjones1354]

Two ways of doing things The right way and a wrong way you are doing it the right way

[@bryanwhat2268]

Well that was cool

[@bobbylee2853]

Any Locomotive without a headlight really is cheap.😅

[@Bobbys110]

Love the video

[@joallawestervelt6918]

That is cool. It really zooms around the track. Way to improvise Harrison. 💕😊💕

[@adriandaniel8958]

Hi, Harrison take a rubber glove and cut the little finger,it works.

[@juansilveti9336]

que hwrmosa locomotora ylos bagones de lujo

[@fredboiandfriends5486]

It looks like it is wearing the same paint scheme of a Shinkansen set

[@dellvostro3008]

I need help I have an old Tyco loco that makes gear stripping noises but I replaced all the gears and wheeles

[@SMTMainline]

Have you checked to see if the pivot gear is slipping?

[@Petemonster62]

@@SMTMainline - By saying " pivot gear ", I am assuming you are referring to the metal gear that is on the armature shaft of a Power Torque motor.

[@arrow1414]

The drive train is very similar to early 1950s Athearn rubber band drive trains and so move at the speed of light!

[@tunneltrain96]

I'm tempted to say the set is in an RJ corman livery, it has a similar look to the dinner train sets without the logos. Quite interesting!

[@KILLUA957]

HI! can you run a ATSF bacman please

[@smalllocoguy770]

The coaches look like shorter rips of the early triang transcontinental sets

[@smalllocoguy770]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3zIaaWgfN6kl8U

[@Captain_Char]

im surprised there was no carbon brushes but just copper ones

[@sergioarroyoguerrero5434]

A Japanes passengers train set. Kato maked scale trains. Con cord is the Japan. I buy Kato train set , N scale.

[@michaelmaciejewicz7534]

You forgot to put the o ring in

[@Sirensofgrimescounty]

hi smt, can you run your GO transit train that i see in the background of some of your videos? or if its broken, at least do a fixing video or run a train with a CN or CP locomotive?

[@SMTMainline]

I often run it during livestreams.

[@Sirensofgrimescounty]

@@SMTMainline alright i will be sure to join one

[@DistanceNsVeterans]

Yep Japanese toy factory sid not know how to build our yee old F unit right cause where is the nose light and the number boards pose to be a bit pushed to the front not on the side of the nose part

[@rsbennett6589]

12min19sec, O.K. ; so how long did it REALLY take you to fix it??

[@SMTMainline]

Probably an hour and a half if you include making the parts etc.

[@acrranscaleandlifejourney4330]

Lol HST!!!!

[@lamatrisefontain98]

I’ve seen you pull some rabbits out of the hat but this time my friend, I think you should have save your $30.00. Somebody who is into weird and ugly would have bought it eventually. I don’t doubt that you will make it run.

[@2nd66tube2]

I have a similar motor that can from an old fish tank airpump

[@lesliefrank2266]

I think its early to mid 1960s wen it was made but not exacatly sure

[@googlesucks5318]

Godzilla broke it in 1954.

[@ybarrick55]

👍

[@surplusgear3545]

That does not look like a japanese locomotive it looks like a usa locomotive

[@THEVICTROLAGUY]

have enough commercials you think ???

[@mistermadmachine6311]

😮woah

[@bigwoz78]

You get what you pay for

[@SMTMainline]

Pretty much

[@franklincbq0111]

that is the cheapest looking drive i think ive seen on this channel

[@michaelmaciejewicz7534]

Use tweezers or needle nose ply r s

[@raymondleggs5508]

Zooooooommmm!!!!!