Darth's Train Shop - Mass Train Repair #3 Part 2!

[@jimjohnston7688]

Man, you really have a knack for making these old guys work again. Really impressive work

[@a2020vision_official]

Excellent set of repairs. I'm the one who picked up the General and the E8, it was pretty cool to see you there! Keep up the great work!

[@DarthSantaFe]

Thanks, it was nice to see you there! I hope both of those are running well for you!

[@Dragonbear13-k2r]

I am so impressed with your skills at repairing these older model locos especially the steamers. And I am impressed with your calm voice and demeanor while working on the locos. You don’t seem to get frustrated while working and that is very pleasant to see and hear. I wish I had your knowledge, skill and attitude while working on the models. Also let me add that I like your simple small layout but I’m curious why you haven’t painted your buildings, such as that small station near the cross-over at the near edge of your layout? Thanks for posting this series of repair videos. They were most entertaining.

[@DarthSantaFe]

Thanks! The station is one building I put together kind of poorly when I was still a kid. I thought of painting it, but I'm probably going to replace it with one that's properly built and painted instead.

[@kriscarver-seaboyer9204]

Excellent work, Darth. As you brought out your K4 I was saying to my screen “that’s not a Bowser, that’s a Penn Line”. Could tell just by the design of the frame - Bowser liked using built-up brass for their frames as well as square brass axle bearings. I’ve got an older A6 Atlantic and it’s a Penn Line too. Solid lead alloy boiler allows for great tractive effort, and I imagine that’s what it would take to get a solid train of Walthers wood-and-metal heavyweights rolling. Those suckers are heavy!

[@w.rustylane5650]

In order to feed the monster (algorithm) I'll leave a comment. Great repair video. I'm a firm believer in neodymium magnets and changed all the magnets in my Pittman (open frame) motors. It sure made a huge difference in current draw and performance. As for the American standard 4-4-0, I have a Bachmann one and you cannot run it very long pulling any load without the motor heating up and melting the plastic drive gear on the shaft causing it to just spin. I ended up super gluing the drive gear to the shaft and never run it for any length of time. Cheers from eastern TN

[@DarthSantaFe]

@@w.rustylane5650 Thanks! I replace the magnets when needed, but my remagnetizer does a good job when all they need is to be brought back up to full original strength. The old Bachmann 4-4-0 could get pretty hot with that pancake motor in the tender. I remotored mine with a good can motor, and the running quality improved significantly!

[@williamsantangelo]

Thank you Darth for parts 1 and 2 great repairs indeed

[@MygrandpasTrain]

Looks like lots of fun, nice engines! I just picked up a PennLine K4, along with 6 other diecast engines. cant wait to get it running again. Has a split in the brass driver rim, which is unusual. I'm hoping JB weld will fix that

[@DarthSantaFe]

@@MygrandpasTrain That is odd! If it’s the grounded wheel, one other possible fix could be to bridge the split with solder and then carefully sand and polish it smooth.

[@goodrails]

Very cool. We had one like it around the Christmas tree.

[@vincenttolve9756]

Great work.

[@Dawsonsrailfanadventures74]

I really enjoy you tear down and repaints

[@joediberardino4419]

Awesome job well done

[@RebelGohan]

How do you do this? I love your videos! Very inspirational!

[@1471SirFrederickBanbury]

nice work with all of these! Life's still getting in the way of me rewinding the Varney, but yesterday I did have just enough time to mess around with the Hobbytown E-unit, fixing the shorting problems and a couple of the slipping drive tubing, so now the only issue is the flywheel-gear tower universal, though I would like to replace those gears with better ones at a slightly lower ratio, and I still need to get a Cary E3 body for a better start to making this an E1 (I really like the E1 and want something better and smoother than the BLI one). I also eventually want to work out a way to spring the trucks like the way Penbits does it, but that can wait.

[@DarthSantaFe]

@@1471SirFrederickBanbury Sounds like you’re making progress! The Cary E3 bodies do come up now and then, or another option is to use the shell from a Hallmark brass E1.

[@1471SirFrederickBanbury]

@@DarthSantaFe I'm considering that, though its hard to resist temptation of a Cary body for only $25! I found something interesting with universals vs tubing. The only tubing I have is soft silicone, which works great between the flywheel and the gear tower, and if I have it between the trucks (with Hobbytown universals between the motor and the flywheel) the crawl is astonishing, but the tubing slips under force, while the opposite arrangement gives amazing pulling power, but not as good of a crawl, so I'll have to experiment there.

[@erikhilsinger9421]

Nicely done.

[@Iconoclasher]

Why did some steamers have sloped back tenders? That would cut into water carrying capacity.

[@DarthSantaFe]

@@Iconoclasher I believe it was for switching duty. The sloped back would make it much easier to see behind from the cab.

[@hakannilsson9490]

Nice renovations! I have the Penn line 4-6-2 which I assembled in my teens. Very heavy and sturdy model. I'm working at the moment on a Arbour 0-4-0t A3a and I have had tremendous help watching your videos on the A3 build. A question what paints do you use for the smokebox and cab roof?

[@DarthSantaFe]

@@hakannilsson9490 Thanks! The smoke box is a mix of about 25% silver and 75% black, and the cab roof is PRR Tuscan red.

[@donttreadonmetal5073]

Hey Darth, I have a question. I have two Proto 1000 C-Liners that have grab iron details in a little bag. If I install them, will they stay in or do they have to be glued?

[@DarthSantaFe]

I press-fit the grab irons on mine, and they're fitting tightly. They are thin, so be sure to press the pins as straight as possible to avoid damage and they should be all good!

[@politicsandtrains]

Are these all yours or do you repair engines for people and are you in the US or Canada?

[@DarthSantaFe]

@@politicsandtrains Anything in the “Darth’s Train Shop” series is something that will go up for sale. The rest are either from my own collection or pieces sent to me for repair. I’m located in the US.

[@chrisloomis1489]

Sprung brass engines are superior in tracking.

[@StrasbourgNumber90]

Hey darth, i have a minitrains porter 0-4-0 saddle tank engine that's missing a screw and it's strapped if you mind helping me fix it?

[@DarthSantaFe]

I might be able to fix that. If you can contact me at [e-mail] then maybe we can work something out for it.