Vintage Tyco "Midnight Special" Locomotive Restoration

This vintage midnight special was kindly sent to me by @David Z to G Scale, I've been meaning to get around to fixing it and I'm not pretty happy with the results.

[@karlfortuin5794]

I had that model it was one of my favorite model trains 🚅🚃🚃🚃🚃 thanks for sharing 👍

[@tracynation239]

I converted my Tyco Baldwin RF-16 Sharknose to a pseudo BP-20 by adding extra axles and converting it to a dummy. It came with directional lighting, and it sees service on the local train, usually with an Alco RS-3C or an EMD F-7B unit. An excellent video. ♡ T.E.N.

[@JBofBrisbane]

Quick tip when you have the motor block out of a TYCO loco - put a 9V battery across the motor terminals to make sure it works, before you put it back in the bodyshell. Saves you finding out it doesn't work and pulling it out again. Also, what you are calling the "pivot gear" is actually the pinion gear. I generally use CA (super glue) to fix the pinion gear on the motor shaft. The gear it drives is the reduction gear.

[@rshackelford4445]

🎵"let midnight special, shine your light on me"🎵

[@tjprptchable]

That is a great song

[@EasternMaineRailfan]

Well, you wake up in the mornin' You hear the work bell ring And they march you to the table You see the same old thing Ain't no food upon the table And no pork up in the pan But you better not complain, boy You get in trouble with the man Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me Let the Midnight Special shine an ever-lovin' light on me Yonder come Miss Rosie How in the world did you know? By the way she wears her apron And the clothes she wore Umbrella on her shoulder Piece of paper in her hand She come to see the gov'nor She want to free her man, oh Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me Let the Midnight Special shine an ever-lovin' light on me If you're ever in Houston Well, you better do right You better not gamble There, you better not fight, Lord Or the sheriff will grab ya And the boys will bring you down The next thing you know, boy Whoa, you're prison bound Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me Let the Midnight Special shine an ever-lovin' light on me Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me Let the Midnight Special shine a light on me Let the Midnight Special shine an ever-lovin' light on me

[@hyacinthlynch843]

CCR ROCKS!

[@MMRails]

Great job. Unique model. We missed you yesterday at the club. Good times.

[@SMTMainline]

Yeah, I would have gone but I was out of town.

[@LukeLovesTrains-Mr.RailYard]

Cool video. Thanks for sharing. LJL

[@danshobbies13]

I have a bunch of Tyco locomotives. Some are 30 years old, I have never dissembled them to this extent. Learn something new everyday

[@BBCKT]

I have a BN sharknose that I converted to have dual power torque motors. Nice little runner.

[@nicolasmedellin5904]

That was great ! my new favorite ,, " ALL ABOARD ! " "THE NIGHT TRAIN ! "

[@Jigoku_Samurai]

thanks to this video, i was able to fix my Tyco Alco S424 'Rock Island' engine. my gear was there, but had come loose. soldered that and had to solder the same wire you had to cause i accidentally pulled that off. then after i got that done, i had to re-solder the wire to the back of the bulb. after all the fun was done there, i'm glad to see the engine finally moving.

[@CaptainSloose]

Nice vid! Gotta pitch that soldering iron though! Get something with a fine tip and it will serve you well!

[@Mizzinno]

That and a set of wire strippers

[@dbtech7914]

Looks like it needs a little more cleaning. If I have to replace the main pivot gear I put a piece of index card under it as a shim so it's not too tight to the motor housing. Those are my favorite motors to work on.

[@paulbervid1610]

Great job. Awesome layout.

[@warbabyproductions]

The magic is real

[@mojorisen74]

3:58... The all too familiar Tyco Engine Squeal lol.....

[@francispotter5300]

Thanks for your videos Doug in Ga

[@deltaflyer9078]

Your like the locomotive hospital! Awesome man!

[@davidztog9011]

Great job, Harrison! Two issues resolved, and another 🦈nose back to life. I knew one of those Silver Streak locomotives signed up to be a donor. Tycos are pretty much interchangeable under the shell. I'll say it again, to all of your subscribers: buy non-working locomotives for parts, especially if you're into restorations as is this channel. You should have a locomotive graveyard especially for the older locomotives in your collection. A 3D printer would come in handy to make some gears that tend to crack/loose a couple two three teeth. I could go on, but if you are still reading this, check out the livestream replay before this restoration, and see how well Harrison's efforts on the Midnight Special turned out! 👍👍👍+

[@northernohiorailfanningpro8899]

That looks Great! Keep Up the great work!

[@scottledbetter7212]

Great job ! Your the best Tyco technician on KZbin

[@WasatchGarandMan]

I blame you single handedly for my recent addiction to browsing eBay for cheap HO lots. I saw your custom Canadian DD40 and Ive been wanting to try my hand at custom paint now that I'm getting back into the late expensive hobby on the planet. And I thought firearms were pricey!

[@RealFritoTV]

So you're the guy I've been bidding against! :P

[@WasatchGarandMan]

@@RealFritoTV yeah probably, I lost on a really good auction today. An Athearn SP GP9 from 1957 that was never assembled!

[@fixedgearfever69]

I had that tyco set midnight special. Got it for Christmas 1976 from my Uncle Jim.

[@barnfulloftrains]

I haven't seen a Midnight Special in a long time, Glad you where able to fix it.

[@roseskindaeverything887]

You've got some nice serious layout! 👍🙋 Cool how you work on trains 🌹

[@trainstorm1225]

Yay! A restoration video! It’s been a while! Good job with this one!

[@BeightonJunction]

another great vid SMT keep it up :)

[@c4m3r0n]

Finally, a new restoration from SMT!

[@oldcarsaverjones5124]

I put a little sodder on the end of the motor shaft to keep the pivot gear from jumping off-works great!

[@SMTMainline]

Like I did?

[@KerleyExpress]

That is very cool looking engine

[@davidstrainsandlego]

Very cool locomotive

[@aerodisfunction9896]

I was wondering when the cool midnight shark nose was gonna be an episode, I’m glad it works! Great job

[@psl54rsniper]

Good job on tyco drive truck cleaning , may just have dirty brushes.

[@nathandelay]

That’s awesome Harrison and you are correct that is a beautiful locomotive and have an awesome day

[@MoosesWorkshop]

Love the restoration videos!

[@phoenicianlocal2363]

Yaaaaay, we got an SMT ASMR!!!! 😄😃😂😂🤙

[@Texas_and_Pacific]

Wow didn’t think anyone else would be up right now

[@mojorisen74]

8:28 Tyco started making those pivot gears out of white plastic in the 80's. They were so malformed that sometimes even a new engine would not run correctly and squeal and jump along the track.

[@markthebutcher]

Awesome stuff, the midnight special was my first ever electric train set

[@ColdSteelRails]

This has been great to watch you learn how to repair locomotives. You should definitely try to help out model train stores in your area.

[@AaronMartinCOOLVIDEO]

That's cool I used to have one When I was a kid.

[@awesomeaustin5704]

I found a midnight special at a train store a couple years ago Speaking of that train store (Berkshire trains in Lexington Kentucky) athern blue box $8 American They've got really good prices on things

[@mistertoy1]

Yesterday i restored a TYCO Union Pacific GP-20

[@2048Megabytes.]

Cool

[@MattKonsol]

Very cool bud!

[@ashevilletrainman6989]

I waited until midnight on a school night to watch this

[@SPNGLovato18]

4:00 one of my locomotives sounds like that and won’t move

[@SMTMainline]

Maybe it has the same problem, is it a tyco?

[@SPNGLovato18]

SMT Mainline I don’t believe it’s tyco, i think it’s athearn but here’s the link kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4uzaGqhjrZof9k

[@SPNGLovato18]

S2 Turbine maybe

[@fairportrails107]

Awesome

[@tjprptchable]

That's cool that the engin is called the midnight special because there is a song called the midnight special from CCR

[@joshbnsf]

👍

[@adamdennis5617]

The Silver Streak red tops actually the rarest of them. They were made towards the end of their production were they all silver ones were more common

[@pancudowny]

I had a red top one. Just gave it to my collector cousin because I was forced to move recently. Hey, how rare are the Golden Eagle "A" units?

[@jimtedesco]

Good job.

[@TSGAris]

I have a suggestion for next time you have a restoration project. Put a camera above the work space and do a time lapse. Other than that good job and have a beutiful day.

[@adamdennis5617]

I just got one of these with the Caboose sadly I'm missing the horns tho

[@crudecaboose8382]

Nice

[@davidwelch6090]

Santa Claus brought me my complete set when I was little. Still have it, has not been set up for at least 40 plus years.

[@sgtpjp]

Nice haircut ...😀 you should try one of those cold soders. Do you have a PO Box?

[@SMTMainline]

Thanks. What's a cold soder? And my P.O. box is: SMT Mainline B.P. 15 Rue Monteclair P.O. Box 30046 Gatineau, Quebec J8Y 2E0

[@sgtpjp]

SMT Mainline I will send one your way from California for sharing your videos, I have like 5.

[@ejdjfhtjekxc4407]

Congratulations on 6000 subscribers, you channel grows so fast, you haven’t even finished the 5000 sub giveaway.

[@bweldon13]

Hey smt could I send an n scale 0-6-0 for you to restore?

[@TRRailfan]

When he heard nothing from the motor and it was freewheeling I was worried that there wouldn’t be any motor in it haha

[@pancudowny]

I haven't seen a TYCO sharknose in some time, and I totally forgot they used a paint scheme like that! And it's been a long time since I saw their Torque Drive motive unit design truck in the raw, too. One more thing: Is that an SD40XX I see on the siding? And what's the story with it's scheme?

[@warbabyproductions]

Cool

[@strangleholdoutdoors]

I just got the same loco and I'm having issues. I took it apart cleaned all the hair off the wheels. Only runs in reverse. Try to go forward but doesn't. Smells a little too!

[@FepitaSusuota]

Woooow that’s a big soldering iron. Be carefully with the plastic shell

[@richardp6178]

I would use a tiny dot of superglue on that pivot gear not solder it.

[@kansasstatealerting2874]

The only Tyco thing I own is a Baby Ruth Candy Boxcar.

[@tadheath5856]

I had one when I was 11.....I'd like to find another one cause I bought 2 others I had when I was that old....like to find the Chattanooga steam engine from Tyco too.....cant remember the road number.....

[@manthony1956]

The "Midnight Special" was from about forty years ago? Is this using a pancake motor? I ask because though I am familiar with pancake motors, not in Tyco. Tyco went through many power train changes over the years. In my opinion, the worst of the lot was when they put the power unit in the center of the tender on steam locos (the 80's?). I worked part time at several hobby shops over the years. Became proficient at repairing older Tycos which were "unrepairable." Most actually could be repaired, but at that time you could buy a replacement loco for less money.

[@Petemonster62]

I wonder what Tyco Industries did with the manufacturing dies for those gears? Someone could make reproduction gears & get a lot of old engines going again!

[@dancalmpeaceful3903]

Too bad you can't get those pivot gears from someplace rather getting them from a "donor". Then again, there might be place that sells NOS (New Old Stock).

[@derbycityrailproductions2602]

*Distant Creedence Clearwater Revival*

[@josephmurrill8530]

I'm in the process of getting rid of some of my older athearn SD45T-2 3 of them and the older SD50 and SD60 series. I want to know how i can locate you and give them to you.

[@spankyharland9845]

the midnight special was pulling more then it's weight...strip those gears or popped it off.

[@nickbasiliou5744]

I have one of these (in Australia) mine needs replacement parts ie engines. Too many worn bits.

[@patrickmartin2575]

I had this

[@colerodrigues41001]

Have you ever thought about going DCC

[@metrolinxfan3005]

U uploaded that at 4 am

[@maxhemenway]

3:59

[@Mizzinno]

Quick question, why don't you clean the wheels while the locomotive is apart?

[@ajstevenson1905]

hI SMT

[@dkendrick1916]

Smt are you going to stream tonight?

[@SMTMainline]

I can't since I'm headed to a friend's house.

[@dkendrick1916]

SMT Mainline okay

[@Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

I found one in my dads basement

[@misfit2937]

its a shark nose

[@Vinyl_guy]

found one for 8$ at goodwill

[@SMTMainline]

What a deal!

[@railsofthenorthland1181]

Why do you waste time with these ugly old engines that are not realistic at all?

[@CardboardSliver]

Because even tho Tyco was a budget brand, a lot of people started on it