I've had my locomotives for awhile now and I feel it's time for some maintenance. I we t to my lhs and picked up some woodland scenics white grease and some lite oil also. I have a kato nw-2, a GS-4, f-7 and some atlas gp-7s. This question is probably stupid but where am I supposed to apply the grease and oil to the locomotives?
No question is stupid its all about gaining knowledge. That said typically very lightly to the worm gears and to the truck gears. The light oil is better applied to any drive shaft bearing blocks. The grease to worm gears and truck gears. The light oil can also be applied at the motor ends where the shaft bearings are but stay away from the motor brushes. The key word here is lightly. Use something like a fine point surgical steel dental pick or a toothpick to lightly apply a very small drop. With steam again with the light oil just a tiny bit to where the piston rods slide out of the steam cylinders, the valve guides and the drive rod pins. Key word again here is lightly or miniscule. Too much oil can attract dust etc. and also too much can migrate where you don't want it like on the driver tires.
As already described, for how to apply. Very minimal. You can always add a little more, but cleaning up when it is to much is often a big a headache.
Also prior to applying new lube, clean all of the old lube first. Not enough lube is better than too much in models.
