I've got an older Hallmark brass USRA Light Mountain I'm having trouble with. On one of the drivers the insulation between the tire and the wheel has broken down on the insulated side of the driver set. Since this loco is set up like N scale steamers of old, ie: the locomotive picks up power from one side while the tender picks up from the other, this creates a short circuit. My question is what can I do? Does the insulation material need to be replaced? If so where can I get it? I thought about just wicking some thin CA into it but I don' know if that will work. Anybody ever had this same experience? Suggestions?
Clear lacquer (Testors, for instance) can be used for insulating some parts of brass engines. Don't know if appropriate with yours. If any friction is possible the lacquer would eventually wear. But I suppose another coat could be applied if so. Ben
Remove the traction tire and add some thin double sided tape to that driver. Then place the traction tire on that driver. That should insulate the driver so there is no short.
The driver doen't have to be removed to add the double sided tape. A strip of tape about 1 mm wide can be added to the driver by applying slight power to the steamer turned upside down . You can then add the tape to the slow moving driver.
Sorry Bob, I think I confused the issue by using the word "tire". I'm not talking about a rubber traction tire. There is a short, you can tell by all the arcing, between the metal tire (outer rim) and the metal wheel (the spoked portion) in the middle. The only thing I can figure is there is a VERY thin strip of insulation material between these two parts of the driver assembly. When I first picked this little jewel up about 10 years ago it ran like a swiss watch. Obviously something has happened over the years to break this material down. I know the problem is in the driver because I've pulled it out of the frame and went over it with an Ohm meter. This has ruled out the possibility of it shorting out on another part of the locomotive such as the frame or siderods. Like I said, I thought about just wicking some thin CA in between the two parts but I don't want to permanently glue them together and potentially not fix the problem.
This same thing happened to me..... None of the other fixes will work. Here is the fix You may Take a n scale wheel gage and a very good eye for this to work. Take the wheel and pull off the "metal tire" from the hub where the insulation has broken down. Go to the local hobbie store and buy THICK or gap filling super glue and "accelerant". Put a layer of superglue around the entire hub and install the tire gage the tire and make sure that the wheel is in gage and does not wobble. Spray with accelerant to secure.
BTW Just read your last post the super glue will work... I did it on a key cab forward, it has been running great for a year now.
Thanks for the idea. I have an old Key SP mountain that also has a dead short in the front driver set. Use to be a nice slow runner until that developed. First N locomotive that I got back in the mid 80's that did not run at warp speed. Now I just have to work up the nerve to deal with the tiny springs in the suspension again. Mark T
