It really depends on the engine. I have some that I don't service at all (new Kato Mikados). I have some that I completely disassemble, including desoldering motor leads (Older Arnold German livery locos). In between, I get them as clean as I can and then put a little oil or grease on the gears (again loco dependent, what I use). If you post the models your interested in, I'm sure you'll get responses.
First, you bring it into the steaming bay, then you back it in and couple up so it doesn't run away if you hit the throttle. Next you pull the pin that drops the fire grate and burning coals onto the ground. Once you pick the hot metal out of the ashes, you open the blower valve and then the blow down valve, which sprays hot steam and water on the coals, and also removes all the accumulated crud from the bottom of the boiler. While this is emptying, also remove the tender drain plug to remove the remaining water, and pump the tender pump to help clear foreign material. The last step after the metal has cooled (about an hour) is to spray the whole thing with WD40 so that it doesn't rust. Oh, wait, N Scale! Easy as pie. Get 91% alcohol from the drug store. Place a strip of paper towel on the tracks, and dribble a bit of alcohol on it. Turn on the power to the track, about 3/4 speed. Place one engine truck on the rails, and one on the rails with the towel between the rails and the wheels. When you turn on the power, the wheels will spin and clean off the residue leaving black dirt strips on the towel. Reverse the engine and do it again. You can do this with steamers too, but try VERY hard not to get the alcohol on the traction tire, since it will disintegrate. Very thin 1/2" strips seems to work well. Ta Da! :tb-biggrin:
I think the old 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' rule applies here, other than cleaning the wheels as Tony Burzio suggests, I don't do anything more, or disassemble an engine anymore than I have to unless there's something severely wrong with it. Maybe a small amount of light oil or grease designed for the purpose applied to the gears if needed but that's about it, and most modern mechanisms if looked after and treated properly don't even need that very often.
Only thing I do different...I use a new coffee filter...not paper towel. Paper towel can shred or just spin off small fibers that can get spun up into the trucks. Coffee filters wont disinegrate. You can rotate the coffee filter when it gets dirty from the gunk off the trucks. Just move the engine back and forth onto and off of the alcohol damp filter. Rotate when dirty...repeat. JMO. * After cleaning the wheels I wipe off the bottom of the truck. I only use ONE (1) small drop of oil dropped on only ONE (1) of the gears visible when looking at the bottom of the truck. Place the engine on the track and run it around he layout at least one time. This will distribute that small amount of oil throughout all the gears. DO NOT over oil. .
I remove the shell and oil 'round(I use the pointed end of a tooth pick) and clean the wheels with 91% alcohol. Replace shell and good to go till the next time..
If you are asking about Atlas/Kato diesels don’t forget to clean the cups of the brass pickup thingies in the trucks. They collect/develop crud almost as fast as the wheels. This requires you to disassemble the loco and truck. If you do a lot of switching with a DCC ready loco and you notice it has a tendency to not start each time you switch directions then the contacts between the motor and the PC board have become dirty, corroded or misaligned. I get this a lot.
I do the "controversial" Wahl oil method. Simply drop a few drops of clipper oil on your track before an operating session/running of trains. I have never had to clean my locomotive wheels since. This method is used on a number of popular layouts including Eric Brooman's Utah Belt.
The coffee filter is a great tip. I did not think of that and was always concerned with the paper towel getting drawn up into the gears. If I could give you reputation points I would. I over oiled my IM tunnel motors and I think I caused a gear to slip out of its mount, but IM gladly sent me a new assembly.Whew. I will take apart the othe IM loco and clean to start fresh. Also another great tip thanks. I intend to use NO-OX on all these moving contact. http://www.sourcetelsupply.com/cata...d=131&osCsid=fe14a1efd3c97e6192cbf63e9d768ab6 I just recieved some and have 15 locos to treat and 500' of track to treat with it.
NO-OX... ** ATERNATE USE AS MODEL TRAIN RAIL NON-CORROSION ** Verrrrryyyyyyyyyy inteereesssttting...:thumbs_up: thnxs .
