NJCB RS-3 Drive Train Improvements.

[ScaleCraft]

as far as noisy...I like noisy.
All the ones I have in service are straight cut gears, not helical, and some have speedometer cable shafts.
Timex Watches...take a lickin' and keep on tickin'.

[milepost57]

I have all nation diesels with sintered wheels. I was very concerned about the electrical conductivity between these wheels and the track. When running in straight DC current I noticed arcing between the wheels and the track. My track is nickel silver. I polished all the wheels using 600 grit emery paper. This can be done in a lathe, drill press or even an electric hand drill. The original method of electrical pick up on all nation diesel trucks was that only two wheels on each truck where pick up wheels. I added phosphor bronze wipers to all the wheels so that now ALL wheels are pick up wheels. You can get phosphor bronze wheel wipers from Rod Miller. I replaced the original open frame motor with a Pittman low-cog ball bearing motor from P&D hobby shop. After all these changes, the engines ran flawlessly with no more electrical arcing running on straight DC current.
Next, I converted the engines to DCC by installing a sound decoder with “keep-alive” capacitors. These engines now run just as well as an engine with steel wheels. No arcing, no stalling and excellent slow speed performance with sintered wheels. Based on this, and if you are planning on added a DCC decoder with capacitors, I would not replace this drive or its wheels. It is true that the sintered wheels will get cruddy sooner than steel wheels, so the interval between wheel cleaning is shorter than with steel wheels but the interval between cleanings is not that bad.
With regards to noisy drives, my drives are the later helical gears which have the classic all nation gear whine which I do not mind and cannot be heard over the DCC sound decoder.

Dave Eisinger

[Robert]

Thanks Dave, That's some good information. Buffing the wheel thread surface is good idea since I'm not anxious to replace the wheels if I don't have to. I have some wipers from Rod Miller in my stash. You say you arranged them to get all wheels picking up current...are they rubbing on the polished thread surface or the unpolished back face of the wheels ?

Robert

[milepost57]

the wipers contact the inside surface of the wheels. notice that I also replaced the nylon tubes with northwest short line parts.

[Robert]

Good picture worth a thousand words Dave...excellent! I have those same wipers. Some of the discussion here also concerned the exposed gears and their lubrication being somewhat subject to ballast intrusion etc. Have you had any issues?

Robert

[milepost57]

I never had any ballast enter the gears. I was a member of a model RR club that had All Nation F units with the same open geared drive.
the ballast on the club layout was not even glued down and still no ballast ever got into the drives that I recall.
I always liked these all nation drives. keep them lubed and they should give you may years of service.

[rrjjf]

Dave,

Those F3 units at the BSME are Atwater Models (the developer of the AN castings) going back to the late 1940s. When I rejoined the club in 1978 I was told by an older member that their gears were worn out. I took a look at them and discovered that the motor brushes were almost completely worn away. At that time All Nation Lines still had the original motor brushes in stock so I ordered 2 sets and replaced the old brushes. Those locos are still in operation at the club. The gear teeth on the towers are straight cut. The club has had problems with sintered iron wheels picking up poorly.

If it were mine to do, I would order some NWSL 40"172 tread steel wheels, machine them to fit the original axles and replace the sintered iron wheels.

Joe

[J. S. Bach]

Joe,
Were they the ones lettered "BALTIMORE, SOUTH MOUNTAIN & EASTERN"?

[rrjjf]

if my memory serves me correctly they were painted as "Mason Dixon Lines" They weer repainted many years ago, 1979/80 as Allegheny Northern the name of the O scale railroad.

Joe

[RDSRR]

Sorry this is so late. Below are pictures, first how I received this used and then the NWSL new motor and drive.

I did replace the drive chains and Jy fixed and bad truck for me. Other then that I left the wheels alone.

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[J. S. Bach]

if my memory serves me correctly they were painted as "Mason Dixon Lines" They weer repainted many years ago, 1979/80 as Allegheny Northern the name of the O scale railroad.
Joe

B&O colors before the re-paint? I vaguely remember the AN as I left the BSME at about that time to devote my time to the Tractioneers. I could only afford one club back then and I lived one block away from them.

[Robert]

Thanks for the follow-up Dan...photos always a help. I have that same motor available to swap in case the original turns out to be a dud. It's a work in process.

Robert