Bay State DL-109 Restoration Project

[R.K. Maroon]

I am happy to report that the trial assembly of the power truck with the rebuilt bolster revealed no interference or other issues:



The truck is sitting on a jar instead of on a flat surface because the worm gear is longer than it needs to be and I haven't trimmed it yet:



The sprockets and gears can now be soldered into place. The insulated wheels will be pulled before applying heat to the axles to avoid damaging the insulating bushing, which appears to be nylon.

There is one other issue to deal with. The power truck arrived with a replacement wheelset with larger-than-stock journal diameter. The new replacement axles all have the original journal size, so the wallowed journals of the sideframes need to be restored. One solution would be to plug the journal and rebore, but I am going bore them all out and install ball bearings. I have done this on passenger cars before but not a locomotive. Something new.

Jim

[bob turner]

Or just fill with K&S Tube. Nice work; gears look brand new.

[up148]

This has been so cool to watch the evolution or this restoration. Absolutely a labor of love and job well done.

I've never seen or heard a drive like this run. Do the chains make it loud?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I've never seen or heard a drive like this run. Do the chains make it loud?

I'm curious as well on that detail. Looking forward to a YouTube of these running in the future!

[sleepmac]

I'm interested in how you install the ball bearings!

Dan Weinhold

[bob turner]

I put ball bearings in a small Mallet - they actually added drag. They need to either be perfectly aligned or floating.

This one has a tiny heart pump Escap motor, and it is all it can do to haul four or five plastic cars around. I left the ball bearings in - but never repeated the experiment.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

..... a small Mallet...

Actually like the lines of that engine,

[R.K. Maroon]

Do the chains make it loud?

This project has been going on long enough that whatever happened on page one is long forgotten. Here is a video of the chassis from unit #2, which arrived more-or-less fully functional:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ie4u6h40cdeb5o5p77766/Bay-State-DL-109-2-Chassis-Test-Run.mp4?rlkey=43b9mmw3po1ubhbqxlnkgwr99&st=dax9pf6p

For what it is worth, the excellent operating condition of unit #2 was a big factor in deciding to restore the original drive of unit #1.

I'm interested in how you install the ball bearings!

I will provide the usual photos to show this. Boring the holes for the bearing is easy on a mill. The tricky part, as Bob implies, is locating the holes. Hole-to-hole spacing and sideframe-to-sideframe alignment is critical, especially on a rigid frame truck.

Having said that, I decided to fabricate the pair of kingpin shoulder screws that are needed before starting the ball bearing installation. New kingpins were needed, as one was missing completely and the other was all but sheared off. I decided it was easier to modify an existing shoulder screw rather than cut one from scratch. The first step was lathe work, which amounted to turning the part in the top of the photo into the part on the bottom:



The next step is to cut 4-40 threads. I would have this done already, but the 4-40 die I had turned out to be crap. A new one will arrive in a day or two.

Jim