Care and Feeding of New Engines

DeckRoid

Member
Hi there

I just got back into the hobby after a 30 year sabbatical. I bought a new engine, a Bachmann Spectrum GE Dash 8-40CW, and I would like to know how to care for/break in the pretty new thing.

I want to have lines; a modern one and something like the 20th Century Limited or something along those lines. I really enjoy watching old movies and watching the trains.

Thanks!
 

Nomad

Active Member
Hi Deckroid, welcome back the the best hobby in the world. I was out about 20 years before I started again.
To break in the new loco, I was told to run it forward at half throttle for 15 minutes, and then the same in reverse. You should not lube it first because they have more than enough oil from the factory.
After a year of running, do a complete tear down and cleaning, reassemble and oil the gears and bearings lightly with a good plastic compatible oil. That's it !

Loren
 

Biased turkey

Active Member
grewsome and darkcurves well described the process for breaking in a new engine.
I add one extra step: I take the engine out of the box and the first thing I do is to place it on 2 sctional track solded together ( when powered it serves as an engines wheels cleaning track too ) and without any electrical power just gently roll it manually forward and backward a few times so the wheels spin.
Then I proceed to the step described by grewsome.

And by the way, welcome back DeckRoid. I too was out of the model railroading hobby for ... 40 years.
Stick with us at The gauge and you'll be in contact with a bunch of nice, funny and knowledgeable people always ready to answer your questions.
 

DeckRoid

Member
Thanks for all the help. I now need to figure out how to turn my garage into a large railway. (cant fit either car in 1920's garage anyway!)
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
grewsome and darkcurves well described the process for breaking in a new engine.
I add one extra step: I take the engine out of the box and the first thing I do is to place it on 2 sctional track solded together ( when powered it serves as an engines wheels cleaning track too ) and without any electrical power just gently roll it manually forward and backward a few times so the wheels spin.
Then I proceed to the step described by grewsome.

And by the way, welcome back DeckRoid. I too was out of the model railroading hobby for ... 40 years.
Stick with us at The gauge and you'll be in contact with a bunch of nice, funny and knowledgeable people always ready to answer your questions.

If you try to roll the locomotive back and forth without power, the wheels will not spin. As long as the worm gear is installed in each truck, the wheels will slide.
 

Biased turkey

Active Member
If you try to roll the locomotive back and forth without power, the wheels will not spin. As long as the worm gear is installed in each truck, the wheels will slide.

Thanks Russ for correcting my post so I won't spread false information.
I tried to edit my post but the editing procedure doesn't work so I add a warning:
NOTE: As mentioned by Russ Bellinis that procedure DOES NOT APPLY to the engines with a worm gear but works with some European engines, Märklin HO engines for example.

 
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