JoelB said:
In the Live Steam thread Pearse "Earl" for Sale, Tag Gorton made an excellent point about the proper cleaning and lubrication of running gear. Roundhouse recommend using multi-weight motor oil, others have endorsed blue 3-in-1 oil, still others mention sewing machine oil; there's likely someone out there using whale oil (very un-PC) or perhaps rendered goose grease.
What do you recommend? What would you avoid?
I can only comment on steam locomotives. John Lythgoe is the expert on the proper lubrication and maintenance of track powered models. I should also say that I am not an expert, merely someone that has been using these little dragons for quite a long time.
For a start it is very easy to be cavalier about this subject. one often sees people may a great play of oiling round before a run. Fine ? I have done it myself ? and if a gas fired locomotive is used comparatively rarely this will largely be fine. There is a however however. Every two or three runs one should degrease everything below the footplate and start again. If coal fired do this job after every running session and it will pay dividends in terms of longevity.
I use water soluble spray degreaser from yer actual motor factors. A good old spray, wait ten minutes and spray again, working the stuff in with a brush. I then pressure wash the stuff off and leave to drip dry on a pile of newspapers for an hour. I then do all metal to metal bearings with a drop of WD 40 with the thin red tube so it does not go everywhere. Avoid the piston rods because 0 rings do not like WD. leave overnight somewhere warm and sitting on fresh dry newspaper. The following day upend your pride and joy and oil every bearing surface punctiliously (plus piston rods). I use heavy steam oil. Partly because I have it to hand, partly because it stays where it is put and partly because I do this job regularly and so there is no build up of oil and detritus mix to form an excellent grinding paste.
I have a coal-fired Edrig (notorious, apparently, for wearing pretty quickly) and it is the most heavily used locomotive (of either coal or gas) in my running shed and has had a couple of years of heavy running. By heavy I mean a) the loco is bl00dy heavy in itself, b) I pull heavy trains and c) I use it a lot. Were you to come and feel my rods
or even look at my running gear, you would think it near new...
I have a set routine now for all my engines and, despite being naturally lazy, I find I quite enjoy doing this. Partly of course, because I am set up for it, but also I think because it is part of the running experience. When I degrease the running gear I also spray cab floors and other areas where oil and grease accumulate and this too helps to keep a locomotive in pristine condition.
Now, I know all the arguments about remembering steam locomotives in filthy condition. True yes, but they did keep them as clean as man hour costs would allow (except right at the end) and in earlier years many locomotives were kept in superb condition. On another thread we were discussing the W&L Earl. Well I had a Countess that my friend Paul Fletcher weathered to' workaday clean.' It looked superb but looked far mankier than it actually was. There is another loco long since sold 'Sir George Harvey' and this was weathered to filthy... Still clean tho.
A word on oil. I can only quote Mr Kipling (not the cake man) in that there were a hundred different ways of conducting tribal lays ? and every single one of them was right.' Now I dunno what a tribal lay is (certainly not what passed through my mind I suspect) but different oils for different ways of running. I degrease and re-oil all the time and so I use heavy steam oil at point of wear. If I was was just re-oiling then I would use light motor oil or indeed sewing machine oil, because it would not allow a build up of 'paste' in the same way ? not so good tho' (IMHO) but I am certainly not gonna issue orders on this. I have listened to several expert builders of locomotives (both private and commercial) and all have different ideas and all will give particular reasons for their choice.
A tip from someone else (and I can vouch for the results). If you have a SH locomotive in manky condition with a build up of brown oil staining, wait till the domestic authority goes shopping or visiting here toyboy
and then run it through the dishwasher. I know I don't have to tell you guys to remove any radio control equipment first. After re-oil as before ? and there you have a sparking new look.
