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For decades model railroad enthusiasts have purchased and enjoyed Athearn model railroad equipment. Athearn locomotives and cars were always moderately priced and of sufficient quality to appeal to serious hobbyists. Being a mid-priced product meant that Athearn had to keep the mass-produced mechanisms of its locomotives fairly simple and quick to produce, and as a result, they tended to be noisy and sometimes spotty runners. A number of techniques have been used by modelers over the years to improve the running characteristics of these extremely popular engines, and this article will detail them one at a time. Keep in mind that the newest Athearn releases are of far higher quality than the older models, so they shouldn't require these steps to run beautifully. Some of these same techniques can be applied to other brands of locomotives as well, so they are worth knowing regardless of whether you own Athearn units.
There are two main areas that can cause problems in the running characteristics of a model locomotive. The first is electrical contact problems, which can occur in several different areas of the model, and the second is physical binding of parts, which is commonly found in the gearing of the trucks. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, "trucks" on a locomotive are the frames which hold the wheel sets, and on which the locomotive actually rides. In a real locomotive, the trucks hold the traction motors which drive the wheels, while on a model they normally contain gears, which are driven by a motor up in the body of the locomotive, connected to the truck by shafts and other parts. Lets look at the electrical aspect of the problem first.
There are three main problem areas in Athearn locomotives as far as electrical contact is concerned. The very first one is the wheel sets themselves. Older Athearn kits use a type of metal in the wheel sets called "Sintered Iron", which, although it gives a good surface for adhesion of the wheels to the tracks, also gives poor electrical contact. The poor electrical contact through the wheels affects both the running characteristics of the model and how much noise the motor makes. Good electrical contact makes for a quieter, cooler running motor, which is obviously what we want. You have two options for improving this situation. One is to simply replace the wheel sets with nickel-silver aftermarket ones available through most hobby stores. These are made by a number of companies, including Northwest Short Line. A company called Ernst makes a complete kit for Athearn locomotives which also includes special reduction gearing to make the locomotives run at more prototypical speeds in addition to improving the electrical contact with the track. Another option if you don't wish to replace the wheel sets is to simply polish them, to give them better contact with the track. This is normally done with a moto-tool with a wire brush attachment, and can help quite a bit (although not as much as using nickel-silver replacement wheel sets).
Another area which can make a difference with the electrical contact is the connection between the motor and the trucks. On most older Athearn releases, this consists of a long, flat steel clip which attaches to the top of the motor, and which rubs against "L" shaped contact arms rising up from the trucks. This steel clip does not give positive contact, and with age will start to lose it's springiness, thus becoming even less effective. The best solution to this problem is to solder a flexible wire from the "L" shaped clips on both trucks, directly to the small brass clip on top of the motor. This requires removing the long flat steel clip (which can be discarded). To avoid melting the plastic parts on the motor, it's best to remove the smaller brass clip from the motor first before soldering the wire to it. BEWARE! Underneath the brass clip is a tensioning spring for the motor brush. If you don't remove the brass clip carefully, the spring will, well..., spring! You'll lose it for sure, as it's quite small. Speaking of the motor brushes, these are small round pieces of metal rod, with a concave cut at one end, found underneath the brass clips on both the top and bottom of the motor. Coil springs hold them in tension against the motor armature (the round slotted shaft which is visible at one end of the motor). These can become quite oxidized and dirty, and can also be a cause of electrical contact problems. They should be removed and cleaned with alcohol from time to time to improve running characteristics. Just be careful not to lose the springs! The armature should be cleaned at the same time. Athearn motors are held in place by nylon plugs, which go into holes in the metal chassis. To remove the motor to get at the lower motor brush, just grasp the motor and wiggle it back and forth while pulling upwards. You'll note that the lower brass clip has two little arms that reach downwards to make electrical contact with the metal chassis. Be sure these (and the chassis) are free of oil or dirt before reassembling the motor to the chassis.
The other area which can cause problems is physical binding. This is normally a result of "flash" (extra plastic) on the gears inside the locomotive trucks. Athearn trucks are held together by either metal or plastic clips, which need to be removed to separate the two halves of the truck frame. Make note of which gears go where before removing them. Inspect the edges of the gears carefully for slivers of plastic sticking up, which will cause noise and binding. If you see any rough looking edges, file them with a fine file to remove the extra material. Once you've inspected and filed all the gears, reassemble the truck and lubricate the gears with a light grease, such as Labelle 106, available at model train stores or through the Walthers catalogue. I don't recommend using gear oils, as they tend to leak more easily and cause electrical contact problems with your track. Also, don't use greases that are not clearly marked "plastic compatible", as they may eat the plastic parts which make up your truck! A final step is to run your locomotive in for a while. Just put it on a loop of track and run it around in circles for a couple of hours, making sure to reverse direction after a while, and physically flip the engine around the other way half way through. This will work the grease into the gears and wear down any high spots. If you still find your motor is noisy, remove the clip on top of the worm gear (where the motor shaft attaches to the truck), and check to see how much back and forth play there is in the worm gear. If there is an excessive amount, this can cause noisiness. Athearn makes "thrust washers" which can be added between the brass bearings and the worm gear to take up the slack in this area. Adding these if necessary may quite the engine down as well. As for general tips, you need to keep the wheels on your locomotive clean, as well as the track, or all the improving in the world won't make your models run right. Good luck and happy railroading!
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