Large Scale Central

Newbie with some questions...

General Discussion
#1

Gentlemen,

New to this excellent forum with some beginners questions.

Inherited some LGB from dad, basic starter set from what I gather (Lake George & Boulder 0-4-0 Loco, caboose and a several add on rolling stock). He used it inside as a ceiling layout and I have set it up likewise, one loop in a 10x12 room w/4-R1 radius, landscaped the corners, etc. We run it occasionally and enjoy it for what it is. No plans for outdoor layout or further expansion (I have enough hobbies going already, although I see where this can become mighty addicting)!

So some basic questions:

  1. Most importantly, proper lubrication if any for Loco & rolling stock?

  2. of cars this loco can pull effectively (or is it simply common sense…i.e. loco straining, reduce rolling stock, pulling 9 now and straining a bit)?

  3. I notice the loco has one “tire”, should/could more be added for better traction?

Note, track is clean, wheels are clean, most are plastic, two or three are metal wheels.

I will add some lighting in passenger cars, great tips from the threads I’ve read on that.

Great forum, thanks in advance for your advice, sorry if silly questions.

Ron in NC…

#2

Engine should be good for 6-8 LGB 2 axle cars like came with the set. The larger 4 axle cars wont be as many. One traction tire is enough, any more would risk overloading the expensive motor and axle gears. LGB can be a bit challenging to take apart and is very very difficult to glue due to the special plastic used to combat UV rays in outdoor use. I highly recommend having a LGB shop service the set, it will be ok for many years of use once serviced. I use Zionsville Train Depot in Indiana. I know the owner and mechanic personally and will vouch for the very high quality of his work. LGB offered powered tenders to boost pulling power and they can be found on ebay from time to time in different colors. It has its own self contained motor and power pickups. It an also be hooked up to the engines power ports to give them both more track pickups. Best route for car lighting is to use LGB’s ball bearing wheel sets with built in power pickups. They offer the cheaper wheel wiper/brush set but those add lots of drag to the wheels and shorten the train you can pull. I also run LGB overhead, but also outdoors. Mine have been converted to battery power so I do not have to clean track, espicaly since I also run live steam. LGB also offered one of thier really nice Mogul 2-6-0 engines for the Lake George and Boulder, thier part number 2119d. Moguls will pull quite a long train and look great doing it. Good luck with your layout, we really enjoy both our indoor overhead and the garden line. Mike and Michele T

#3

Ron,

Welcome. I can’t offer you any advice on your questions, I will have to leave that to others. But oyu have found the right place. We have a guy that runs on 22" Radius circle layouts (pizza) and then we have guys with giant empires and everything in between. Hang around, we are a fun group.

#4

What you need for lubrication is some plastic compatible gear grease, and some plastic compatible oil. A drop of oil on each axle where it rides in the frame, and a drop on each rod bearing is what you need on the outside. Inside, the gears need a little bit of grease. I do not have the set you have, but all of the LGB engines that I have, I can access to what I need by taking off the bottom plate, but yours may be different. Do not pack in the grease, you just need enough on the internal gears so they move smoothly. If yours has a cog belt, do not lube it, the belt stays dry.

Adding traction tyres would require replacing a wheel with a grooved wheel to accept the tyre, and it is unnecessary, and can cause issues like Mike said.

And yes, if the locomotive appears to be straining, reduce the load by one car. Putting a drop of oil on the car’s wheel axles, where they enter the plastic wheel journals, will help reduce the drag a bit.

You don’t need to lubricate the locomotive each time you run it. Once a year, or when it squeaks, should be fine. The cars usually only need a drop of oil when they squeak, or become a bit draggy.

#5

Welcome Ron!

#6

Train Li also has nice ball bearing wheels with pickups. These can run into a bit of money, so I’d put a few on, and then connect all the cars together to share the power for lighting.

Greg

#7

WOW, great advise thus far, keep it comin’!..and from a few guys with only 30k+ combined posts in a matter of hours…great forum…

so, to my beginners questions/replys and a forum search on lube, I gather Mobil1 is fine for axles, don’t have a clue yet on loco gear grease…help me out there…

link to Train Li is mighty helpful (thx Greg)!

You folks have a link to plugs/wire/etc, necessary stuff to daisy chain lighting from car to car? recommendations? (I’ll ball bearing a few and daisy chain the others per Greg’s excellent advice)

Rooster, thx for the welcome, your reputation/humor preceeds you [in a good way!] (from a bit of time on the forum)!

#8

Ron, for a good all around grease, use Mobile 1 grease. A $10.00 jug will last several lifetimes of railroading, and it can be used to pack the wheel bearings on your 65 Mustang. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

#9

Welcome aboard!

#10

Ron Leo said:

WOW, great advise thus far, keep it comin’!..and from a few guys with only 30k+ combined posts in a matter of hours…great forum…

-snip-

Ha ha! you found our Chapter of; On and On Anonymous.

Welcome aboard and ask us anything train related, I already did the stupid ones …(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Happy Rails,

John

#11

In the smaller scales I use a “gel” grease… it’s thick enough not to get thrown off, but liquifies under pressure, so more like oil on the teeth.

In this scale I would go with Steve’s advice, although I have also had good luck with a moly-based grease in certain places. The moly actually “plates” plastic and metal and makes them pretty slippery, good lubrication. Don’t have any comparison data to the mobil 1 grease, they are probably comparable.

I have a page on lubrication on my site:

http://www.elmassian.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20&Itemid=50

Greg

#12

Steve, How’d u know that was my first car?!!! (paid $2300 bucks for it new, backup lites & seatbelts were optional IIRC!)

Mobil1 it is, will lube up…

Greg, I’ll chk you lube pg, thx for that!

R

#13

greg…great lube pg…wow, that aristo stuff is mess for sure…

#14

Remember to grease the gears, but oil the axles and just a tiny drop of oil is enough.

I also use LGB’s conductive paste on the shoe springs as it lubes these and they slide up and down easier for me.

#15

Welcome Ron. I wont repeat what others already said. Good advice already. As for the LGB engine. It is simple to take apart to grease. Just a few screws that hold the bottom plate on. Just be careful not to loosen the motor and gears out of the box.

#16

Ron Leo said:

Steve, How’d u know that was my first car?!!! (paid $2300 bucks for it new, backup lites & seatbelts were optional IIRC!)

Mobil1 it is, will lube up…

Greg, I’ll chk you lube pg, thx for that!

R

Well, Ron, you just seemed like a Mustang guy. I paid $400.00 for my 65 couple, in 1971. I got it as cheap transportation in grad school. It needed some work. Over the years I’ve restored it to practically perfect status. I still have it, with seat belts, 3 on the floor and an am radio.

#17

Steve…great you still have your stang! & restored, wish I had mine!

So, a general lighting question…read thru several threads, and my head is spinning on best approach, caps, resistors, CL2, etc, so hoping for some direction…

Loco has 2 power “receptacles” female at rear, which feed a boxcar w/a sound board. Following are 4 pass cars and a caboose, a couple of which have original LGB incandesant lights (which are dim and vary with track voltage).

I would like to install LED’s in most of these cars with consistant lighting, not bothered by daisy chaining them if that’s the easiest, one or more have metal wheels and pickups so running track power to one/some/all of these cars is not a problem.

Best advice please, keeping it simple, yea, I can solder & wire as necessary…don’t want to go the battery route as this is a ceiling layout and would be a pita to turn on/off/recharge, etc.

Thx in advance guys!

Ron

#18

Sort of depends on the speed the loco is running, actually the nominal track voltage.

I’d assume not running really fast. So you can use the Suntek CL2 current regulators, and put 2 LEDs in parallel, giving each 10 ma. The CL2 regulates to constant 20 ma no matter what the input voltage, so at above about 5 or 6 volts on the rails, your LEDs will be constant and full brightness.

The CL2 is just a 2 terminal device you put in series with your LEDs, instead of a resistor (which depends on the input voltage)

Greg

#19

greg…thx for that reply, got a link to where to buy a CL2?..is that all I need other than LED’s?, one CL2 per car or one per daisy chain?

btw, put a meter x track =

4v @ slow, 7v @ moderate, 18v @ hi/full speed…if that helps some…would like to put 2-3 LED’s in each of 4-5 cars…

#20

You should use a rectifier, so that the cars will light no matter what direction they are facing/going. And also to protect the CL2 and LEDs from too much reverse bias voltage.