I live in central Texas and have a non-airconditioned garage layout, where the garage temperatures can exceed 120 degrees F. My cars and engines stored well in non-air-conditioned storage until my retirement as of late. The engines still work VERY well, except for the K-4, which I am working on to get the drive trains to work. (My old Spectrum GP-30 (38?) pulled 23 cars of over 4 ounces each up a 1 percent grade yesterday in a traction test with no faltering!) I can only afford to continue DC at this time, as teacher retirement is not so good in Texas. Should I shut-down in the summer? I could still run the layout in the cooler 5 am hours (two or three hours), or should I remove the locomotives inside? Should I remove all the cars? I do keep the engines lubed well but not over-lubed. Any suggestions are deeply appreciated.
By the way, if my Spectrum K-4 cannot be fixed locally, is there any trade-in option(s) for these wonderful locos or is it now a "static" display case object and should I just consider it a bad investment? Thank you. Ross Litman
By the way, if my Spectrum K-4 cannot be fixed locally, is there any trade-in option(s) for these wonderful locos or is it now a "static" display case object and should I just consider it a bad investment? Thank you. Ross Litman