After removing the trucks and gently cleaning them with warm water and a little dish soap, I rinsed them in running water and then swished them in an alcohol bath. My assistant carefully reattached them.

Once put back, I made the startling discovery that the wheels all now spin pretty freely. My working hypothesis is that the wheels, being fresh from the factory, simply needed to be run a bit to break them in. Before, I had some wheels that would barely revolve a full turn when finger spun. All now spin for a few seconds.

Thanks again.

-BT.

Found this thread. Will proceed accordingly.

Thanks.

-BT.

It is the Chattanooga. The giver of this gift didn't pay list.

Now, I'm wondering that since the trucks don't need any lube since they are plastic, should I remove them from the cars and wash them with a degreaser (a la dish soap) to may sure there is nothing to attract dirt, lint etc.?

I don't generally consider myself AR, but I do like to have an SOP for steps that I will repeat and there is a certain amount of comfort in knowing that things are "just so".

On a side note, I've never been able to answer the question, "is anal retentive hyphenated?"   

-BT.

Quoten which truck/wheels did you apply lube?

Both. I've gone back and wiped them down. I actually did think about graphite as Hunt suggested, I have some from the kids pinewood derby days. Once the existing mess is dried up, I'll toy with that; we had pretty good experience with the graphite in the model cars. I'm very much treating this new train set as my experimental set. Not emotionally tied to it and I know it was a low end model. If I can bring it up a notch by playing with it, I keep busy and feel accomplished.

Trying to decide on whether to get the MicroMark truck tuner, replace the wheels or just replace the entire truck (or some combination of those options). I know technically I don't need to do any of it, but it seems like something that should be experimented with.

QuoteNormally the trucks on a Tender, any freight or passenger car will not need lubrication.

Thanks, Hunt. I will NOT be oiling the rolling stock in the future. Some lessons are cheap and easy to remember.   

-BT.

I was trying to figure out how to wire a sensor up to check for the hotbox. Then realized melting plastic would be its own give-away. 

I did wipe down the trucks and reapplied a drop of light oil I had in my tool bag.

Out of curiosity, does anybody tune their trucks in any way (aside from an occasional drop of oil)? Some of the wheels roll freely and some don't. I'll take a spin through the forums to see if the question has been asked before.

Regards.

-BT.

Hi all,

I just opened a new train as I jump back into Model RR after about a 35 year absence. I've done a lot of reading and am excited to start building upon what I've acquired. That said, I ran into a little hiccup. I don't think it's serious, but was curious what the experts would say.

Upon opening the package, I found a bottle of clear liquid. I couldn't figure out if it was a lubricant or liquid smoke. The package contents did not state, and it felt like a it might be a lube so I put a drop on all the axles.

Had I turned the page one more time, I would have seen that it was actually liquid smoke. Having no pride whatsoever (ok, not true, but screwups like this don't really phase me), I thought I'd ask if it would be okay to run the train a few hours as is (most of the liquid has been removed) until I can get a light oil to put back on.

I've already waited a week to put this together and had hoped to get it up for in the morning.

Thanks.

-BT.