Athearn Blue Box Power/Maintence

[astrocling]

Hi Guys,

I bought a couple of Athearn Blue Box kits at a swap meet, one that had a motor in it and one that didn't. That leaves me two questions. First for the one without a motor (Just missing motor everything else appears in tact) - is there any place to purchase a motor at a reasonable price for these kits?

Second for the one with a motor. It doesn't run all that great, but is there any maintenence that I can to (oiling etc...) that might help the motor run better?

[trailrider]

Hi Guys,

I bought a couple of Athearn Blue Box kits at a swap meet, one that had a motor in it and one that didn't. That leaves me two questions. First for the one without a motor (Just missing motor everything else appears in tact) - is there any place to purchase a motor at a reasonable price for these kits?

Second for the one with a motor. It doesn't run all that great, but is there any maintenence that I can to (oiling etc...) that might help the motor run better?

Depending on what model this is, you can probably find a replacement can motor advertised in one of the model railroad magazines, or possibly in the Walthers catalog.

A couple of things to look at in the one that "doesn't run great":
1. Clean the wheels
2. Check the motor commutator for oxidation. You can clean the commutator by holding some VERY fine #500 sand paper against it as you run the motor. (I use #5000 which is vey fine, indeed.
3. Check the metal clip that runs over the top of the motor and rubs on the contacts that run up from the trucks. I generally clip these short and solder small lengths of wire to the contacts and the other end to the metal clip.
4. Lightly lube the gears using an appropriate grease from LaBelle.

Hope this helops.

[astrocling]

Thank you. That is exactly what I was looking for. Just a little guidance.

[blvdbuzzard]

I found this awhile ago. It is a pretty good write up on the BB engines.

http://www.mcor-nmra.org/publication...rn_tuneup.html

Should be able to find this some place.

http://www.athearn.com/Products/Defa...rodID=ATH84087

Buzz.

[Larry]

I found this awhile ago. It is a pretty good write up on the BB engines.

http://www.mcor-nmra.org/publication...rn_tuneup.html

Should be able to find this some place.

http://www.athearn.com/Products/Defa...rodID=ATH84087

Buzz.

I found the NMRA Tuneup years ago when it first came out & it's my Bible for HO scale trains. It's not only for Athearn. You can use it for any make & any scale to fix loco's. I use to pay someone to fix my trains. Then I started to do my own after reading those articles. I've even made some changes on my own since that came out. All it takes is Persistance & you can almost fix anything that breaks.

[Larry]

Hi Guys,

I bought a couple of Athearn Blue Box kits at a swap meet, one that had a motor in it and one that didn't. That leaves me two questions. First for the one without a motor (Just missing motor everything else appears in tact) - is there any place to purchase a motor at a reasonable price for these kits?

Second for the one with a motor. It doesn't run all that great, but is there any maintenence that I can to (oiling etc...) that might help the motor run better?

You said everything else is intact. How about the driveshafts? Is the motor tied down to the frame or loose? Are the Trucks powered or have the gears removed so it could be used as a Dummy? If all of these things are good in that engine, send me a PM. We need to know what kind of engine it is. Large or small or a switcher.?

[astrocling]

Thanks guys for the excellent resources. I knew that stuff had to be out there somewhere, I just wasn't finding it.

Larry - As for the unit without a motor it is an Alco PA1, everything is intact except the drive shaft. All the gears are in the trucks still intact. It doesn't have driveshafts though. I think that someone tried to take the motor out and make it a dummy unit but then left the trucks in tact.

I kind of bought them as a project to learn a little more about how all the stuff goes together and fixing stuff.

[Larry]

Thanks guys for the excellent resources. I knew that stuff had to be out there somewhere, I just wasn't finding it.

Larry - As for the unit without a motor it is an Alco PA1, everything is intact except the drive shaft. All the gears are in the trucks still intact. It doesn't have driveshafts though. I think that someone tried to take the motor out and make it a dummy unit but then left the trucks in tact.

I kind of bought them as a project to learn a little more about how all the stuff goes together and fixing stuff.

Can you post a photo of that engine w/out the motor in it w/out the shell so I can see what it looks like. I might have a motor for you. It might be an older frame w/out the flywheel motor.

[Iron Horseman]

Larry - As for the unit without a motor it is an Alco PA1, everything is intact except the drive shaft. All the gears are in the trucks still intact. It doesn't have driveshafts though. I think that someone tried to take the motor out and make it a dummy unit but then left the trucks in tact.

I am guessing that it is missing the worm gear also. Otherwise it would not roll.

Sometimes instead of drive shafts I use flexible tubing to connect the motor to the worm gear, but it depends on the distance. I'm guessing a PA would need a pretty long piece of tubing, so it might not work in your case.

[astrocling]

Larry - I was actually misleading, upon taking them out of the box again I noticed the driveshafts are indeed in place. Everything but the engine and flywheels are there.

Here are the pics, hope I uploaded them correctly.