Thanks, that is under consideration! Those old lights get really hot with all the amperage going through them, and I've seen plastic shells melted by hot bulbs before.

One of my grandpa’s first train sets was the American Flyer O gauge Royal Blue from 1940. I did some major restoration work on it a few years ago and it runs and looks great!

It should be possible to install NWSL driveshafts. Since they're typical ball and cup joints, you can probably send the inside diameter measurement of the original cup to them and they'll let you know if it'll fit or not. Those Gilbert Hudsons do come up more frequently than these. I might get one eventually.

Thanks, I didn't know what the proper name was for them!

@@DarthSantaFe 👍

ALCO had a lot of trouble developing combustion engines at that time. The 241 engines went through a lot of testing and failures before they were torn down, inspected and replaced with the 244. From my understanding, they were in development for years but were technically "rushed" because they had to focus their resources on war production.

Well that war excuse was unfair. EMD got the ", big HP production and all otjers, the switchers. Who do you think was in a better position to got the market of mainline units. Alco copied the EMD E models with dame type of body that was en vogue at that time with 2 switcher engines. 244 was rushed out and we all know the results. FM was a newcomer with excellent diesel engines....in marine applications. Not so successful sadly in railroad service. Lima as a steam builder almost quit instantly with about 100 switchers. Baldwin, the last giant of steam era didn´t believe in internal combustion. Try to improve up to the end those steamers. When he got in, was way to late. Ironically, EMD was the less efficient in term of adhesion and electrical ruggedness. That weakness really ended up with SD40-2 production. And where was mister washing machines and toaster ? He plays in critters...until he made few demos that will be later on U25B. Alco fall in 69, then EMD closed and survived in Canada under GMD, then Cat and.... mister washing machines is the King now with few dust of competitions. If i ask an all time, who was the smallest to sell to a class 1 who is it ? NO...not Krauss Mafei, nor Porter, Davenport, Plymouth etc... the big winner was : Ingalls Shipbuilding of Missoula with a world record breaking of..... 1 ! ! Yap, their total production was 1 locomotive, model 4S. Their demonstrator bring zéro sale and was finally sold to Gm&O. The reason ? Well, Ingalls was quite a good client for that railroad...that make a favor to the builder in purchasing that unit that got good years of service. Sadly it was scrapped. I would love to have that bizarre contraption. Sort of streamlined nose and front cab à la Baldwin baby face, à covered body sides like an elongated F or FA with a clerestory roof like heavyweight passenger car and at the end, a vestibule, just like à coach. That unusual roof line offered with higher cab roof, some vision for the crew running backward. If my memory is good it was a Superior engine 1500 HP. Back to the model, never heard about before today. Like its sound. It breathes power. If there is a way to extend its motor shaft, add a flyweel it should improve it. Thanks for that interesting unusual catch. Sort of Ingalls😊😊

The DL600 is fun for having a bit of history, but those FTs are going to be much nicer units!

@DarthSantaFe Yes, they are. It's almost impossible to find the Stewart ATSF freight units online. Can't wait till they arrive.

Yeah, I'll probably do that for the lights. These old bulbs get too hot for me to feel safe having them in a plastic shell. The Athearn Trainmaster trucks will definitely give you a quieter and easier to maintain runner. The Gilbert chassis seems pretty bullet-proof as long as it's well kept, but it sure is noisy!

@@DarthSantaFe .By the way the lower gear in the gear case is held in by the friction fit drive shaft nylon universal coupling .It is a one piece universal coupling assembly and presses into and through the center hole in the gear in only one direction because the hole in the gear is tapered along with the universal coupling.. No bearings .Just the nylon riding in the metal case holes. These thing were pretty pricy for their time and this is what you get .Hummm?

Didn't know they had a bell option! There is a lot of empty space in the shell though, so they definitely had plenty of room to fit one.

@@DarthSantaFe the SSCALE ENGINE DOES THE SAME THING AS THE TRAIN RUNS DOWN THE TRACK THE RINGS FROM GEAR BOX IN THEM .

Yeah, I saw a lot of that kind of stuff in their catalogs. They also offered the Marx F2 for a short time.

@@DarthSantaFe Wow! I did not know that! Who knew? I see that A.C. Gilbert was all over the place making their 'HO' gauge trains from many different manufacturing companies which i don't find surprising that outsourcing to other parties was very common in the industry, Also, Thank you very much for answering my comments.

Rebuilding a prewar HO hudson was a challenge but they are really nice engines! Mine sings around the layout.

Thanks, didn't know the HO line went that far back!

Thanks! The motor appeared to have very little use overall, so the armature was surprisingly clean. These HO motors also tend to get a lot less carbon buildup than the AC O and S motors since they don't need nearly as much power to run.

NWSL's wheel pullers work best for this kind of work. I've gotten a ton of use out of mine!

It was actually a common driveline for the day. It wasn't really until about 1964 or 65 when Athearn created the modern gear drive chassis that manufacturers started to get away from the 1 worm per axle setup.

I just think worms sound better than a bunch of gears that can strip @@DarthSantaFe

I figured that was the screw, but I decided to leave it since it looked like I could finish things without taking it apart further.

@@DarthSantaFe Oh yes, I agree just tossing ideas in hopefully a constructive way 🙂

Even if it's not up to the running quality standards of my other kits, I'd say so! There are some projects that give a sense of satisfaction simply from the fact that everyone was saying it couldn't be done, and then I did it. :)

It’s a white rouge compound that came with an aluminum buffing set.

can it be purchased from Amazon or ??

@@mitchbosley5008 I picked up the set from Menards. If you don’t have a store nearby then it can also be ordered: www.menards.com/main/tools/power-tool-accessories/abrasive-wheels/tool-shop-reg-aluminum-buffing-polishing-set-14-piece/apk-1/p-1444421184844-c-10154.htm The sets I’ve found on Amazon are more expensive, so I’d consider the Menards set a better deal.

​@DarthSantaFe I have a few old locomotives that have plastic gears and they are split into two .is there a place to buy replacement gears?and also plastic drive shafts.

@@mitchbosley5008 That depends on what you have, but NWSL makes a lot of replacement gears and universals. Sometimes you can also find original parts from old stock at train shows, some hobby stores or eBay.

Yeah, I don’t think they were going for quiet when they made this one.

Thanks, I actually did that once a while back! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bclyZq-QqcvWkps.html It's not a how-to video, but it was an easy conversion. All you have to do is solder the motor wires back and forth to each other, watching the polarity, and the rest snaps together.