Very helpful video. I watch it every time I have to service one of these locomotives.

Your restoration Videos are very informative. I've repaired all my childhood train engines and cars just by watching your channel.

Great Video! The Tyco 2-8-0 Royal Blue is one of my favorite steam locos. I appreciate your time, effort, and knowledge. Thank you.

Awesome thanks

Thank You so much for posting this I collect old Tyco steam engine's and I have 3 or 4 that need traction tires

Awsome video Rodney

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for your informative videos. I can generally take anything apart, fix it, and put it back together. However a heads up video like this is very valuable. I now have two complete Royal Blues. One runs and one has issues..... I think it may be the power torque pinion gear may have come loose as you can hear the motor spinning but the train doesn't move..... also the wheels themselves are free wheeling.......but not for long!

I just watched you Powertorque Mod video, wherein you clearance a Powertorque case to fit the loading-tray motor from a CD-ROM drive within it. One wonders what results could be had from doing the same on a Tyco power-tender locomotive.

Good video.

Y u no replace the couplers

Never could figure out why they put the motor in the tender.

What kind of Smoke solution can we use?

Thanks....very good info. Could you tell me where the red wire gets connected to motor? I see three brass tabs on the oposite side of gears...

Man those royal blues are sooooo hard to find!

I have worked on these for 4 decades and I am glad to see someone with an interest in repair, rather than just tossing it out. I have 2 recommendations that will greatly improve performance and motor life, using existing Tyco Power Torque parts. You will need spare PT motors from diesels or steamers. First, while the motor is out of the frame, get rid of the 4-tire drive axle arrangement. As you may have noticed, the ungeared traction wheels are almost always cracked, so save the tires, and toss the cracked wheels. Install good drive axles from a PT Diesel instead, and here's why. The original 4-Tire drive axle wobbles like hell due to the difficulty of the 4 tires staying perfectly round. They also drag badly in the curves and overload the motor to near burnout in a very short time. The Diesel axle has 1 pickup wheel and 1 geared traction wheel. The pickup wheel will easily slide in the curves to maintain speed and prevent solid-axle-binding. Real locomotives and car axles are also solid and do the same thing, for the very same reason. The 2 extra pickup wheels will also give you better electrical pickup over switches and crossings. You will have no less traction that the PT Diesels, a whole lot smoother tender drive, and 2 extra traction tires for each conversion you perform! Second, snip off the extremely impractical "smoke-plunger" that the Locomotive driver wheels hit. It frequently will bind and even stop the whole 8-wheel set, often causing premature motor burnout, and even derailments. I collect broken 2-8-0 models for parts, especially the valve gear, to add to the 0-8-0 models that came from the factory without, makes them look less toy-like.

I'm missing the pinion gear on my Tyco 638 Chattanooga locomotive. Any idea where I might find a replacement? Hope you can help. Thanks

coat the wheel shaft pickups with OXGARD. It lubes and keeps good power flow.

Daniel - which wheels are you Needing - the front pilot wheels? / the geared axle wheels ?

what is voltage on the head light bulb thanks

Hey watchnu2, I recently bought a beat up old Chattanooga choo choo for parts to fix my dad's old one. It needs a new tender drive, but the one I bought is missing the wheels on the front truck. Both motor wheels are there and the rear truck as its wheels. Can the motor still run without that front wheel?

can you post pictures of this trains wiring please?

great info you still fixin stuff?

Did you ever get it smoking? I bought one new old stock and right out of the box I couldn't get it to smoke with Bachmann smoke fluid. The smoke fluid that came with it was evaporated and very viscous. Directions say only to use Tyco smoke fluid 713 but I don't know what the equivalent of that is these days.

Where could I possibly get a new gear for mine?

Great video... I'm looking for help in a fix. I dug out my old engines a few weeks ago and got them running again but my tyco needed lube bad, so I oiled everything up and it ran great for about an hour until the power torque pinion gear came loose from the shaft! Now the motor just spins freely(!?). I'll give the loctite a try but it seems awful loose. Any tips on how to fix?

+watchnu2 Could you please do a video showing how to remove the shell of the locomotive and get to the smoke unit?

Hi ...love the video....I have the chattanooga choochoo which is the same locomotive..my problem is that i can't get the back wheels to come off from the tender car. Have a bad wheel and want to replace it but back wheels will not come out as you shoe in video. Appreciate any hel that you can offer. will check back here from time to time.. thanks

Thanks so much for this video. So what's the trick for getting the motor clips back on? :)

Please, please i need the gears for the motor in the tender, do you know where i can get them?!!

Where does the tender get its power ? Which wheels ? I do not see to have power (good connection ) for the red wire while engine is on the track .

Mine works it's just to damn dusty...can baraly get a connection

there is a real frisco locomotive painted just like that. its not operational though.

Sir, resurrecting a layout I built in 1975. I have a royal blue locomotive that needs repair. The plastic support that is between the first and second wheel that the drive rods is anchored too is broken. Do you have an out of commission royal blue that you would consider selling me this part. If not could you provide me a contact where I might get the part? Thanks in advance for your help

how much did the steam engine cost?

That is a gorgeous train. Did you restore/repaint that, or did you find it in that condition?

Having just picked up a Royal Blue myself, I’ll keep this vid handy. She runs just fine for now which is nice

I hate locos with tender drives. I am even on the fence about the older Bachmann/Mantua/Cary Old time 4-4-0s because they have the motor in the tender, but through universal shafts the drives wheels are in the loco. Model Steam engines should always be loco driven/motor in loco. I always HATED that Tyco had a meeting on this and just slapped a powertorque in a tender and said "Oh let's just cheap out and have a big huge tender push the locomotive." And at that meeting, instead of everyone saying "What a stupid Idea, GTFO".... Everyone nodded and went "Hmmm, powertorque in the tender...great idea".

Hemson Jordan - send me a private message

lol that is NOT how you identify craftsman screwdrivers

thanks, you took way too much time on this total shitter of a loco, the absolute worst ever HO product