How To Expert Tips How to troubleshoot and disassemble an HO scale brass steam locomotive

How to troubleshoot and disassemble an HO scale brass steam locomotive

By Rene Schweitzer | December 10, 2021

Learn the workings of this Sunset Models' 1990s era engine

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Senior Editor Eric White evaulates and troubleshoots an HO scale brass steam locomotive from Sunset Models to figure out why the gearbox isn’t turning.

13 thoughts on “How to troubleshoot and disassemble an HO scale brass steam locomotive

  1. Thank you. I have a Brass Sunset 2-8-2 (D&SL) Denver & Salt Lake by Samhongsa. I had to disassemble the engine to replace the motor gear box flex coupling, redo the electrical connections and major lube job. My problem is putting the engine tender coupling on the engine back together. I have what I think are all the parts but I’m not sure how to assemble them with the engine being tied to the (+) lead and the (-) lead coming from the tender. I would like to see some more in-depth videos on brass engines.

  2. When disassembling engines I use an old ice cube tray to keep the parts and their screws organized. For instance I’d put the gear box cover and it’s screws together in one section.

  3. I always enjoy Eric Whites videos and this one encourages us to not be intimidated by the process of disassembling a brass steam engine whether to fix it, paint it or install DCC.

  4. Some years ago I purchased 2 Bachmann 3 truck Climax’s for my logging portion on my layout. Since the logging was still under construction, it was about 3 years later before I took one of the engines out of the box and found it had problems. After some investigation I determined that the driveshaft between all the trucks was turning but it was not operating the wheel sets on the second and third trucks and only the front wheels not the rear wheels of the front trucks. Someone else mentioned on they had sent their Climax’s back to Bachmann several times without any luck getting them fixed. Anyone know if there are repair parts available to fix these problems or are these locomotives just to be used as non working back ground settings?

  5. Great video! I have a few of these “Sunset” brass 0-6-0’s, however they are SP’s with Oil, Vandy and sausage tenders. Would like to see someone do DCC install. I have them all running well now that i watched your video! Thanks

  6. Excellent video. My locomotives have been in storage for quite some time and I’m getting ready to start going through them to get them up to tip top running order. This was very helpful (and perfect timing!). Thank you!

  7. I agree with Mr. Crisp and Mr. Mason. It would be great to see more troubleshooting and painting videos. Thanks Eric.

  8. Great video on fine tuning and working on a brass steam locomotive. I hope you take us through the whole process of painting it as well. It’s great to see someone still likes to work on and operate vintage brass locomotives. Well done, Eric!! Perhaps a video on re-motoring one could be produced as well.

  9. This was a GREAT video, need lots more tinkering with the mechanical side of model railroading. Thanks for putting this together.

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