Got a blue box gp9 a year ago, it didn't run. Tried cleaning and re greasing. Still didn't run. Left it for dead. A year later, revisited the motor. Found this video. Checked the gear bearings. One was seized! Works like a champ now! Thank you!

@SMTMainline

6 ай бұрын

I'm glad it helped. It's not super common problem but I guess if they've been sitting a while it can happen.

Train Limbo with Harrison - - "how low can it go?" Nice revival of the Chessie. When you have it apart, you may as well clean the wheels too. Good job troubleshooting the seized wheel bearing. Finally putting the precision screwdrivers to use? Thanks for sharing. 👍 👍 👍

These old Athearn blue box locomotives just won't die, especially under SMT's watch! Plus it's a Chessie System unit, guess that means it's the year of the cat!

I’ve actually taken apart all my engines thanks to your videos, no need for me to send them in. Just watch videos folks and follow instructions

@SMTMainline

3 жыл бұрын

That's great, it makes me happy to hear people find these videos useful.

Good job and good use of the WD-40. Those Atherns have a lot of parts but I like to work on them because they run great when finished. I usually replace that metal rail at the top with a piece of wire for better electrical contact.

@bryanphillips6666

Жыл бұрын

LEDs front and back make a big difference too.

@MrDgwphotos

2 ай бұрын

If you use LED's for the lights, you can set them up to be directional.

Every locomotive I own is an athearn bluebox. I have no modern locos. Still running DC as well. Never had the money for DCC. Very great locos and fun to work on

@SMTMainline

3 жыл бұрын

A large part of my collection is made up of these blue box engines, they're great engines to buy used because you can find them cheap but they don't break easy and can be great runners if you take care of them.

@JtTaylor-mx3tm

3 жыл бұрын

@@SMTMainline from what I read its real easy to convert them to DCC as well but not totally sure how to go about that because there's a certain way the wiring has to be done to connect to the fly wheels

@JBofBrisbane

3 жыл бұрын

@@JtTaylor-mx3tm as long as you isolate the motor from the frame and wire the DCC chip directly to the motor, conversion should be straightforward.

Athearn DC blue box are some of my favorite locos. Easy to work on and with a little effort the details and handrails can be modified too. Thanks for the video.

Well done harrison! Love the Athearn BlueBox products! They were built tough!

That is a GP40 because it has 3 fans at the rear a GP38 has 2 fans at the rear nice job at getting it running.

@Subpowerzero66

3 жыл бұрын

Yup! Athern, at the time used the Gp38 Chassie for the shell of the 40,50 and 39 and all that on it for customization of an engine. It's really confusing since they did that and I can tell how it was mistaken as a GP38-2 as I've personally done the same thing.

@Stanf954

3 жыл бұрын

If that had been a LL PK2 those axle gears alway had a habit of cracking and thumping around inside of the gear box. They should have stuck with the BB system. 20 y o and going strong with some TLC.

@Tristanstuff6988

2 жыл бұрын

I thought it was a gp9m

@micsayre

2 жыл бұрын

@@Stanf954 The BB system......

Nice diagnosis from Dr. Harrison. I would not have thought about bearing freeze. I'm too lazy - I would have replaced the wheel sets with sets from a dummy loco... Now would be a good time to solder a 18-20 gauge wire between the tops of the trucks to the top of the motor clip. This will make your electrical connection solid and not reliant on the partial connection between the trucks and the motor clip (these things do get out of alignment after a while, and it causes sparks - not a good thing). And removing the rust from the motor clip would be a good idea as well. That being said, Dr. Harrison...great job, and great video!

Hey SMT I love your videos and I find them really helpful. I decided to start my own channel on Ho scale trains and Railfanning!

@ThePeninsulaRailfan

3 жыл бұрын

I subscribed 2 yaa bud!

@robbyteal4509

3 жыл бұрын

Oh man Thank you! I can’t edit my videos so I just make them as best I can so they don’t need editing but I’m going to get something to edit soon.

YES WM, THIS AMAZING That is a GP40-2 that came from the Western Maryland btw

Harrison, that is an unusual repair for an Athearn, as the axle bearings aren’t known for seizing. When you were disassembling this, I would have bet on carpet fibers being in the gears. Older LifeLike/Walthers Proto locos use a clone of the Athearn drives and those seize the worm gear bearings and sludge up really bad. I would have just replaced the wheel sets, but it’s great to see you take everything apart and repair it old school.

@bryanphillips6666

Жыл бұрын

To bad 😔😞 you can't get I think northwest shortline nwsl wheels for those engines. Great replacement,, RP-25 contour and nickel silver I think for contour. RP-25 contour refers to the correct scale circumference of the wheels and flange thickness and height. Blackening the outside of the wheels with the shiny tread makes a big difference in appearance. Harrison you should be using a wheel standards gage for the correct scale width between the flanges after wheel disassembly. You'll cut down on derailments, I also don't think I've ever seen you employ a coupler heighth gage either. Again it's more of a performance item on locomotives and rolling stock.

@RinaJi-rk6gf

Ай бұрын

∂g

Awesome job getting that Athearn running. I never seen seized bearings like that. We-40 La Silicone eh . silicone is a good lubricant the original wd-40 your absolutely right its a great penetrant and water disperser but for plastic I don't think good because a petrol based. Anyway as you say Serenity! Also that shows me the difference between my Athearn to this. My trucks have I think a rivet holding it to frame unless the same and a non exposed commutator . very interesting indeed

@ThePeninsulaRailfan

3 жыл бұрын

Oh wsp

@mercuryoak2

3 жыл бұрын

@@ThePeninsulaRailfan ?? Wsp

@ThePeninsulaRailfan

3 жыл бұрын

@@mercuryoak2 yea, hello

@mercuryoak2

3 жыл бұрын

@@ThePeninsulaRailfan oh it's abbrivation whats up lol nothing done with work from being on road all week

@ThePeninsulaRailfan

3 жыл бұрын

@@mercuryoak2 oh cool

the last "true blue box" locomotive offerings were the final run of SD40-2's introduced in 2000 or 2001, but I believe they stayed on many store shelves until the late 2000s. By the time these were made, Athearn was putting the 5-pole "hex" drives in them rather than the old 3-pole and plastic handrails on sprews instead of the old durable metal ones. The earliest "Ready-to-Roll" locomotives were essentially identical with the handrails and couplers pre-installed from the factory.

Nicely done, impressed with your expertise!! Trainster in Erie, PA USA!!

Still my favorite brand of Locomotives, yes that's a bias and there are better ones but Athearns will always be near & dear to my heart. Easy to run, repair, diagnose and maintain. Virtually bullet proof and in my experience of 40 years of running trains the most reliable and consistent. Great video as always SMT!!! P.S. You may have a rare one there check out the articles on Chessie loco's and the WM could indicate a rare paint for a certain style of Locomotive.

I love the gp-40 and sd-40, idk why but i love this desing

I am a big fan and I am so happy I live so close to you I live just over the river in cumberland

Your fixing videos are awesome

Great Work SMT!!!! Wish I had the same luck on my old Walthers Proto 2000 F units. The gears were locked up and worthless on my railroad.

SMT: okay, were gonna give it a little bit of power Also SMT: Literally turns the knob almost all the way

@ThePeninsulaRailfan

3 жыл бұрын

I'm giving her alls shes got!

And yes it did sit in a box for a long time

great video 🚄👍

I have that exact same Engine, and a second one I renumbered 4258. A easy trick to free up seized worm gear bearings, pop off the lower truck cover and soak with cigarette lighter fluid... preferably with the body shell off. The fluid evaporates quickly and it's cheap..... you also want to check the axle gears, which are proned to crack.....

For my locomotives I use a mixture of 50% steam oil 25% light machine oil and 25% rapeseed oil or canola oil (same thing) it penetrates really well and sticks to the rods of live steam locomotives and electric much better than just light machine oil. Another plus is that its much cheaper than labell oil.

Honestly you’re good enough at it where you could do it as a profession.

I like ur a vids a lot i cant get enough ;-; there so cool

Old school Athearn BB. Simplicity at it's best and so easy to maintain.

Blue box was discontinued in 2009

Great Job

Nice vid!!

Great video! Athearns are awesome! Before the video started a Frozen ad was on!😂

why is it so pretty, i need Athearn engines in me collection.

I have that locomotive also.Awesome if you have these .Paint the handrails & put decals on number boards & this improves the the appearance making it look top notch

WELLLL Sir, Awesome video. Quebec Maple.

Great job again. Just got cpl new ones myself. Got a Jupiter, Amtrak switcher, finally got an Alaska engine. Love it. Even cheaper then the ones i missed out on. There's few n scale pieces to. Needed that as well. Getting stuff around to begin building a 4x8 layout using n scale in center. Outside... Ho.

One thing I've done with Botchmann and Tyco motors to improve low-end response it to really polish the crap out of the comms. I start at 400-grit emery sticks (Sally Beauty Supply) and go up to 1200, higher if I have it. The idea, especially with the Botchmann & Tyco motors, is to eliminate that "waffle" pattern from the underlying circuit board they're cut from. That gets a smoother surface for better current transfer, less resistance (and heat), and better voltage response. I've heard of guys doing the same to Athearn motors, but I'm not sure what the improvement might be since they're already pretty decent motors to begin with. The extremists, I hear, even set the motor shafts on razor blades to balance the armature lobes. The one documented experiment I did with a Bachmann as a proof-of-concept, I lowered the starting voltage on the motor, an old pancake motor trolley, from 7.5 volts to 2.5 volts. Needless to say, that helped eliminate or mitigate the jack rabbit starts.

You make it look like you did this once or twice before hahah! I would need a list of where everything was lol.

I believe it’s actually a GP-38-2 I could be wrong but close enough

@shockstrains5077

3 жыл бұрын

@@BNbrett1376 every Geep looks the same lol

@shockstrains5077

3 жыл бұрын

@@BNbrett1376 what kind I have 2 Walthers ones I got off of Amazon for like $60

@shockstrains5077

3 жыл бұрын

@@BNbrett1376 I love Genesis locos they always run so well no matter the age

Amazing 😮

This is a fairly late one, the body attachment points are inside the fuel tank, and the side frames on the trucks are plastic.

@SMTMainline

2 ай бұрын

I wish I had known then, live and learn I guess.

What causes that problem is that the old oil based lubes made back before the rules changed back in the 2000's, they often Jammed the Gear Boxes after sitting on shelves for a while, a problem that could've easily be prevented if the user applied a different lube, I had similar problems with 3 Mantua steam Locomotives, and a Life Like Steam Locomotive back in the Early 2010's.

I love the Chessie System

Your lucky smt I repair my own engines it good people believe in you

Nice! The athearn blue box chessie GP40s are hard to find.

the real one is now CSXT 6158 in Dark Future scheme(Aka B&O livery)

This vídeos should be consideres therapy, is so relaxing seeing them.

I have the same train at home! Mine works but the control that I got with it has a broken part in it. It is made in Slovenia by Mehano.

I have a custom painted and detailed KCS white version of this locomotive

I have a blue box from a house fire and it still works lol

That locomotive is actually a western maryland locomotive in chessie paint

@randallellison6421

3 жыл бұрын

Didn't notice that at first. From what I understand, that would make this Chessie locomotive a somewhat rare one, I believe most were done as either C&O or B&O units.

@kindcake

3 жыл бұрын

@@randallellison6421 it mabey rare because when I search up chessie WM locomotives in ho scale I rarely find anything

@randallellison6421

3 жыл бұрын

@@kindcake It was mentioned in an issue Model Railroad News' "From The Archives" section in which the WM/Chessie locomotives are listed as some of the harder to find Chessie System locomotives, sorry I can't remember the exact issue of the magazine, but its titled "The Chessie Issue".

@kindcake

3 жыл бұрын

@@randallellison6421 I'll try to find the issue. It seems really interesting

@JBofBrisbane

3 жыл бұрын

The big "WM" above the road number was my first clue...

Sometimes they just stick, galvanic corrosion maybe, although it can be as simple as dried lube or the axle is pushed too tight into the gear. I've had a few do it on the worm gear bearings too. Once freed up they run fine.

@CR7659

3 жыл бұрын

I have to say the only Athearn I ever had that would not run was an early F7 I found in a junkyard in a car trunk, that had been left open. It probably had been that way 20 years when I found it. For fun I had the caboose that was with it running though.

Definitely a GP40

Muy bien 😊👌👍👏

Motor: **seizes** Locomotive: “Why must you... hurt me in this way?”

I love Chessie System my favorite railroad

Good ole Chessie

SMT, I am going to paint my ho scale Atlas FP7, and Stewart F7A and F7B units in Chicago and Northwestern paint scheme

What are you using for lubricant? I'm digging that needle point applicator. I use Wahl's clipper oil (recommended) and DuPont Molycote for grease. They seem to work well, but the application leaves something to be desired. I'd rather use a needle point like what you have, but I'm not sure where to find something like that for my bottles.

@SMTMainline

3 жыл бұрын

I use Labelle 106 and 102.

I really enjoy watching SAR Mainline (she’s a runner)

Perhaps cleaning the commutator on my Athearn FM H24-66 could help improve its performance, as it got rather sluggish after being in a flood. (That occurred a couple months after I bought the model. ) it still runs, nonetheless

Something you should try whipping up is a motor with a gear attached to the shaft to test gear boxes.

Hey that’s my locomotive when did you get it in the mail

@SMTMainline

3 жыл бұрын

It arrived a couple weeks ago.

@theoldbayrailfan

3 жыл бұрын

Ok

@ThePeninsulaRailfan

3 жыл бұрын

Awesome

Yay

have you expanded the layout, I would have installed a place for all those locos and cars...would be a safe place for such great loco's, wish I had kept mine

SMT WHY DID YOU POST AT 1 AM??? GO TO SLEEEP Great video tho

Smt blue box was last made in 2005 and athearn sold the last of the stock in 2008

Did not see you check the wheel gauge. The axle gear has a little slop and they will still turn but can be out of gauge. Thanx for your video. Hal

@SMTMainline

6 ай бұрын

I didn't have one back when I made this.

I think thats a wd40 not a GP-40..😜 Keep up the good work love ur vids!👍

Hey Smt plz Do the all your electric train or can you get a Japanese train if you do you are the 10/10 train KZreadr you cool bro

i have a train with the same insides as this one but am not sure if its a Walthers are an Athearn train, its a high hood GP7 8 or 9 not sure they look the same to me. also do you know where i could get some window parts and and some plastic light insert's for the body?

I have had the same isue but it was a drive shaft and now nothing from the motor

Chessie System HO scale. I have Chessie System Athearn blue box, GP40-2. Work to 100% to run in the modular layout, 3 Centurias. Good job in repair the locomotive GP40-2 Chessie System. Where is you 🐱 ? Scooby Doo is a good dog. My best friend. Scooby Dum is a nice dog. Scrappy Doo my pup.

Can use the lighter fluid trick on axle bearings as well....

It's an Athearn. I knew the answer was "yes" before I clicked on the video.

Well i understand i had an engine to fix but ill wait like you askef

GP40 as it has one stack and three radiator fans

Name it Nerf Cat

Can you make a video on how to send stuff because i got something for you.

Can you do a video on a hornby class 87 in intercity swallow livery

Wow

I hope that you can superdetail the unit and paint it in CSXT Dark Future scheme that the real unit(6158) wears now

Yes

Harrison got some Important detail about athearn blue boxes I believe they’re made until I believe early as 2008 I don’t know for sure By the way Chessie looks better

@mercuryoak2

3 жыл бұрын

I know my Athearn f unit I have came from a train set I bought. I don't think they call it a blue box. However same build and the trainset box was blue. I noticed in a video I made which i have to schedule uploading has a code number on bottom like Lifelike. 42005 so im thinking it was made 4-20-2005 or April 2005. I got it in 2006 never oiled it ever. My first time doing I got on video and surprised its not over lubes like bachmann tend to be. But gears seemed dry. Its all good now with fresh synthetic oil and grease

@SMTMainline

3 жыл бұрын

I have models which use the exact drive system that blue box locos did but they have nickel silver wheels instead of the steel ones and weren't sold in blue box, boxes.

@mercuryoak2

3 жыл бұрын

@@SMTMainline ahh so mine are nickel silver wheels? Maybe??? Oh i know I'll try seeing if a magnet would stick lol I don't think nickel silver is magnetic

@mercuryoak2

3 жыл бұрын

You know I looked up my train set i bought back in 2006 2007 about it was the Athearn Warbonnet Santafe. Came with Illinois central gondola with Red trucks ( yeah red?!!), Northern Pacific box car, and caboose ( missing) on details on website mine had Blackened nickel silver wheels the cars all plastic. With bachmann ez track steel. And an athearn controller i still have

@MattKonsol

3 жыл бұрын

@@mercuryoak2 dang man

Clean the Wheels! Firts! Principiantes!!

Gp 40-2

Is it possible to upgrade one of these engines to an LED light? I have same engine and light is so dim the cows on the tracks never see me coming.

@SMTMainline

3 жыл бұрын

Absolutely, blue boxes are some of the most modifiable makes of locomotives out there. I don't know any in particular but there are some videos online on how to install LEDs into a locomotive.

Where did you get your DC transformer from? It doesn’t seem like there are many good options online. Not even on eBay.

What conductive lube is that?

SMT: spawn of fixing model locos

Good job fixing nerf cat's brand.

What type of oil do you use on you trains?

@SMTMainline

3 жыл бұрын

Labelle 106 and 102

i plan on going to a train show how do i know it runs by looking at it

Thats a GP40 Same as Exeter Centeral 00 gauge model railway by nicholas Woa You have a long name dude

To me it looks like a little bit of Loctite got in there to me it looks like a little bit of Loctite got on that bearing to me it looks like a little bit of Loctite got on that bearing

It's a GP40-2, not a GP38.

What kind of oil and lube do you use?

aqui en mexico es dificil conseguir un tren

What are the small blue plastic sticks called

@j.mcq.8418

3 жыл бұрын

I'm not sure what they are called exactly but they are for cleaning your teeth. Look in your local pharmacy.