Fixing a brass Erie 2-8-4, Class S-4 for Erieman

[ACL1504]

Bob,

Norm retired several months ago. I've spoken to the new guy and he is even faster than Norm was.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tom

[bparrish]

Tom...

I hate starting over with a new guy.  They have no idea who you are or what you might already know about their products.

see ya
Bob

[ACL1504]

Bob,

The new tech guy at TCS WOW is Mike. He is wonderful and very patient with us.

Tom

[Erieman]

While in Florida last week, my wife and I paid a visit to ACL 1504 and his lovely wife Pam. Since we were staying in Panama City Beach for the week, it was a short drive to Orlando and to visit with Tom, check out Tom's beautiful layout ( and I do mean beautiful) and pick up my locomotives. What a treat. Two days later and 1500 plus miles, the engines are residing on the home layout. The first engine that I gave Tom turned out to be a dog. As much time as Tom spent on it, it will be assigned the engine house duty. Don't get me wrong, the paint job is first class, but the mechanical is not and probably never was any good. The second engine is an Erie 2-8-4 and it is a beauty, both in running and paint. It to was plagued with a few problems, but the magician fixed them. Apparently the dcc board was defective, but that was corrected in short order. For those of you that have brass, you know that they are somewhat finicky. I can't blame the engine, but I have discovered a few minor track or scenery problems. I fixed one problem quickly. The trailing truck kept lifting off the track at a forward facing on a curve switch. After checking the track with a gauge, I found the track to ever so slightly out of gauge. I installed a sleeper rail on the inside and Voila, everything stays on the track.  There is a scenery interference on a curve that needs to be fixed and that will be a challenge. There are a few other minor track interference's that will be equally easy to fix. These to will pass as I enjoy the sound and look at this wonderful, beautiful engine. It looks great and sounds great.


A special thanks to TOM for all his work on these two engines. I'll be taking and posting some pics soon.


Frank / Erieman