Steam loco gearbox articles

[SWrailroader]

Kind of a public service announcement. There was a series of very informative articles published in OST issues #125,127, 129, 130 and 131 written Martin Megregian on steam gearboxes (GB). Extensive discussion on USH, MG, SS, PSC, Overland, Lobaugh, Samhongsa and builders like Waller, White, Lenoir, Sofue. I have frequently looked at these articles especially for ideas on performance improvement. The author runs his stuff hard and describes virtues and deficits of the GBs when run for long duration.

[up148]

Thank you for posting this. I forgot about those articles.

[bob turner]

I kind of missed them. Gearboxes have always been problematic in O Scale. For my bucks, the original NWSL Mod O.6 non-tower was the best gearbox for almost any kind of O Scale steamer, but it had to be installed correctly. Current production has flaws in the plastic box itself, which can be cured, but the original glass-filled castings were superb. I have very little nice to say about KTM, and the Lobaugh boxes must be mated with care. Henry Pearce made a really good, if large, gearbox, and maybe the Lionel 700E and early Scale Craft take the prize for smoothness and longevity.

[SWrailroader]

Bob it’s a nice series of article. For example, it talks about how Jerry White used a similar gearbox to Lobaugh but corrected the flaws. The articles do a very nice job of showing the virtues and defects GBs. For example, the overland GB is felt to be excellent in the non articulated locos, but their GB in their articulated pieces was problematic. He even advises how some problems can be fixed.