To shine up those brass wheels, I soak them in vinegar for about an hour and it seems to do a really good job of loosening whatever oxidation is on them. Then it just makes it easier to clean them with whatever abrasive thing you use.
It just needed the Harrison touch. That British Columbia Railway locomotive paint is too shiny. Maybe hit it with a matte clear coat finish. Interestingly enough, in 1984 the paint scheme changed to red, white and blue, and the name was shortened to BC Rail. Thanks for sharing. 👍🎃👍
Yeah, chances are this loco will need another service like this frequently. Life Like started cheap but really improved before Walther's bought em out.
EMD GP38-2 - because it has two exhaust stacks and two cooling fans, powered by a 2000 HP 645E engine - essentially the replacement for old GP7's and GP9's. I'd call it a Dash 2 because it has paper air filters (square box in front of dynamic brake blisters) and raised roof behind the cab. On the prototype the difference is that basic GP38's had hard wired controls using discrete components, but Dash 2's replaced that with all the electronics on cards. As they are Field Replaceable Units (FRU's), if something goes bad, all you have to do is pull the bad card out and plug a new one in. You send the bad card back to EMD, they fix it and send it back to you as a spare. As always, nice job, Harrison (and what's a Canadian doing being named for a US president?)
Like your plexiglass shields Harris. I did this in a few locations on my layout. Suggestion... Cut them down to where they are just high enough to where is car or loco tips over it can't fall off. No need for extra height. May* cause problems. I realize you may have made them high so as to be able to shoot camera thru without a line off the top. Just a thought.
For many years that was the only GP38-2 locomotive on the market. One of the other roadnames offered on it was a Lehigh Valley that was painted legit candy apple red - transparent red over a silver base. Plus it had the correct black and white end stripes. Kind of funny they'd go to that much trouble on a budget train set engine.
Got another runner. Was over clearing out my mother in law's house before it was to be sold this week primarily to pick up some belongings of my late wife. At one point I'd loaded all of my wife's things and my sister in law approach me with a box saying it wasn't my wife's but I'd really want it before it went to the curb. Yeah she was right as it was one of my brother in law's childhood trainsets. After a bit of ferroequinology detective work it's a 1958 Revell Atlantic Coast Line set with all the cars that came with the set,a few Athearn cars most likely yellow box era that need a little TLC but all the parts to fix the incomplete cars seem to be there. Unfortunately it looks like that classy purple and silver SW7 seems to have been lost to the ages but seems to be a reasonably cheap component to replace and was replaced with an Athearn Little Hustler switcher that is obviously a rubber band drive from the dry rotted remnants around the axels. Didn't you say the small hairbands from the dollar stores were a good replacement?
Why you no clean inside wheels? 😁 I take off the traction tire wheelsets and exchange them for wheels without them from a scrapped unit. Replacement tires are hard to find, and are often out of round. Love the paint job, quite striking. A coat of clear matte will tone down that death beam gloss. Nice job as usual...👍
I honestly think that without the traction tyres, this loco would just sit still and spin its wheels with any sort of load on behind. And you can't get non-traction-tyred wheels for this loco - they all came that way. When all else fails - Bullfrog Snot. Look it up.
Noticed this video because it showed up in the sidebar suggestions and the BCR paint scheme stood out. Often I find interesting stuff about model mechanisms in servicing videos, but this is just a Bachmann clone so nothing interesting here in terms of the working parts. What stands out, though, is something that seems so logical. Most diesel shells that I know of snap on. On older models, that always means a visible tab-in-hole, and on newer models, those don't go all the way through so they're not visible. I suspect that contributes to why many modern shells are hard to remove (how do they even release from the mold originally?) I recently saw a parts diagram for the new Maerklin/Trix ES44 that showed its shell attaches with screws the same way this Life-Like does, and I wonder why more models aren't like that.
The drive was a Bachmann clone however the shell mold dates back to some of their first models. I prefer the screw design over clips as it seems pretty reliable, I wish they had kept the original drive system as it was a watered down version of what Varney had been making.
It's always fun to watch what you do. You have really become the expert with engine diagnostics!!!... great skills and I love your whole layout. Happy Holidays!!...🎩🇺🇸🎩🇺🇸🎩
They sure haven't changed much in the lifelike locos. My fph40 lifelike Amtrak locomotive looks the same under shell. The date code I believe is February 25 1981 as mine is from 2005. Good restoration that is glossy paint on it. I do the same with my wheels on my one and only lifelike locomotive.
@@SMTMainline wow thats really interesting information . I find it really neat too that my proto 1000 C-liner says lifelike but then it says something about canada. That was when they were really nice. just that gear issue they known for but I love it.
I was trying to service one of these, and I lost the stupid brush and ended up having to replace it using one from a Bachman pancake motor, doesn’t seem to work as well as it did before.
@@SMTMainline actually after commenting this i went over and looked at it and realized that both the solders were cracked by the wheels so thanks for mentioning that (now i need to learn how to solder)
I think they applied the paint by just dropping it in a can of the right color (and yes, there is striped paint for that application). Man, is it thick
HO scale locomotive. Life Like. GP38-2. BCR. Fixed for run in the layout. I have N scale Life Like locomotives. Santa Fe. GP38-2. 3560 is Dummy. 3500 with motor.
And once again....Harrison works his repair magic. No loco can stand up against Sir Harrison, the Knight of Loco Repair!!!! Great job, dude!!!
All these engines are fortunate to find themselves in this young man's shop.
@@Santaanacanyon I know! If I was a loco, and not in the best of health, I would want Harrison as my surgeon!!!
His a Master Toy Train Engineer.
Well, Electro Motive in London, Ontario won't be able to rebuild this one in their shop...
@@wavesnbikes Yea - Harrison is better!!!!!
Brings back memories of learning too fix locos on S.M.T. ,this very type of videos from YOU have helped me immeasurably, Thanks Again 👍👍
To shine up those brass wheels, I soak them in vinegar for about an hour and it seems to do a really good job of loosening whatever oxidation is on them. Then it just makes it easier to clean them with whatever abrasive thing you use.
Wouldn't that make them stink?
Apple cider vinegar is the trick. Smells goooood.
I've used that trick on rusted steel. It seems to work well.
That’s a great tip! I’m going to have to try that on some rusted Athearn parts I have.
Diet cola soft drink works well, too.
It just needed the Harrison touch. That British Columbia Railway locomotive paint is too shiny. Maybe hit it with a matte clear coat finish.
Interestingly enough, in 1984 the paint scheme changed to red, white and blue, and the name was shortened to BC Rail.
Thanks for sharing. 👍🎃👍
Wasn't BCR originally Pacific Great Eastern (back in the Sixties, there was a notorious boxcar with PEG reporting marks instead of PGE) ?
That Loco looks like it's in pretty good shape
Magic Touch works again. Love watching this engine run. Thanks for sharing another awesome video.
Glad you enjoy it!
Flitz polish is my go to "chemtool" for cleaning jobs like this. Just a thought. As always, you make saving old locomotives fun! 🙂👍
Of all of the “toy” locos, I’ve always had great success getting those Life-Likes running like new! Excellent video, as usual!
Not to mention this one has a tail light 😮
They might be the easiest brand to work on. I'm a fan of Life-Like despite them being super low quality.
Runner, runner, loco dinner. Great job Harrison!
Awesome and informative as always. Thats a nice loco. I like the colors on it. Nicely done.
My wife and I watched this from start to finish. Congratulations, you’re more entertaining than The Voice.
Thank you both so kindly!
Using a paintbrush for painting walls on houses is a great brush to get rid of dust and fluff off models. 😁great video!
When you hear that Iconic well folks you know it gonna be a great day😀😃
Agreed 😊
Yeah, chances are this loco will need another service like this frequently. Life Like started cheap but really improved before Walther's bought em out.
I don't find the Life like drives break down too often (Far less than tyco).
Nice i love these old life like locos
22581
GP-38 left the builder on May 22nd 1981.
😉
Wow BC rail if it was real it would get scrapped but of course you can get it running again
EMD GP38-2 - because it has two exhaust stacks and two cooling fans, powered by a 2000 HP 645E engine - essentially the replacement for old GP7's and GP9's. I'd call it a Dash 2 because it has paper air filters (square box in front of dynamic brake blisters) and raised roof behind the cab.
On the prototype the difference is that basic GP38's had hard wired controls using discrete components, but Dash 2's replaced that with all the electronics on cards. As they are Field Replaceable Units (FRU's), if something goes bad, all you have to do is pull the bad card out and plug a new one in. You send the bad card back to EMD, they fix it and send it back to you as a spare.
As always, nice job, Harrison (and what's a Canadian doing being named for a US president?)
Another great job, Harrison. Quite fiddly but you’re on the case to get the result!
Like your plexiglass shields Harris. I did this in a few locations on my layout. Suggestion... Cut them down to where they are just high enough to where is car or loco tips over it can't fall off. No need for extra height. May* cause problems. I realize you may have made them high so as to be able to shoot camera thru without a line off the top. Just a thought.
I think the reason I made them so tall was to help prevent younger ones from touching things on the layout. I can't entirely remember.
Always enjoy your videos! Great to watch your diagnostic evaluation and repair.
For many years that was the only GP38-2 locomotive on the market. One of the other roadnames offered on it was a Lehigh Valley that was painted legit candy apple red - transparent red over a silver base. Plus it had the correct black and white end stripes. Kind of funny they'd go to that much trouble on a budget train set engine.
CR7659 - You're gonna have to paint it, so you might as well do it right
Another successful surgery! Cool looking locomotive 👍
Hi Harrison that's one good looking Engine for a lifelike !!! Just kidden you be well keep up the channel I luv it watch you all the time PJ LI NY
Got another runner. Was over clearing out my mother in law's house before it was to be sold this week primarily to pick up some belongings of my late wife.
At one point I'd loaded all of my wife's things and my sister in law approach me with a box saying it wasn't my wife's but I'd really want it before it went to the curb.
Yeah she was right as it was one of my brother in law's childhood trainsets. After a bit of ferroequinology detective work it's a 1958 Revell Atlantic Coast Line set with all the cars that came with the set,a few Athearn cars most likely yellow box era that need a little TLC but all the parts to fix the incomplete cars seem to be there.
Unfortunately it looks like that classy purple and silver SW7 seems to have been lost to the ages but seems to be a reasonably cheap component to replace and was replaced with an Athearn Little Hustler switcher that is obviously a rubber band drive from the dry rotted remnants around the axels.
Didn't you say the small hairbands from the dollar stores were a good replacement?
I use 1/2" (10mm) rubber bands from an office supply store. Depending on the brand, they last 4-8 months.
Others have said dental braces bands seem to work Ok as well.
@@hondachopper6978 They will, but keep in mind they're getting harder to find with these new invisible braces.
Some hobby shops also sell Athearn bands but yes, the elastics seem to work fine as well.
@@SMTMainline You just have to be careful that they were made BY Athearn and not FOR them... big difference in specs.
I have one in a high hood Southern. Looks good, pulls good, but it is noisy. That's the biggest draw back .
Great Video keep up the great work!
Steel wool,yikes! Nice little piece. I don't have one. Still watching🚂🇨🇦
Why you no clean inside wheels? 😁
I take off the traction tire wheelsets and exchange them for wheels without them from a scrapped unit. Replacement tires are hard to find, and are often out of round.
Love the paint job, quite striking. A coat of clear matte will tone down that death beam gloss.
Nice job as usual...👍
I honestly think that without the traction tyres, this loco would just sit still and spin its wheels with any sort of load on behind. And you can't get non-traction-tyred wheels for this loco - they all came that way.
When all else fails - Bullfrog Snot. Look it up.
I agree dude working on these life like 3rd generation locos are easy to work on like you said.
I don't think there is anything more simple than these.
Wow I wish I know how to repair like you!, because I pick up some 0 scale and I see the wheels oxide,thank you for the video...
Noticed this video because it showed up in the sidebar suggestions and the BCR paint scheme stood out. Often I find interesting stuff about model mechanisms in servicing videos, but this is just a Bachmann clone so nothing interesting here in terms of the working parts. What stands out, though, is something that seems so logical. Most diesel shells that I know of snap on. On older models, that always means a visible tab-in-hole, and on newer models, those don't go all the way through so they're not visible. I suspect that contributes to why many modern shells are hard to remove (how do they even release from the mold originally?) I recently saw a parts diagram for the new Maerklin/Trix ES44 that showed its shell attaches with screws the same way this Life-Like does, and I wonder why more models aren't like that.
The drive was a Bachmann clone however the shell mold dates back to some of their first models. I prefer the screw design over clips as it seems pretty reliable, I wish they had kept the original drive system as it was a watered down version of what Varney had been making.
Coincidentally, I just discovered that at least some versions of the Bachmann N ATSF 4-8-4 likewise attach by screws from the underside.@@SMTMainline
Great video! Thx for your teaching me things I didn't know before!
Happy to help
It's always fun to watch what you do. You have really become the expert with engine diagnostics!!!... great skills and I love your whole layout. Happy Holidays!!...🎩🇺🇸🎩🇺🇸🎩
Really enjoy watching ur videos keep it up
great video
They sure haven't changed much in the lifelike locos. My fph40 lifelike Amtrak locomotive looks the same under shell. The date code I believe is February 25 1981 as mine is from 2005. Good restoration that is glossy paint on it. I do the same with my wheels on my one and only lifelike locomotive.
They developed the drive sometime in the 80s and continued making them until around 2015 I believe.
@@SMTMainline wow thats really interesting information . I find it really neat too that my proto 1000 C-liner says lifelike but then it says something about canada. That was when they were really nice. just that gear issue they known for but I love it.
I was trying to service one of these, and I lost the stupid brush and ended up having to replace it using one from a Bachman pancake motor, doesn’t seem to work as well as it did before.
maybe replace both with same so pressure is same?
Just as long as it isn't too tight inside the casing it should be okay. Did you make sure the springs were still in good shape?
@@SMTMainline actually after commenting this i went over and looked at it and realized that both the solders were cracked by the wheels so thanks for mentioning that (now i need to learn how to solder)
While I was watching this i spilt a bucket of mixed plaster all over my tracks now im crying smt
Thats too bad
I think they applied the paint by just dropping it in a can of the right color (and yes, there is striped paint for that application). Man, is it thick
I just got one at Value Village for $5.99. Quite grimmy and the railings had become brittle, some missing, a few parts broke off in my hand.
Great video buddy I'm learning a lot from U thanks!
I used to have some ll, but after a couple stripped gears i swore off the and move up market. The mechanism just doesn't hold up.
Yes Life Like A Santa FE E Unit Warbonnet Was My First Ho Scale Train I Got For Christmas Form My Cousin.
well done!!!
I just wish there was an “SMT Mainline” who did this kind of magic on Lionel locomotives…
Look up Benz Trainz and as he says Don't overlook the junk
ruclips.net/channel/UCo4zNEn9xeIfurU17ez5iDg
babe wake up smt mainline posted
Didn't this one win the world's worst ho scale locomotive competition 3 years ago?
Awesome job sir
Very cool locomotive
Tran doc did again great job
The only magnets that have an issue losing the mag field by removing them is very old alnico when they are removed from the metal open frame motor
2nd 66 Tube So you replace them with rare earth "Super Magnets" from Micro Mark
@@colbeausabre8842 yes
I have two gp40 that lock up . Took apart cleaned and reassembled . Both bind up . Motor vibrates nut won’t turn gears
Why did you not oil the brass bearing on the electric motor? Thanks for good info.
I did but it's possible I wasn't filming or accidentally edited it out.
👍 Very cool. 👻
👊👍🌟 Awesome
is your po box still the same so i can seed you some trains and i love your videos
It's still the same
Taking the armature out will not have any permanent effect on the strength of the magnetic field.
Is it just removing it over an extended period of time?
Not really, shock/vibration will alter it over time, but that is a much stronger function than the "keeper" function of the armature.
Nice colour scheme.
linda locomotora saludos super
Totally worth clicking off a penguinz0 video
Gotta agree lmao.
Thanks but penguinz is the best.
@@SMTMainline The thing you both have in common is you are both amazing and talented content creators.
These videos aren’t really “can we make them run”
Its more “we will make it run”
More like "How long will it take to make this run?"
Can you do a video with runaway train 1985 again?
I don't see why not :)
Smt should another video where he goes on shopping sights and look for sketchy trains again
Any chance you have a silver rear truck cover for a lifelike F7 you could send me? I broke one. I'll pay for it and shipping when I have the cash lol.
Epic
Did life like make Bachman or vis-versa. drives look exactly alike. Also weights were the same.
They were competitors however one design was ether stolen from the other or was possibly made in the same factory.
Eh Harrison. How many more Engines you have to work on?
Can you replace the traction rubber wheels with metal ones?
i use a fiberglass pencil it works good for me
Mint
Have the same loco, my first!
It’s called BCOL if I didn’t know.
Great video nonetheless though
is that the same model as your “worst locomotive”?
Same shell but obviously mine is way worse.
Yeah I remember seeing that too
But wait what if we want to see if the coils themselves are still good?
Oh yeah
HO scale locomotive.
Life Like.
GP38-2.
BCR.
Fixed for run in the layout.
I have N scale Life Like locomotives.
Santa Fe.
GP38-2.
3560 is Dummy.
3500 with motor.
Dose bcr stand for British Columbia railroad
I am big fan of smt mainline
I have a Canadian pacific f unit that won’t run
Hi
you should do a DNA test for those hairs