Getting A Locomotive That Hasn't Run in 50 Years Running Again 

I have three of those old Mantua/Tyco Pacifics, and they are basically bulletproof. I will note that the main problem with the electrical system is the tender. There are no "proper" wipers and it relies on the bolsters for the connection between the trucks and the frame. Always make sure that the bolster areas on the tender frame and trucks are clean. When you first put it on the track and there was no current draw I knew it was a tender connectivity problem. As an aside, I grew up in Mantua, NJ where Mantua Metal Products was first founded. Mantua was the "kit" side of the company while Tyco was the "ready to run" side. Tyco is short for "Tyler Company", as the family that owned Mantua/Tyco was Tyler.

My father had the exact same engine and it was his pride and joy. His also broke the connection from the engine to the tender. He fixed it with a piece of white styrene from my modelling bench. Still have it but its packed away in my moms house - hasnt run in probably 30+ years. I remember that it was a very fast engine. Memories

I had that same engine many years ago, as a young model railroader in the 70's! So good to see it running again!

I have this really old (Like 60-65 year old) Aristocraft 2-8-0 engine that hasn't ever run. So I got bored and fixed it. One thing I would recommend is lubricating the polls on the motor itself. My motor had almost no oxidization on it, but it was still not running very well. I put some lubricant on the polls and the thing can crawl at 0.5 millimeters per second. Many of the tips and techniques you showed in the video worked extremely well, and now I have an amazingly old engine that can run better than some of the current high-end models.

I no longer model railroad, but had a good running 2-8-2 Mikado back in the day from mantua. That thing was awesome!

Set was called "The Royal Blue". I think the engine is patterned on the B&O "Presidential" series for passenger service. Not a Pittman. My version actually had an open frame motor (like Lionel) "universal" motor.

My 1958 Tyco pacific still runs like a champ. I did replace the drivers and side rods.

My nephew gave me his old Engine. Same 4-6-2. I found a replacement kit on line to install a can motor. I might just save it and try your tricks! Nicely done How-To. Hats off Sir!

I have this exact locomotive that was a Christmas present from my grandparents in 1969 or 70. It was a model replica of the B&O Royal Blue passenger train that ran between Philadelphia and Baltimore in the 1940's. The biggest problem I have found with it running consistently well is the oxidation of the brass wheels of the tender which is the primary electrical pick up for the locomotive. I used this engine on a Christmas layout and just sitting in the box from one year to the next these wheels would oxidize badly. I use a small wire wheel in a Dremel tool to clean them up and it works great and quickly. The other issue I see is the piece of leather being used for a draw bar between the loco and tender. The should be a piece of metal which again would improve electrical conductivity between tender and locomotive. Somewhere along the line the metal bar was replaced by the leather one but it should be returned to metal for better performance. When running properly these locomotives run well as your demonstration showed and are very good pullers. This was my first steam engine and is still my favorite 50+ years later!

I too have this model, bought from a Hobby shop on Bloor street, in Toronto around '78-'79. It hasn't run in almost 40 years but it's in quite mint condition at my parents' house.

'Yeah, alright! We gotta runner!' Felt your sense of satisfaction, seeing it go. Another great service. Cheers, Jim L

Brought back memories of my Tyco 2-8-2 that was made in the 60's which was so nearly the same.

Happy to see that you got a good screwdriver for the repairs. As a Service Engineer working on equipment for over 27 years, you really appreciate great tools. After watching your videos (which I enjoy very much) You need to invest in the following: Weller pencil type soldering iron, WIHA electric insulated screwdrivers, and good quality test leads. Keep up the good work.

Nice job. I've heard that replacing the motor magnet with a stack of rare earth magnets really gives the motor a boost.

I had one of those once--but I stripped the paint off and painted it black and decaled it to Central of Georgia. Still runs on my layout. I did change the magnets in the motor to the neodymium rare earth ones and it really made a difference on the amount of current draw. It will crawl at low speeds now.

Finally someone who can show me how go over an engine to make it run. Thanks!

Glad you were able to get her back to running condition!

At work, saved this to watch later, because I have a Lionel that is 90 years old that belonged to my dad, and I have never personally run it. Hoping to find some useful tips here.

This is perfectly timed, just bought a 4-6-2 over the weekend just like this one thats in need of a good cleaning.

I have that exact same engine!!! I have a massive HO train collection amassed when my dad was alive. They are stored away and haven't run for decades...just like this engine!

Very cool looking vintage locomotive

I was running an old ho locomotive and thought I smelled smoke, I went upstairs and it was just my grandma cooking

Great job getting it running again! I had a Tyco Mantua like that just in plain black, back in late 60’s. If I can make a suggestion, disconnect the tender before doing anything else. You run the risk of breaking the drawbar. That one is a piece of leather, probably should replace with a piece of thick styrene.

An excellent video. That very same locomotive, bought brand new, by me, many decades ago, for the princely sum of nineteen dollars and ninety seven cents, plus tax, is today the main power for my twenty one car heavyweight Baltimore and Ohio blue and gray Royal Blue express passenger train. It has been through a flood, and a fire, and still runs great, inside or outside. The Mantua/Tyco 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive was one of the few locomotives I could afford way back then that would actually pull a passenger train that long, and they were in stock and on sale. I should have bought two. I definitely got my monies worth and it is a real treat to watch it pull the matching passenger express train through the mountains. The locomotive has had only one modification, which is an identical magnet glued to the original motor magnet, and then a session on my friends magnet recharger. Thanks for the memories. Hello from the Tracy Mountain Railway in Colorado. 💙 T.E.N.

Dedication to allowing these items of yester-year to have moments to exist in the now is to be appreciated. I am working to bring some gifted relics such as this one back to life. Thank you for taking the timw to record and publish these very helpful videos.

I have seen that locomotive in my store, one of the guys that worked there said that it was all most 60 years old.

I think a light sanding with a dremel would finish cleaning up the oxidation on the wheels. Only takes a little spot on slow speeds to bring it to a stop. I would also consider installing DCC and a small capacitor to buffer dead spots if there's room in the shell. Another decent idea would be to replace the old leather strap connecting the tender to the locomotive with a piece of brass sheet cut to length, proper width, and of course something to insulate it and bypass the electric through screws to a small male to female connector. A fresh paint job would also work wonders for the asthetics.

I have three of these that run like a charm. One is B&O (had since '70) and two others...one Crescent Limited and one repainted black, both I bought on Ebay. The B&O I have had since I was a kid, and other than maintenance it has run reliably to this day. I actually changed the coupler on it toa Kadee knuckle version so I can use it on my layout..just for grins an giggles. The other two I picked up for fun and both ran, but I did pull them apart and cleaned and lubed...both run great. These are not the best detailed and tend to be a little clunky and noisy but I enjoy them just the same. Thanks for sharing this video!

Just like with paints. I like to put cpl bb,s in the bottles to help mix the paint. Will help mix any liquids together even if they separate over few days.

I have an old Tyco The General Steam Locomotive that was at an antique shop and my Grandma got it for me last year and when I tested it just to see if it ran, low and behold the thing still had juice in it, but I haven’t seen it since last year

It's no longer a question of "Can we make it run?" because we all know the answer.

I knew it! Once I saw you unwrap that baby from the mail I knew it would be bumped to the top of the repair list. Fantastic job! I had some doubt like I’m a new subscriber or something.

Nice work as always. A logical and methodical process that's based on experience, and another little piece of history is riding the rails again.

Still have 2 sets of model trains one about the same size as this one shown and a bigger version. Would like to take it up as a hobby someday again

Great video, and important for me. After 25 years I decided to put down some track for a small switching layout, and just today pulled out old diesel and steam locos to see how they run and what kind of TLC they need. Since it's been such a long time, it was nice to have a refresher in maintenance.

19:08 "five pole" motor in a 1960s-1970s model, I thought it was an X04 motor as it was common on a British brand's locomotives. I get this "X04" vibe as I own a 1970s Hornby B12/3 that is fitted with an identical motor.

instead of zapping you self or damaging what you are working on you can use a multimeter with a diode check to test for conductivity

Happy 2021! That locomotive has a nice blue tone with the B and O! Amazing look and amazing locomotive! See you in the next one!

I bought a Mantua long haul tender just like the one on the 4-6-2 to modify to be the tender for Grand Trunk Western 5629

I have a Santa Fe O-Scale Locomotive that really doesn’t run I just use it for decoration. It must be a REALLY old locomotive probably 70’s or 80’s. Btw I love your videos! Congrats on fixing this steam engine!

You made that locomotive great again!

Great videos and dont let anyone bring you down!

The tumbnail made it look like you were fixing an actual locomotive

Love the old TYCO/Mantua 4-6-2's! I have 3 of them myself. Two are the collector ones from the 1990's. To top it off, I'm a B&O fan and love that paint scheme!

Good video! You seem well prepared, you have a plan, you have direction. So many diys are not thought out, don’t have direction, and they ramble! A pleasure to listen to your instructions. I wish you would have cleaned the tie bar between the engine and tender😊. Thanks

Good Job. Them locomotives are fast as I have 2 of them as you know they are great pullers. A little bit of wheel slip and she will yank anything you can throw at her. I cringed when I seen the pilot broke which is common due to being plastic and its age. Love this. Newer magnet on motor will improve the crawl etc . beautiful rare model

amasing job buddy runs like a nearly new locomotive cheers

I restore locomotives all the time. Prewar postwar lionel ect ect. Its amazing to see something running and alive again.

Mantua locos, the Pacific particularly, are very fast. A matter of the number of teeth on the driver. If I remember correctly, the Pacific has a 40 tooth drive gear. Earlier pre Tyco locomotives had a finer tooth gear, my 2-6-0s from ~1954ish have a smaller metal gear yet have greater number of teeth. The worm moves the gear 1 tooth per rev., the greater the number of teeth, the slower the overall speed on the drivers. When Tyco became separate from Mantua, they went to nylon gears. Making the small teeth is more difficult and less reliable in nylon. BTW, my 2-6-0s have brass gears. . . The very tall drivers have an influence here as well. A NYC generic prototype, the Pacific has been lettered for many large roads. The commutator (motor) when properly dressed should be a chocolate brown, not shiney copper. You are correct about carbon in the segments, watch for high mica as well. Brush tension is important, pressing with your fingers on the brushes actually slows the motor. They should be so weakly held in place that there is good contact but no more. It is normal for brushes to wear until they are grooved, then the wear is minimal. Tyco motors were Mantua inhouse produced, at least into the '80s. The armature must never be removed from the frame unless a "keeper" is placed around the magnet. A weak magnet causes a weak motor. These comments apply to almost any open frame motors used with Varney, English, Bowser, and other archaic drive systems as well. They do apply to modern locos, but "can" motors are not so easily serviced. I have been NMRA from 1971, and BSEE from 1985. Most of my locomotives are metal, I don't like plastic on the front end. I have a couple of the Pacifics, but don't run them. Too fast for my railroad. Bi11 Hudson NMRA 2125 (Life)

Good job with that engine. Also, nice looking layout.

As it happens, I have the exact same Loco, in Santa Fe trim. Hasn't run in 50! Thanks for all the tips!

I’m just starting a train collection and I hope I can make a trail table soon keep up the great videos

to have this old train run again it's like seeing a ghost train.

Nice job Harrison, I love the fact that you knew how to fix beaten up or just simply broken models and turn them brand new

Thank you smt! cant wait for the next restoration

For those that are not from my part of New Jersey (Mantua is 4 miles away) I mostly hear Man -TU-a. No that is not it. Around here it is almost 2 syllables - Man-chua. The "a" at the end sort of slides off. I toured the Tyco factory when I was in Cub Scouts in about 1975.

Damn when I took mine apart I unscrewed everything on the bottom and had no idea there was a screw in the smokestack. It was time consuming and painful, wish I would have had this video to look at then. But good for future reference.

Thank you for all the great tips.

Stunning! I love these older engines, Though I'm from Britain and ik not too keen on American locos.I have a 91 year old Clockwork Royal Scot and coaches, it is a hornby clockwork and rund lovely.

This is so trippy! I had the shell and tender of this locomotive as a kid, leftovers from my Dad's childhood collection from the early 70s. I loved that thing; it didn't have a chassis, so I'd always find "creative" solutions to replace the loco wheels. It's so surreal to see the complete engine for the first time! This thing is all metal, they don't make them like that anymore!

I really enjoy watching your videos. I had a large HO layout a few years ago that I would work on when I wasn't at work. This started out as a 4X8 but grew much bigger in time. I sold everything after I retried. "LONG STORY" Got busy doing other things BUT I do miss my trains from time to time. I never got into the DDC stuff. I had a lot of the older Athearn Locomottives. Yes they are very good for the money and I would detail them. I do have a lot of pictures of the layout that I am glad that I took. I would be happy to share them if you like. Who knows..Maybe I will get back into trains Thinking about N gauge

Hope to get mine running this week, thanks for the info.

I have my old 2-8-2 Mikado from the same maker (Tyco/Mantua). Even clean as a goose, these things were just not geared or motored to do low speeds.

nice job, those curves really freaked me out though.

The only reason this video has 18 dislikes is cuz they didn’t want to have to wait 50 years to see this person receiving it and running on the tracks

Awesome job. I have a mantua tyco just like this but only black. They're a great model. Had to do basically the same to mine. But now after watching this I might go over mine again. Lol

Excellent video! Very informative!

Awesome SMT! I actually have two of those. One is an old Chessie System version and the other one I had my local hobby shop install DCC sound, weathering, and extra detail. It even has the OG motor!

Hopefully some day you can connect all your layout sections together Harrison and have a big layout to run passenger and freight lol, maybe even run your Acela if it still works, I still stay Bachman’s certain spectrum locos have their ups and downs, I wouldn’t consider buying an Acela if it had the same problem, and have a happy new year

I have several of engines of this make . Don't know if all of these were kits but mine are and they are NOT in good shape . Don't know if they are worth anything but I find them unique and fascinating with the amazing level of detail they have . Thanks for inspiring me to get a move on them and for the very helpful information !

Quite intriguing to see how locomotives have changed.

That is a great looking engine the guy who ownes it will be happy to see it running again good job at getting it running.

What a gorgeous engine. Love watching them run. Absolutely cool watching. Thanks for sharing. ♥😺♥ I love trains even though I have never ridden in one...yet. I Hit like, subscribed and notify all

It's alive, got it running yesterday, Thanks for the info

It definitely looks like an express locomotive.

The big issue I've had with Mantuas is that the magnets get real weak. I've cleaned the commutators well and checked the windings and everything was ok, but just running the motor itself it drew alot of current and barely moved. I had this happen on probably a half a dozen of them now.

Powered test leads are nice, but a ten dollar multimeter would serve you better. On these old trains you would probably use just the ohm meter which would find your shorts and broken connections faster than the test leads. By the resistance, you would know how good the connection is which can not be done with the leads. The fiberglass paint chip pen is good, but it does leave behind glass fibers and a shot of air wouldn’t be a bad idea. Also, the glass pen leaves the commutator “scratched” up, it takes run time to get that motor running strong and smooth, at least ten, twenty minutes, med low speed. I’ve been watching a lot of your videos lately and enjoy them very much, you do a good job on trains that would otherwise be in a landfill. I personally think any metal bodied model, toy train is worth saving. Oh also, not just on this train, but the other ones you have worked on, motor brush tension. Motor brush tension is very important on these toy trains. They come with very little, for longevity of the motor, commutator brushes, and commutator, and lose a little more over time. Try increasing the tension of the brush on the commutator (baby steps), to improve low amp creep, low speed, crawl. Anyway, enjoy your Chanel, wish you well… adios

That’s a beautiful locomotive. Hope Adam is watching 👍

Well done, lovely job

Looks great! When I clean up a locomotive, I like to test electrical conductivity through each step. Sometimes the spring in wheel contacts are oxidized, as well as the wheels. So checking step by step helps troubleshoot on the way back to the rails. That is a beautiful loco! And thanks for showing us the fiberglass pencil. I just ordered a set of fiberglass, steel and brass pencils for polishing up metal contacts. Thanks again for showing us that. - Rob

I have a Hornby locomotive from the 1950s which I managed to get running again

Love these old diecast locomotives, years ago I bought at an estate sale Tyco/Mantua parts. So I like buy junk engines and making them run.

Love watching your videos. You're teaching alot of people some good tricks to get things rolling. Shoot you taught an old fart like me a couple. Keep up the great 👍.

Lovely set up

Yay the B&O steamer is running. Nice Video SMT!

One thing.. what was put in the nylon worm gear? Nylon gears should never be lubed ...they are self lubing and added lube will cause grit to be attracted to them... and then become embedded in it..... and slowly wear out the nylon gear.along with the metal gear it engages with.

I would put a can motor in this locomotive(keep the 5 pole) this is a real classic, Mantua made nice running stuff before Tyco bought them out

I had a U.P. version of this locomotive, it was a very fast runner!

I guess even in smaller scales like o gauge and ho scale steam locomotives are still harder to mantain than Diesels

SMT, happy New Year’s! Sorry about the rude comments about the centerbeam cars anyways love your videos and happy 2021 cheers 🍻,Roman

you can't kill these old Mantua locos. This one is based on the B&O P7e loco so nice that it is in that paint scheme, though released in many others.

Hello smt from West Virginia Nice video I’m enjoying it Have a good night SMT

I have that exact loco as part of a passenger set that’s also probably 50 years since it last ran. My recollection was that it ran extremely well, but needed a little pulse power to creep at low speed.

Glad to see you got his Grandfathers train running again.

happy new year from michigan !!.

Beautiful Thing, that Loco.

Great job on fixing that train I look forward to seeing it run with the Baltimore and Ohio passenger cars

Man i wish they made motors like that again. I used to have a bachmann steam train, the motors they use are crap, you can't really get into them without messing up the casing and they use thin copper wiring so they can burn up fast. Plus the gears got stripped over time. It had so many more problems though, they aren't very reliable from my experience. The tycos on the other hand seem to last long from what iv'e heard and from what iv'e seen on this video.

Have an assignment to turn in about 8 minutes but this is more important

"How fast can this thing go?" Hmm...remember the Acela...remember the Acela...