Rivarossi H.O. y6b 2-8-8-2 Articulated Tear Down & Re-lube 

You really can't fault the Italian desingers for producing models like this for the USA market that most American model companies at the time did not produce. So impressive.

I got one of those for 50-ish bucks at last years local train show. The only part missing is the cover for the screw up front/above the front end of the boiler,lol. I love that this model can go around 18" curves. Great work Ron!!

I have four of these on the table at the moment! 🤣🤣🤣 I never understand why everyone is so scared of removing the valve gear? I always do it and clean them up. I would advise pulling all the crank pins out and using blue loctite on them, same with the Big boys. The have a habit of backing out on the Rivarossi's and then you bend all your cranks!

Ron -- I'd really like to see you add enough track to your layout to run trains in a continuous loop! There must be a way even if you have to build one HELIX track to go under the table and a second to bring the train back up. Think about how nice it would be to run a train in a complete loop.

Even when that locomotive was all filthy, it looked good. It would have looked just right on a layout, parked on a siding between a couple other crummy locos or cars.

I have one of these models, they are sweet! The model I have, the tender power is fed to the motor via the pin and draw bar, which has a tension spring in it to help maintain contact pressure. One of the favorite tricks for these was to split the drive and add a second motor. The fun really began when the engines run out of time, appearing very prototypical . I don’t know if the one you have has the spring steel discs behind some of the drivers or not, but these were for electrical conductivity as the driver centers were plastic. Another great overhaul video as always.

Hello Ron how are you doing buddy I like all of the articulate steam engines like the big boy the challengers the mallets the Alleghenys and the cab forwards also the 2 66 4s and 2 888 2s

Great job Ron. Rivarossis were fantastic locomotives at the time when they were produced: compare them with any steam made by Bachmann with the crappy Chinese Pancake motor. Even nowadays they are impressive.

Can't really dis the Rivarossi for the swiveling front and rear engines. Almost all of yesteryear's and today's "high end" non-brass HO large mainline articulated steam models also have the prototypically incorrect swiveling front and rear engines like the Rivarossi - BLI, Athearn Genesis, MTH, TRIX, etc. They would never run on less than 24" radius curves without it. I have had some vintage and new brass articulated models, and none would run through a quarter circle curve less than 27" radius. The largest, a 2-8-8-4, would only run on 32" and wider. The only non- brass models I know of that maybe don't swivel both engines are the Oriental "Powerhouse" 2-8-8-2 (brass chassis and die cast boiler), Bowser Challenger and Big Boy (RIP), and the Intermountain AC11 / 12 Cab Forward. The Bowser T-1 should have been completely rigid framed, like the prototype.

If you have steep grades or want to run more than one powered locomotive on the train, try to shim the worm gears / thrust washers to have about 0.002" of end play in the gear boxes, or the locomotive will probably buck and jerk when going down grade or when running with more than one locomotive in the train. I had to do this with most of my locomotives on 1.5% grades and when double-heading steam or multiple unit diesels.

Great news on the 8,000 subs, Ron. Could only happen with excellent content. Congratulations.

I have that same locomotive. I am a huge fan of Rivarossi. Nice work Ron

Learned something new

Very entertaining video! Cats barfing and your interesting banter. I never miss your videos and look forward to each new one. Thanks for all the hard work you put into each one.

Well done on the 8K and another awesome restoration.

Congrats on 8k. Another really good video.

I’m glad you did this engine. I have that exact engine and I will be following all of your steps to tune it up. Thank you for taking the time to make this clean up video.

Great job Ron. Looks and sounds great.

Just another great video. Congrats on your ebay auction and your growing channel.

Congrats on the Subs awesome video