Why Is This Walthers Trainline Dash-8 Running so poorly? 

Not sure how I missed this one, but this is another great video. I have a few Mainline locomotives, so this will help with my tuneup projects. Thank you.

Luv the humor !

Yep, that's where I am now. Getting close to retirement and cracked open all of my train boxes after 40 years. Did my inventory, found lots to fix and so far so good. This was very helpful, Ron and I look forward to more of your videos.

I guess the experts aren't where you expect them to be after all? Good call on the motor, especially after the evidence of all the hair collection in the trucks. I wonder what the insides of the old motor actually looked like. Excellent work, excellent find...

Great video, Ron. The walthers locomotives that I find difficult to access the gears inside the trucks, is the Walthers SD45 from around 2003 or 2004. Those are a radically different truck design from the 4 axle locos that closely resemble Athearn trucks. I want to get inside them, but not break anything in the process.

Excellent - Thank you!

I’ve had many a Walthers model train in my lifetime, and I can say that they are all good models. The Trainline and Mainline models are very good and mechanically sound, with 5-pole motors and all wheels driven, although they lack ball bearings. The Proto line is where they really shine. They have ball bearings on all wheels, nice weighty chassis, all wheels driven, and an incredible amount of detail for their prices. The best way to go about buying one is getting it from a hobby shop or second hand, as Walthers has marked up the prices by quite a bit. The DCC ready ones are usually the best for cost-effectiveness. As for the hair in the drive, that is a classic sign of a case of someone running the model train on their carpet.

That loco is awesome 😎

I had a Walthers trainline loco back in the late 90's, good runner and great model to practice on super detailing with. I love the cheaper models because you could practice weathering skills and techniques on them without worrying about messing up a high dollar model. These days with the prices for a new car, I would prefer the older stuff, heck, one Walthers proto car cost about 30 or more dollars. I could get three or more Athearn blue box car kits back in 1999 and enjoy putting them together.

I reach for my cell phone when dis assembling thing for repair and take pictures as I take it apart. That way I have pictures of how it's supposed to be when I put it back together. God job.

Another Great 1

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and humor. Persistence should always be rewarded with a cold beer.

Really love your style and channel! You have humor that reminds me of Vice Grip Garage. Nice job on this engine! I’ve had a good time with the train line engines, though I have seen some of their FAs with zinc rot present in the frame. Walthers never seems to compromise on running quality and mechanism design, and even their entry level engines run fantastic. Look forward to more!

BEER BOX GAUGES! Awesome! You should patent and market those. Different brands, different thicknesses. Q - "How much space do I need for this flywheel?", A - "Two Buds and a Busch"...LOL

I have one of these in a UP scheme. I may have to pull it apart and rebuild it. This is another great reference video. I appreciate the time you take to show all the steps.

Love your work! I learned a lot.

Thank goodness you were so persistent with your diagnosis. Excellent repair

Beer box gauges for the win! Good for you for not giving up and getting it back on the rails. It's a good looking unit for sure,

Pure entertainment!

Keep the learnin’ coming Ron…great video and repair…

This dude’s jokes just catch me off guard 😂 funny dude

Nice job,fun video

I like you style.

This is the first video I have seen from your channel and I have subscribed. Well done on giving that Walthers Dash 8-40C a new lease of life. Keep up the great videos. I look forward to seeing more of them. All the best from Ireland Peter.

Nice Beard, Ron..... nice name!

Hy Ron, thanks for your very fantastic shows. Im from Germany and beeing modelrailwayer for now 50 years. After I looked youtube I find my interest of classic us locos. Just happy to find you, hopefully for much more videos, I watch them all and have very much input to learn the inner live of US stuff. Regards Rainer

That does work. Water and brushed motors. We break in RC cars motors that way. It does excellent job cleaning brushes and com.

Thanks for another great video. Lots of fun.

your best presentation so far. an excellent re-motoring job. you should open that old motor to see what's wrong with it. thanks for both an educational and entertaining video. A++!

Hey Ron! I recently bought a Walthers Trainline GP9M new from Amazon, and right out of the box, the engine runs good, but it squeaks like no other… I’ve tried oiling the drive shafts, etc… but the squeaking persists. Maybe it’s a dry axle? Anyways keep up the good work, I love the content! Very informative! Love it. Take care, Ron!

The little plastic covers on the light board are for solderless connections. You just strip back about an 1/8" and put the wire in the hole. Then slip the plastic cover on and it will hold the wire in place. You should get yourself a roll of yellow Polyimide Kapton High temperature anti static tape for the inside of the trains. It won't get sticky and in 20 years you can still remove it. It's about $7.00 a roll that will last for years.

Great job restoring that loco! I have 4 Trainline locomotives and they all run great, someone was not kind to that one.

For a budget model, this looks quite well engineered.

Nice job! I love dash 8's

Great job Ron !!!! 👌👍

Excellent! I have never seen an Ho Scale train repair. I now know why I play with S Scale and above lol! Thanks for sharing!

Love Watching your Videos very Educational.

Good work, I was brought up on Athearn Locos and totally loved them the design was later used by Proto and Walthers. They needed some tuning when new just to prevent future problems but even 40+ years later they always run. Great video this is the stuff Train enthusiasts need for the hobby. P.S Those old tyco pancake motors while tricky are easy to repair but they do the same thing yours here did, all of a sudden run real slow for no apparent reason even when fully cleaned up.

hi ron !!! great stuff... and we can learn from you again !!! here is a tip when working with the "micro" screws... i have several neodymium magnets which are VERY STRONG, so i rub the end of my small headed screw driver against the magnet for a minute or so... this allows you to fit the micro screw into the phillips or slotted head of the screw and that way you can actually insert the screw into the hole much easier. also, this helps the dropping and finding problems of "micro work"... blessings to you, ron my friend !!!

Picked up a sp one 35 bucks at a train show, here to find out how to take it apart for maintenance

good job i have repaired a lot of locos but do not own any walthers engines now i know how to fix them if i pick up any thanks again looking forward to more videos

Those engines have been around since the mid-90s under the train line series

You make nice videos! FWIW-years ago had a Bachman GP-30. Ran loud and rough. The original motor was a Mashima can knock-off. It vibrated badly because somehow during manufacture the armature ended up under a drill press where somebody had drilled a 1/4" x 1/4" divot in it! An actual Mashima fixed the problem.

Great video, kind of surprised that the hobby store said that motor was fine, mine actually told me my one motor was junk and they got me a new one.

Excellent video! There is more to the prototype story of the B40-8 though and that is the wide cab variant known as the B40-8W (also made by Walthers), the "W" of course referring to the full width nose and cab and was a specifically built for the Santa Fe Railway for use on their high speed, time sensitive intermodal trains and painted in the road's resurrected red/silver warbonnet scheme (dubbed the Superfleet scheme) and was produced from 1990 to 1991. It's not exactly known what the top speed of those particular locomotives was though, it ranges from the standard top speed of the Dash 8 line of 65mph but there have been some reports that the top speeds of the Santa Fe B40-8Ws was in the 75 to 80mph range! Back to the model though, I never thought of using a new Proto motor in these things, that's a big help, I've got a similar locomotive that I aquired off of Ebay (it also came with an Atlas B40-8 as well) and come to find out that the motor had been yanked out of it and turned into a dummy unit! This video just gave that locomotive new hope to once again run under its own power, thanks for sharing!

Good job again, Ron. You are the engine man. Being up in Billings, BNSF ought to be your mainline!

Concerning motors, I have tried submerging them in water while they are running with no ill effects in an attempt to clean those types that can not be opened. The motor I tried on was as a Roco can motor. It did not run any better after the cleaning. I got the video on how to attempt this off of RU-vid. Hearns Hobbies was the provider of this tutorial.

Great job on this one, very informative and entertaining!

Its Dash 8 40B or B40-8 i believe. Can go either depending on the railroad or the person.

Another great video Ron! Walthers has relaunched the B40-8 (or Dash 8-40B, whatever), now in its Mainline series. This Mashima clone motor in the locomotive was first used by Atlas in its old U33/36C and, after that, in its C30-7. In my personal experience this is one of the best motors used by Atlas, Life-like (Proto 1000) and Walthers in their locomotives in the past. I use it to repower some Athearns with the old C truck (SD7/9, UxxC, SD45…) with great results (low start working voltage, low current consumption, very good torque). So I suggest you to open the bad motor, in order to (try to) recover it. If you do it (with good results, I hope!), please make a video! congratulations by the way: 900 plus followers! You’re doing great!

Walthers has become quite the monopoly.

I never realized this but the train line GP9M shell is from cox. Same with model power, who got absorbed into Lionel btw

It looks good and now it runs great keep up the good work :)

See ya, Mr. Grizzly Adams. I mean Ron ! 😅

Today i got a walthers trainline locomotive from amazon for less than $80 and it seems really good. Im new to this stuff so I only have lifelike junk to compare it to but it was smooth, quiet and seemed strong. Only thing is the trucks don’t articulate enough to work on my tight track. I may send it back or keep it for future use, i just dont know yet.

Sealed motors can be cleaned. If you run it in small glass water. I do this with new motors I get for RC cars. Break in process.

Almost to 1,000 subs . Great video !

Hu yah Ron had to Chuckle many ppl wouldn't know about "Driveline timing " or phasing OBTW I'll bet you have. Batt.Cable puller, bet you could ....with some lite mods. Keep-um rolling...

I think I would have taken back down to the shop and showed them how much faster and better it runs with the new motor. But, then again they would probably say you put a faster motor in.

You can make sun visors for the windows.

We need an episode on the walthers evil FA.

Northwest Shortline sells the proper puller for the flywheels.

Ron, have you ever made a video on how you installed and connected both your volt and amp meters? I for one would be interested in knowing. Thanks for taking the time out to do you!!

Hello Ron, I got a Bachman GE E60 CP Electric today. Great fun yes but I wont run after oil. Bachman is no good at all. Kenneth

I have two Trainline FA2's and I ran one it has a very loud gear noise and the other has a motor just like you have in your model. I replace the motor for a China motor I bought from ebay and it is running much better.

Ironically, the trucks falling off the frame when you pick it up is actually more prototypical.

Note that the Dash-8 can't be from a 1970s Cox mould because, as you say immediately after, the Dash-8 line didn't exist until the late '80s. And, yeah, I don't understand why GE decided to turn "-8" into "Dash-8". 'Cos everybody needs a "Dash dash 8 dash forty B".

You may wanna try rewinding the motor. Doing that is a bit tedious. Also try remagnetizing the magnets. Or you could replace the magnets. I’ve rewound several motors and/or replaced the magnets and those motors are better than new. I’d rather spend a little time and a couple dollars rebuilding the motor than upwards of 50 bucks plus for a new factory fresh motor.

I feel sorry for trains stuck in antique stores. They dont belong there, they need a layout to live on and be operated! Found one of my TYCO Rocky Mountain engines there, for a good price. Usually the antique stores price their trains like gold, way higher than train show value. Nice repair work. That would be a piece of cake to upgrade to Kadees.

I like your content and style Ron! :). Great video again! I just acquired a Model Power GP9 and had a while ago picked up a Walthers GP9. Same shell mold as the Cox GP9 which was copied in part from the high nose Athearn GP9. Guess if it’s good copy and paste, or recycle. Currently fixing up a Tyco C-430. What gauge wire did you use for the hand rails you created? I have tyco stantions but not rails for it. Take care and all the best from you neighboring state to the west!

15:02 I see a Burlington northern f7a to the left of your shoulder, by chance is it a lifelike road number 9790?

I want it

TY, does Budweiser have a patten on that beer box gauge.

I have a atheren john deere gp38 that has plastic pins in place instead of screws

I have a walthers Train line csx boxcar that I’m trying to make into a review video

Ironically enough, you could probably stick the bad motor in an unmodified Athearn Hustler chassis/drive and cut its top speed down from 300+ mph to a more "reasonable" 50 mph!

The fix for those is to buy a(new)loose Kato drive. OVR stocks them.🚂🇨🇦🇺🇲

I have one of those, indeed is fast as slug😂😂😂😂

I'm pretty sure there is NO REAR headlight.... 🤣

Where did you get the Fiberglas pencil? Another great video.

Hi I watched your Video on the Walther's Trainline Dash-8 40B,How long ago did you get this engine? I am thinking of getting one for myself. I found one on eBay a ATSF Dash-840B ,So is it worth buying this engine?

I have a few athearn bb engines that do this now to . They ran great for years then suddenly they need to be nearly full power and they still run slow . I've cleaned them out several times . Really doesn't help . No idea whats going on at this point

Judging by all the crude, safe to say you bought it off a model railrugger. 🤣 (Edit): your layout is looking nice!

pls take apart the old sealed motor...

Really always just called it an eightfortyb

Hi. I’m new to train layouts and I just started my 1st walthers BNSF last night. It’s a DCC so I’m controlling it via wifi on my phone. I got it working and it ran for a good 2 hours. I was all excited till a day later I try starting her up and she is not responding at all. I tried contacting walthers but I’m still waiting for their email on troubleshooting tips. I’m pretty bummed out cause I spent a couple months just building structures and getting everything ready. Is there anyway I can send you my train for service. ? I’m guessing it’s a shorted decoder. Like I said I’m a newbie to trains.

Ok have a ho walters engine it just sits and flashes makes a little noise of powering on as I shut transformer off what now

Hi I have a amtrack FP45 I don’t need it would you like to add to your collection

Try a eBay motor swap you can buy motors for cheap and five or six pole motors I'd watch that

Because ge made it so long ago

It's GE garbage

My Walthers trainline engines are totally different!

Really enjoying your videos and your 'style'.. My dad had me hold a flashlight while he worked on his cars back in the 1970's. He eventually had to hide his tools as I needed to find out how things worked and fix that didn't. I eventually got pretty skilled at using butter knives as tools. I know the feeling as a young feller who should know nothing in some situations. Just last year the experienced service tech worked on our 1973 forced hot air oil burner and dang nearly killed us with 3 visits. At one point when I was suggesting that he had wired the blower wrong of the 2 options it can be, he was telling me that the light puff of warm air coming from the registers was normal? Once I went through and replaced the 2 new components the techs had damaged installing on my old rig and a proper rewiring, it's been running well. I don't participate on Facebook but just looked at your page and saw you are dabbling in N scale, which is the scale I play with. Here is an excellent resource for historical data on models produced in N that is quite phenomenal. www.trovestar.com/generic/index.php?Collection=4&Body+Style=&Brand=&Production+Type=&Manufacturer=&Road+or+Company+Name=135438&Series+Name=&Item+Category=Locomotives&Model+Type=Diesel Hope that worked? Sorry not so skilled at THIS stuff. Again, really enjoy your videos and hope you keep em coming. Andrew