The recent thread on availability of the Pioneer Zephyr in HO
attracted my attention. Prices for these over the years have been low
to reasonable generally, the prices kept low by better engineered
models being produced in the interim by Challenger. I believe that
the price has gone up in the interim, but will probably recede once
the long-promised new models from Challenger are actually in the
country.
I have one of the original NPP sets, with fourth car added, made by
KMT in ?early '70's. As a model it can look pretty good, but
operate pretty bad (never mind the grammar). The basic problem is
that all of the single-power-truck articulated models (Pioneer
Zephyr, General Pershing, etc.) lack sufficient weight/power to drag
a bunch of poorly-rolling brass cars around the layout, unless track
is flat, or slightly downgrade.
The NP PZ is additionally hampered by a very poor drive truck, with a
plastic gear drive train and worm gear, driven by a
vertically-mounted three pole open frame motor. The plastic gear
train almost always fails with cracked gears, the worm gear
similarly, but much less often.
I have at least partially corrected and or alleviated some of these
issues, as follows:
1) I replaced all of the spur gears with NWSL gears. To remove the
idlers, I ground off the lips of the rivets holding them in place to
the internal truck frame. Each new idler gear required being
ground/milled down to the same relatively-thin thickness of the
original NPP gears. I then fastened each gear idler back in place by
drilling and tapping each hort axle, replacing the riveted lip with a
screw (0-80?) fastened from the back.
2) A Sagami can motor replaced the KMT motor. It bolted right in
place with the same screws. The original worm was kept (steel). Some
of the original worms are reportedly brass, and if so should probably
be replaced with a NWSL equivalent.
3) The drive truck frame simply rides on axle extensions and does no
real work. Unfortunately, it also constitutes a nest of various and
episodic electrical shorts. I solved it by widening the truck bolster
very slightly, and then epoxy-gluing insulated washers over the
truck frame axle holes to hold the frames away from touching the
insulated wheels.
4) I loaded up virtually all available space in the front end of the
car body with lead- in fact every single nook and cranny. I shaped
the lead to form fit inside the sloping nose, but left a "slot"
across the windows into which I fitted suitable sawed-off crew
figures. The slot is painted flat black so that no one notices this
subterfuge.
I even wrapped and fastened sheet lead around the motor.
5) The articulated truck to the rear of the motored car is also a
nest of shorts, handled with a variety of pieces of insulating
styrene sheeting, etc.
Does it all work? For the most part yes. It will take the three car
train up a 2% grade without difficulty, but struggles with the fourth
car. The final solution is going to arrive by finding some way to
improve dramatically the rolling characteristics of the car trucks (
as usual with so many brass cars, the PZ's truck wheels roll like
casters in deep sand). The solution is probably going to come by
insertion of conical bearing inserts into the truck bearing holes,
and then fitting in NWSL 30" nickel silver wheel sets with the
appropriate-length axles.
There are other things that can be done to improve this train as
well, such as adding class lights, windshield wipers, proper horns,
and ventilating windows in the windshield assembly. I have done all
of this, and it really "looks good". I have yet to create the
interiors, or the proper glazing treatments in the trailing cars.
Anyway, this old model can be made both presentable and reliable.
I have done similar to the Hallmark 9902 General Pershing, and it
runs like a fine Swiss watch, hauling not only all of its cars, but
also the extra Pullman behind the power car that the train commonly
hauled KC to St. Louis from Billings, MT. I just recently converted
the power car to Soundtraxx, and both it and its train are real
Stars.
Denny
Denny
Denny S. Anspach, MD
Sacramento, California
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