I have an old Walthers o scale mikado serial number 148 located on the drive rod it is brass and belonged to my greatgrandpa I need help finding information on it any help is much appreciated
If someone here does not have information for you, I'd try contacting the Train Collectors Association, or even the manufacturer.
You're going to have to provide far more photographs than those. Undercarriage, both loco and tender, gearbox, motor, and "proof" markings that this is a Walthers. I have my own ideas based upon the little I can see. Get some really good shots and post them. Try posting on Model Train Journal 2-rail page, also: http://modeltrainjournal.musthavecd.com
Well from the picture, it looks like the driver wheels do have an insulation between the tire and the wheel. Like ScaleCraft said some more pictures are needed. Also I'd guess it's a DC powered engine and if you put AC to it you fry the motor in short order. Ask me how I know. The shell looks like a Williams Mikado so I'm wondering if it was converted to 2 rail since Williams didn't sell their Mikado for 2 rail. Greg
Hi Greg! How are you? Uncle Pete must still be keeping you busy? Are you getting any model railroading time? Maybe something we could see a photo or two?
Gearbox side cover says Walthers, too. If we see the bottom, we'll know if it's PolyDrive or not, and date it pretty close. 1946 Walther's Catalog shows a complete kit for $80. In 1946 probably Universal motors (calls out #3), which will run on both, requiring a bridge rectumfrier or hand reverse to reverse either field of armature. I was running two of my ScaleCraft steamers on a layout several years ago, before I put open frame permags in, still hand reverse, and there was an electrical failure....with 14VAC to the common rail. No speed control, turn power pack off, kept right on running. Had to kill all sorts of things until we got the signal power supply killed, and they stopped. Can motors would have been instant smoke at that point of failure. The quality of the parts tells me probably earlier Walthers than later. Dave
The box on the frame just below the cab appears to be a hand reverse. Need better photos to know for sure. The plug between loco and tender dates it back 3-5 decades anyway..drawbar far longer than catalog photos show.
it is DC we power it with an g scale controller it works by the way and like scalecraft said it might be both
Polydrive. If all the gears are there, it is amazing that it even turns over. Probably pre-1950. Walthers finally woke up and dropped the Polydrive (one gear per axle, jackshaft, impossible to get everything lined up and turning smoothly, old castings and early gears.....) I have an 0-6-0 that HAD Polydrive...got it for free, put a "normal" drive in it. With Polydrive (if all axle gears are there), value is not much at all other than a shelf piece. Commentary: http://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/walthers-poly-drive?reply=9032649516332285 Pre-war design, carried over to postwar, when others were making dynamite drives, so I know 1946, and maybe that was it...but to be safe, pre-1950. Just to give you an idea, not counting evilbait where there is more money than brains in "winners", I bought my ScaleCraft Hudson for ten bucks, my ScaleCraft Mikado for $25. Nice looking loco, but anybody who buys it to run is up against a full-on rebuild of the drive system, and motor. Dave
Hi BoxcabE50. Yes UP is keeping me busy and so are my parents. Last yr we found out my mom has ALS. Seems like time has flown by super fast this yr too. No modeling unfortunately either. Greg
No idea what part of Manitoba you reside in, but Winnipeg has an 0 scale club. Might be handy to take the engine there, have someone lube it and try running it. Get some video. Dave