It seems that Rokuhan largely markets their locomotives as "maintenance free." I've had to clean the wheels a few times, but I wonder - is there more maintenance I should be ready to do at some point? Do these things need oiling ever? Cleaning of electrical pickups? Information is sparse online.
I have seen cat hair get into cone wheel pick ups but for the most part Have not seen any other problems where there are no animals with access to layout. Metal wheels exclusively on Rokuhan seems to preclude them needing such attention, I have not added lubrication to any of my engines mainly because the engineering plastic used in the gearing is self lubricating, I have never added a drop of oil or a spry of Teflon powder to any mine so far. I have seen no wear on gear train either. regardz Garth
Helpful information. Thanks! I do have cats in the house, and have plucked some strands of hair off my layout. Is there any more information you could give me about the cone wheel pickups? Where are these and how could I check them / clean them?
Each axle has a pointed cone end which sits in a brass collector strip which carries voltage from the axle to thechassis, I use a very fine dental exam pick with a hook like end on it to gently sweep between cone point and brass cone. and remove any debris that collects, however I but a caution on doing this unless you have taken apart on of these locomotive trucks and have intimate knowledge of it construction, because not knowing this can lead to disaster, but with loco on its back you can see if there is anything balled up around the axle ends and decide if you want to tackle this problem or not and try using a very fine pair of tweezers to get a hold of the ball and remove it.
Thanks Garth. It's good to hear some details about maintenance. I have taken apart and re-assembled old Marklin Z locomotives successfully (to fix hardened oil syndrome), but am very hesitant to try my hand at taking apart the beauties that are these Rokuhan locos. Looking at my locomotives' undersides, I see no obvious hair or stuff balled on my locos' axles. What Rokuhan locos do you run? Have you seen differences in performance / maintenance needs among different Rokuhan models? I definitely have. My KIHA52 runs wonderfully - it is so trouble free, smooth and quiet, I think owing to its long size and having pickup wheels at either body end. My DD51 run great, though needs a bit more care. It can more easily get some headlight flicker / stall at really slow speeds from slightly dirty wheels or track. I just recently got my hands on the small C11 steam loco from Rokuhan and am a bit disappointed with the performance compared to the big ones I have - much noisier, and out of box it was more jerky. I worked hard at cleaning the wheels and it seems to run a fair bit better now. A potential problem point is going over rail joiners, especially on curves. Maybe it is something to do with the two pickup wheels being so close together in the center of the tiny loco. The longer locos can just straddle over rail joiners and pickup current from either side, even if the rail joiner "bumps up" one of the set of pickup wheels. I see the C11 wheels are "loose" so they can wobble side to side, probably so they can go into tight curves and not pop out too much?
I have several Rokuhan locos and trains and have been very pleased. They are the least finicky of any of my Z scale and a lot of my N scale. My C11 is like yours, a bit touchy, but not too bad. My Shinkansen is a super runner. I also have the JNR 113 commuter train that runs very well. It can handle 4% grades with no issue. I do have to make sure that the traction tires are on the forward end or it stops at one place on my layout, but that is a track issue. All and all, they are very nice running little machines. I am always surprised at how well they can get such a small mechanism to run. So far I have not had too much of the dreaded hair balls, at least on this layout, because I keep it covered with a parachute cloth cover. An absolute must since I have a St Bernard that loses so much hair daily that I am surprised she is not bald. Trey
