Info for lubricating locomotives?

[Joe120]

Hi, all. I finally registered and am active after lurking for about a year. My first question to the group is for the general idea behind lubricant for locomotives and other train parts, if any.

I recently picked up some Kato Uni-Clean oil, and I've put a few drops in the trucks of some of my Kato motor cars. Are there other areas that this is good to apply? Does it really accomplish anything noticeable for anyone?

I'm also wondering, if it's important to use the stuff, why do none of the locomotives I've bought ever mention its use? Kato sells the stuff but doesn't mention it in the literature enclosed in their boxes (or not in the ones in English, at least).

I also just acquired a Kato EF64, and it runs a bit louder than I expected. The noise probably comes more from the motor than the trucks, so this probably won't make a dent in that.

Thanks for reading!

- Joe

[Martijn Meerts]

Oil is normally only used on the bearings of the motor itself, where the shaft(s) exit the motor. For gears you're better off using (very small quantities of) grease. It won't really get rid of noise all that much, but it'll make things run a little smoother and there'll be less wear.

 

The manuals don't mention it because you rarely, if ever, need to apply oil/grease on newer trains. Personally, I only do it when I gave a locomotive a complete overhaul, which I don't do often, or when I install a decoder in them. In that case I have them all stripped anyway, so that's a good time to clean old grease/oil and reapply .. 

[Densha]

The manuals don't mention it because you rarely, if ever, need to apply oil/grease on newer trains. Personally, I only do it when I gave a locomotive a complete overhaul, which I don't do often,

Sounds as if you're working at a real train workshop. :P

But true, newer trains usually don't need it, old trains on the other hand...