LGB 0-4-4 Forney

 I had occasion to open one up because I purchased one at an estate sale. Pulling it from the box, it looked like it had never been run. The wheels and traction tires were pristine. The son of the owner said it had never been run.

So, I decided to give it a good home. I told a few people about it, and immediately had lots of interest. I found that this one, 21251 was a limited edition, one run only, and to LGB club members only. The road name is S.R & R. L

I decided to check it out before selling. Put it on the track, and nothing! I then noticed that the 2 wires to the carbon pickup brushes had been clipped. Hmm... ok, but why does not the wheels and sliders make the motor go.

OK, open the motor block bottom. You have to remove all 6 screws, the outer 4 are larger, and the center 2 are smaller.

You can see two wires that contact the carbon brush pickups and the sliders. BUT! there was heat shrink tubing on them! This effectively isolated the power pickups. Just slip the heat shrink off (glad he did not heat it!) and you are good to go.

Wonder why he did this, maybe to be sure no one got to actually run this loco, and keep it "new". His son told me that it was his pride and joy on display.

Now I learned a few more things. the LGB motor block has 3 pins in it, two outer ones, and one more nearer one of the outer pins.

0      0  0

1      2  3

1 is white and is the left hand rail pickup. The motor is also connected to it.

2. is brown and is the right hand rail pickup

3 is green and is the other motor pickup...

Interesting, if you are to go DCC, you would have to add an extra wire inside. Years later I understand that this old style motor block has been superseeded by one with 4 contacts, having the track pickups and motor leads separate.

Disassembly:

Remove handrails

there are 2 stanchions on  each side that go into the boiler. Pull them out carefully, the end of the handrail has a 90 degree bend you have to negotiate (you can see this inside the cab) Point the end up inside the cab.

 Remove the 3 boiler pipes that go to the cab, they pry straight out from the boiler and then slide out of the cab.

remove the 2 rods from the boiler to the pilot, remove the boiler ends first, these are ones at 45 degrees.

remove the pilot, it's a single screw on top of the rectangular area, not the one down "in" the pilot "channel".

Remove the ash pan, it's the small rectangular box under the front of the cab, one screw in the center.

Now you will remove the water tank/bunker... remove 6 screws from under the cab and the bunker... 2 in the front corners of the cab, 2 about 1-1/8" back, and 2 in the very back corners of the bunker. Do not remove the smaller screws that hold the foot "stirrups" on.

Now you can separate the back of the cab from the frame and unhook the bunker... you have to pull it open about 3/8". don't try to pull apart at the front of the cab.

Now if your Forney has sound you will find that you will need to pull the plug from the sound board and unscrew the speaker to get the bunker all the way off.

Remove the 2 small screws on either side of the boiler, just about 1/4" behind the smoke box. Set these aside, they are smaller than the "normal" size.

Gently pull the smoke box forward... the wires will still be attached. Don't pull farther than necessary, or you will pull out the headlight wires or break something. You may have to push down on the front truck there is a pin that can stick up and keep you from sliding the smokebox forward.

There is a small black block in the top of the boiler where the 2 parts meet, pull it out and set it aside. Notice the larger part goes down, and the notch goes towards the cab....

Remove the 2 screws on the sides of the boiler between the sand dome and the bell, set these aside... they are the same diameter as the "normal" larger screws, but they are shorter.

You will now remove the cab and the boiler as a unit... you have to lift the back of the cab up to clear the engineer, use the notch in the bottom of the cab to your advantage. Again be careful of pulling out wires. You can do it... get it clear of the weight.

You can now remove the bulkhead and wiggle it past the engineer. (note, when reassembling, put these screws back in place before putting the cab on!)

Nice site on the forney: http://www.laketownandshire.net/modeling_tips/lgb_forney.htm

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