You widened those grooves? ROCK AND ROLL, man. That is a great solution, but like you said, not easy.
Did you do it in a lathe or did you use some home-brew scheme like running it on its back and carefully holding
files or a Dremel in there?
Are the traction tire drivers on the Challenger pinned to the rods? Or are they just geared with the rods running around
in front of them for show?
Sorry it took so long to get back to you guys, been a little bit busy lately. To answer a few questions, yes Max I took the drivers all apart, and chucked them into my dremel, the with a little tiny file and a lot of patience, (annd nervousness) I widen out the groove. One of the things I discovered is that the traction tires, as they came from the factory, we're way too close to flange and too narrow. They were only making a small amount of contact with the railhead. By widening Groove and putting a little bit taller Traction Tire on, I gained 20 cars. That also gave me an excuse to requarter everything. It does have a little bit of a wobble but I will take a small wobble over no traction.
If I remember correctly, the Traction tires are geared, but also pinned to the side rods.
We had a train show in Monroe Washington last weekend, and I ran the Challenger again, this time with my reefer string, and a special car right behind a locomotive, to prove that it's not going downhill!!
I don't remember the exact count of cars but it's around 50 and a caboose. I actually threw his traction tire at this show, the first time since I have done this work. Luckily I caught it before it got wound up in the side rods! I was able to walk the traction tire back on with no issues, but I was ready to park the train at that point, it had been running for an hour and a half.
