Kato 4-8-4 S2

[mmagliaro]

Yeah, Peteski, the metal axles in the metal frame slots is probably a place where some oil is appropriate.
But like I've tried to explain, adding oil there did not change this behavior one bit.
I felt that after I tried that, there was more oil in there than I want, so I cleaned it all up, and brushed/wiped out
that whole area, and inside the gearplate, and the gears, with alcohol to get it as clean as possible.
There is probably still a little oil in there.

I do oil motor bearings, especially if they squeal or the motor seems to be drawing more current than normal.
That's one place where a drop (and only ONE drop!) really is needed.

I suppose it is remotely possible that it is the tender, but the noise most commonly happens when the engine
is over a switch (even though, as I mentioned, it does sometimes happen on curves).  Just by being close enough
to it with my head, I can pretty clearly tell that it's coming from the engine, not the tender, and the fact
that it mostly coincides with the engine being on a switch really makes me doubt it's the tender.
I think it's the drivers scraping or dragging over a rail, and the frog would be a good place for that to
happen.  As to HOW that could be making such a noise, however, is the mystery.

[peteski]

I sense a bit of an obsession here (not that there is anything wrong with that). 

Why is it such a big deal to try to figure out what is causing it and I assume to prevent it from occurring?  After all, 1:1 trains often squeal on rails when traversing certain type of trackage.  If the noise was constant then I would understand the need to treated as a problem, but it if is intermittent and only happens in certain location I would call it natural occurrence. 

If you think it is the wheel and track combination have you trued to slightly lubricate the track (using light oil)?  Real railroads put lubricators in places where squeals would occur.  Just make sure to coat the rail head and the inside of the railhead.   Then see if the squeak disappears.  Then thoroughly remove all the oil after the experiment.

[mmagliaro]

Peteski,
That is a big part of the reason I have not solved the problem.  It is not offensive enough for me
to throw all my attention into it relentlessly until the problem is solved.   And everyone who has heard it says
just what you say, "So.  The real ones do that too, when they go through switches and curves."

It is something I have revisited periodically.  Try a few more things.  Get no results.   Say, "What the heck,
the real ones do it too." and go on to something else.

I DO like the idea of a light coating of oil on the rail, just to see if my theory is correct.  There is one particular turnout where
it makes the noise 99% of the times it goes over it.  So that's a good test fixture.

[victor miranda]

I have a nickle that says it still squeeks.
 

betting on a horse always makes the race more interesting.

[peteski]

I have a nickle that says it still squeeks.
 

betting on a horse always makes the race more interesting.

A miniature iron horse - I like it!   

[k27463]

I run my Kato S2 on around a 10" radius with no problems -- the only thing it doesn't like are the (soon dead) Atlas #4s.

[TVRR]

The engine arrived today and yes it is huge, 8" long including the tender. It is a Kato without axle bearings and runs quite well on DC, the DCC decoder will be replaced with a Loksound Micro- plenty of room in that enormous Vandy tender for a Sugar Cube speaker and enclosure.  On inspecting the tender pickups I have decided to leave well enough alone for now.  To all appearances this engine has probably seen very little if any layout run time with immaculate wheels and pickups so it should last as long as I do.  MT does not list a coupler for this model at all, would you recommend a #1129 for the truck conversion on the tender?

[mmagliaro]

I would suggest a body-mounted 1023 or similar, screwed right up into the rear of the tender.
I am not a fan of truck-mounted tender couplers.

I just cut the whole coupler-holding arm off the back of the rear truck and then mount the body coupler up in
there.  You might need to do a little filing or add a styrene shim to get the right height, but
it wasn't hard on this tender.