Hi Jacques,

Thank you for your kind words,
it is such an honor to have congratulations from an expert like you !!

Well, I did not know about the gears manufacturing.
Thank you for sharing this very interesting thing.
So that's why some of my locos are "almost silent"
and some are growling much more, even after oiling.

You have watched the video very carefully to see the spark
under the first coach when passing upon the wide radius turnout.
You can only be right. I will check that axle.
By the way, on these old tin plates recently received,
I still have to adjust the coupler height, another sparks source upon turnouts...





As you said, I'm really glad I did this job...
Now I can show my loco to my Christmas guests.
See how the happy loco makes blinks again after all this time:



I love these lights and the Buzz of the reversing unit


But there are still small things to be done to refine the work.

I have to find the missing parts for the catenary connections under the roof.

The wire from the pickup shoe is way too short, I have to replace it,
this will give me the opportunity to unmount the contact plate under,
and maybe the axles.
I have just now noticed that sometimes, the big wheels of the second axle without gear - a second axle again ! -
were not not turning so well. I think the axles have to be oiled a bit by the inside, or some old dust to be cleaned.

I'll check it soon, when unmounting the pickup shoe, the contact plate, the shortest wire...

And also the pickup shoe, I'm sure it will need some fine tuning to slide smoothly upon M-track turnouts...

Best Regards
Joël

Thank you Jacques for this link with a lot or treasures .

Well I started today to check the axle that was not turning so well,
in fact this axle can move a bit vertically, as it is "clearly" written in the 1958 catalog:
"Swing link suspension to the second driving axle
to take up track irregularities and keep both wheels on the rails"
In my case there was no "suspension" .

So I decide to remove the pickup shoe, then the control plate,
and for this to unsolder the too short wire that brings current to the loco.

I discovered a great quantity of dirt that was blocking the suspension.
So I cleaned a bit this part of the body, and it solved this problem.

After having re-assembled every thing, no more short-circuit !

Soooo,

Every E18 brings its own stories and tales,

This blue one is in perfect condition and runs OK straight from the no-box.
Just a few oil drops to add...

I've heard, before, about the problematic relationships between 3023/3024
and the M-track turnouts. I had no problem with the old green 3024, after
bending up a bit to the chassis, on each end, the pickup shoe,
to give it an almost invisible kind of "banana" shape,
and after adding some spring pressure on the small back and front wheels.

But This shiny blue 3023 surprised me derailing every time on only one of my layout turnouts .
After 30mn of tests, the problem was solved .
It was indeed a relational problem, in this old time of great tolerances

the context:
the loco comes back to the turnout, from the deflected track.
the turnout is well positioned.




When the logo goes upon the turnout, the small front wheels pop off the tracks without any reason !!

The solution is there:
The big wheels of the loco, with its huge weight, give some pressure on the moving parts of the turnout.
And you can see the rails moving an pushing the front axle aside !

The proof:
Just press lightly to this point of the turnout,:



And you will see the rails moving !

So after bending back a little bit the rail at the problem point, no more problem !

Bonjour Jacques.

You are absolutely right, as usual !
the inner space of the wheels of the blue loco are a bit less than 13.8, and this is valis for all wheels of the loco !
I have trouble reading on the calliper, but lets say about 13.74 so just a bit under 13.8.

So I've compared with the green one, and this time the inner space of the wheels is more than 13.9. and also for all the wheels. Maybe it was adjusted to run better on 3rails DC tracks.

Do you know if I can move the wheels without damage (bending wheels or axles) by hand, or do I kneed a special tool (like "the Puller") .

I will see if I need to do something, because for the time, I have not yet noticed any derailment problems associated with these non-compliant tolerances.





Thank you again for your participation. It's a great help for me .

Best Regards
Joël

The green one has a "convex" left buffer and a right flat buffer.
The blue one has two flat buffers.

The green one has no silver paint on the body
The blue one has a silver line on the bottom of the body, and the "E1835" is silver painted.

Green one= original, assembled @ factory. Never had silver paint
Blue one = From parts, assembled locally. Always had silver stripes.
But doesn't matter. They are both beautiful

Now let us see what differs inside the two locos:


inside the 1959 green 3024




inside the recent blue 3023 see how the motor cover is completely different






inside the 1959 green 3024




inside the recent blue 3023 the choke (UKW Drossel) is also different
and we have a nice view on the gears !




Best Regards
Joël

Since we mentioned the MS 800 and its differences, here are a couple of pictures.
Major difference is that all 4 axles are powered, although only the external ones carry the weight of the loco.
No flanges on the middle drivers, this long loco negotiates the 360 mm radius without any trouble.
Also note, under the brushes, the friction driven switch that performs directional light changes.
It is driven from the central gear shaft in the lower part of the transmission.
From memory that light inversion gizmo was first used on the CCS 800 in 1947 , then on the RE 800, TP 800, TT 800, ST 800, DL 800 and DT 800.
I haven't found/seen evidence of it on any other loco since.
Maybe someone knows?



All driver axles powered, you can barely see the "friction gizmo" on the other side of the big central middle gear



Heavy equipment!



And the original connection between pantos. Note the little piece of insulating cardboard on the contact side..



Cheers

Jacques