Yes, Tom is correct - look for a hobby shop that sells fuel powered flying model airplanes. Get a short piece of fuel tubing that will fit snugly on the shafts between the motor and flywheel. Tinkertown gave me about three inches of it several years ago, and I used it to fix three Model Power E-unit chassis. I sold the two E8's, but still have the E7. Same chassis for each. Ken
Problem solved! Even though I have since found out that this model is a Model Power instead of a Rivarossi, I was able to diagnose the problem and correct it by basically following what Keith said here. There is a thin copper strip that's used for a pickup between the front and rear wheels of each truck. The strip makes contact with the inner side of each wheel. The strip had worked it's way out from behind the front wheel on the engineer's side of the lead truck. I used a jeweler's screw driver to pry it back into place, and bingo, locomotive runs great again. I'm using the original Model Power fuel tank and skirting and trying to get it to line up with the Rivarossi shell that Karl gave me. If I can accomplish this, I'll have a good locomotive. That's the only problem that I'm having now, because the shell seems to push the tank down just enough to cause the trucks to rub against the skirting, resulting in derailments on the 18" curves. Thanks again to everyone for their help, Pat Moreland, Union Mo.
