Noticed when replacing motor in my mogul chassis that the gears and pretty much anything inside that had grease on it was covered with a white powder and chucks of white flaky stuff. Upon further investigation discovered that both the lead weights in the same area were also covered. Engine has been stored for quite a while with out running in a Florida garage and is pretty humid out there. So the lead oxidized inside the motor block. The chunks of lead oxide were jamming up the gears and generally making a mess. I was able to clean the housing with warm water, soap and elbow grease, but what a mess. I removed the weights and cleaned off the oxidation and painted them with a rattle can and hopefully wont corrode again in my life time. Moral to the story, don’t store your engines in a humid environment and if so do frequent inspections of the guts of the engine. Picture shows the offending white flaky stuff on and next to the gears

The lead weights in my USAT locos were getting the “white fuzz” on them… I cleaned them off with a wire brush, and then treated them with a marine anti-corrosion spray, that stays on like the oil based undercoatings you see on cars in the northeast.

That stopped it.

Greg

I think it is because you are both close to the ocean.

While I was vacationing is Deerfield Beach I noticed the aluminum patio doors were all corroded.

I know that salt corrodes aluminum, that is why it is not used to de-ice runways.

The air in Florida also has a different smell which I assume is because it carries salt from the ocean.

Of all the locomotives I have opened in my workshop over the last 27 years, I have never seen an oxidized lead weight.

Apparently any moisture causes lead carbonate to form, and we have humidity at night. You don’t notice it, but my weather station reads it as 98%.

a little insight: http://www.atcglass.co.uk/pdf/TS-TH-05a.pdf

Yes, aluminum hates salt air, a different reaction. The smell is dead plankton though, the most plentiful “animal” in the world.

Greg