8 October 2014
I will be honest progress has been slow since the layout was collected. It has been erected and connected electrically; trains can go round. However the last few days have seen some work happening on my supposed workbench. At the back of the workbench were a number of models which had been put to one side as they appeared to need attention. They have been sitting there for some years.
Class 50 locomotives
There are two of these. They were built about 40 years ago – they are Anbrico kits on Atlas chassis and one of them was running poorly the last time they were tested. I could not remember what was wrong so put them on the test yard of track. Neither loco seemed particularly keen so added some oil. After a few minutes first one was running more smoothly and similar treatment got the other one performing as well.
After a while I worked out what was annoying – the two locos were running in opposite directions; so re-creating double headed 50s between England and Scotland at the end of the sixties was unlikely. There must be a solution and I remembered that it is possible to take the chassis apart. I determined which one was running the “wrong” way and dropped the bogie off; the brushes have to be carefully removed – they are in holders with springs so a good chance that the spring will vanish. Then the can motor was extracted, turned round through 180 degrees and reinserted into the chassis. Reload brushes into holders and ensure the electrical connectors are put in place. Screw bogie back into place.
And I am pleased to report that the two locomotives now both move in the same direction. However they are pretty crude models, although given that they were all my own work I want them running at some time.
Farish Railcar
Another “old” model – Graham Farish produced GWR railcar which was bought for the chassis to power a multiple unit of some description. This has been in the box since purchase – probably some time in the early nineties. Placing this on the test track was not particularly rewarding. A quick cough and splutter but no movement.
Time to dismantle, but the GF instructions contain the wonderful endorsement “DON’T dismantle it from idle curiosity”. Usual trick of spreading the sides and letting the chassis drop out does not work. Stare at it bemusedly.
Eventually run fingernail round the gap between body sides and roof. The latter eventually detaches taking the cab windows at both end. This allows me to see a screw at each end. So obviously releasing those will allow the chassis to drop out. Once removed nothing moves!
Closer inspection shows that there a couple of lips at each end holding the chassis in place and easing one end out means the other one can drop out as well. Hooray I have a chassis. Also because the end plates are loose as a result of removing the screws mentioned before it is simple enough to drop the bogies out. As these both lock up if I try to turn them manually it seems we have a clear case of split gears and complete replacement sets need to be ordered from BR Lines. He is on holiday for the rest of the month so the chassis is re-assembled but not the body and will be put to one side for a few weeks.
Motor Bogie
Also in the pile at the back of the workbench was a motor bogie, also bought to power a multiple unit of some description. These disappeared even before Graham Farish was sold to Bachmann and never re-introduced. Given its age I was expecting another split gear saga.
So a touch of oil on the gears and then onto the test track. Surprise of the day. This was a sweet running piece of engineering. Some of the Graham Farish kit was a little crude. This is outstanding. A neat little design beautifully self contained sitting on four wheels and turning over smoothly and simply working!
I think I know where this one will be used.
MTK / BHE Parcels Car Class 129
Another ancient piece of kit building. This has a Bachmann chassis and (probably) an MTK parcels car. One brass side has completely detached from the plastic side and the other has almost come loose. One cab end has also come unstuck. The chassis seems to lock up but this cannot be split gears as the gear trains are all metal. I remember trying to take this apart before and it is not overly easy to get all the bits in the right place. And I cannot remember how to take it apart which does not help.
Eventually I manage to ease the drive shaft into the worm drive away from the main gear wheel in the bogie. I can then turn the wheel sets on that bogie and slowly I keep turning and I find a couple of pieces of dirt in the gears, which is removed. The chassis is then re-assembled at that end and the task repeated with the bogie at the other end of the chassis.
Chassis back in one piece it is back on the rolling road and allowed some running time. Not perfect at slow speeds. Put to one side for further review tomorrow. The body work is also left over for another day.
Class 47
This is a whitemetal kit – not sure of origin – P&D Marsh possibly – and a Life Like chassis. Not a great boddy as there are two horizontal lines along each side to facilitate the application of the two tone green livery but all my older diesels are in post 64 blue / yellow. The chassis has very little get up and go (which is probably why it is at the back of the workbench. Although it is running, I cannot see that it is going to be a regular runner given the impressive quality of the current Farish 47s which are available. Not to mention the Minitrix 47 one of which is lurking somewhere in a box.
I think this one will stay on the shelf.
Class 52
MTK whitemetal kit again on a Life LIke chassis. Solid windows. A model from a completely different era. The chassis will hardly move without the weight of the body. The body weighs down the chassis enough to permit movement but the drive is not strong enough to move the loco along at a sensible pace. Having spent some time playing with the drive cogs and oiling it, it is running slightly more smoothly but again it looks like this loco will largely be living on the shelf. And of course we have since had Farish Westerns and about to unwrapped is a Dapol Western which are reportedly better still. They rarely appeared on the Southern anyway!
Dapol Class 52 Western Venturer
This is a fairly recent purchase compared with some of the locos mentioned above – indeed it is still in the tissue paper around the box. So a brand new loco and inside the packaging is completely different – this does not hold the loco quite so closely and the box includes a third bogie and no couplings at either end. A read through the instructions show that if I wish to operate with normal couplings at both ends I have to remove an end piece and drop out one bogie and replace it with the spare. The couplings (together with various pipes which could be added at the end if the bogie was not changed plus more modern couplings) are in a small plastic bag and clip into the bogies.
With the bogie changed and the couplers in place it is time to run some oil over the gears and then onto the rolling road for an hour of running in, which this time consists of four groups each of fifteen minutes.
An initial observation is that the running in is having little impact – the loco seemed pretty smooth from the off.
In terms of grilles, windows and finish this little engine looks to be a complete beauty – certainly it shows the prior model to be from a completely different generation. It will be interesting to get it on the layout and to see what it can haul.