… Follow That! …
Repair and Recycling of Ready-to-Run Locomotives - Graham Betts.
Graham Betts began his presentation by explaining the heading of his opening slide – reflecting his embarrassment at having to give the next presentation following Copenhagen Fields in May.
In the event, Graham had no reason to be embarrassed; his presentation was informative, well-prepared and highly entertaining, and demonstrated yet another superb skill set from a member of ASRM.
The presentation was divided into two parts:
Part One: “At least there will be no reference to dentistry tools!”
How it started
Graham’s former career as a maintenance engineer at a power station has left him with a lifelong love of repairing and reusing things, and he has applied this to model railway locomotives in his retirement, where he promotes the three “R”s – Repair, Recycle, Reuse.
Graham’s first foray into model railways began many years ago, when he embarked on constructing an EM Gauge layout, including the construction of a Nu-Cast kit. The complexities of building in EM Gauge prompted him to convert it to OO, in which scale he has modelled ever since.
Graham holds an open day for his garage layout from time to time, and during one such session a visitor asked if he could repair a loco, which Graham promptly did. In return, the grateful visitor donated a tobacco tin full of OO loco spare parts. Armed with this, he embarked on a self-appointed challenge to acquire and repair non-working locos.
Word soon got round, and he has since received further donations of various odds and ends, including locos, often without motors. This problem was solved by acquiring a huge job lot of motors from eBay, from which he selected those he could use, and sold the remainder for more than he paid for the entire job lot!
And so, many years later, here we are!
To date, Graham has worked on locos from most of the well-known OO manufacturers, including Airfix, Bachmann, Fleischmann, Hornby, Lima, Mainline, Replica, Rivarossi and Tri-ang. Many repairs involve a mix-and-match exercise, for example one repaired loco comprises a Lima tender drive pushing a Hornby loco body mounted on a Lima chassis.
The repair process
Repairs are usually carried out in the order of
(a) clean;
(b) lubricate;
(c) identify problems;
(d) obtain service sheets;
(e) obtain any required spare parts.
Lubricants
Graham uses mainly Gaugemaster (or equivalent) light mineral oil, Dapol oil, and Woodland Scenics Hob-E-Lube White Grease. Words of warning here – always remove old grease and never mix greases; they come in a surprising variety of types and do not always mix well.
Spare parts
Spare parts can, of course, be cannibalised from other locos. Otherwise, spare parts are generally widely available; Peters Spares is highly recommended. Most major manufacturers seem to have many interchangeable parts within their own range of products.
Motors
Graham’s experience did not match his expectation here: very few non-working motors he has encountered have burnt out; most could be (and were) repaired.
A very common problem is sticky brushes where locos have been laid up for a long time. These are of course easily cleaned up and/or replaced. A more difficult problem to rectify is excessively noisy motors, as the cause is not always easy to identify. Sometimes it is simply caused by the armature spindle running dry. A more serious problem can be deformation of the drive bogies of diesel locos, causing gear misalignment. In some cases motor problems are impossible to fix without unjustifiable cost and/or effort, in which case the motor must be replaced.
Fortunately, replacement motors are readily available. Of the major manufacturers, Hornby has at least 97 different motors for the various locos it has produced over the years! Bachmann has far fewer – many of its locos are fitted with the highly-reliable Mabuchi FK130SH. These days many generic (cheaper, and usually reliable) equivalents are also available.
Cosmetics
Where the paintwork requires renewal, Graham usually resprays the loco to represent a prototype period and livery, complete with replacement lining and transfers. He then adds the usual detailing – lamps, couplings, etc. But avoid buying new nameplates if you can; they are an expensive addition. One small hint: with steam locos, where possible try to load the tender with a part-used coal load (rather than a full load) as this looks more realistic.
Other common problems
Back-to-Backs: These are always worth checking. Hornby recommends 14.5mm for OO Scale; however, in practice some back-to-backs on Hornby stock have been found to be 14.2mm or less, which will foul some check rails.
Pick Ups: These are sometimes far too flimsy (especially on old Airfix stock).
Old plastic-bodied locos: Take care with old plastic, which can become brittle due to ageing and is easily broken.
DCC
Conversion to DCC causes its own unique problems in the case of old locos. While it is sometimes said that some old locos can’t be converted, Graham’s experience is that they almost always can, although sometimes with difficulty. Generally speaking, Graham is not a fan of DCC; this is perhaps a subject to be explored on another day!
Meanwhile, Graham referred to two specific problems with DCC conversion:
Stall current burn out: This refers to the current drawn by a loco where the motor is prevented from rotating (for example due to jammed wheels). Depending on the motor, this can give rise to a current of over 2A. In this case, a decoder with a peak rating of 1.1A will burn out very quickly.
Locos with tender drive: Some locos with tender drives have extra pick ups fitted in the tender, which need disconnecting where the loco is being converted to DCC; otherwise, this can cause a short circuit in the electronics.
At this point, we adjourned for our refreshment break.
Part Two: “Trigger’s Broom”
After our break Graham presented a selection of locomotives which have been repaired, recycled and reused in accordance with his basic principles. But there is a further overarching principle: “be proportionate: avoid over-committing on expenditure”.
Trigger’s Broom, as you may know, refers to Trigger from Only Fools and Horses, who received an award from the Council for saving money by using the same broom for over 20 years, despite it receiving 17 new heads and 14 new handles.
Graham then described the work that he had carried out on each of the locos he had brought with him, some of which are shown below. At this point he had to admit that he has not always followed the “over-commitment avoidance” principle. The first example, in particular, showed us that he has sometimes decidedly contradicted it!
Tri-ang GER B12
Repair work carried out:
(Partly crushed) body repaired;
Rebuilt cab;
Scratch-built tender body;
Replaced wheels with Romfords;
Fitted Airfix MRRC motor;
New cosmetics – pipework, Westinghouse, dome, couplings, respray, transfers.
Repaired, recycled and reused, and perhaps a fourth “R” – “Replaced”?
GWR “Saint” 2988 – Rob Roy
Repair work carried out:
Mashima motor/gearbox fitted;
Replacement Hornby tender fitted;
Resprayed;
Transfers and Fox plates added.
Lima LMS Crab
Repair work carried out:
Bought from a model shop as part of a job lot of poor or non-runners;
Reprofiled the weight that had been added previously to the chassis;
Refitted and cleaned the drawbar pin to improve conductivity to the tender drive.
The Carlisle Patriot
Repair work carried out:
Found in a model shop marked “non-runner”, priced £12;
Shop owner dropped it, and gave it to Graham, together with a pile of bits – FREE;
The supplied tender drive was unsuitable; replaced with a spare, which had to be shortened and modified.
LNER N2
Repair work carried out:
Only the body was originally supplied;
Adapted a spare Tri-ang Jinty chassis;
Made bearing plates and filed down chassis side to accommodate re-engineered wheel spacing;
Fitted Mitsumi can motor recovered from an HP computer printer.
LNER D49/1 D49/2
Repair work carried out:
Bought from an ASRM member as Hunt class D49/2 ‘The Pytchley’, with incorrect valve gear as supplied by Hornby;
Rebuilt as D49/1 ‘Selkirkshire’ to correspond with the supplied Hornby Walschaerts valve gear;
Resprayed in wartime black livery;
Fitted with a Fox nameplate and weathered.
To date, Graham has applied his three Rs to 27 locos for ASRM members and 16 for other enthusiasts.
Graham extended his thanks to everybody who has donated locos and spare parts to him, and the attendees for their part extended our warmest thanks to Graham for a most illuminating and entertaining presentation.
Dave Gotliffe.
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