Resurecting an old friend

I was very fortunate to be able to purchase a U class locomotive from a good friend in the 009 group. It is an old liliput model and was one of the mainstays on the layout, when I first started. However, age caught up with it and it stood dormant on the layout for a good 9-10 months due to a major failure that constituted it coming to an abrupt halt with a horrid stench emanating from the chassis. 


I left it to one side for a while and did some research on how to service motors and also fix them. I will be honest and say that electrics and mechanics are not a strong suit of mine, so I took my time. 

 So to the efforts of last friday, when I set about trying to get her going again. I started by taking the chassis to pieces to inspect it's condition.




 The motor looked in a good state but the sheer amount of muck and grime that was caked on the gearshaft, pickups and gears was alarming. It took me a good half hour of careful cleaning and scraping of the gunk. 

 I discovered that some of the plastic on the cylinder blocks has deteriorated and cracked. I used plastic glue inside the bodyshell to avoid marking the exterior of the body. This has held up well and should prevent any further damage.

 I had to fit a brand new coupler to the front of the locomotive, as the old plastic one fell to bits in my hand. I used a Tramfabrieken coupler and screwed it into the existing hole. I need to paint it black to blend it in with the locomotive. 


I put it all back together and ran it in. I was delighted when it ran faultlessly on the track. Half an hour of running in later and it was back in action pulling fully loaded trains without any problems. I am relieved with how this has come out.

I plan to add this locomotive back into the main running fleet so that I can take a couple of the other locomotives out of service and do some remedial work on them. Now that I have restored one old workhorse to life, I am ready to try my hand with another member of the fleet. 

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