I did the sensible thing and repaired the problem with a bit of a bodge!

I may well have extracted myself from the rabbit hole I was talking about in yesterdays post. The Hornby Hymek could have dug me deep into the World of conversion to DCC, adding extra pickups and detailing the body and chassis/ I did consider all these things and then sense prevailed! I did the sensible thing and repaired the problem with a bit of a bodge! 

This was the problem.

And this was the solution!

Good old superglue! I just used a few drops to secure the copper pickups into where they should be and it seemed to work!

The wheels were filthy so they were cleaned and you can see the rim of the one wheel cleaned in the picture above. The motor itself also got some lubricant. With that the bogie was placed on the oval of track and attached to the coaches that were on it.

I really was not expecting much but it ran and ran well! With that I mounted it back into its chassis and the body went on.

Then back onto the oval for a final test where it ran for over an hour at various speeds and to be honest it was wonderful to watch! Another loco saved from scrap!

This is another rabbit hole I am descending into and I take the blame!

I could blame others but it is my fault! What is that you may ask. Well, whilst running Mr. B's Britannia in around a loop of track on the floor I got three coaches out of a box. 

There was also an old Hornby Hymek in there. Now that is nearly 50 years old and given to me as I posted back in 2022 (click here to see that post). It did run then and so I put it on the track and coupled up the coaches, and turned the power on. It ran for about three inches and died! No amount of prodding would see any life in it so it came on the bench.

These old models are so simple that it is a pleasure to work on them - normally! The Hymek had one screw and two clips and with these undone/unclipped the body came off. The power bogie has one screw holding it to the chassis and that was soon released. I can see the problems as to why it stopped running as part of the bogie and motor mount has broken meaning the pickups don't pick up electricity from the wheels. 50 year old plastic does deteriorate with time. Not sure if I can get a spare or rebuild the broken part or develop some other solution. This is another rabbit hole I am descending into and I take the blame!

Back in time!

After yesterdays gift of various bits of model railway rolling stock, I managed to have a look through some of it today. It is like going back in time for me as I remember as a Child the delight of the red boxes that Triang and Hornby model railway stuff came in. You would walk into the local model shop where there would be shelves upon shelves of the boxes awaiting purchase from your pocket money. Not that the pocket money amounted to much. I recall getting something like 15 pence a week but that was in the days when a comic was two and a half pence so I guess it was all relative. However given that a simple wagon was about 75 pence it took a while to save up for something like that and a locomotive was a Christmas present if lucky! Oh those were the days!

However moving back to reality there were some interesting locos in the box. Most of the stuff has lived a hard life and was obviously played with and shows it but that was its purpose in its day. One or two bits are probably too far gone to save but most can live a second and perhaps less stress life with a little TLC.

I did find some locos that I have always wanted. The first is the 0-6-0 3F Jinty. One of the earliest locos that Triang produced and still it appears in production until recently although somewhat more refined and detailed then in its earliest incarnation. This particular one dates probably from the 1960s given the mechanism and the steam roller type wheels which were designed for a course toy like track system that Triang sold in those days. I tried it on one of my layouts. It lives - just! With a bit of prodding and poking it ran although it stutters which can probably be solved with a good clean and service. It does 'jump' over the point frogs but that is down to the coarseness of the wheels. The body needs a clean and possibly new transfers if I can find some. You can see the crudeness of detail by the fact that the cab is filled with the back end of the motor but I still love it!

The second loco for this blog is the Hornby Hymek. A model of British Rails Western Region diesel hydraulic loco which existed along with the Westerns and Warships. It was a mainstay in the Hornby catalogue through the 1960's and 1970's and was a loco that many a young model railway modeller wanted - including me! Well now I have this and crude as it is compared to the modern release by Heljan I still love it and no parts fall off like the more modern detailed models! Placed on the track it runs without prodding but again could do with a clean and service which I will do at a later stage. In the meantime here are some pictures of it.

More interesting stuff to come!