Frustrations!

I have decided that my 009 narrow gauge layout Chalkdon needs some use. I literally have not run a train on it for about 6 months! Too many other projects on the go and I sometimes just put some aside thinking I will leave that for a week or so and go back. Unfortunately that week or so turns into months or years and in some cases decades! However that is me and the way I work but I think the last time I ran a train on Chalkdon it was the West Highland Railway Baldwin. It is a sound chipped loco but I now recall it was not running very well, stalling and refusing to run. I further now recall that was the reason I parked it and the layout up in frustration thinking I will leave it a week and come back to it in a better frame of mind. Well even having left it 6 months that loco still was not running properly so it was time to get the screw drivers out!

You can tell just how long the loco has been static by the amount of dust on it or should I actually say that is weathering!

I was fairly certain that the issue was with the electrical pickups from the wheels. These are contained on the base plate so this was unscrewed. The pickups were dirty and twisted so work with some rubbing alcohol and some tweezers were used to bend the pick ups back into a shape that would make continual electrical contact with the wheels and therefore power from the track.

There were frustrations with dealing with small parts and I did loose a spring that went off somewhere never to be found until a time when I am not looking for it. Luckily I had a feeling that the spring from an N gauge coupler would fit so a wagon was raided for the spring. It did fit and I will find another replacement for the wagon - promise!

Anyway, despite that frustrations the work I did has certainly made the loco run a lot better. Its not fully sorted but definitely a lot better and more importantly no where near as frustrating! Despite its faults I can not help but love the looks of this loco. It just needs a crew now which I am sure I will find frustrating to fit!