With the mechanicals finished it was time to put the Lima Prairie tank back together. However, before reattaching the body to the chassis, the opportunity was taken to give the body a bit of a clean.
In fact it had a bath! Using a brush and a popular brand of washing-up liquid, the fairies managed to remove most of the dirt!
Looking better after being dried off with Mrs. Woody's hair drier!
I had missed one thing though. That was, that there was another ballast weight in the coal bunker which had been hidden by the footplate. Looking at it revealed that the dreaded zinc rot had been busy. In fact, left much longer it is likely that the plastic body may well have split as the weight expanded being held in place on those two plastic lugs.
There was nothing else to do but remove it and that took some doing as it was well edged in place!
With the body and pony trucks reattached the loco went back on the tracks for a final testing and it still ran well! Another one sorted!
You have been busy. 😮
ReplyDeleteI am assuming that zinc rot is luck of the draw, or perhaps inattention or inappropriate storage?
I am also guessing that this will mean there are far fewer locos of that era around, as some of them will have rot damage that has put them beyond repair. Or is everything salvageable given time, money and skill?
Mrs B
Zinc rot will happen if the materials are contaminated so even in the nest storage conditions it will happen so you are right - it is luck of the draw! Everything is salvageable but a case of how much money, time and effort you want to put in. To be honest, the second hand/pre-loved/used (choose your preferred description!) market is full of these types of loco without the rot so that is probably the best cost effective option until emotions get in the way!
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