Putting a 9v battery across the wheels indicated something might be alive mechanically but possibly on life support!

Mr. B, long suffering husband of loyal blog reader Mrs. B (who may not be such a loyal reader
after that) gave me a box with some locos in when we saw each other at the Rocks By Rail Museum. Could I have a look at them and give them a bit of a lubrication and by the way I don't think the Pannier runs. Now words like those last few are almost am irresistible challenge to me! So a few days later, rather then finish the IBG Scammell Tank Transporter kit, I fished the Pannier out of the box and had a look at it.

Putting a 9v battery across the wheels indicated something might be alive mechanically but possibly on life support!

With the loco upside down the most obvious thing is that the couplers are missing but that is something to look at later. What is evident is that the wheels and pickups could do with a clean.

I have never worked on a Graham Farish 00 gauge loco before but I was pleasantly surprised by the robust simplicity of it. No fiddly crosshead screws and circuit boards with masses of wire and components ready to snag on the fragile plastic underside! No, this was good old engineering!

Apart from the missing couplers, this is the loco in its component form. Not a lot but once put together it still is a wonderful looking loco.

Anyway. back to getting it to run and the good news is that with a 9v battery across the now separated motor, it spins like a dream! 

A dab of some oil on the bearings at each end of the motor housing applied with a cocktail stick should do some good for future running.

Knowing the motor runs fine means that there are issues in the electricity getting to the motor from the track but given the low number of components my original thoughts that the wheels and pickups could do with a clean was probably right. However, before doing that I did notice that the axles for the wheels don't have bearings, they just run in cut outs within the cast chassis block. I also noticed a few rough edges on those cut outs so they were filed smooth.

By this time, Mrs. Woody had some laundry for me to fold so getting the Pannier working again will be on hold but I am reminded about this that has appeared in the car park of a local village Co-Op store....

An outside laundry! Never thought that I would see such a thing but there it is and if you want to use it be ready with £11 for the wash and £5 for the dry!