Loco Maintenance
DDE. It wasn't working too well even though I had replaced the cylinder o-rings. So I decided to strip it down into it's main components, give it a good clean and hopefully regain steam locomotion. Unfortunately it wasn't to be. After de-oiling everything, re-assembling and timing from scratch, it seemed to work ok with compressed air, but putting it onto the rolling road, all I got was a squeel from the controller. Ugh! What's gone wrong, I don't know. (Help is required here, please) I replaced the wiper assembly with a complete new one as the old wires had work hardened and one had broken away from the PCB. In stripping down the chassis, I put the screws back from where they came so as not to loose them, but also in putting each screw back into the hole they came from ensures they are compatible with its thread - sometimes using a different screw can be tight and be in danger of damaging the female thread. Reassembly of the gears and fittings had to be done in a certain order for them to go together. It was useful to have another loco on hand to see where the wires are meant to be placed around the pressure valve, not that it matters too much. The photo shows the array of items after dis-assembly and a close up of the screws in the chassis. To date I have not been able to ascertain the reason for the squeeling controller. One final thing, I wanted to replace the motor magnets but cannot extricate the old ones. Any ideas?
