I picked this Mk1 ex-Dapol Hornby-badged Terrier up a couple of months ago off of Marketplace from a chap down the road for the princely sum of £25. He assured me it ran; which it did... after a fashion. Visuals suggested that the wheels could be the culprit; or rather the muck on the wheels. I decided on a full strip-down and service. These models are dead easy to work on and I finished the job in under 30 minutes. The treads were fibre-brushed to a shine as were the front wiper pick-ups. The drive train was totally dried up; I guessed an age of around 20 years old and it had obviously never been touched, so motor bearings oiled, gears greased, chassis bearing faces cleaned, wheelsets back in and a drop of oil .
A run without the body looked hopeful and with the whole thing back together and up to weight she purrs along. Do I need another Terrier? No really, but at that price she's a good spare chassis for the existing pair, or I may get around to a full detail.
I greatly enjoy returning a loco to decent running. Besides wheel cleaning, it's surprising how much difference a little lubrication can make, even to a model that just hasn't been run for a while.
ReplyDeleteI've still got the Terrier I picked up as a non-runner and fixed earlier this year, though I don't think its original smokebox is right for a BR liveried loco. There's also a Westward kit, bought part-built to EM Gauge, which has the extended smokebox though it's intended for my long-term light railway project.
Terriers are one of those things that will never quite leave me...probably due to being exposed to them on the K&ESR at an impressionable age.