To Puckdropper-
Thanks much for your detaied instructions on cleaning Gordon. Gave them to my son and he took the shell off, and put it back on - said he'd never get it back together.
He emailed Bachmann for a quote to do the cleaning for him. They replied back that if Gordon was less than a year old, they would repair or replace at no charge. Since I bought the engine for my grandson, I dug around and found the receipt, my son mailed it and Gordon to Bachmann and about 10 days later, Gordon shoed up ready to run.
Now Gordon is pulling 2 passenger cars one one track, Percy pulling two hoppers on another track, and a third track has James The Red Engine pulling 2 passenger cars. Thomas sits atop the mountain watching the three layouts. James was a recent acquisition from Josh (grandson) and Pops (me) attending a train show this past wekend - yes he talked me into buying James AND 2 passenger cars for him.
All is well in the land of Sodor.