Broken Loco Survey

An interesting list. Could you give us details of the causes of failures, if known. Regards, Bill.

In that two mainline J72s and one of the Bachman ones the problem is related to the split chassis design - basically there's a plastic insulating gear which grips the wheels - over time I these split - I guess that having a years of having a metal part that is slightly smaller than the plastic hole [so that it grips it] exerting a force on it finally proves to much and causes the plastic give.

another Bachmann J72 seems to burn some off some lubricant then doesn't move.

The remaining Bachmann J72 is probably the oddest one, it lurches forwards (oddly it lurches forwards 1 last time after the power is switched off!) I'm not sure how the mechanism would have gone wrong in such a way as it would store energy like that, but a tentative poke-around with the mechanics left in a state where it won't work at all an I haven't had the inclination to investigate further since.

The Lima RE 4/4 II has the a similar issue - the metal axle has a plastic sleeve to grip it which has a gear on it - the plastic part has split here too.

The Mainline Royal Scot and The Bachmann B1 both have problems with the valve gear, the plastic rail that guides the piston into the cylinder has broken.

From memory, the Lima 09 has a stripped screw hole where the retaining plate is held together which means that the aren't held in place and the gears slip.

The deltic has a broken retaining plate for the trailing bogie.

I had been thinking of posting a message on a variation of this theme.

I have quite a large stud of locos and over the years I had had very little in the way of what could be called major problems with locos. I have a policy that if a loco breaks or performs badly, I fix it immediately - unless, obviously, it proves to be impossible, so generally I don't build up a list of broken locos. No individual loco receives a lot of use.

Most "repairs" come down to cleaning, or minor tweaks of the mechanism. Over the years, I have bought about 4 replacement chassis for various Bachmann/Palitoy locos - none for Hornby, Lima, Dapol/Airfix.

The replacements have been for:-

a modified Hall - Bachmann version(see further comment later). The fault was generally poor running - I should really have returned it to the shop as it wasn't too good from the word go. Usually, I have been able to improve such locos but this one just wouldn't.

a Mainline Manor - I don't recall the reason

a Bachmann 57xx pannier(motor replaced once after accidentally over oiling, but never became smooth running again and motor failed again), finally replaced with completely new model and spare body placed on top of an old K's kit chassis.

Jubilee/Patriot - very poor original mech from Mainline

Recently, I have had a number of failures of the Bachmann split chassis plastic insulating axle centres. What has been slightly alarming is that it is not, for the most part, the very old models which have failed. An 08 shunter required a new set of wheels/axles because the gear on the driven axle was split. It is a force, but presumably over-tight, fit onto the metal axle, resulting in failure over time. Another 08 is showing signs of the same fault developing.

Of 3 modified Halls, two have at least one split axle centre on the non-geared axles with the others exhibiting signs of failure. In this case, square ended stub axles protrude from the wheel centres into square holes in the axle centre. This centre appears to have been moulded in 2 halves which are joined - if not there is a very prominent moulding line - and the axle splits along this line. I have cured this, at least temporarily, by flooding the join with superglue - I did not have any gel at the time although this would probably be more suited. Given the greasy nature of the plastic involved, I do have doubts about how long the fix will work.

I have also recently had a similar failure on a very old Mainline Patriot. In this case, the axle stub on the wheel is not "squared" and the axle centre is a little thinner than on the Hall, but a superglue fix is currently holding. There is no automatic quartering without the squared axle ends, so very careful alignment by eye is required.

Two questions -

2) Is superglue a long term fix, or is a different glue(Araldite?) a better likely bet?

Thanks

Colin Antrobus

Craig Douglas wrote:

I dont think its coincidence that theres an awful lot of mint in box Mainline locos still around. Were they ever any good as straight from the box ?

Simon

I think you've answered your own question.

I got 10 years of excellent service from my original Mainline J72 from new.

The pickup on the split chassis design was a highlight, compared to most other hornby locos I owned which needed constant cleaning to keep them running smoothly.

I remember the mainline J72 sounding far nicer in operation to hornby and lima locos.

At the time I felt that the mainline locos were far superior the other Hornby / Lima locos I owned. The bodywork is unchanged in the Bachman version.

Craig

I know they do look beautiful models for their time - and a few years after. But then what do you expect of something designed in Coalville. OK I am answering this one - not much. I've bought 5-6 mainline locos - nearly all suffered from problems with valve gear or coupling rods. However from taking them apart, I've learned a heck of a lot about construction and maintenence and one of them is now a good runner ! (No 3 werent before I started !).

Simon

The lack of spare parts is probaby the key thing with Mainline.

For example, with older hornby models, they can (with a few exceptions) irespective of how poor the mechanisms are, the fact that parts are readily availiable means that the can be kept going.

If spare parts for Mainline mechanisms were availiable, I guess we'd just accept that insulated axle centres just wear out in the same way that we replace the brushes in Hornby ringfield motors.

I've considered replacement chassis previously, but the have thus far not decided to go for it as it would mean chaning the wheels from either green or crimson to black; which doesn't really appeal, and I feel that the mechanisms are about £10 each more expensive than I'd like to pay. Maybe Ill change my mind in the future, but the bachmann chassis [that replaced the chassis in former mainline models] that I have now havn't really impressed.

Craig