I have moaned and groaned several times before regarding the propensity of said models to suffer gear collapse and to run poorly with low traction. The last incident where the gear mangled up and one axle shed a wheel led me into buying yet another set of gear and wheels. Those of you who have removed the wheel set will be familiar with the spring loaded bearing block on the rear set. This was worn out and well damaged but is only available as part of a wheel set and the spring comes in the small parts kit which is very elusive ( for over
12 months I have sought one or two packs!). This time,thinks I, the assembly will start from a bare chassis and freedom of movement verified at each stage. In no time flat I am in trouble as the front and centre sets appear to have problems rotating. So off they come including the fiddly little speedo and out comes my patent quartering tool (a length of 0.75mm brass wire). loh and behold ! the fwd set was not the same as the centre! Back to the spares box and the other two practically new and discarded sets (from two new locos) and there lieth two more axles which are out of kilter. All of the centre (driven) units were fine but Fwd & Aft are the same configuration but mounted differently ( sprung and fixed ). Having reset the offending new item all is well. This also explained the oscillating motion in the rear axle which wrecked the carrier block as the defect was in that axle. This block presents it's own problems as it can be fitted in two positions. The correct being the thickest web section forward. This means that in three sets of wheels - straight from the bag- I have had one axle in each set wrongly quartered.Lesson: Do not trust new spares. It is just as well that the SR type wheels are the easiest to check and set up. oddly enough the best runner is one which I made up from a new chassis which claimed to be a r/b MN but after a lot of checking was in fact a r/b WC and cheerfully accepted the streamlined valvegear and cylinders and needed minor readjustments under the cab.
Lesson: There is always a reason why new stock is on sell at bargain prices. I know that I should have returned it but the cost of postage makes mockery of the bargain and for some reason this trade (ebay included) seems to find it fair and reasonable that buyers should bear this cost for faulty goods.
Lesson: If you return faulty goods then you will never discover the reasons why!
All I have to do now is find out why the fixing hole in the drawbar assembly is so large on the new item!
Have a good weekend!
Regards
Peter A