Trying to get started.

[Cimmerian]

Yesterday my Kato starter pack arrived. I'm on holiday for the next three days and I couldn't resist it. I got my stock boxes out of the loft and cleared the dining table.

As promised on the box all the track went down easy and soon I had a loop of track going round the table. All the wires were connected and it was time to play. I have six locos all from times when I was going to try and build a railway before. The first and second ones wouldn't move but the third did. I happily watched the little loco doing laps while I celebrated with a cup of tea.

By the end of play I had tested all of them. I have three runners



and three non-starters.



Question time

Is there anything I can do to make the three non- runners go and if so what? Is it even worth it or should I settle for three as it's not a bad start.

[Richey1977]

A mate of mine was recently in a similar situation, and he went to his nearest model railway club for advice.  Somebody there took a box of locos, in various states, and gave each one a thorough clean or diagnosis in return for a nominal contribution to club funds.

Failing that, it might be an idea to find the nearest MR shop that will inspect or service them for you.

Happy modelling!

[austinbob]

I have six locos all from times when I was going to try and build a railway before. The first and second ones wouldn't move but the third did. I happily watched the little loco doing laps while I celebrated with a cup of tea.

By the end of play I had tested all of them. I have three runners and three non-starters.

Question time

Is there anything I can do to make the three non- runners go and if so what? Is it even worth it or should I settle for three as it's not a bad start.

If they all ran when you put them to bed a while ago then they will probably just need wheels and pickups cleaning and a tiny bit of oiling.

[PLD]

Of the non-runners, it would be a bigger surprise if the Lima 4F and class 31 did actually work!! Neither of those were very good models to start with and some liberties were taken with the concept of 'Scale'...

The Farish Pannier Tank is more likely to be salvageable and more worthwhile doing. Failing that it shares the same chassis as the two GP tanks in your runners, so at worst you can swap the two good chassis around the three bodies as you wish and have the dud chassis as a source of spares...

[silly moo]

Those Lima locos are pretty old so if you get them to run you are doing well. I agree that you will probably have better luck with the Farish ones as they are generally better made and easier to service.

The general purpose tanks I have are very noisy and sound like angry bees zooming round the layout.

If you treat yourself to a new Farish or Dapol loco you will see what great advances have been made in N gauge models.

[Cimmerian]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll try a bit of oiling and see how that goes, if there's no life after that I can always leave them lurking on a dead bit of track  to look pretty.

[austinbob]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll try a bit of oiling and see how that goes, if there's no life after that I can always leave them lurking on a dead bit of track  to look pretty.

Clean em up first Cimmerian. Oil without cleaning might make things worse!!

[weave]

Hi,

I have no idea about fixing, cleaning, oiling etc but if that's a rug they're on, get 'em off!, especially if you have pets or children or anything really.

weave

[Cimmerian]

It's a very ugly tablecloth that the wife likes . They're back in the box now.

[Newportnobby]

It's a very ugly tablecloth that the wife likes . They're back in the box now.

What - your wife and the tablecloth?

[Cimmerian]

It's a very ugly tablecloth that the wife likes . They're back in the box now.

What - your wife and the tablecloth?

Of course, now I've got the trains out I'm not putting them away again.

[Newportnobby]

It's a very ugly tablecloth that the wife likes . They're back in the box now.

What - your wife and the tablecloth?

Of course, now I've got the trains out I'm not putting them away again.

Don't tell your wife but putting that tablecloth back in the box I can understand

[railsquid]

Of the non-runners, it would be a bigger surprise if the Lima 4F and class 31 did actually work!! Neither of those were very good models to start with and some liberties were taken with the concept of 'Scale'...

They're not exactly the best of models but the mechanism is pretty robust. A common problem is the brushes coming loose like this:

(kind of hard to see but the copper spring arm holding the lower brush in place is dislocated).

However the pickups are only on one bogie and they work best at high speed.

[Bealman]

Geez, they are old models! I've got a Farish GP tank and pannier of the same vintage and they both still run fine.

I'd consign the Lima models to the junk box, though.

[D1042 Western Princess]

I can say nothing about the steam engines but if you compared the Deltic and Brush 2 (Class 31 in 'Newspeak') with the current, reliable and fairly accurate to scale models (if you'll forgive the odd 0.01 mm out of true scale here and there - yes, modern models can be that accurate) I think you'd soon confine your old, overscale and unreliable, Lima versions to the scrapyard.