Captain Electra's Test Track

[Adam1701D]

With the new day job and plenty of orders coming in, I've decided that a layout isn't going to happen anytime soon, so I have set up about 4 feet of double-track Unitrack on my workbench in order to actually run something. Given that many of my locos have either never really run or lain dormant for 20+ years, the results have been quite interesting...

Dapol Class 86 - Incredibly smooth and very slow running. Lovely.
Farish Class 60 in GWR Livery - even quieter than the Dapol 86s
Farish Class 91 - new type chassis. One required a rebuild, as a bogie had come loose. There is a plastic panel that sits between the chassis halves that has a locating pin for the bogie that had sheared off. This was drilled out and a section of cocktail stick inserted. Now runs perfectly!
Farish Class 91 - old Chassis. All axles split and motor won't turn, though power getting through. If left on long enough it gets really hot and smoke comes out. Quite prototypical.
Farish Class 66 Freightliner - incapable of movement - notor turns but gears not meshing at all. Just makes a lot of noise and occasionally lurches along a couple of mm!
Farish 47 - original with lights and brass gears. Runs very well but noisy. Required  a good clean out and change of motor brushes/ Not bad for a model knocking on 30 years old.
Farish DMU motor bogie. Found a couple of these. One runs quite nicely after a good clean, the other one's motor turns but the wheels don't.
Farish 03 - goes OK but crabs along the track at a strange angle. Possibly as a result of being dropped and trodden on. 

[Newportnobby]

Farish 03 - goes OK but crabs along the track at a strange angle. Possibly as a result of being dropped and trodden on. 

Very interesting, but I think I'd crab at a strange angle if I had been dropped and trodden on
I recently dug out some of my older Farish and what I ran, ran very well. Slightly jerky but this is down to my test oval being quite dirty now. I noticed my 5 pole 8F had the price when I bought it brand new - £33.20

[OwL]

Thanks for posting Captain.

What advice would you (or anyone else) have for storage of loco's for a long time without running. Is there any tips anybody could give for hibernation of locos?
I have many older locos stored myself at present, many in camera cases that do not see light of day very much?- is this a suitable storage method and healthy for the locomotives? They are stored in a cool dark place eg wardrobe in a room.

Be interested to know your thoughts and hear any tips ?

Kind Regards
OwL

[Mustermark]

If left on long enough it gets really hot and smoke comes out. Quite prototypical.

Possibly as a result of being dropped and trodden on. 

i wouldnt laugh, except you wrote it so funny!

[Hailstone]

My collection of steam & diesel locomotives now runs to 110 with the additionn of a BRCW type 2 Diesel (class 26 to you) which has so far run for 40 minutes non stop and got only very slightly warm (no problem in my experience with Dapol locos), and due to  the fact that my loft is only insulated at floor level and so suffers extremes of temperature, I can recommend Parkwood arts stock cases, as over the past three years, my loco stock has lived in these and i have not suffered any failures of the split gear type so far (or any other type  for that matter)