Rivarossi Atlas Chapelon 231E Pacific in Black

[GlenEglise]

I have one of these vintage models.

Sadly due to age there are some issues with the tender drive.

Warping and expansion of the main tender chassis block and an apparent failure of the final drive mechanism although the motor does still run when extracted.The motor fits rather loosely into it's housing.

Traction tyres have expanded and no longer fit wheels.

This locomotive does not seem to have been reproduced by any manufacturer since the 1970's.

Has anyone any positive ideas about resurrecting this vintage item or, like it's life size model, will it be conigned to be a static exhibit in an ("N Gauge") Museum?

GE

[ntpntpntp]

Things like traction tyres aren't a problem (you can always fit some from another brand)

I'm not aware of any stocks of spare chassis blocks like there are for the Peco Jubilee, so if the block has deformed due to mazak rot then it's a gonner unless you can maybe find a cheap spare/repair where the block is still ok?  I do see them on ebay from time to time.

Spur-N-teile do list the chassis block, but not in stock.  You can add yourself to a waitlist I think, but if they do get one it'll no doubt be a recovered part from a scrapped model.
https://spur-n-teile.de/riv-cha-rahte.html

Some years ago I did ressurrect one for someone on here - I think it was @weave - but IIRC the main problem with that one was a broken underframe moulding for which I had to create a brass plate to retain the rear wheels.



Fulgurex have made a 231 in the past, but it seems to be rare and expensive even for a Fulgurex!
https://www.spurweite-n.de/ncontent/ndb/ndb-artdetails.asp?ID=453063011




I have a brown Rivarossi example that's just about hanging on (it originally belonged to a late friend).  It doesn't get run much.  It's posed here next to the black one I repaired.

[Gordon]

The Rivarossi 231E was legendarily a less than brilliant runner - even when the tender mechs were fairly new! For decades it was the only French designed steam locomotive available as a 'general market' N gauge model (as opposed to the 'prestige' brands eg Fulgurex - and being rather specific to the Paris - Amiens - Calais route was never 100% popular with N gaugers in France

I have cobbled together improved running using a  Japanese 'shorty' type chassis in the tender - at the expense of accurate wheelbase and chassis appearance of the tender now

[Roy L S]

The likely reason that there are still plenty of most Jub components around is because there have been three fairly large production runs of the loco, which in spite of it's price was popular with modellers. Also, Peco being ever prudent and "old school" kept a stock of spares from Rivarossi which got sold on to Peters Spares only a few years ago.

The Chapelon Pacific on the other hand as far as I know only ever had one production run in the 1970s and that suggests it wasn't anywhere near as successful commercially. So, any spares there may have been would have been fewer, produced 50 or more years ago and are likely long gone. I had one for a while bought with the broken underframe (for which they were notorious) thinking I could fix it, but I never did. It was a long time ago, but if memory serves (it may not) I seem to recall it ended up with Dorsetmike to use for bits on one of his many Southern projects.

Roy