Train repairs

When we were down at my parents over the Christmas holiday period and we had the train set out and running for the bairns (and me and dad!), we got a few of the older trains out to play with. These are the trains that I played with when I was a youngster, alongside the Intercity 125 that we didn't get around to getting out.

The only trouble was that a couple of the trains were not running very well or in one case not at all. So, what do you do when a train isn't running? What else but strip it down and play with it! Which is exactly what we did, stripping down a total of 5 trains, although two of them required nothing more than a quick clean up of the contacts and an oiling, before they were back to full health and running perfectly around the train track. Of the other three trains, two took a fair bit of work cleaning up the contacts and wheels, oiling up the various gears and cleaning out all the fluff and gunk that had accumulated over the last 25 0dd years.

BR Type 35, stripped for cleaning.

Two of the trains stripped down were BR Class 35, also known as HyMeks. We have 2 of them, one in blue and one in green, both BR liveried. These use to run very well and were two of the main trains, apart from the 125, that we were allowed to run without supervision. The third train that required a lot of work to get it running was the Class 52, named the Western Gladiator. This was one of the "new" trains that were weren't allowed to play with, unless dad was there to watch us. The other was a green BR diesel, possibly a class 37 or class 40 or even 42! There are so many trains that look the same!

The train repair yard, also know as my parents kitchen table.

Unfortunately, despite our beat efforts, we were unable to get all three trains running. The Class 52 went back in to service quite happily after some TLC and freeing off of the motor unit, which was quite "sticky" having been sat in one position for quite a while. The Blue HyMek took quite a bit of work to get it going. It would run, but only slowly when at full power on the track, when it should have been sprinting around the track. It also didn't like starting, often requiring a little push to get it moving. Eventually after much tinkering and playing, I got it moving nicely, although it still wasn't flying around the track, it was starting and stopping on its own and not throwing off a ton of sparks every time it was running.

The HyMek, taking a test run, minus body.

The other HyMek however seems to have had its days. It was refusing to run at all and there seemed to be no life in it at all. My father also doesn't own a multi-meter! So, I wasn't able to test all the various circuits but eventually we discovered that one of the solder joints had failed. I was able to rig it up to test it and we though we had solved the problem but then another joint failed and finally a third one fell to bits on inspection (prodding with a screw drive) and the decision was taken to call it a day on the repairs and box it back up, with a view to send away for a full repair. Unfortunately, the local man my day use to use for such things has semi-retired, so its very hit or miss as to whether he will take anything on and the shop nearby that also repairs trains has a 4 month freeze on jobs as they have so many trains waiting to be repaired that they are not taking any new ones. As it was sitting in the box, my father was out at a toy/train fair and came across a boxed HyMek, exactly the same as the broken one, going at a good price, so decided to just buy that one instead. So we are back up to two HyMeks, with a third in the knackers yard. Still, I think that next time were down, i'm going to have to grab out the soldering iron and have a play anyway, mostly as if I mess it up, it wont really matter!

Car troubles

So the car saga continues. Just when I think I've gotit sorted, something else rears its ugly head. While I'm still trying sort the rear wheel hub, 3 attempts later and still no joy!, there is now another matter that needs attention.

The passenger headlight has been a struggle to get right, as the beam has been way off but I got it sorted. I lined it all up using the garage door and was pretty happy with it and the garage said they would fine tune it for me, mostly out of sympathy i think. Great, apart from one minor issue, its a left hand driver headlight! So, I had to source and fit a RHD unit, which isn't as easy as it sounds.

Fitting a headlight.

As you can see, fitting requires stripping off the bumper. Fairly simple, just long winded and a pain. Managed to clean and polish the drivers headlight, so that's nice and clear now. 

The car should have been back in for its mot retest but the new hub, brand spanking new instead of second d hand, was supposed to arrive by UPS48 on Tuesday, but didn't turn up till Thursday, so more like UPS96. This meant the garage didn't have time to dealwith the car before we headed off on holiday, so the cars back sitting on the drive, not good.

Hopefully it will all be sorted as soon as I get home. I'm really looking forward to having her back in the road!

Car update........que the disappointment

Well, I was hoping to have some good news to share, however, things didn't quite go according to plan. The car was in for its long overdue retest yesterday and I was secretly hopeful that it would pass. It didn't.

Fail points.

Not all is lost though, as the list is now down from 9 to 2. Yes, most of its been fixed, although in fixing some bits, new issues have arisen, but we'll get to that in a bit. Firstly, we'll deal with the failures, which are the headlight and hub. Now the headlight is going to be a pain, as the inner part, the reflective bit, has come loose and its this that seems to be causing the problem. I need to figure a way of propping this up and fixing it in to position or get a new headlight unit. The former should be cheap and cheerful bodge work, the latter, the proper way. For the moment ill be bodging it, somehow. The second point is the hub and this should be easy, as I have all the parts I need in the garage and now I've done it once already. I don't know what went wrong last time and don't really care right now, I just want to fix it. Hopefully I'll get some time at the weekend to do everything. Oh, and point three, the tyres, they've been changed, not sure why they did it after the MoT but they did, so ignore that one.

Advisories page 1

Advisories page 2

The list of advisories is still long, but again, some of it can be ignored. The main ones are 8, 12, 13, 14, 17 and 19. The powersteering seepage is annoying but not a problem, I will have to track it down at some point, but not now. The tire has been done along with the valve, so that's pointless. The discs being rusty is because the cars been sat for weeks with no mot, so is to be expected! As for the rusty underside, its a 13 year old car, its gonna be a bit rusty in places as it hasn't been taken care of properly. The spongy peddles because the brakes haven't been bled properly, as I couldn't undo the front bleed nipples. 

As for the rest, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 15 and 16, these are problems I intend to fix over the summer. The head light clouding is not much of a problem and I've already got the kit of ebay and I'm Not worried about the pads, their consumables, so they will need replacing every so often anyway. This also leads back to the hand brake travel, now pads will have an impact on that but ultimately the cable will need replacing as I think its stretched. Fixing the various exhaust mounts shouldn't be too hard, but with a non-standard exhaust it might be trickier than expected. The only two items that I'm really worried about are the CV gaiters, as this will require disassembling most of the front hub assembly to change properly, not a 5 minute job. However, I'm confident I can do it, and if it does of wrong or take me ages, well its not the end of the world.

The only other items on the list are the brake pipe, which I have replacements for but am going to hold off a little longer as they are still fine, just getting old. Ill have another check before the next MoT. The final point is the SIRS warning light. This could just be the bulb and a simple fix or it could be a major issue with the system. My view is its the bulb, as a major issue would cause the bulb to light up constantly, not dissapear off on holiday. It doesn't seem to be an issue for the MoT which is good!

So more issues to fix and a deadline for good measure. I've got all the bits I need this time round, so hopefully it will be plain sailing! Oh the joys of owning an old banner! And to think, I'd quite like that mgf thats sitting up the road on bricks! As much as I would love to buy it, if I did I think the next post on here would be my obituary! 

MOT

Well, I took my car for its yearly MOT test the other day, and yeah, not good. I was expecting a few advisories to come up, but nothing like this! A failure on 9 points!

Sorry for the picture, but for some reason my phone keeps putting it this way round not matter what I do!

Ok, so its not as bad as it first sounds. 2 for the hand brake and 3 for the fuel filler. I've got reconditioned rear calipers and hubs on route (with Hermes somewhere) and I'm in the process of sourcing a new fuel neck. That should solve 5 problems. A new tyre, new locking pin and tightening up a bolt are simple. The head light couldbe because the lense is dodgy and needs cleaning and polishing. I think that it should all be rather easy, just need to get the bits to do it all.

And then there is the whole raft of advisories to deal with!

Yes, that really does reach 21.

Again, nothing to serious. Brake discs are mostly due to lack of use, especially the rears, as the calipers are shot. A perished tyre, that'll be replaced with the other for an axle pair. That will also sort the valve issue. The rear beari21.will be sorted with new hubs (with the calipers somewhere). The exhaust mounts can be replaced easily, and are probably due replacement and the power steering issue is because I haven't cleaned it all up properly when I did the power steering gaiter change.

The only items that worry me are the CV gaiters. These are going to be more difficult to replace, but not impossible, however, I think I will replace both the inner and outer gaiters at the same time ( although I've yet to check the inner ones) so that I dint have to repeat the process again.

So all in all not so bad, just annoying and it will take some time to correct. Hopefully the car will be back on the road in no time.

Oh, and the rear handles and locks are playing up again! (New handles with hubs and calipers somewhere)