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Header: Hal-Zuzzu Model Railway Build Blog |
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| Published: Wednesday, January 12, 2022 | ||||||
| Post: #106/174 - Views: 45006 |
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Scheduled service on the Dapol GBRf Class 66... I think this is by far the easiest locomotive I own to work on. Removing the body was something that stopped me from fixing my locomotives until I figured how to do it. This one in particular simply pulls off without much effort. It was an easy and encouraging start, unlike some others I own. Dismantling the bogies is simply done by removing a screw on each bogie. Taking the bogies apart is just as simple, well, that is until you figure out how to do it. Now it's like second nature. Holding the bogie at each end, gently bend the front side (coupling) down and the frame will pop off. The rest is common sense. 
Here I want to point out the dirt that collects on the pickups. It is by far the most common problem when you have clean tracks, yet your locomotive still struggles to move. This, from experience, is most commonly seen when the locomotive is going around a bend and the cleaner pickup is on the inner side of the bend and the wheels move away from the pickup. 
This is what they look like after a gentle wipe with a paper napkin. I sometimes find one of these long ends bent out of shape. It is very easily rectified but it is also very easily made worse. The key is to be gentle and to take your time. 
Now it is time to clean the wheels. Cleaning the flat part of the wheel that contacts the rails is important. It is what those wire brushes that we place on the track to clean the wheels while they spin, do. This can be a pointless effort if the inner surface of the wheels, the surface that makes contact with the pickups, is not cleaned. Whatever you use to clean them, make sure you avoid running them onto the gears, as you will contaminate the wheel surfaces with the oil found on the gears (speaking from experience). 
There you go, nice and clean. Next a gentle wipe with a clean rag with some contact cleaner, thus wiping off any oil I might have brushed onto the wheels.
Here are the bogies after they have been assembled, ready to be placed back into the chassis.
Don't forget to push the prop shaft into place before attempting to install the bogie onto the chassis (again, speaking from experience) 
And here we are, all assembled and ready for a test run. 
Perfect, just like new... It is so rewarding when I place a locomotive back on the track and it functions well. What a difference from the stuttering effect it had before 
Guess which one is next on the list? Stay tuned and don't forget to register for post updates...Check out the live CCTV camera HERE |
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