Any time I see one of these selling for peanuts I grab it, as by now I find them easy to repair!
This one came to me absolutely covered in dust. Definitely wasn’t the pride of anyone’s display.
It was sold with bad gears and maybe other problems. I found it rolled nicely (cracked gear?) but more surprising, when you applied power there was no motor sound.
This is also the first one I’ve seen with the center wheel pins installed. I’ve seen the pin carrier, but never actually on the loco!
First order of business before you turn one of these over is to remove the stuff on the steam dome, as it invariably gets broken otherwise.
Once you get the center axle out of the bearings and valve gear, you can lift the motor up and out of the frame. [I won’t belabor the process of swapping the gear - it is well documented elsewhere.]
Then I applied power to the motor and zilch. Looking closely, I found some charred and broken components on the RF board.
So I took it out completely - it is for RF interference, as far as I know, and can be thrown away. The two loose grey wires come from the direction switch in the smokebox.
I applied power directly to the motor, and still nada. So I took the gearbox apart (to get at the drive gear) and unscrewed the motor. Still nuthin. The motor shaft moves about 1/8th so I suspect the commutator is destroyed. We will see when I get inside it.
I found Bachmann lists the motor and gearbox on the website for a pretty penny. I posted a few requests for a used motor, but the more I thought about it, the more I suspect it is the same motor used in the 4-6-0, etc. I’m going through my motor stash this afternoon.
