Cleaning

The locomotive was clearly handled a lot and the work's grey is easily contaminated. That was especially so on the tender sides. So before anything else it needed a good clean. I took a cotton ear bud and carefully cleaned the tender sides with a light solution of soap. On the photos the effect is not so visible but in the display cabinet all the more so.

Smudgy

More or less clean

Rear Bissel pivot screw

The absent pivot screw posed a problem in so far that I had no measures to go for. So it took me about an hour to measure all recesses, steps and depths needed to firmly captivate the Bissel truck, the leaf spring and the tender draw bar and yet at the same time keep sufficient play. This resulted in a drawing to work from.

Next, it took me ten minutes to actually make the new pivot screw.

It fitted snugly in place. First time right! The careful measurement paid off.

Interlude: measuring tricks

First, how to measure the width with any amount of certainty and with inexpensive means?. Well, I have every drill size from 0.3 mm upping to 3.0 mm in steps of 0.1 mm.

So the search is for a drill that fits in the hole and it gives a result within 0.1 mm accuracy. For a pivot screw that is quite sufficient.

You could of course buy a set of round gauges but I think that is beyond the tools an average model builder has. In the next step I used a lathe and you could argue that is also beyond the average modeller's tool set. Well, you could reasonably do the same with a piece of brass in a drill chuck.

The hole of the pivot is a stepped hole, so one end is wider than the other and at some point there is a flat step. How to measure the depth of that step?

First turn a probe of brass. Face both ends and ensure the faces are flat and chamfer the edges.

Width of the probe is a smidge smaller than the widest hole.

Then put the probe in the top hole until it bottoms out in the step. Then measure the height of the truck beam including the probe. What you read is the difference between the size of the probe and your total measurement, that is [b] - [B] = [c].

So consequently the depth of the first part of the hole until the step Subtract [c] from [a] and you have the depth [d] of the step.

It sounds more complex than it actually is.

Gear drive

Removing the gear proved to be easy. The wheel was not difficult to get off its axle. I cleaned the loose gear, added a small amount of epoxy glue and put it back on the idler axle and replaced the wheel on its axle. That should make it run again.

But the worn appearance of the gear troubled me, so I searched for a replacement. I quickly found out that Liliput does not supply spare parts anymore for the their pre-Hornby era models.

I found a suitable replacement at Aliexpress and I am currently awaiting arrival. I only need to turn away a good 2 mm off the boss. Please refer to the chapter Performance Improvement to read all bout that.

Electrics

I removed all wiring from the circuit board and cleaned off the excessive solder.

The tender was likewise provided with straightforward new wiring.

The upper copper strip from the main current to the rear lamp was broken so I had to repair it anyway, but instead of simple wire I installed a small 12V diode. Likewise I provided the loco front lamp with a diode. This will make the lights switch with the direction of the loco.

I found these diodes on Ali express at the shocking price of .... €1,79 per 100!! Shipping at €1,99 was more expensive.

Mechanical issues

The leading axle of the locomotive is sprung. Very nice as this helps the loco to negotiate unevenness of track gently.

Reassembly and testing

As so very often is the case: assembly is the reverse of disassembly and by now I have disassembled and reassembled the locomotive so many times I can do it with my eyes shut. That said and done (well with my eyes open) I could put the loco on the test track.

At this moment I am waiting for the new gear to arrive. Then I will continue with this project by improving its performance.