I bought a Graham Farish (British N Scale) starter set a year ago. It has never run great. All I really wanted to do is get some track laid so that I could focus on building structures and scenery. But these passed couple of weeks, determined to get the locomotive running well, I reluctantly decided to become a tinkerer. I got some good advice on cleaning track, lubrication, etc from my “Stop and start locomotive” posting last week. But the suggestions did not work. As a last ditch effort, I took apart my locomotive and discover that the motor was not working because the contacts were very dirty. After a simple cleaning, the motor and locomotive worked great. I was amazed at how such a simple task gave me such a sense of accomplishment. In short, I have discovered the joy of tinkering. So I would encourage all to disregard the “ready-to-run” slogan and find out what is inside those locomotive.
I know the feeling. When I got back into this hobby I found an old box with my old OO scale trains from the UK from when I was a kid. My very first locomotive was a dockside switcher made by Triang. It did not run at all. After a complete overhaul, including fabricating new power pick ups for the wheels I was able to get it running. It was truly a great feeling of accomplishement.
Don’t forget about your “inner artist” and even your “inner child.” I’ve always been a tinkerer, and things like wiring come naturally to me, but the artsy-craftsy side of the hobby turned out to be a big surprise when I started having just plain old fun making hydrocal castings. I’m now much more comfortable with a paintbrush than I was a year ago, and I don’t even feel out-of-place in craft stores like Michaels.