Well I finally did it. Tonight I was trying out my beautiful Proto 2K WC SD45 when all of a sudden…crash…smash…plastic on concrete. Disaster. One of my scenery trees had come loose and fallen across the track. (Almost like in real life) So with heavy heart I picked up the pieces. Both trucks popped right out ripping off the pick up wires. The shafts had also popped out. One fan cover went AWOL…the number boards and some window glass had come off. Fortunately however not even a scratch on the shell. Oh well I said to myself I heard this happens from time to time. This just must have been my day of destiny. So I went and had dinner.
When I went back downstairs I started looking at the parts to see what , if anything was salvageable.
After a while I started piecing all the parts back together. Within a few minutes I had the motor and trucks back together. Incredibly there was no major damage. Everything was intact just apart. All I had to do was solder the pick up wires back from the trucks to the circuit board. (Not an easy task I must say) and re assemble the frame to the body. I powered it up…and hey it worked. I couldn’t believe it! My weekend ended great after all. And a bonus. I found the fan cover. Now all I have left to do is put in the glass and the number boards.
I have never taken a Loco apart to this extent ever before and re assembled it. But you know if I did it once I can do it again.
The MR Hobby gods must have been watching over you. Glad to hear of their good deeds and your good fortune. Not to mention that a little time under the hood explains why those “puppies don’t come cheap”. Here’s to more good fortune!
Were I you, I would sprinkle a few grains of incense on a burning fusee and give thanks to the Great God of the Iron Rail, who obviously was smiling upon you in your time of need.
Your story has inspired me to revisit a couple of my own basket cases.
Sorry to hear that you had a mishap but am also glad that not much damage was done!
You have also found that the insides of the engine are not that mysterious!
I have seen many on the forums and at my club that are deathly afraid of going inside an engine to see what has gone wrong with it.
This is not brain surgery it is a toy train!
I have had to remachine engine frames to get room for speakers and decoders.
We even went to all of the trouble with an Athearn CF7 frame to machine it out of a piece of billet aluminum as we found the frame was twisted 7 thousandths of an inch (.007) from the factory.
This has been found on all of the CF7’s that we have (which is over 30 at this time) so it is not a fluke.
One thing with the new frame it is twice as strong as the old one and with the new cast lead tank it is now twice as heavy as the original.
So don’t ever be afraid to look inside an engine, they are still one of the simplest mechanical things still out there!
Had that happen to a loco. Trucks off, linkage off, snowplows and couplers flying, lighting ripped out, not a pretty site. I put it all back together and marveled at my modeling skill. Then powered it up…looked like an alco starting up (lots of smoke). The decoder was fried. I didn’t even think something would be wrong with that. Still, the loco runs fine, with another decoder, so the MRR gods must not have been too mad at me. [:D]