I have a steam engine which ran fine. After a yooung visitor was playing with it, the wheels seem bind up. I can here the motor forcing the wheel to turn, but they turn only a fraction if at all. What exactly is wrong?
A potential number of things:
- A wheel on one side has slipped out of quarter and isn’t rotating at the same spot as the others. If you have a six wheel drive loco for example all three wheels on one side should be at exactly the same point on the clock face. You may have to rotate one of them and hopefully it will stay in place.
- Something like string or dirt got in the mechanism causing it to bind
- Did the piston rod come out of the piston and it is being stopped by the cylinder head?
- One of the side rods got bent and is binding against another rod in which case bend the offending rod out or in a lttle.
What brand and type of engine?
Invert the loco and rest it on a doubled-up towel or something that will not scratch it but will hold it reasonably securely, and look downard through the rods. If you see one that overlaps another rod partway along its length, that is the fault. Gently pry it in the required direction. As stated above, it is also possible that the spindle valve rod was somewhow pulled too far back and the tip has been jammed against the rear face of the cylinder. With patience, you can get it back in.
It is probably one of the above problems but you may want to check the rod screw that holds the crank eccentric. It may have rotated.
Jim
I think it would have been necessary to have one less “young visitor” at my house.
Thank you to all of who responed. I will see if the tips can help with the problem.
Hope you all have a happy holiday!