Help with Hornby Castle

[Sir TophamHatt]

I have an old Hornby Castle Hogwarts Express.

It used to be my test Loco to tell me if other trains were working okay but I've been meaning to convert it to DCC.

 

However,its just stopped working. I can't remember what happened but it looks like a dead motor.

 

Stripped it, cleaned the brushes and the magnetic circle thing in the motor.

I bent the pickups a little more to ensure a good contact.

Put it back together but still no go.

 

Took a photo. There seems to be two resistors. Do I need these? Same with the interference thing, can I safely cut that out to make it a little simpler?

 

Where do I look next?

 

 

EDIT:

So it seems cleaning off some oil has helped. There was rather a lot.

I noticed that one side of the pickups was connecting to the body. The others connect to the wire with the heat shrink tube.

 

Does that mean when I convert to DCC, I need to make sure the pickups that use the body no longer do that?

Edited March 16, 2018 by Sir TophamHatt

[Gordon A]

Will the motor run when removed from the chassis and not connected to any of the chokes etc?

 

Try on a lower voltage say 6 volts to start with.

 

Gordon A

[adb968008]

Not sure if the red resistors are factory fitted, or from elsewhere, they don’t look original.

 

Sometimes I find the tv suppressor blows (the yellow circular object wired to both sides) which can stop it dead. To test this requires a gentle hand.

 

My personal test criteria would be...

 

1. Put dc power to the two metal brush covers, and see if it goes.

If yes.., then you’ve a dodgy connection with the wires.. go to 2, else if no go to 3.

 

2. try putting just 1 dc wire to a brush cover, and the other to a wheel... it will either go.. or short out..either are a success as it means you’ve isolated the connection to the wiring/pickups of the other brush cover... if it doesnt react, but did run in step 1 the problem is with the wiring on the brush cover you’ve got power too.

 

A. If nothing to 1&2...go to step 3.

B. Else Examine your wiring working back to testing power on the pickups, then the wheels, paying attention in your case to testing a wire to either side of those red “resistors” until you find where the break is in power transmission.

 

3. i’d Remove the two covers holding in the brushes / springs, so that their are no wires touching the motor at all.

With the springs/bushes exposed, put your power wires onto the springs directly.. this will tell you if it’s the motor/armature or elsewhere on the wiring. Make sure you’ve only enough pressure to stop the springs pinging away into the ether.

 

A. If it doesn’t go , do you feel any resistance.. it could be the gear train is locked and stopping it moving... see step 5.

B. If nothing at all, i’m Leaning towards an issue with the armature.

 

C. If it goes then refit the spring/brush covers and try again.. if nothing.. is it shorting out ?..if yes it could be an issue with the pickups... see step 2. If no.. go to 4.

 

4. If not shorting and still dead, I’m looking at that TV suppressor.. tbh in my own preference i’d just cut it off both sides and be done with it, especially if it’s only a test model, repeat from Step 1.

 

5. If there is resistance but it’s not going, remove (unscrew the motor from the chassis, apply power and try again, if you can try helping it by turning the gears yourself, sometimes if it’s not been run for years they can just “seize” and your turning the gears help us it get going quite quickly.

 

At any stage if you get smoke from the motor.. call it quits... there’s something else going on.

If it momentarily smells but it’s going it could be dirt on the brushes /commutator, especially if it’s not been run for years.. that should disappear at the same time the motor should go faster.. if not and it gets warm.. try step 5.

 

Usually from that lot above I’ve almost always got it going, with 1 exception which was a burnt out armature.

Edited March 17, 2018 by adb968008

[Sir TophamHatt]

Bookmarking this thread!

Thanks!

 

I think it was the though.

After a lto of cleaning between the pickup sheet of copper and the chassis, plus all around the other parts of the pickup sheet, it now is one of the fastest locos I have!

 

Now is just the challenge of converting to DCC! Never done one with pickups like this before.

[adb968008]

Bookmarking this thread!Thanks!I think it was the though.After a lto of cleaning between the pickup sheet of copper and the chassis, plus all around the other parts of the pickup sheet, it now is one of the fastest locos I have!Now is just the challenge of converting to DCC! Never done one with pickups like this before.

Those two “resistors”.. i’m Not sure what they are, or if they are required but personally I would have them off.

Then connect the “DCC” Input wires from to those wires coming from the track, and the output wires to the wires heading to the motor.

[The Johnster]

Fast is good, but a better measure of how well a loco is running is to see how slowly it can be run and reliably controlled; this will prove the performance of the pickups and cleanliness of the wheel treads and backs.

 

Anyway, nice to read a success story, and now you have an idea what to do if it happens to another loco!