Fixing an old Hornby 8f: possible to make it run again

[hornbyandbf3fan]

Hi everyone

 

I have a very old Hornby 8f tender drive from the eight freight trainset. Unfortunately, it has developed a lot of rust, I think as it was stored in the garage and there was issues with the box. As you can see it's on the valve gear, but as it's tender drive I'm hoping it'll be somewhat fixable. Obviously it won't ever be perfect, but I'm curious to see if it's doable. Does anyone have any tips or ideas, or is it time to consign it to display.

 

Thanks

[33C]

Available as spare parts. The slide bars and crossheads, return crank rod may be the same as the old, full gear Black/red 5 if you cannot find specific 8F bits. Or, give it a light rub down on the moving surfaces and leave the rest. Real rust! Spray the whole chassis track colour to blend in.

[cypherman]

Hi hornbyandbf3fan,

If the motor is good then it may be more worth while to try and get a donor chassis for the loco.

[hornbyandbf3fan]

A donor chassis would be best, it's a very old model though so I fear I may struggle. Plenty of bodies about though!

 

Got the body off and scraped a lot of rust off, leading to it now somewhat working. Unfortunately part of the valve gear has snapped, but apart from that it is fairly free wheeling now. Unfortunately the video is too big to attatch

[33C]

Put a bit of brass shim behind and solder back together or, just use a bit of plastic sheet and make another, if it's one of the shorter rods.

Edited August 5, 2023 by 33C
Added detail.