Black Sheep Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 I bought a trix brittania with a view to using it as a donor chassis and at the time of purchase it did run ok, not great, but ok. Cleaned the wheels a bit and it became acceptable and then it was packed away while the layout was under construction and then for a few house moves and pulled out of storage to find it a non-runner yet the lights work fine (if intermittently) Trying to get it running well so I can sell it on with clear conscience as I don't want to sell on a duff loco. I've given a rub of track-magic over the contacts in the motor to get rid of some of the carbon deposits, a spot of lubricant on the gears and track-magic on the wheels and I managed to get a lap of the coffee table out of it before it stopped again. Any ideas what it needs? I'm half guessing which wheels are pick-ups which perhaps isn't helping. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Al Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Clean all the pickups, and the tender-loco drawbar connection (this conducts power). As they age this tends to be needed otherwise they can appear dead through poor conduction through to the motor. Cheers,Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sheep Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 Thanks, I did wander if the drawbar to the tender was a connection, I'll get the fibreglass brush on it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sheep Posted February 1, 2014 Author Share Posted February 1, 2014 Just had the loco apart again and decided to remove the motor from it's mount, sit the loco on the track and see if I can get the motor to run, try and isolate a motor / motion issue. It ran after a bit of a sparky start in which it struggled to get going, then stopped working completely until putting the motor back in to clear up for the night (the dining table is my workbench at the moment) and I noticed the wire wasn't where it had been. So a loose wire to the motor would explain most of the issues I've been having, just need to find my soldering iron to get it sorted! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfheath Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 The version of Britannia that you have, may help to identify other possible issues. Early versions have small, solid wheels on the front bogies, and a metal crankpin on the drive wheel Later versions have larger spoked wheels and a grey plastic crank pin. Later versions seem to have the same chassis and gearing as the Minitrix Scotsman and the Mallard Earlier versions have a slightly different (lower) gearing, and a similar chassis. It was normal for the earlier minitrix to use the chassis as an earth contact. It was also usual for the spray paint to be applied where a good electrical contact for earth was required ! Later models have the earth (negative / left side) wired to the motor. There may be some useful information on my website here. The Britannia link also links into the Mallard pages, as much of the info is identical. http://www.jfheath.co.uk/ngauge Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sheep Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 Soldered the wire back on and it's all running fine now, well I presume so, I traded it in for an old Farish duchess that runs beautifully that's going to receive a streamlined body (there's a thread kicking around) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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