So writing the thread on my old modelling career in 0 prompted me to delve into my archives for supporting pictures. One upshot of this was getting the Varney 4-6-0 out of the loft to check what condition it was in. A new model rail shop has just opened in Ulverston and they were interested in it Although it is a Baltimore & Ohio loco I had finished it in Canadian National livery However, I never wired the motor up and it sat as a static model in the display case for over 20 years But I'm sure I'm not alone in having a loft full of stuff that serves no purpose and would be a nightmare for the wife to sort out if something happened to me..So..Lets see if I can get it sorted Just as a sidetrack. I had an eccentric friend who used to commission locomotives off me in various scales and I had already created some, 'Er', Interesting locos for him Great Northern adaptation of the 0 scale Rivarossi Casey Jones and a CN version The Varney was finished in CNR but sadly his personal circumstances meant he was never able to get it, and it has been one of the things cluttering up the house ever since Tomorrow, Cos it is now Beer'O'clock, I'll go into the primary survey of what needs doing to revitalise the 0 scale dinosuar Kev
So the first thing was to strip it down into the major components, It is held together with some fairly chunky screws The chassis. Not at all sure about the motor Boiler and cab I've applied a thin coat of Hycote Matt black paint This is really heavy being a bronze casting Tender trucks and lead truck The tender has quite a rough finish and needs some TLC I need to go into the loft and find an old school controller like a Hammant & Morgan as nothing I have in the workshop is going to pump out the Amps that motor is probably going to need ,assuming it runs at all More soon Kev
The motor was really, really stiff when I tried to turn it over by hand. I resorted to the old method of first blasting it with the high pressure airline in the workshop to get rid of any swarf the magnet might have picked up and then going to town with aerosol Servisol 10 Switch cleaning lubricant. (This is the magic spray that will get just about any Marklin Z scale loco up and running again) it is a long time since I've used electrical wire this thick to wire up a motor! The bearings were lubricated with light machine oil, The com was lightly cleaned up with a Glass fibre pencil, Brush tension checked and off we went. there is a moment in one of the Frankenstein movies, not sure if it was one of the Boris Karloff ones or Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein, where Dr Frankenstein looks straight at the camera and manically says 'ITS ALIVE!' With a lot of resistance it first tried kicking over in one direction. This was at 12 volts on the 1 Amp output of the Duette. repeated change of diresctions eventually started it grudgingly running but in a very erratic way. I left it running but it was obvious it didn't want to play at lower voltages and probably needed a lot of running in. Anyway. I put an ammeter on it tonight and it is taking between 1.1 and 1.3 amps at 12 volt but the revs keep going up and down. The H&M Thermal cutouts are suposed to trip at 1amp but are hanging in there I will get it sorted! More soon Kev
Meant to mention, I did some digging for information on the Varney 4-6-0. It came out in 1946 and must have been cutting edge technology at the time There used to be an American 0 scale group in Yorkshire called the 'Yorkshire Crummies' and I saw their layout at a show many years ago where the had one of these running and also a 2-6-2 version which they told me was really rare
No pictures but... With it hooked uo to an AVO meter the starting voltage is now at 3.6V. I think it might just be the sheer mass of the armature. Everything I've learned is screaming at me to replace the motor with an Escap or Maxon Coreless with a sod-off flywheel on the back and be done with it but I'm determined to keep it as authentic as possible even down to using some very old 'Champ' decals I still have. Nearly got the rough side of the tender smooth just needs a final rub down with 1200 grade wet and dry paper before the top coat More soon
Had to shim the nose end of the motor gearbox assembly to get some clearance between the worm and gear. Just did it by feel really running, a bit growly but smooth on the revs Going to run it in for an hour at a time with plenty of oil on all the moving parts with just the driven axle mounted for now. One thing missing is any sort of brake gear so I'm going into the loft tonight to see if I have anything still lurking around. Kev
