locomotive repairs.........

I have found that the new range of trains are not as robust as the older Tomy ones.
In the rush to make things smaller, cheaper or quicker, quality sometimes falls by
the way-side. The old saying goes "something can always be made a little
cheaper...... and a little worse".





A common problem with the battery driven engines is that when the batteries run out
little hands try to push them along instead. Which is OK if the switch is set to
'off', otherwise the gears and cogs are still engaged and damage can result. This
can quite often be easily repaired by the following method...

first unscrew the two screws holding the motor onto the chassis......... the wheels on their axle will then fall from the clips under the motor.
You will probably find that the little gear cog on the axle shaft will turn on the shaft fairly easily.... which it shouldn't. So you slide the cog along the axle shaft and you can now see the knurled part of the shaft which should hold the cog firm. By forcing the train along when the gears were still engaged has caused the knurling to act like a file and remove some of the plastic cog so that the two no longer hold together tightly.
Slide the cog back and forth along the shaft whilst wiping with a tissue, try to remove all the oil or grease on the shaft, a little alcohol or thinner may help. When clean and dry apply super glue to the knurls and slide the cog back into place on top of the knurled part.
Re-assemble and you should be good to go.....
Trying to teach the 'little hands' is probably a tougher job.