CornishJim

I hope you don't consider me as either a non beliver or knocking the small man! As that was certainly not my intention of the post, I was merely commenting on that one guys attitude, I have always tried to support the local model shop, and have bought plenty of stuff from them in the past. In fact now that I have got my class 52 up and running again I am now on the lookout for some spares for it, maybe even a replacement motor and drive gears as it is all pretty worn. Do you have anything SoT?

I agree with you, but, this shop is my nearest at 30 miles away and he knows this, I left it there for over a month, I didn't contact him at all, he told me it had to go to his workshop in St Austell which is another 30 miles away. I was in the area and had to take my A1 Tornado back as it had more problems than I was prepared to fix for a new loco, so I asked him about the class 52, 'ah yes that old thing' he said and went and got it from out the back, 'I thought you were sending it away I asked' ' no it's knackered it needs a new dummy bogie, ive been trying to find one.' Now seeing as I couldn't get my money back on the Tornado as it's not his or hornby s policy too give back money but to issue a credit note (totally against consumer rights) I didn't argue the fact but accepted a credit note, by this time I was getting pretty fed up with the guy, I asked for the class 52 back, took it home, had a look on Peters spares and found a complete bogie set but thought I would have a look at the 'broken one' myself, all it needed was a bit of re engineering which took me all of half an hour and now runs perfectly. So if my local model shop has an attitude like that why should I go there? I would rather wait a few days for delivery and pay a little more! I have to admit, he isn't the only one who needs a few lessons on customer service!!

My point exactly poliss, don't get me started about the drama I had with the A1 Tornado and how he refused to give me my money back as it was faulty!!! I shall have a look at that guys channel on youtube too!

I wasn't 'having a pop' at the model shop, I just asked him to have a look and let me know a rough cost to refurbish it, the fact that he said 'bin it and get a new one' is what annoyed me, ok the labour cost would of been more than the thing is worth but ive had it since I was a lad and wanted to keep it running. I should of done it myself in the first place, now I have I am glad I did because I have learnt a lot about how it all works and goes together, I would not hesitate to service any of my locos now! I might even get a new motor for it !!

Well after the model shop saying my class 52 was basically scrap I have her back up and running, the pivot pin/pickup on the rear bogie wasnt transfering power and dcc commands properly as it was all loose inside, soldered the pin to the pickups and shes sorted! She runs perfectly, better than some new locos I have! So lesson learnt, don't believe everything the 'experts' tell you!

I've used Isopro already, got most of it off, just wondered if there was anything else I could try.

Hey Guys I left an my old DC Lima Class 52 'Western Gladiator with my local model shop over a month ago for a full on service, went in there today and he hadn't even touched it, so got it back today, the brass wheels are almost black with dirt, whats the best thing to clean them up with? Also, if anyone has one could you tell me if the brass pin on the rear bogie is supposed to be a bit wobbly? I think I must of taken it apart when I was young and not put it back together right! Just need to know how it should be put back together, I have stripped the motor down and given it a good service/clean already and fitted a decoder, so its almost ready to be re born! Any help would be much appreciated.