Model Railway Forum

Got it apart to see if it can be repaired. Questions:

1. Is there a suitable replacement motor?
2. If yes, how does not replace the worm?
3. Where is the positive and negative connections to the motor?
4. I found one loose red wire, where did it go to? I am guessing it was a positive feed and frame serves as a ground
when screwed to the motor.
5. There is this little white cylinder thing, is it some kind of suppressor to prevent TV signal interference? Can it be done
away with?
6. There is a chip on the rotor visible; looks like some kind of varnish covering that was chipped. Is that significant?

I believe someone posted a diagram, but I have lost the thread. Thank in advance. I'd really like to breath life into this old gem.

http://hornbyguide.com/item_details.asp?itemid=827

Could this be what you're looking for?

Knowing the motor doesn't help much as it's not available as far as I can find. Maybe the service sheet will help if you know what is wrong with it.

Hi Chops

The motor in the rocket is a X500, service sheet 52
The service sheet for the rest of the Rocket is 68

I know of no suitable replacement, however the winding can be renewed don't know about the US but here in UK several companies do rewinds.

On top of the motor there should be a V shaped spring on the left hand side should have a piece of insulation tube on it the red wire would have had a clip shaped the same as the brush brass stem the wire's clip would be placed next the the brush stem and held in place by the spring which would be on the inside of the brush pushing out You should have 2 X567 brushes.

The little white thing is a capacitor which needs to be kept but can be replaced with a modern version

The varnish over time does crack and chip this is nothing to worry about

AFAIK there is no direct X500 motor replacement available anywhere. Sometimes a secondhand one pops up on ebay, but those can be poor at best! You can have the old X500 motor re wound and perhaps a new magnet fitted if required. I have one on my workbench that needs a rewind and I'm considering sending it to Scalespeed if they can rewind and supply new brushes? http://www.scalespeed.co.uk/
But to be honest as you're US based I would keep it in the display cabinet and not waste money on a repair, that may not offer the best operational performance anyway!

Why not leave motor out and put a motor the first coach driving one or both wheel sets, link the coach with a draw bar so there are no problems the coach pushing the coupling locking up because it is pushing the loco and tender. I know this sounds a bit complicated but it will be lot cheaper than replacing it at the prices they seem to sell for.

And so, my good Footplate, that is precisely what I attempted. Not much of a craftsman, I took the leap anyways, as necessity is the mother of
invention. I was delighted to discover that a gear doesn't care about the ratio of a worm, as long as it is in good contact. Having chopped up
an AHM switcher, the wheelbase of which was identical to the coach, I dropped in a replacement Hornby motor with a worm designed to increase
the ratio and slow the stop speed (I did this also on a Hornby 0-4-0 for my latest video, that retainer spring was near the death of me, but was
astonished that the performance of the locomotive was largely unchanged).
Alas, poor Yorick, I misjudged the motor height and found it to be about 4 mm too tall. Back to the drawing board.

Well, the AHM switcher was a nice try, but the motor was about 3 mm to tall. For a few dark hours I considered drilling a hole in the roof and
painting the protruding motor black. Then someone suggested "Black Beetle," which returned a variety of useful sites on the internet. Previously,
"powered truck" delivered hardly any hits, whilst ""powered bogie" was much more effective. I'd been fruitlessly looking for years.

This Tenshodo WB 31 was a few millimeters to short in the wheel base, but by removing one geared axle and using a ungeared OO axle it all tucked in
nicely. The removed geared axle rubbed against the gear box. The locomotive is now free wheeling. To compensate for the loss of one drive axle, an ounce of weight is being glued into the roof to provide extra adhesion and contact.

So, worked in the motorized bogie, fine tuning it now. To compensate for the loss of one powered axle, extra weight was added. This caused it raise up on the powered axle causing derailments. So, added more weight over the free axle, which kept it flat on the rail head, but then the locomotive wheels wouldn’t spin freely enough, so the axle holes got drilled out and a tiny conductive bearing removed, and now it rolls easily. BUT the tender, being very light, would not only derail, but the journal boxes had shrank and splayed over time. The only thing for it was to heat the friable plastic over a blue flame of the stove and hope not to roast it beyond use. This was succeeded, but the tender, being feather weight, still likes to go crossways whenever pushed, so a little weight should be contrived. Then, it was also apparent that the pick ups on the bogie required extension to collect from the dummy axle. So, only being burned once by a thrashed out iron, got those in place. If this fails to work I shall try to sell it on eBay as a display piece and use the cash as a down payment on the new issue, if one can be had! My hat is off to those scratch builders who make it look easy.

Oh, and the extra OO axle had come off an AC Electrotren wagon, so it was necessary to cut off the axle gear, and a good bit of thumb.

Perhaps otherwise will use any money gained for skin grafts after all the burns and cuts this project has given me.