Tried my hand at fixing a loco


I tried my hand at fixing a bachmann loco my friend had. He had a derail and the train came off his shelf. Broke the wire to the front pickup wheel. I'm still a novice with soldering but he asked me if I could fix it. Well I got it solders and he says it running better now than before the only thing I can think of it was loose before the derail and was shorting. I a little happy with my self fixing it with out melting the trucks tight fit. Learning a little at a time.
 
You never know what you can do until you try it. Hope you acted just like you knew what you were doing.
 
I tried my hand at fixing a bachmann loco my friend had. He had a derail and the train came off his shelf. Broke the wire to the front pickup wheel. I'm still a novice with soldering but he asked me if I could fix it. Well I got it solders and he says it running better now than before the only thing I can think of it was loose before the derail and was shorting. I a little happy with my self fixing it with out melting the trucks tight fit. Learning a little at a time.
Lots of things are scary until once tried. For me it was scenery. Then I tried and wondered why I thought it would be hard.
 
I've been doing a lot of tinkering with locomotives. I've broken a few in the process. Luckily, I've either fixed it or have set it aside for future repairing when my skills improve. DCC converting is my current nemasis. Once I get better at soldering, things should work better for me. The way I see it, unless it catches fire, I haven't lost anything.
 
I tried my hand at fixing a bachmann loco my friend had. He had a derail and the train came off his shelf. Broke the wire to the front pickup wheel. I'm still a novice with soldering but he asked me if I could fix it. Well I got it solders and he says it running better now than before the only thing I can think of it was loose before the derail and was shorting. I a little happy with my self fixing it with out melting the trucks tight fit. Learning a little at a time.

Great job, the toughest hurdle is getting started. You are off to a great start as a repair man!

This is a great thread, hopefully it will inspire someone else to try their hand.

If someone is contemplating doing a repair and worried they might do something wrong, don't forget its already broken, what have you got to lose?

I've been doing a lot of tinkering with locomotives. I've broken a few in the process. Luckily, I've either fixed it or have set it aside for future repairing when my skills improve. DCC converting is my current nemasis. Once I get better at soldering, things should work better for me. The way I see it, unless it catches fire, I haven't lost anything.

Railrunner you are off to a typical start, the same as most professional mechanics and technicians. You have the perfect attitude to be successful.

I was an industrial mechanic/technician all my life. Sometimes part time, sometimes full time, until I retired. In all my years I met many mechanics/technicians and one thing we all had in common was our stories of our 'on the job training" Regardless of how much formal training someone may have it still comes down to on the job training.

I had the honor of working with/knowing a true master mechanic and even he had stories of his on the job training.

No matter what skill or discipline you are trying to learn they all have one thing in common. "How do you get to Carnegie hall? Practice, practice, practice!"
 



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