Servicing a Hornby Tri-ang Princess Elizabeth locomotive

The Hornby Tri-ang range of locomotives are very well designed and robust models. However, they are now getting on in life and will need some care and attention as time goes by. The effects of corrosion, dirt, debris, foreign bodies, ware and over (or under) lubrication can have a significant effect on the performance of the locomotive.

In this article we show the steps required to fully service, repair and upgrade a Hornby Tri-ang Princess Elizabeth locomotive. On delivery this locomotive was able to just move on full speed and when complete it performed much better than when it was new.

This is the Hornby Tri-ang Princess Elizabeth locomotive as delivered to us by its owner. Everything looks OK from the outside but the locomotive didn't work well when initially tested on the bench.

Further diagnostic testing proved that this locomotive would make a full recovery with some simple servicing and upgrade actions.

Knowing that this locomotive would work well again we set about the full service. The first step is to dismantle the Hornby Tri-ang locomotive to gain the access required.

Note the wheels are left in place at this stage as the quartering needs to be maintained throughout this restoration.

The rear driving axle is removed from the chassis to gain the access required to remove the rear traction magnet.

The front and centre driving wheels remain in position to provide the reference for the quartering.

The rear of the chassis is cleaned. The rear wheels and axle are cleaned and polished by using the red abrasive wheel cleaning pad.

The traction magnet is pressed out of the chassis and put to one side.

Removing the rear magnet is upgrade number 1 for this locomotive.

The rear axle and wheels are refitted to the chassis with the quartering matched to the centre and front driving wheels.

To remove the front traction magnet the front axle and one centre driving wheel needs to be removed. The rear axle remains in position to provide the reference for the quartering.

The front of the chassis is cleaned and the front wheels and axle are cleaned and polished by using the red abrasive wheel cleaning pad.

Removing the front magnet is upgrade number 2 for this locomotive.

The front and centre driving wheels are refitted to the chassis with the quartering matched to the rear driving wheels.

The quartering is confirmed by temporally refitting the main driving rods and rotating the motion by hand.

These are the components of the motion for this locomotive. Each has been cleaned and confirmed as good to re-use.

This is the Hornby Tri-ang locomotive mechanical chassis fully serviced and waiting for the electrical components.

The polished wheels can be clearly seen in this image.

This is the contact plate cleaned and polished. The right hand contact has been shaped with a sharp turn at the end giving a distinct contact point. The left hand contact has not yet been modified.

Re-shaping the pick-up contacts is upgrade number 3 for this locomotive.

Here the contact assembly is complete and ready to re-assemble to the chassis.

Note the cleaned contacts are shaped to give an identified contact point to the wheels. Also, the electrical wire has been replaced. The length of this electrical wire is important as will be shown later.

The contacts are easily cleaned with the red abrasive cleaning pad.

The refurbished electrical pick-up assembly is refitted to the chassis ensuring there are no short circuits from the live pick-up to the locomotive chassis.

Next, we turn our attention to the X.03 motor for this Hornby Tri-ang locomotive.

The commutator is covered is a layer of oil impregnated with carbon dust from the motor brushes.

The commutator is cleaned and polished, the brushes are dressed and the brush spring cleaned.

The motor magnet is magnetised in situ in the motor. The brass fixing screw and nut are removed to do this.

Teflon grease is applied to the drive gear and a drop of oil is applied to each bearing. Free rotation of the armature is confirmed before the motor is re-assembled.

The motor is fitted back into the chassis and the drive gear mesh is confirmed as working correctly.

This is the original wiring for this Hornby Tri-ang locomotive. We'll only keep the suppression capacitor and ground eyelet.

The live feed wire is already fitted to the pick-up assembly on the chassis.

This is the replacement wiring. The live side wires have been removed and a ground wire has been added to the leg of the suppressor.

The wiring has been fitted and the new ground wire is soldered directly to the top of the ground side motor brush. Note the loop of wire to prevent the wire opposing the brush spring force.

Adding the ground wire to the motor brush is upgrade number 4 for this locomotive.

The live wire has been soldered to the live side of the suppressor and directly to the top of the live side motor brush. Note the loop of wire to prevent the wire opposing the brush spring force.

Connecting the live wire directly to the motor brush is upgrade number 5 for this locomotive.

The coupling hook is broken on the front bogie. With this type of coupling the whole assembly needs to be replaced.

The coupling has been replaced and re-riveted into position, just like the original.

Both bogies have been cleaned and a small drop of oil is added to the axle bearings.

The original plastic body mouldings were very dirty. These were gently hand washed in warm soapy water.

Please note that some painted locomotives can discolour when wet cleaned in this way and decals can come away completely.

This is the Hornby Tri-ang Princess Elizabeth locomotive completed. It may look very similar to when it arrived but it now works better than new.

A simple clean, service and a few upgrades can make a massive difference to the performance of this locomotive.