A Tomy Bulk Buy

[Rich.gamble]

I got this lot for 30aud (21USD). I was disappointed to find the engines had all been opened and naturally don't work. There is however 4 trucks with faces and cargos, several other carriages and enough track and accessories that i decided to keep it although i may not have bothered with the lot otherwise. One of the thomas is smoky one with the water tower.




Bocos chasis and switch are snapped so i removed the switch so he could free roll to play with. I already have 5 working engines and others with more realistic chances to fix than these. I let my young daughter play with me so dont mind most of my collection is a bit beat up. Thinking of getting her favourite Rosie as a new plarail next rather than puzzling over used engines. We almost have enough to make some little videos soon.

[confusedanddelayed]

I assume you tried the "thwack" approach with no luck? I've managed to get so many "broken" trains to work simply by hitting the motor casing with the handle of a screwdriver. The busy as a bee james might be a little different, as it seems those wires connected to the tender inevitably get severed. And of course, if the motors are just kaput, it's always doable to swap the motor and casing from a functioning thomas.

[Donald9Douglas10Oliver11mp]

That's a very good deal for some very good and useful parts

[Rich.gamble]

@confusedanddelayed. Have not heard about the 'thwack' method will have to extract some of my motors and try it. Nothing to lose!

[Super]

Hi Rich.gamble

Oh yes, once the whack works for you, you will always use it. I use the handle of a screw drive like confusedanddelayed does.

[confusedanddelayed]

And I'll just add that you often don't even need to remove the motors from the train. Just stick a good battery in, flip it to the on position and give it some taps. This way you'll know as soon as it kicks over. The tender-powered engines can be trickier because unless you want to remove the front chasis that houses the motor, you are limited to just giving it an open handed smack (of course you need to be careful that you don't jostle it hard enough to risk severing the wires connecting the tender).

[Rich.gamble]

Just tried to whack a couple of engines and success! Got Terrence and my new snow plough Thomas to work. Looks like I am setting up the log track this weekend that is my most mint set so glad it is of use now! Really appreciate your time to help me. Going to have so much fun with them now and still more to try whack later.

[confusedanddelayed]

Nice! It’s a great feeling when you get a train working again (whether it’s using the thwack or having to do some heavier tinkering).

[Super]

Fantastic Rich......on with the "Whack Attack"

[Rich.gamble]

Yep got two more thomas and bumble bee james from the pic above to run with the whack trick. James is very slow though..
I have to get more batteries to try smokey tom too. I also have a thomas that talks perfectly but has a broken gear still a bit scared to open that one up.

[Super]

I guess you could live with a perfectly Talking Thomas but doesn't run well or you could take a chance on fixing him and having a perfectly Talking Thomas who now runs well. Also the knowledge you gain for the experience of swapping out a gear will help you with all future repairs too. Check YouTube to see if there is a video showing someone opening up the same Thomas you have to do a similar repair to get an idea of what it looks like then, why not take a chance?

[Plarail Man UK]

Y'know, for broken motors/burnt out motors, if you don't have an appropriate donor engine to hand, if you go to Aliexpress and search for 'Mini 4WD' motors, designed for the Japanese 'Mini 4WD' hobby car kits, those are just right as a direct replacement for Tomy motors, being the same size.

Bear in mind though, try and get one with a lower RPM for the Thomas engines, as some of the motors run into the 1000's of RPM, which is great for replacements on Shinkansen models [gives em' a good speed boost] but the lower ones are great for steamers/Thomas models as they give great performance when coupled to the gearbox.

Also another useful tool [and nessecary to get the gear off and on the motor shafts] is a 'gear puller' - Again, Aliexpress, search 'Mini 4WD gear puller' - These make getting gears off and on motor shafts, axles and other rods much easier, and I suspect is what they use when assembling Plarail engines in the factory :)

[Super]

Thanks for your thoughts P-Man

[Rich.gamble]

Thanks guys. I do have a second talking thomas that will likely have the gears i need. Annie is ripped off so i can practice opening it without fear. The first ones motor works fine can tell there is a stripped gear inside. Going to try replace a gear in a regular thomas first.

Also had a great day with the timber yard set and newly whacked Terrence. The stickers arent on it yet does anyone have a link to the instructions or maybe i will keep the sheet aside for now if its more collectible?

Also thanks playrail man for the gear puller tip. I was fixing an enigine with a rusted motor and made a crack in the main gear using tweezers to slip it off. Ironically it was a poor Salty.

I bought two new mabuchi clone motors for that failed project researched speed around 9000rmp. https://core-electronics.com.au/dc-toy-h...-size.html

Got a lot of parts/sets for someone new to the hobby over the last 6 months but not much tools. This thead has been a big turning point for me in learning.