My Tomix 209-0 has long been a source of consternation for me: Although it ran fine when I first acquired it, its performance deteriorated rapidly with time, like some kind of model train version of Parkinson’s. By yesterday afternoon, it would at best jerk and oscillate rapidly, leading me to fear that the transmission would explode under the intense pressure. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out why the thing wouldn’t run, but I wasn’t ready to give up.
I determined that the source of the difficulty was that the frame was making only very precarious electrical contact with the trucks. Tomix uses a singularly strange system to transmit current from the rails to the motor. The current passes from the track to the wheels, and then to a set of wipers that are pressed against the axles. The spring that presses the wipers against the axles is itself a conductor that passes the current up to a system of brass rails in the frame. The failure was somewhere in this chain. As it happens, simply lengthening the springs (by pulling on them, very hard, but very gently) and a liberal dose of Conducta (a conductive lubricant) to all points of contact completely solved the problem. And a choir of angels sang out.
Since many of us have trains that won’t run, for one reason or another, I intend on starting a series of articles based on my experience with the 209-0 laying out the steps for troubleshooting and (hopefully!) repairing recalcitrant rolling stock. Look for the first article maybe later this week?