Tomy Plarail Edward — motor rewire and gearbox clean
Tomy Plarail Edward
Childhood Plarail Edward would not run for the grandchildren — the motor had come loose, wires were missing, and fibres clogged the gears. We cleaned the axles, re-soldered the harness, and Edward runs on the track again.
“Amazing service. Repaired a model train for my grandson, which is of sentimental value. I'd endeavoured to repair myself and failed badly. Looking forward to many more years of use and enjoyment now it's repaired. Good on you Grace.”
Work in progress
The repair
This old toy train belongs to my client who would like to pass his childhood toy to his grandchildren. Somehow the train stopped working. My client tried to fix it but didn't succeed and asked for our help. After our inspection, we found that the motor was disconnected and some wires were missing. There were also heaps of hairs and (carpet) fibres got stuck among the gears, covered with excessive lubricating grease. First, we cleaned up all those wheel and gears axial. Then we re-soldered all those wires and re-connected the motor with the switch and the battery.
About this item
Tomy (Takara Tomy) Plarail Edward is a battery-powered Thomas & Friends engine: blue cab and tanks, cream boiler, red chassis and funnel, yellow roof, and a yellow circle numeral 2 on the cab. A white gearbox drives blue wheels from an AA cell (exact count varies by 1990s–2010s revision). Plarail uses knuckle couplers and plastic track; common service issues are loose motor leads, lint in the axle bores, and dried grease in the geartrain.