So you can see I stole a line from the hobbit I got a N scale Rowa Y6b , it didn't cost me anything so I thought I would share my journey on restoring this loco to running status. Pictures are coming.... I dismantled it to it's modular pieces - not messing with the drivers unless I have to. The major fault was that it would not run, however when I applied power to the motor tabs it ran - the wheels turned smoothly. I'm testing this on DC - no decoder. The tender has no trucksand I'm picking that when I put new trucks under it and connect it electrically to the engine all will be well. The design is very old the drivers pick up power on one side only while the front , rear trucks and the tender picks up from the other side. The motor: The motor is German and it has a long armature about 18mm long, my replacement motor from china is only 13mm long in the armature - oops!! I am making a longer connector piece to take up the difference and that is where I am at right now - making a new connector
When I took the motor out and tested it, it squealed from mid range onwards. That usually indicates that it is worn. I'm not throwing it out. The replacement motor has about the same rpm range (13000 rpm). It should keep the nice slow speed performance. I can always put it back (the modifications need not be permanent.).
Here's some pictures of it stripped down, the mechanism and the two sets of drivers The motor in the picture will only be used for testing. I have found an almost exact copy of the German Motor, it'll be a few weeks until I have it on hand. This means that I won't need to make a longer connector piece and simplifies the installation.
The old Y6's were good pullers but I'm sure they had more potential. There may be some room inside for tungsten carbide ballast. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/122065477565?hash=item1c6bab5fbd:g:EBMAAOSwYaFWeNGb https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/122046098928?hash=item1c6a83adf0:g:m4gAAOSwHPlWeJzB The seller has lots more sizes. The rectangular ones come in lots of sizes. The round rod would need to be cut off with a diamond cut off wheel though.
2 years later!! things have moved on a bit. The mechanism is repaired and reassembled - I managed to get another Rowa Y6b as a parts donor (it wasn't complete and was cheap). The amazing thing is the parts donor was a smoker, no headlight just a smoke element so I may figure out a way to restore that one too. I'm using the original German motor for now, I'll replace it if I'm not happy with it First photo (cell phone) - restored y6b mechanism up to the point of soldering new wire and having it run. I have some tender contacts coming from the US. The second picture is the donor loco (it's missing a bunch of parts)
Yes, they were of high quality for their day and ran very smoothly. I had the one shown below, sold as an Arnold Rapido model and it had smoke. Their motors were their weak link and mine eventually quit. I successfully remotored it some 35+ years ago using what may have been a Samhongsa motor. I kept it for many years thereafter, but sold it when I came upon Life-Like's model from the early 2000s.
I have one of the Rivarossi versions. I got it in a box of "I'm throwing this stuff out, you want it?" stuff, which also included a Mikado, a Berkshire, and a newer vintage Bachmann 4-4-0. They all ran, but the Traction tires on all the Rivarossi locos had disintegrated, but after I replaced those, they all ran great. I also have one of the newer LL versions. The LL has much better detail, but has no traction tires (who decided that was an upgrade?) and the old model will outpull it about 5 to 1. The saving grace for the new one is it has a functional front coupler, so now it occasionally gets pulled out at train shows and sandwiched between a bunch of coal cars and the older version........only adds about 10 cars to the pulling power, but together they'll pull about 70 cars, which looks pretty impressive.
The same motor was used in the MRC Berkshire and the Y6b and perhaps the big Y6b was a bit too much for that motor? The one in my Berkshire still runs great although, admittedly, I have never run that loco real steadily on a layout in the interest of preserving it. Doug
A little bit of progress. I have some stainless steel rod, so I made a couple of pins to secure the two driver engines to the mechanism frame. I also tested it on test track with my trusty 50 year old triang electronic power unit. The donor unit motor runs better than the one I'm restoring so I guess I'll be switching motors although I have found a better replacement from China and will test it in the donor mechanism for fit and performance. Photo shows the new pins but it's a little fuzzy aka phone pikkie
Alas poor donor unit your motor is required . I fired up the main loco I'm restoring and you'll be lucky if it hits 10 SMPH and the motor gets hot. Running directly connected to DC (at the motor terminals) it starts off very slowly then gathers momentum whereas the donor one just romps away. I do have a brand new engine coming from China and that one will go in the donor. I may have to get another donor to fix the donor but because it's a smoker it's possibly worth it. The tender has been difficult to get power to the loco, it works but I broke one of the truck locator plastic bits trying to get it back on. I think I'll get a couple of Dirks Mallet tenders - it'll be less hassle in the long run - maybe
I changed the motors over so now the loco I'm restoring has the donor loco motor, I also soldered new wire from the tender to the motor. It now runs as expected. However I noted that the front bulb doesn't light up, so I guess I will have figure out how to remove the bulb and test it. If it's blown it'll be interesting where I can get a new one from (yes I have removed the wire from the motor terminal to the light bulb). I'm reluctant to change it over to an LED as this is a restoration using original parts, but if I need to I will Photo: loco and tender joined, when I get the light working I'll add the shells.
