I found this a very useful video. My 47 had working lights but did not move. Watching you remove the circuit board so easily gave me the confidence to dismantle mine (tiny Phillips screwdriver required). I was able to access the motor and it was working fine. The problem was the contacts from the circuit board weren’t touching the motor contacts properly. A gentle inward bend to get them touching better fixed the problem and my loco runs perfectly now. So thank you

Thanks rich, ive now managed to get my Graham Farish 47 running, thanks to your video.i left it for a couple of years out of sheer fustration ,and not touching my layout in that time .Glad to say ive got new added vigor now my 47 is running .I have also degunked my class 33,which runs amazing 30 plus years old.Please keep the vids comming ,you sir are an inspiration .thank you!

Hello Rich, great videos, well done. I've serviced quite a few GF 47's and have found the newer Chinese models with the Can motors can be quite unreliable. One of the 47's I did was a DCC fitted 371-825 Class 47/0 - Diesel BR Two Tone Green - D1500 which ran intermittently well then like a dog then well again. I stripped the whole thing down and checked everything - clean as a whistle. Decoder was fine too. I tested the motor after pulling it out of the chassis and found it was faulty. Ordered a new one from the UK (I'm in Tasmania) and when fitted the loco ran good as gold. But wait there's more..... One rainy Sunday afternoon I decided to strip the faulty motor (I never throw anything away). I built a mini press to remove the flywheels and opened up the end cap on the commutator end (It's a fiddly job not for the faint hearted!). This loco had little use but the carbon dust in the end cap had clogged the commutator segments and I suspect caused intermittent tracking between the carbon brush fingers and the case. I think the carbon brushes are softer than the round ones used on the GF open frame motors as there was a lot of dust which has no way of escaping. Anyway, it all cleaned up fine and after reassembly worked perfectly. Last week, one of my new Chinese GF Class 47's had the exact same problem. I replaced the motor with the one I refurbished and it's now back in service. After stripping that motor, I found the same problem. That's the third one I've done lately! So, keep any 'dodgy' can motors to refurbish on rainy days! Cheers, Barrie

Thanks for that video. I have just fixed my class 47. It runs great now.

Excellent video, very informative. Thanks. Pete

Brilliant Rich, really do enjoy these videos. the N gauge community is very fortunate to have you uploading these videos.

Very informative - i always remove the bogie tower out of the frames to allow access to remove the wheel sets. Under strong light and a magnifying glass the amount of hair / fluff you sometimes need to remove is astonishing. The brass wipers which make contact with the wheel backs - quite often need to be bent a little further out to ensure contact is maintained when the loco is traversing curved track and points. Cheers Euan

excellent video useful to know how it come apart !

Hi Rich! Another enjoyable watch! When the loco 'exploded' was like something from a nightmare I had before fitting my first DCC decoder! Lol! Wish all locos were this easy to get into! When you say "Need to remove the battery box because there's a screw under there", how do you know there's a screw under there? This is the type of thing that should be stated in all loco instructions! Keep up the good work mate! All the best, Ian.

Excellent video and one that I found particularly useful. I have about a dozen current tooling Farish 47s and they can be really inconsistent runners, with issues similar to this one. I have found that those produced from 2016 onwards (47522, 47581, 47209, 47550, etc.) are better, although that could just be coincidence. I have just followed your instructions with my 47701 (from 2015) and so far it is running noticeably better. I may need to retrospectively do this with a couple of others as well. Thanks for the video - I very much look forward to more!

Hi Rich, brings back memories of a similar issue I had with exactly the same loco a while back. The disappointing thing is that it was brand new and ran just like the one in the video. Good idea to first test in in DC (something which I didn't do at the time). I like your filming, giving us really close up shots of what you are doing so we can see exactly what's going on👍👍All the best. John

Hi love watching these sort of video very informative and interesting helps out a lot thanks for sharing 👍

Hi Rich, always informative and for someone that has only half a clue (which can be dangerous!) is very useful. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, cheers for now, John

Another excellent video, Rich. Another problem can be those contacts to the motor and making sure they are making contact.

Nice video, Rich

Excellent and informative video. Can I ask, in regards n gauge locos, would the “system” of troubleshooting be similar across the board, ie I have a couple of DCC 37’s which initially start but quickly stop and can start for a little while with a push, so if I followed the process you showed for the 47 might I be on the right track? Cheers

Great video! I have this loco but in the BIG BR logo livery “University Of Leicester”. I need to clean the pickups and backs of the wheels but the bogies seem really reluctant to come out, you make it look so easy. Any further tips ?

Great stuff Richard, any thoughts on why DCC needs such perfect connectivity compared to DC?