I really find your videos relaxing but above all else they are so informative. Well explained and logical which makes it so inspiring. Well done Bill and thank you for sharing.

Ah! The highlight of my day, OO Bill fixing a loco.

Nice one! I've had a Flying Scotsman I bought used in a full set that had the same clicky issues and rough running which has been on my to-do list for ages. I just did a quick service and adjusted the connecting rods - all good. Thanks for getting me fired up and reducing my unfixed locos by one.

Another great diagnosis and repair. I too think that blue steam engines look great and quite elegant. Need to have more in your collection!!

Nice work as always. Good idea adding the Solder to the Loco pick ups. 👍 She looks great now she is complete again.

Brilliant solution ,just a spot of solder ,I would not have thought of that .thanks for another great video

That’s a great looking locomotive and she’s running so much better! Nice one, Bill…

Excellent service and repair Bill - well done and thanks for the video.

Great repair, that Duchess has been dropped, judging by the dings above the smokebox door! I had a Britannia with similar tender issues. The pick ups were stopping the wheels moving!

A lovely job. Great knowledge on repairing Loco's Bill.

Very enjoyable viewing. What a transformation in the model after receiving some TLC

Great looking loco Bill. Another excellent repair. As an Aberdonian I've always had a hankering for the Bon Accord which looks very similar.

Lovely looking loco Nice work Bill Looking forward to the start of the new layout build Nick Australia

Another well-done repair Bill, you've really made City of Bristol look practically like new again! And I must say that that Coronation looks rather good around your layout, especially when running alongside your 812, perhaps you should get more blue steam engines for your collection! Haha!

Ah, interesting diagnosis. I’ve got a Q1 from the same period with the same stupid wiring gubbins and it’s a lumpy runner. Gonna have to have a closer look.

Ha. I have just watched a few of your video's just now and I have to say I found them very stimulating. Thank you. I have been away from any kind of modelling for a very long time lol. I recently decided I'm going to build a model railway. I have bought some engines and, well, just lets say some service and repair is in order. I'll email with pictures to see if you can help or suggest anything. My eyes are worn and my hands shake now that I'm an old fart so I do need help lol. Again I will say thank you that was really interesting. Keep it up. Cheers for now.

She's lovely bill back pretty much to factory fresh well done 👍

Good video! Useful tip with the solder on the pickups for older Hornby locos. I hate those conductive drawbars. They are best neutralised by directly wiring the tender pickups to the loco. Essential if running on DCC as these drawbars are notorious for causing shorts.

Nice looking loco . Restored to excellent running condition

Another job well done with some good tips

Enjoyed that!

This is amazing 👏

Another good repair Bill. I did notice at the end that the Walschaerts valve gear was back to front though, on the left side maybe both.

I have the same model that runs without problem, however it sounds very ‘clicky’ moving forwards but is quiet as a mouse in reverse!

Good work Bill, as ever. The best solution to the drawbar pickup is probably to replace it with a small 2 pin plug and socket set, plenty available on eBay for little money and room to hold it under the front of the tender.

Nice repair 🙂. The only thing bugging me is that the linkages on the cross head are backwards way on. If you follow me. I noticed that right at the beginning of the video. But still given good advice about the pickups on the locomotive, causing free running issues. So we always learn new things from your video. 👍🙂. I have a duchess loco, with the DCC socket in the tender,. But it has blown up two decoders 🙄 so there's a issue somewhere. But it runs fine on normal DC .

Hi there, I'm enjoying your maintenance videos. I hope you don't mind, but you missed something!! The valvegear where the piston enters the cylinders, is back-to-front. It's feeding backwards, but should be forwards - look from 15' onwards and you'll see. The rest was fantastic, and nice job getting one of Stanier's finest running smoothly again. Al.

Another job well done. Great work as always Bill. I love the Coronations, such beautiful, powerful looking locos. Have you thought of getting one of the blue ones for your own layout? Perhaps the Hornby R3111 City of Edinburgh to keep up the Scottish theme?

Very good job done. I had a similar issue with the wire to the drawbar of one of my engines and had to resolder it.

A thorough, forensic breakdown on the problems on this loco, brilliant A trivial question sprung to mind when the chassis was running around, any derailments in the tunnel easy to retrieve?

Hi Bill, Great repair. I repaired one of these engines with exactly the same problems for a friend of mine. The valvegear is as you have shown extremely flimsy on these engines and the electrical pick up system used is a joke. I opted for wiring the pick ups in. Any news on your final track plan for the new layout.

Bill I have just been watching your two videos of the repair work on the Duchess of Sutherland. I have also purchased one recently. I need to re fix some of the small pins securing the handrails along the boiler do you think a small amount of superglue would be ok

I will second that

Hi Bill great video agree with you blue steam locomotives are great lookers.Question for you have ever tried the aerosol white lithium grease on worm gears and axles?

So how many British Railways steam locomotives were actually painted in blue? My impression was that it was only a very brief experiment before they settled on green; there seem to be a disproportionately high number of models painted that way.

Great work! @ 22:38 - how is the light on in the DMU, this being DC? (Have you fit batterry powered lights?)

Hi Bill wondering who you use for your spares. Being on a tight budget I get any additional locos etc from eBay and have a few with minor issues or missing detail Can you please recommend some sources many thanks

it still baffles me how people vehemently support modern hornby models saying they are quality items ,, detail is not quality if you use inferior materials and specs to handle what they are expected to do

Excellent job Bill, so many little things, sure add up to poor performance and appearance