Repairing some trains

Hello,

Any thoughts in how to open one of my trains, screw seems to be rounded,
so cannot open it.

And my other metallic steam thomas, does not work at all.
Any thoughts in what to try too get it to work ?

What kind of tools are good to have/use for repairs.
My partner wants to do the engine swap hopefully next week, and other repairs, especially on trains that do not work at all, and try and figure out why

Steam train seems complex with its wires and circuit board

[ripley802]

Hello,

Any thoughts in how to open one of my trains, screw seems to be rounded,
so cannot open it.

And my other metallic steam thomas, does not work at all.
Any thoughts in what to try too get it to work ?

What kind of tools are good to have/use for repairs.
My partner wants to do the engine swap hopefully next week, and other repairs, especially on trains that do not work at all, and try and figure out why

Steam train seems complex with its wires and circuit board

Some times you can try a smaller screw driver either flat which may catch the grooves of the screw or even a larger on to try and grab on. I did have one that was so far gone and I had to drill the screw out.

The Steam along Thomas I thin is notorious for fhaving issues, probably because it involves using water, electronics, and kids. :-). That said I have had several. The ones that seem to have the most issues for me have been the ones I cannot get the battery compartments to work. Meaning if you can get the motor to come on, then the other stuff should be fixable ( wires, sound, steam, etc.. ). Just have to take it apart and diagnose. Good luck.

for newer engines, its a good idea to have a triangle head screw driver as they started using those instead of phillips.

[Ucwepn]

I would get some pliers with a rubber band on the handle (for holding things while gluing or soldering), a soldering iron + solder, a decent quality screwdriver set which may include a triangle screwdriver as mentioned above (you will need it), Some lithium grease (for gearboxes), and some bearing lube (for dry squealing motors). A battery holder soldered to a pair of alligator clips is also a useful tool for diagnosing where problems are.

[Super]

In addition to the above suggestions I find my bent nose Tweezers invaluable especially if you have big fingers. Comes in handy when situating the newly Lithium greased gears back together for the housing to snap shut. They also come in handy for decals.

While I can't speak for all Steam-Along Thomas', I'd say the problematic areas are the battery compartments and the usual coupling between Annie and Thomas. Of the two Steam Thomas' I've owned, both have had completely wrecked battery compartments that were extremely corroded to the point where I had to completely replace all the contacts. One of them came with Annie's lower battery removed but the two upper ones still in a leaking, so it's also possible that it was bad batteries that someone didn't know where there and not the water that caused it.

Either way, I can't really recommend anything more then what everyone else has said. If the battery compartment has to be replaced, a voltameter may be useful more to make sure that power is getting where it should then how much is actually getting there.

Thank you everyone, will let you know how we go once we, well more my partner gets started.
We have a few triangle screw driver thingies.

Rest we will look into