Near-Mint Powerful Gordon For a STEAL!

Hello all - I'm new here, but it's about time I joined this place.

Anyways, I've struck gold, and on the US eBay, no less!

Yep, this is what I believe to be a 100% authentic Powerful Gordon.

Following Powerful Gordon Mike's pictorial, I have examined Gordon closely:


It has the sticker splashes, only seen on earlier Gordon models.


It has the specially-reinforced coupling which I believe was only used on the PGs.


It has the chromed weights.


It has the rounded TOMY logo and painted cylinders.


Although, it doesn't have the blue paint on the motor? It's strange, because it's clearly different from the regular motor used on my other Gordon. It sounds different, and is wayyy stronger. What could this mean?


PG with my regular Gordon.

And y'know the best part? I got it for only FORTY American dollars, shipped!

Now for the fun part...
So (if you couldn't already tell by the pictures) this thing is in amazing shape. I don't think it was used much, judging by the fact that I had to run it in for about 15-20 minutes before it would even come close to catching up with my regular Gordon! Only problem is, the thing was used so little that the clutch was SO stiff that when I tested how strong it was, it cracked and shifted right off the axle!
There was no way of fixing it, so there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth trying to find another wheelset AND THEN trying to swap the coupling rods to no avail, breaking my only Edward in the process:

Grrr, it just HAD to be the one that wasn't already broken in the first place! Anybody know the easiest way to properly remove them?


After all the headache, I ended up just swapping the wheelset and rods from my other Gordon entirely. PG at least isn't broken anymore, but the new clutch is worn in a bit too much and thus he can't pull much without slipping and I'm out of a working regular Gordon...

...I don't suppose anybody has any spare Gordon wheelsets with decent coupling rods?

Anyways, aside from all the hiccups involved I'm now the new owner of the third rarest Plarail Thomas engine ever, what's to complain about?

Thanks for reading!

[Super]

Hello CarnForthJinty and welcome to the community. We look forward to seeing and hearing all about your collection and love for these trains. Won't you take a moment to introduce yourself properly to the community here https://www.blueplastictracks.com/forumd...php?fid=21

Congratulations on getting that beautiful Powerful Gordon and for so cheap too. You certainly was in the right place and time for that. As far as your siderod question maybe this Thread will help https://www.blueplastictracks.com/showth...hp?tid=432

Now for the clutch question. When you say clutch are you referring to the gear on the axle? A picture might help. Many of us here have plenty of parts and experience in swapping out gears. There is also this article that might help some https://www.blueplastictracks.com/showth...hp?tid=866

[ripley802]

Congrats. I was the person outbid on this one.

No worries, I have one but for the price it was a no brainer. I worked with the seller back forth and he has some nice items that hopefully I can aquire. He purchased a large lot at auction (a whole pallet)..

RIP your Edward. Mine is dead too, I know how you feel.

RIP your Edward. Mine is dead too, I know how you feel.

Oh well. He's an American model and I'm currently switching to the Japanese ones, so it's not that big of a deal. I have some orange coaches (Made from Annie & Clarabel, awesome hack by the way) so I'll just leave him as he was in 'Edward's Exploit'.

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Congrats. I was the person outbid on this one.

No worries, I have one but for the price it was a no brainer. I worked with the seller back forth and he has some nice items that hopefully I can aquire. He purchased a large lot at auction (a whole pallet)..

Oops, sorry about that. Although to be honest, I wasn't expecting to win in the first place - one of those 'If I don't at least TRY, I'll kick myself for it for the rest of my life' situations.
I noticed some other goodies the guy had, including two TnA Diesel 10s and a non-metallic Steam Along Thomas.
That's curious that you were able to contact the seller. I asked a question (about the weights in the cab) but I got no response... Are you saying that he has other items he bought that aren't listed on eBay? Interesting.

[ripley802]

Oh well. He's an American model and I'm currently switching to the Japanese ones, so it's not that big of a deal. I have some orange coaches (Made from Annie & Clarabel, awesome hack by the way) so I'll just leave him as he was in 'Edward's Exploit'.

---

Oops, sorry about that. Although to be honest, I wasn't expecting to win in the first place - one of those 'If I don't at least TRY, I'll kick myself for it for the rest of my life' situations.
I noticed some other goodies the guy had, including two TnA Diesel 10s and a non-metallic Steam Along Thomas.
That's curious that you were able to contact the seller. I asked a question (about the weights in the cab) but I got no response... Are you saying that he has other items he bought that aren't listed on eBay? Interesting.

No worries, I am glad someone else who will appreciate it for it.

Yeah he had the two TnA D10's which one sold and one I was still waiting on him to reply. He had a whole list of things that he was going to list including several Olivers and coaches galore. He has a Oliver with box (Plarail) that sold recently too. I won a new in box James set from him so had been watching his other auctions. I sent a message on Monday but haven't heard back. We will see.

I have some orange coaches (Made from Annie & Clarabel, awesome hack by the way) so I'll just leave him as he was in 'Edward's Exploit'.

I came up with that idea too. Never had the budget.

I came up with that idea too. Never had the budget.

I actually found an Annie and Clarabel that had damaged stickers for just under $4. I don't tend to spend much on my trains, haha.

Hello CarnForthJinty and welcome to the community. We look forward to seeing and hearing all about your collection and love for these trains. Won't you take a moment to introduce yourself properly to the community here https://www.blueplastictracks.com/forumd...php?fid=21

Congratulations on getting that beautiful Powerful Gordon and for so cheap too. You certainly was in the right place and time for that. As far as your siderod question maybe this Thread will help https://www.blueplastictracks.com/showth...hp?tid=432

Now for the clutch question. When you say clutch are you referring to the gear on the axle? A picture might help. Many of us here have plenty of parts and experience in swapping out gears. There is also this article that might help some https://www.blueplastictracks.com/showth...hp?tid=866

Sorry for the late reply!

By 'Clutch' I mean the clutching system integrated into the main drive gear.


This is a spare wheelset from an old Henry. The right half is fixed to the axle - the left half engages with the gearbox.
When the wheel is stopped while the motor is running, in order to keep the gear from stripping/motor from burning out, there are notches on the left side that, when the left side turns, will push it aside to disengage it. Then the spring pushes it back in place. This is the signature "click click" sound heard on most Plarail engines.
PG's clutch mechanism was hardly used, so it was so stiff that it wouldn't turn easily, and mixed with PG's strong motor, it just completely sheared off the axle.
The clutch mechanism on the regular Gordon has been worn on and turns a bit too easily. This was fine for the regular Gordon, but PG has so much torque that it turns that gear with no problem, so it pretty much has zero power.

Thank you for all the valuable tips, especially with the coupling rods removal! Right now the plan is to use that method on PG's rods, put them in Edward's wheels (since his clutch is the strongest), then return regular Gordon's wheels entirely, then put the broken wheelset (which still holds, depending on motor stength - Edward is really weak) with Edward.

I'll be sure to introduce myself properly when I get the time. Thanks again for all the great advice!

[Super]

I have had loose clutches before in some trains and if I didn't have a spare or didn't want to use any spares, I just Super glued the two sides together with good results but then mine aren't played with by young children.