Repairing Replacing Broken Wires

We have several Tomy trains, Thomas steam along, Gordon, Edward we bought at a used toy sale with broken wires between the engine and coal car/Annie.

Is it worth trying to repair them? If you did repair the wire, how did you do it?

There doesn't seem to be enough wire to splice together.

I have a roll of speaker wire and electrical solder. Will that work for replacing the black and red wire?

Thanks

[Ucwepn]

Hi if there's not enough left of the wire to comfortably rejoin them then you can splice in a small length of extra wire or just run new wire from start to finish, If it's quite thin speaker wire it should be fine as the original wires are small because they need to fit in a small space. Leave steam along Thomas for last as that is the most complex, The others can get fiddly but go back together easy enough.

if you get stuck we are here to help ok

[Super]

Sure they are worth repairing! Its quite fun and you will learn about the inner workings. It depends on what gauge the speaker wire is and how flexible. Too thick or stiff wire might interfere with the couplings movement. And I agree with Ucwepn that you replace the whole wire and save the Steam Along Thomas for last. If you have a hobby store or Radio Shack near you 24 gauge wire should work good. Take your time, have fun and let us know how it works out for you. Pictures would be nice too.

as you dismantle the trains, take photos step by step, especially steam along. means if you have to leave it for a day or two and forget where things go, youve got the pics to guide you.

My suggestion is along the same line as the others. I would definitely have a go at fixing them. They are very basic in design. The way I prefer to do it is to disassemble both the engine and the tender and replace the whole wire/s.

I start with the engine by disassembling it and removing the drive unit including the wires. Next solder your selected wire (similar in size and flexibility to original) in place of the original wire. Keep track of which colour is which by using the same colour wire or most figure 8 speaker wire has a trace (coloured line or different shape) on one wire. Leave the wire long or still attached to the roll or packet ready to be cut to length later. Reassemble to engine but leave the rear loose to allow the coupler to be refitted later.

Next disassemble the tender. Roughly realign the engine and tender upside down and cut the wires to length. Be sure they are at least as long as original or the cornering ability will be affected. Now you can complete the assemble of the engine including locating the coupler and routing the wires through it. Now all you have left is to resolder the new wires in place of the old wires on the tender then reassemble. Don't forget to take care of matching the new wire to the correct old wire.

It's quite an easy task and only requires basic soldering skills. If you haven't soldered before the best advice is to pre solder (the process of tinning) your wires and terminals. Then touch together and reheat both together to flow the solder. Also as mentioned, take photos along the way if you are not confident as a guide to reassemble. Once you are confident the whole process can be done in less than 10 minutes.

Toys_Trains_Things

On my sons steam along thomas I ran the cables outside the coupling when I replaced them because when they are inside the coupling they tend to 'nip' where the coupling pivots, I know it doesn't look as good with them on the outside, but the wires haven't broken since,

[Super]

Great advice guys! One other item of note, I have found if you use silicone wire you should have no trouble with the articulation of the coupling after assembly as it is the softness wire I have found. You can buy short lengths of it in black and/or red on Ebay.

[Super]

How are the repairs going Nickel?

Thanks for all the support!
So far, I am successful!

Things I wish I had done. Take a picture.
Good suggestion. Not only did the grandchildren turn over the tray with parts, not once, but several times and then...days go by and like suggested, it was days before I could get back to tinkering.
I hope to get to the 10 minutes fix. It took all day. A little timid when it comes to the solder iron. Took it slow.
And of course I started with Steam Along. He is awesome. Gordon, Percy and others are waiting.

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/11713923@N08/15012374127" title="IMAG0954 by wetoilpaint, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3838/15012374127_054d93b814_c.jpg" width="800" height="451" alt="IMAG0954"></a>

broke wire percy

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/11713923@N08/15012230670" title="IMAG0954 by wetoilpaint, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5571/15012230670_005342d70a_c.jpg" width="800" height="451" alt="IMAG0954"></a>

same percy

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/11713923@N08/15012318608" title="IMAG0951 by wetoilpaint, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3872/15012318608_cc79639fdc_c.jpg" width="800" height="451" alt="IMAG0951"></a>

work tray

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/mKqG3-sdjPg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

video of working Thomas

edit because of errors

[Super]

Fantastic work Nickel. Thanks for the pictures and showing us the video of the working Steam Along Thomas. A little Super Glue should be able to repair that broken coupling so the wires cant be pulled apart again.
Good job!