And another refurbished dock shunter...

 A black one this time, bought for £15 at a toy fair;

It was in good condition, but had those awful knurled wheels;

These were soon swapped for a new set, as detailed here. One minor problem was that the chassis block was quite worn, obviously this loco has seen a lot of use. I did have a stock of axle bearings made as I turned extra when I last did this job, but they were a sloppy fit so I had to machine up 4 new ones, .05mm larger than normal.

Here's the chassis back in one piece, I didn't strip it right down as its in pretty good condition and runs well;

There is a new light shield on order, although I should really make my own (or get some etched).

This loco is not quite what it seems, the chassis is fairly early judging by the sheet brass pick-ups and knurled wheels, and is possibly pre-1960s. The body is much newer and has Tri-ang/Hornby moulded into it under the footplate and the buffer stocks moulded onto the buffer beams with separate heads as per the last Dock Shunters made circa 1977. So there's quite possibly a 17 year age difference between body and chassis. This may help to explain the condition of the body, which scrubbed up quite well with a bit of soap and water;

This now takes the total up to 5, my original that I've had since childhood and 4 that have been refurbished. I don't think that's too many.

By the way, it behaves nicely with my new home-made controller.

Paul.