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Subject: 
Worn Tyres and Rusty Rails
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.dear-lego, lugnet.lego, lugnet.trains
Date: 
Tue, 21 Sep 2004 15:51:48 GMT
Viewed: 
1041 times
  
Jake, please would you put in a request for replacement train motor tyres to be
made available separately, so that I can replace ones that have worn down
through normal use.  I suggest a pack of eight, and I will buy quite a few packs
since I have over 40 motors.  I believe they are black belts a bit smaller than
the white belts supplied in Technic kits.

The tyres on new motors are visible significantly below the plastic part of the
wheel, but after about 50 hours of running (in half hour stints) the tyres on
some of my motors have worn down to the level of the plastic.  This will cause
reduced grip on the rails and poor reliability of the train.  The public
perception of Lego trains is only as good as the reliability of the trains at
exhibitions.

I also noticed that some of the rails on my track pieces are starting to rust.
Some rails have brown dots on them when they are new out of the box and a few
have developed further brown patches.  I keep all the track in a dry indoor
environment in the hope that rails will not rust further, but perhaps this is
not enough.  Of course rusty rails would cause increased tyre wear on the
motors.

What are the rails made of (is it Nickel Silver, like other model railway
track)?  Are they prone to rusting and if so, what could the Lego company do to
improve the product?

Is there anything the user can do to reduce or remove rust, without damaging the
rails?  I can understand carbon being removed by a pencil eraser, but rust tends
to require more thorough treatment.

If the brown dots are the beginnings of rust, is this a faulty product since it
has deteriorated below new condition?

What is the expected lifetime of the track?  It looks like 8 years, since I
bought my first 9V track in 1997.  How does that compare with its design life?

Has anyone else had either of these problems and how have you overcome them?

Mark



Message has 2 Replies:
  Re: Worn Tyres and Rusty Rails
 
(...) Mark, I've had the same problem with the track. And had several damaged by mice droppings, they nested in a box of track! I had to use steel wool to remove the strains. I strongly recomend Satainless steel wool, the standard version will (...) (20 years ago, 23-Sep-04, to lugnet.trains)
  Re: Worn Tyres and Rusty Rails
 
(...) I would note that all 5 10001s I got in the discount sale had yellow rails - every last rail was badly oxidized. I was not happy about that, but considering the price I got them at, I may not call Cons Aff about swapping them. (...) You can (...) (20 years ago, 24-Sep-04, to lugnet.dear-lego, lugnet.lego, lugnet.trains)

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