TnA Toby repair

Blueberry'S'

i have this tna Toby that i bought in a lot with two other engines, the problem wit him was that he was very old and broken, his battery contacts are corroded so much that they just fall off, yay :dodgy:
And his wiring just fell of when i opened him, maybe i was a little careless or just rotten wires, lets hope for the second one :s
Anyways i want to repair him since hes the only one i got and i bet it wont be easy to find him again.
i have tested him with a "direct connection" so he speaks and reacts to the tracks. i have alot of sparewheels so that wont be a problem and gears to so i can replace.
the problem is only the coach.
Enough about that, here is pictures, they explain better than me 😃

i have a tna thomas who is also broken but hes not in that big of a hurry yet.
Blueberry'S'

ripley802

:-(. Very sad, but unfortunately this seems to be the fate of so many of these TnA engines.

I sourced (after several months of looking) the battery terminals for these which actually I was only ever able to get one side of but they work for both the (+) and (-). I would be more than happy to send you a few if you want to try the repairs? They are attached with brass rivets which are 3/32 x 5/32, here is an example:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F291273399030

Getting them attached can be a bit of a pain unless you can make a press to make it easier. I had planned to do this but it fell by the wayside. I have a diagram for the wiring which may be in the threads if not I can send it to you or post it here (have to find it)

Blueberry'S'

it would help me alot, i could try to do the repairs. do you have a example of a press i could use to lock the terminals into place? and sure post the diagram for the wiring here, so others also can see 😃

ripley802

Here is a quick pic of the tools I use for setting the rivets. I have not been able to locate a good press to set them. The size of the battery boxes make it tough for some to work.

(Ignore the working diagram in this pic, as it was for something else)

Blueberry'S'

im wondering in the meantime with the toby that i will soldier? on a old annie coach from a old tna thomas in the meantime until i get parts, tell me if i should or not

ripley802

If the battery terminals are heavily corroded they may be too far gone to solder on. Sometimes using white vinigar can clean them off but make sure to rinse the vinigar off shortly after with distilled water.

Blueberry'S'

two of the battery terminals has already fallen off, since when i got him battery was still inside

Trainboy90 Productions

I have a James that needs new battery terminals, one is already gone. He probably needs one set replaced as the other looks fine.

Some more of the battery compartment:

Blueberry'S'

i did something temporarly to TnA Toby, just so i could see that everything was working internally of toby. i switched battery carriage from a old tna Thomas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZKPKlmmPPg&t=25s

Super

Great job Blue. Which now begs the question:

Can any of the TnA battery boxes (not the whole battery wagon), just the black plastic box that holds the batterys & terminals be removed easily and transferred to any TnA? Is that part only held on with screws?

Blueberry'S'

The tna Thomas, percy has the same battery box, James, Gordon and Henry have the tender type, I think they all are the same. Diesel 10 has his battery box in splatter so he doesn't fit any other than himself. Toby unfortunately does not have the same as Thomas or percy, neither James, Gordon and henry or diesel 10.
He has a special type only for him (will add pictures for comparison)
His casing is built different

The left one is annie case and battery compartment, the right one is toby
I wish Thomas percy and toby would have been the same, it would make repairs much easier🙂
Hope this answered the question, I'm not an expert on this.
Blueberry'S'

Super

I see that the boxes do just screw in and can be removed, at least that is what it looks like in the picture. Too bad that Toby has a different one that no other has.

ripley802

Yeah, they are a bit different. Some screw in from the top, some from the bottom, etc..

Blueberry'S'

Good news, it’s now up and running! I managed to change the battery terminals and got them attached.
I did attach them with screws and metal plating.
It was the only choice right now because I didn’t have the patience. And to be honest, it wasn’t a bad option it looked good. The main thing is that it works.
I sanded the screws so they would be flat on top so the battery would fit. underneath I did the same, I flattened it so the cover would fit on and there were no tension it went on easy so...
I’m pretty happy with the result. Will post a video on YouTube for a test run in a couple of days, and will show you something else.

This was before I was finished so it looks much better now.

Thanks Ripley for your help
And others on
Blueberry'S'

Just to mention, I managed not to damage the plastic since I just attatched the terminal with a “custom” screw and metal plate so it’s not screwed in the plastic it’s attatched to the metal plating underneath. 🙂

Super

Nice work Blue

ripley802

Very nice.