My all time favourite model railway wagon is Triang's Giraffe Car. It wasn't an original design though, the basic idea came from American firm Lionel who produced an O gauge version.
Adding one of these to my collection has always been part of the plan, but I've never seen one for sale and don't fancy trawling eBay - there's no fun in that!
A few weeks ago I spotted a relative. Part of a Disney range, this is Goofy's baggage car. Basically the giraffe car with Mickey Mouse's sidekick looking out of the top. For £15, I couldn't resist.
Needless to say, the mechanism needed attention.
Removing the body is simple, there is screw at each end. When this was designed, models were intended to come apart for servicing so no stupid plastic clips to break here.
Inside, the counterweight had come lose, but popped back in easily enough. There is a spring to hold Goofy up and this was long gone. Rooting around I found something that with a bit of plier abuse could be used. It was too strong - the grey arm rises on a ramp and the spring resists this so it needs to be weak enough for the ramp noto to lift the wagon from the track - but streatching it solved this.
While I was at it, the plastic body visited the sink for a quick scrub in washing up liquid and tepid water. Doing this to old rolling stock makes a huge difference as the stuff tends to get filthy over the years. A wash often makes it sparkle again.
Reassembly completes the job and Goofy is back on form.
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