Earl of St Germans tender problem.

[centenary]

Anyone else have this with the OO scale Earl or other Hornby kettles: It is the sound fitted version and noticed quite by accident that the leading and middle wheels on the tender were not rotating very well. In the case of the leading tender wheels, not going round at all while the middle wheels seemed to rotate intermittently.

A quick dab of sewing machine oil on all the tender axles will solve it, methinks. Nope, no difference. Decided to take the base plate off to see if there was anything obvious. No, not really except that the axles just sit in plastic groves and there no bushing for them! No wonder there's friction. A quick check of the pick ups indicated there's no excessive drag caused by them.

Strangely, with the tender on its back all wheels rotated freely even with the back plate refitted. Back on its wheels and the 2 problematic axles still cause a problem.

On the track, you cannot really see the wheels on the front 2 axles arent rotating due to the frames and axles boxes obscuring most of the view. But, imho, dragging a tender around is likely to make a flat spot on wheels.

If I apply slight downward pressure on the tender, all wheels turn so Im thinking a bit of lead may be the answer?

Has anyone had this non rotating tender wheels problem o a Hornby Earl or similar, if so, how did you fix it and secondly, how do you get the tender body off?

[Bigmet]

... with the tender on its back all wheels rotated freely even with the back plate refitted. Back on its wheels and the 2 problematic axles still cause a problem.
If I apply slight downward pressure on the tender, all wheels turn
Has anyone had this non rotating tender wheels problem...

What you are describing is not uncommon: because you have determined that the stationary wheels will rotate freely, the reason they are not turning when running on track is that they are out of contact with the rails.
Usual cause of this problem is that 'something' - usually the linkages between loco and tender - is lifting the tender front very slightly, so that only the rear wheels on the tender are on the rails.
First check, remove the loco to tender link, if the tender then has all wheels turning when the loco pulls it, you are good.
If not, it may be the plug in wiring is stiffer ('all knotted up') than normal and holding up the tender.
The fix for either or both is usually a little judicious bending of the offending article. HTH.

[centenary]

... with the tender on its back all wheels rotated freely even with the back plate refitted. Back on its wheels and the 2 problematic axles still cause a problem.
If I apply slight downward pressure on the tender, all wheels turn
Has anyone had this non rotating tender wheels problem...

What you are describing is not uncommon: because you have determined that the stationary wheels will rotate freely, the reason they are not turning when running on track is that they are out of contact with the rails.
Usual cause of this problem is that 'something' - usually the linkages between loco and tender - is lifting the tender front very slightly, so that only the rear wheels on the tender are on the rails.
First check, remove the loco to tender link, if the tender then has all wheels turning when the loco pulls it, you are good.
If not, it may be the plug in wiring is stiffer ('all knotted up') than normal and holding up the tender.
The fix for either or both is usually a little judicious bending of the offending article. HTH.

Thanks for this. Just done a quick check and yes, the front of the tender looks to be sitting at ever so slightly higher than the back. I need to fathom out whether it's the draw bar or wiring loom that is causing it.