I won an auction of a Proto 1 MTH Veranda Turbine that's got a couple of visible issues.
The first issue is both proto-couplers are trashed: Looks like both the shanks broke where the knuckle rivet goes through. The knuckles are intact as are the rivets. The front coupler has all of the coil coming out and I knew this going into the auction. I was planning on mounting a scale coupler on the front anyway. (I've never really used the proto-couplers on any of my Proto 1 locos.) I wasn't counting on the rear coupler being trashed and would like to replace it. Does anyone know if there is a way to mount a manual coupler on this loco so I can at least couple it to the fuel tender?
The second issue seems to be the rear platform of the loco (where the tender plug connects to the loco) is just hanging. There appears to be a screw that should hold the platform to the loco's truck frame. However the screw doesn't seem to want to stay in. I get the impression that it was stripped. I'm contemplating "gluing" the platform to the truck frame or a more ambitious approach might be to tap the frame for a larger diameter screw.
Best part is I don't even know if it runs yet. I certainly won't put any power to it till I get the coupler issue straightened out and get a BCR in it.
Can any of you folks help me out in getting this loco running again?
Thanks,
Fred
