I'm repairing a 3065 which came to me with a bunch of other locos.

One of the Telex couplings was broken, but replacements were included. Wonderful, except that the new style coupling needs to have the Telex armature filed down to fit the opening - found an old thread relating to that here and that is all sorted now.

But here's the thing.

One of the coupling screws has a white/grey plastic bushing around it which is not shown in the parts listing. I happen to already have a 3065 in my own fleet so I checked that, sure enough, only one coupling has this same bushing. It seems to work ok without it so what is the purpose?

More importantly, can those of you here that have a 3065 please check both couplings on yours and tell me what yours are like?

Yes I was pleased, it was a nice package when it arrived.

The 3021 was the worst by far, a real junker, got it going ok but will probably relist it as suitable for a child (indestructible) or someone who's more interested in function over form.

There were two Telex Loco's, the 3065 as discussed is quite tidy, needed a coupling replaced but that was provided. But I've already got a 3065, with a Decoder although I'm tempted to 5-pole upgrade it for better slow running - I always hoped M. would issue a Telex Shunter with a Sinus drive - that would sort me out.

The other Telex was the 3031 Cl. 81, this is one I don't have already, it needed the Reverse unit replaced, and with my current medical condition (GBS) was REALLY hard going with unsteady hands but a brand-new replacement reverse was provided so I took the plunge and managed it ok but still fiddly - it was a good test-run to see how for off I am from returning to work :-) (a few weeks off yet)

It kept stalling, literally would just lock up so I ended up popping it in the ultra-sonic bath for a few minutes to flush out all the gears, what a difference - relubed and much smoother.

At this stage I may keep that one, it's nice and heavy, getting the coupling rods adjusted correctly was also a mission and while I thought it might be quite nice to upgrade, Steam is not really my thing. I'll ponder it.

Then there was also a 3104 Cl. 89 Shunter, this has the motor out, it's a very basic model but I quite like it so I'll be tackling that tomorrow and see how it shapes up, might keep that one.

And of course the NSB which is subject to another thread, that has a screw/coupling issue and needs a bogie frame but otherwise very tidy, nice and heavy, probably a keeper too.

Back to the 3065;

Just having a re-read of the exploded view - I see that the screw actually has two versions,

75004 Screw
75019 Screw, "Isolierung" / ("Insulated")

Closer inspection makes it OBVIOUS, the rear one has the added plastic insulator to prevent the pickup from contacting the screw fully depressed because it's directly below the end of the slider whereas the front one is further away. Normally I would have spotted that in a flash - I'm not quite on all cylinders at the moment so this is actually blimmen' good therapy/rehab for me. Rather make mistakes on my own time/gear than my employer and customers !!!

Mystery solved

Cheers

Steve