The saga of my Aster/LGB Mikes occupied a few pages of MyLargeScale a number of years ago. I bought the first example from MBV Schug in Germany. After a little pre-run lubrication it was put on the rollers, where it ground to a halt - literally, within 30 seconds. I took it to the UK LGB distributor in Leighton Buzzard, who could not have been more helpful. He gave me a replacement, right off the pallet, there and then. And wished me luck with it.
Getting it home, and setting it up, it lasted almost a whole minute before that ratchety noise announced a full stop. I took THAT one back, and Mr Distributor, instead of giving me a new one, took it to Nurnberg with him the next day or so, and walked it onto the LGB stand with a demand to get things sorted, fast.
The upshot, within a few weeks, was a revised drive train, which did not, however, address the dismal performance of what was, here in UK, a model that had cost almost £2500. When mine finally came back to me, it was accompanied by a letter from the late Wolfgang Richter, telling me that all was now well, and not to just stick it on the shelf and look at it. Sure it runs slowly, but so does the real thing - it ain't no 'Mallard' for sure. Six Bachmann WP cars are enough to make an impression of a good-sized consist for many people, me included.
Having been given assistance by the gentlemen who have posted their useful 'how-to's' on this thread, I can advise people here that re-motoring this loco is NOT for the faint-hearted, and I'm therefore leaving mine well alone.