Inspection of the ToyState Christmas steamer

Last July I bought a Toy State Christmas train set for only 10 euro's (see: Christmas in July). The engine itself did run well in my outdoor layout. It had no problem with the turnouts as long as it runs straight forward. However the engine made a howling sound. There were some suggestions on the forum that this could be a fan inside the locomotive. However as the locomotive was not able to pull all the cars from the set on the outdoor layout I suspect it could be a problem with the gears.
A test run on the track oval of the set did not show improvement; the engine could not pull all cars. Sometimes it stopped while the motor was running making. Running or standing still the engine makes the same howling sound.

So... time to open the engine!

The start; remove Santa figure and unscrew the screws at the bottom

Remove front bogie

Remove upper part

The switch can easily be removed

The motor is slides in the gearbox. It can be removed by pulling it out gently

The motor has a small gear wheel that connects to the gearbox

Backside view.
The connector cable that runs to the coal tender (with battery's).

Front view

View from top

After removing the motor (just gently pull it out of the gearbox) it looks like this:

Than remove front cylinders:

 

And remove gliders from the driving gear:

Removing the topside of the chassis shows the complete gearbox. It is fixed on the rear axle.
The gearbox itself is snapped together.

That's all...

So, we know how to dismantle the engine. Putting it together is just in the opposite order as shown above (and it works as these pictures were actually taken while putting the engine back together...).

Now... there was no fan or whatsoever present in the engine. Electric current flows from the connector cable to the switch at the side of the engine. From the switch two cables (orange and white) go to the motor. From the motor two cables (yellow and white) lead to the headlight. White cables connected to the switch make the polarity change (back and forward).
It is the gearbox that makes the howling sound. I believe the construction of the gearbox is not very solid and (worn out?) gears slide a bit over the axles (like the older Fleischmann locomotives did).
I could try to open it and see if I am right about that.  Perhaps I can replace the gearbox for a different one. Or do a total bash of the engine making something completely different from it and use the cars behind a standard LGB Stainz... Let's not forget the whole set costed 10 euro's. So we will see ;-)