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8Fs – Heavy goods engines - the Hornby O1


Silver Sidelines

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The new Hornby O1 seems to have been well received. With my roots in the north east of England I would have preferred a Q6 or maybe a Q7. However they are not as yet available so I have invested in an O1 to complement my WD 8F. My Ian Allan Shed Book confirms that I ‘spotted’ two of the four O1s allocated to Tyne Dock. I am guessing that I would have seen these engines passing around the outside of Newcastle Central I can imagine heading north on a freight bound for Edinburgh.

 

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First impressions of the Hornby O1 were very positive. Out of the box it looked good and it performed well on the layout. I have posted a number of short videos on YouTube comparing the performance of the O1 with Bachmann’s O4 and WD 8F. These are obviously personal views and highly dependent on my particular models. In summary using the same Controller setting (DC) and same train load, the

is the most sedate. The
comes in the middle while the
is quite the fastest - almost racing round the layout. With the Controller setting lowered the Hornby O1 will crawl nicely on the level but
the running becomes slightly less confident than the Bachmann locomotives. In conclusion my Hornby O1 would not need any additional ballast.

 

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Whilst I might have been happy with the performance of the Hornby O1 I did have an issue with the appearance! I had intended to use the view above in my previous Post. However when I came to publish I noticed that the footplate was not level (the camera never lies!) and I had to investigate.

 

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Hornby O1 Chassis with flywheel in smoke box and motor driving in ‘reverse’.

 

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Close up of Motion Bracket

 

In contrast to Bachmann who tend to make their ‘motion’ from individual castings (and which I prefer) the main parts of the Hornby motion are preformed from sheet metal. On my model one side of the Motion Bracket was sitting too high and required some gentle persuasion to get it to a more suitable level. With the Motion Bracket lowered I had then expected the footplate to return to a nice straight profile. However nothing is quite that straightforward.

 

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Hornby O1 Footplate

 

The plastic moulded footplate is very thin and after being forced up by the incorrectly positioned Motion Bracket it had no intention of taking up a straight profile!

 

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Underside of Footplate

 

An inspection of the underside of the footplate is quite revealing. Removing the body shell from the chassis had been straightforward but I had noticed some reluctance when parting the footplate from the Motion Brackets. The view of the underside of the footplate suggests that during assembly Hornby have lightly glued the footplate down to the Motion Bracket – probably to prevent damage to the relatively delicate footplate moulding when lifting the locomotive off the track?

 

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Use of Double Sided Tape.

 

There are probably numerous solutions but I applied a couple of pieces of double sided tape to the footplate above the Motion Brackets – success!

 

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All straight

 

Well how do I rate the Hornby O1? Well perhaps a smidgen below the 28xx.

 

For those of you who like numbers, the Hornby O1 weighs in at around 280gm while the Bachmann O4 is only a touch over 250gm. Both engines have complex tender couplings incorporating relatively stiff wiring harnesses which I suspect will confuse load transfer between engine and tender.

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It's good to see  flywheels on Hornby's loco chassis. But the glueing that you illustrate seems to be a bit of a bodge on their part? 

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seems to be a bit of a bodge on their part?

Hello Mikkel

 

I rely on your input!  I have just checked the Hornby instructions for removing the body - all about scews - nothing about glue.  Perhaps Hornby only noticed the problem with the footplate after they had the packaging designed?

 

Regards Ray

 

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On the other hand, were footplates always perfectly level once the engines were in service? There tended to be a fair degree of distortion, and sometimes a rough shunt / late on the brakes could certainly reshape things.

 

By way of example, "Black 5" 45212 retained into preservation a cab which was considerably askew, and remained so for years afterwards. I'm not sure if it has been corrected even today.

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Maybe so, but all the pictures I have come across show the O1 with a dead straight footplate.  Certainly my model is in pristine livery, so obviously just out of the works.  I would have thought that in the late 50s early 60s before the rot set in BR would have taken pride in their works and straightened any damage.  Equally I am surprised at the presentation of the Hornby model.  I would say the use of glue to hold part of the body shell to the chassis is on a par with the bit of plastic tube used to retain the Castle bogie.

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Thanks for the heads up Ray. Funds haven't stretched to the O1 yet, I might just hold out for Heljans O2 (I'm not a fan of Hornby of late anyhow) as my latest purchase the class 128 may just be even better than thier Heymek! 

It's a pitty when paying arround 100 pounds for locomotives these days that one has come to accept that putting things right straight out of the box seems to be expected! ie: loose bits on 128, foot boards missing on thompson stock, unpainted items on A.H. Peppercorn,.... the list goes on...

 

Great blog by the way.

Shaun.   

 

P.S.  If you feel like I'm whinging on your blog please remove this post!!!

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If you feel like I'm whinging on your blog please remove this post!!!

Shaun, not at all.  I just try to present things as I find them - if others wish to add confirmation that is all to the good.

 

Manufacturing and assembling relatively small quantities out of sight from the design team seems to me to be fraught with all manner of pitfalls - which we are seeing.

 

Regards

 

Ray

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It's a pity this isn't 0 Gauge, I  would buy one straight away!

I always marvel at what you 'O' gauge people achieve in small spaces - or have you got a huge space!

 

Regards

 

Ray

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As with many other 0 gauge folk, I have gone outdoors with the station (and power supply) in the summerhouse.

I always marvel at what you 'O' gauge people achieve in small spaces - or have you got a huge space!

 

Regards

 

Ray

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...I have gone outdoors with the station (and power supply) in the summerhouse.

...ah those were the days.  Nearly April and we have the remains of four feet deep drifts over large areas of the 'garden'.   It must make life difficult.  Regards  Ray

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