Ben
While we’re on the (unfortunate) subject of Heljan quality issues, I’ll just put the boot in once more!
My centre headcode Class 20 (about 18 months old) had been recently shorting out my entire layout for reasons unknown. It had developed a habit of dragging both axles at one end and therefore refused to run with my other 20 as a pairing.
I finally got forensic with it last week and removed each motor in turn to see if anything improved. One motor was clearly a smoother, faster and quieter performer when hooked up to a square 9v ‘smoke alarm’ battery, but just to ‘seal the deal’, I selected address 00 on the DCC throttle and connected the sickly motor to each running rail with its own two wires. It immediately shorted the layout so I had my answer.
I believe these motors are sealed for life in the factory therefore no fix can be applied, so I’m now running the loco with just one motor. Not a huge issue especially when running as a pair, but not the point either! I haven’t looked yet to see if Gaugemaster have spare motors (I think they’re about £12?) but even though I’ve invalidated any possible warranty by doing the above, I’d suggest that a replacement motor would be a reasonable request given the loco’s age?
Any thoughts or comments to share?