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I finally ran mine up my 1.86% 30” radius helix and it pulled an Accurascale Siphon G plus 3 Hornby coaches without issues. Compare that to a Hornby King class pulling the siphon plus 5 coaches. The King manages 2 extra coaches because the engine is 19g heavier and its tender is 68g lighter. The keep alive does a great job but as expected only works with a DCC decoder installed.

Well,I got mine broken in last night and crawled it around the yard at Teignbury for a while and I am impressed! This is easily the smoothest operating steam loco I now have! It can creep along at a snail pace and the stay alive means absolutely no fluctuations in speed as it rolls along over points and frogs giving the appearance of inertia created by the considerable mass of a real loco. I can’t help but believe that the flywheel aids in that illusion. Today I’ll give it the pull test on my helix. The sound by the way is outstanding and two speakers is more than enough. Only one thing missing, where is the water fill sound effect—I am now running with an empty tender!

Yes, but your website still says: ”DCC Sound locomotives have speaker mounted in smokebox and dual speakers in tender” When did that get changed?

Have any of you with the DCC sound decoder version looked inside the tender? If so how many speakers do you have—1 or 2?

The helix has a 30” radius and the coaches are standard Hornby recent production. I plan to give the axles a shot of graphite at their ends to decrease friction and make them a bit more free rolling. Right now I have the tender apart giving the guts a look over. I also found that the coal load was glued in place but a #11 Xacto blade slid in along each side broke the glue bond. I think I will just add some real coal and pop it back in place. Originally Accurascale planned to use magnets to hold the load in place so I was a bit puzzled when it didn’t come right out. I’ll have a review up in the next week on my YouTube channel showing the guts and also the runs up the helix—Larry

Cookham Manor arrived in Western North Carolina this afternoon and I already have a couple of questions. I installed the full cylinder head covers and now wonder what to do with the cylinder guards. Can’t figure exactly how to fit them. Also tried removing the coal load which supposedly is held in with magnets but it won’t budge, any tips on this one. The good news was the hand grabs on the rear of the cab were fit tight to the roof but can easily be moved if need be. Tomorrow I plan to give it a ride on the rolling road for an hour then see how many Hornby passenger coaches it can pull up my 1.9% helix—any guesses?

Great, you can definitely see the 3 brackets on the side for mounting the arrow. However I think the contact cement approach would be easier to remove at a later date if needed. I used that approach when mounting etched brass nameplates then discovered the flag on East Asiatic was backwards. Since I had used contact cement I was able to slip them off and remount in just a few minutes. Thanks to both of you—Larry

So I picked up a set of etched Golden Arrows from Fox Transfers and now am contemplating how to mount them on one of my spam cans. I am hesitant to slap on some glue but can’t figure a better way other than contact cement which might leave them removable. This begs the question as to how it was done on the original locos? I have viewed dozens of photos and can’t see any mounting brackets of any kind on the air smoother casings. Any ideas? Thanks—Larry

I have installed the decoder and a sugar cube speaker in the boiler. There is just enough room for the speaker under the chimney opening. I used a Soundtraxx Econami UK steam sound decoder which has the Southern whistle and is small enough to fit. I am sure you can get an appropriate sized Zimo or LokSound decoder. Try YouChoos for the Zimo and speaker.

I replaced the vertical end door bolts with brass wire and noted the lack of any latching mechanism but did not attempt my own. I may rig up the gas piping on the roof however without a photo or diagram to follow it will likely be off if I go with the 2 lamp tops. It would also be nice had they included the destination board brackets you mentioned. I guess I really need to find someone with the diagram who will scan the diagram of the roof. I have seared all over the internet and cannot find any photos of the actual prototypes.

Yes, if you read the fine print at the bottom of the scan it says that the drawing shown is diagram 0.8 and there is a second 0.9 with minor differences described in the text. I suspect the gas tops are among those minor differences. By the way this is a nice kit that goes together quote easily. Be aware that the lamp irons mentioned in the instructions are actually not included in the etchings but I was able to make them using the flat etched hand grabs with just a couple of bends. The most tedious part is installing all those small etched details. I broke the job up by installing small batches over a couple pf days which avoided the eye strain. I got the body painted yesterday bit still need to sort out the roof issues before I can complete the model. I’ll post a photo when I get a chance. Thanks all—Larry

I am finishing a Shire Scenes Siphon C kit. In the kit instructions and on the GWR modelling website the model is shown with 3 gas lamp tops on the roof centered with each door. However a diagram from the Slinn book on GWR siphons shows these with only 2 gas lamp tops. Unfortunately the Slinn book is going for $167 in paper back which is more than I am interested in paying, so I hope someone reading this post has a copy or can answer my question. Were there multiple diagrams showing 2 and 3 lamp tops, or did the GWR add a third lamp at some point? Here is copy of the diagram in question.

Yes, I’m just finishing a Shire Scenes Siphon C etched brass kit I picked up at Warley. Looks confusing at first but if you cross your eyes and stare it a while it all starts to come into focus. My concern is they recommend using super glue. However all the info I have seen indicates that super glue bonds start to fail after about 12-18 months. So I picked up a bottle of clear Gorilla Glue and figure this one will outlast me!

A late question and may have been discussed earlier but I missed it if it was. It appears that at some point GWR dispensed with painting the roof of siphons to follow the drip line and just painted the whole roof white down to the lower edges. Was there a consistent date this change was made or did it just filter in? I got to see the latest test models at Warley and showed them in my YouTube interview with Fran and Steve Nicholls. I can’t wait to get my hands on one in the GWR paint livery.

Excellent information. Given your discussion then it would seem that locos with the short deflectors would have the fairings in place, then those with the standard length deflectors fitted would have the square surround with fairings removed, until they were replaced at some time in the early-1950s. Makes one wonder though what information Hornby used to base their decision on—records, photos, or coin flip? Thanks for this—Larry

So do you mean it was done during down time at the shed where it was assigned or during the first major work done on the loco? It appears to be just a few pieces of sheet metal screwed onto the existing sheathing so might have been an easy add on. I have seen it in photos as early as 1947 and if a photo was shot at just the right angle you can make out the square line behind the chimney of the unmodified version.

The Hornby models have 2 different chimney surrounds. On some the opening around the chimney is for a better word “squared” off and flat on the bottom. However on others it gently slopes up towards the rear creating a “ramp” around the chimney. I assume the squared off version was the original design and the sloped version was introduced in an attempt to help direct smoke up over the locomotive and improve visibility. I can see a few shots in the Derry book with both versions but there is nothing in the text describing it, when it was introduced, and when various locos were changed over in spite of the detailed notes included on each loco. And since there are very few top down photos of these locos it is hard to determine when a specific loco had which version. Does anyone know anything about this feature?

I contacted them a month or so ago and they said that set will not fit the older locos since it uses the new smaller diameter gear. I have also checked with AC Models Spares and Peters Spares with the same answer. I would be interested to hear whether they work or not. I was told X8849 is the same number they used for both the old and new replacement driver sets. This is the email I got from Hornby: Dear Larry, Thank you for your email. The current gear set is from a different tooling to the one that you have meaning that the part is not compatible with your model which uses an older lost tooling. All I can suggest is for you to find the correctly listed part for your era of model, AC Models may be able to source these for you. https://www.acmodelsspares.co.uk/ Kind Regards, Samuel Coventon Customer Technical Advisor T:+44 (0)1843 233512 www.hornbyhobbies.co.uk

I have noticed this with US models since the shift to China for production. I have 40 year old locos with plastic gears that still are running but newer models made in China fail after a few years. Athearn, Bachmann, LifeLike, Walthers all seem to have the problem. The Hornby Bulleid 4-6-2 failures seem to be occurring now with those made after the 2001 redesign. My Torrington model was produced around 2005. Don’t know about the newer ones with the slightly smaller driver gears. The email I got back from Hornby said they had “lost” the original mold for that gear so no more replacements. I assume the current production replacement driver sets use the new gear.

Well, I finally got the new 3D printed gear installed and the loco is running again. Only time will tell how it will hold up. I also had to shim up the bearings as their slots were worn and two sets of drivers wobbled all over so the loco looked like a lame duck waddling along. For those interested I have a video on my YouTube channel showing the fix and trial runs. I will be happy to share the 3D file with anyone needing a fix. I tried to upload it to my free Wordpress site but they won’t allow it, maybe the size (1 MB) but more likely the file type. At any rate if you would like a copy I will email it as an attachment as long as you supply an email address—Larry

Are those domes gold paint or electroplate?

Exactly, I would like an option for modelers that would be almost no cost as opposed to a pretty expensive one. At any rate I now have 30 gears to test out on the loco so we’ll see if 3D printing them is a workable option.

I’ve looked at the prospect of replacing the drive mechanism, however because of the design it would require having a metal lathe to machine a path from the motor to the driver. Currently you can purchase a preowned chassis for about £50-60 on eBay so most approaches are not cost effective. I checked with a local company that does 3D printing and it would cost about £110 just to get them to make a handful. So right now I am looking for someone among my YouTube viewers to print some out for me. If it works I’ll make the 3D printer file available to anyone who needs it. Maybe Sam of Sam’s Trains will turn some out.

I might have asked this earlier but I can’t find anything with the search function so let’s give it a go. I have a preowned model of Torrington that arrived from HaXXons with a broken drive gear on the main driver. I know because I pulled the gear and the crack is clearly visible. Hornby says they no longer offer the original replacement which at about 11.6mm is larger than the current one in use. I have checked all the spares dealers and no one has them in stock, even the smaller ones. So my question is has anyone here found a replacement for these older gears? Has any innovative chap managed to make some up using a 3D printer? Has anyone managed to cobble together an alternative drive mechanism for these? With these now about 20 years old I would expect to see a lot of broken gears in everyone’s future, so do I have a £100 paperweight on my hands?

Maybe Warley?