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Oxford N7


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Problem solved or, at least, I hope so. I tried applying power directly to the motor and it ran reasonably well in one direction but not the other. The armature obviously gets moved a very small amount for and aft as it meshes with the gears. As it refused to run in one direction I began to suspect the rear armature bearing so I applied a small amount of oil to the bearing. With the wheels removed taking the load off the motor, it then ran in both directions. After allowing the motor to run for several minutes, I reassembled the locomotive (what a trial that was!). It now runs as it should.

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1 hour ago, Les Bird said:

Problem solved or, at least, I hope so. I tried applying power directly to the motor and it ran reasonably well in one direction but not the other. The armature obviously gets moved a very small amount for and aft as it meshes with the gears. As it refused to run in one direction I began to suspect the rear armature bearing so I applied a small amount of oil to the bearing. With the wheels removed taking the load off the motor, it then ran in both directions. After allowing the motor to run for several minutes, I reassembled the locomotive (what a trial that was!). It now runs as it should.

 

That's good news Les!  Surprising what a drop of oil can do sometimes....

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  • 5 weeks later...

It's done it again! The N7 has stopped working and it seems there's no easy fix this time. The motor bearings are all ok this time and the motor spins freely if I rotate it by hand. However, applying power to the motor contacts simply triggers the short circuit cutout on the controller. Briefly, it ran forwards but not backwards suggesting that something was seizing but everything is free. Now it doesn't run at all. I've given up on it now. This is my first Oxford locomotive and it looks like being my last. As a comparison, I have another N7 which is a Wills kit on a Triang Jinty chassis with Hornby Dublo wheels. It is over 50 years old and totally reliable.

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The motor is a double shafted coreless 10x23mm. There is a link to my conversion to P4 on the previous page which shows chassis shots. It’s flywheel fitted and coupled to the gearing via a u/j. From what @Les Bird has said I’d take a guess he was unlucky to get one with a duff motor. Not an easy size to find a replacement, although they are wrapped in quite thick wadding in the chassis so perhaps something around 12mm dia might fit but could then be noisy ( vibration through the chassis etc.). High level do a couple of 12mm dia coreless, 1219mm & 1230mm, which I’ve seen good reports of mated to their gearboxes. 
 

I suppose first port of call would be to contact Oxford Rail though. They really aught to be able to offer a replacement, but then these days…….

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1 hour ago, Izzy said:

The motor is a double shafted coreless 10x23mm

If your approach to Oxford Rail doesn't work, an alternative is a Tramfabriek 1020D (double shafted coreless 10 x 20mm) - I've used one on an Oxford N7 and it worked perfectly when I fitted it around 18 months ago and continues to do so today.  It's 3mm shorter than the original Oxford Rail motor, but is gripped by the foam in the motor clamp very securely so this isn't a problem.  You will need a 1mm dia. pin on a worm puller to swap the worm over from your old motor. 

See:

https://tramfabriek.nl/motors.html

The motor costs the Euros equivalent of about £16.50 incl. VAT and is posted from the UK, despite the 'nl' website address.  Not the cheapest priced motor but very nice quality and since I couldn't get one from Oxford Rail last year I was more than happy to pay the price having come across this one.  

I have no link other than being a happy customer.  The other motors they supply are worth a look, too.

 

Pete T.

 

 

 

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22 minutes ago, Les Bird said:

Thanks for that PJT. I might just give that a go. Otherwise the N7 becomes a good looking static exhibit!

You're welcome, Les.  At least you know that you have a loco that can still be repaired, rather than an expensive fishing weight!

 

For my sins I have three Oxford Rail N7s and, while they're all good runners (I love the weight and haulage ability of the Oxford N7s - for RTR tank locos they're brilliant), the best performer is the remotored one, by some margin, especially at slow speeds.

 

Pete T.

 

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3 hours ago, Les Bird said:

the N7 is now back to full health. Transferring the flywheel/universal joint socket was simple and the replacement motor fits perfectly.

 

Oh, brilliant!  I'm delighted for you, Les.  Just looking back at your post from the end of December, it gives you a lovely warm feeling to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, doesn't it?

 

Pete T.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I have now got my N7 and am looking for help to get the final details right.  What I need are:-

 

a)  Supplier of coloured discs, white/black or are they white/purple

 

b) Supplier of destination boards on loco - e.g. "Enfield" - would also help if they did GN lines as well

 

c) Advice on now to fit loco crew - does the cab roof come off or the coal bunker come out?

 

d)  

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48 minutes ago, GeoffBird said:

I have now got my N7 and am looking for help to get the final details right.  What I need are:-

 

a)  Supplier of coloured discs, white/black or are they white/purple

 

b) Supplier of destination boards on loco - e.g. "Enfield" - would also help if they did GN lines as well

 

c) Advice on now to fit loco crew - does the cab roof come off or the coal bunker come out?

 

d)  

 

a) I think they were white/purple.  Unpainted discs are available from various sources, I've used Roxey Mouldings (really for SR locos but I think fairly similar to GE ones).  The purple centred ones were part of the GE section route indicating code system - some codes just used plain white ones, if that makes it easier.

 

b) Destination boards available from Pacific Models

 

http://www.pacificmodels.co.uk/carriage-destination-boards/4mm/br-jazz-destination-boards.php

 

 I haven't used them myself, but the description of the above product says it includes 18 Headcode Discs and 18 Route Indicator discs - not sure what the difference is! - maybe some have purple centres?

 

c) Advice on how to fit crew; I managed to dismantle one of mine into the parts shown in this picture, but not sure how I did it!

 

IMG_3800.jpeg.92fc387249f077c9c12b34650a646f37.jpeg

 

But I think for the others I just poked them through the cab doorway with Evo Stick on their feet.  Noch Steam Loco drivers seemed suitable, repainted to look more British.  For 69670 (below) I made cab doors from black plasticard but if you don't do that, it's easier to get crew figures in through the cab doorways, with suitable tweezers.

 

P1030033.jpeg.4778f0361e1d98963225f5932aec56d2.jpeg

 

 

 

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11 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

 


That firebox backhead is well out of shape to the firebox !

Stratford engineering…shocking…

:D

 

 

Seriously, I wonder if thats a clue to future releases of the tooling.. belpaire firebox version ?

 

 

The other way round actually - the firebox backhead is correct for the earlier releases of the  model, in GER and LNER liveries, which did have Belpaire fireboxes.  I did think of correcting it while I had it apart but as it would also have affected the cab spectacles, as well as the detailing on the backhead, I decided to leave it alone as it isn't really very visible anyway.

 

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27 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

I meant to say, it looks good with all the embellishments, but a black chimney looks right.

 

Thank you!  I use the loco as Station Pilot on my layout which was my excuse for leaving most of them, but the white chimney was just a bit too much to stomach!  I particularly like the lining on the Westinghouse pump, and the unpainted steel boiler handrails.

 

I had it apart in order to change it from right hand drive to left hand drive (which that loco was), which mainly consisted of swapping the pipe which runs from the cab to the smokebox from the right hand side to the left hand side, and cutting off the superfluous reversing rod on the right hand side.  Oddly (but handy if you want to do this), Oxford have given this model reversing rods on both sides!   Intended to swap the reverser wheel over inside the cab as well but the side tank (correctly) has no recess for it on the fireman's side so I'm afraid I just took it out!

 

P1030034.jpeg.df6f41a5fe92286771fb3c09dd769d28.jpeg

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This may have been answered much earlier in this thread but, despite several searches, I cannot seem to find it.  I am looking for an approximate date range for Oxford Rail's N7 in LNER livery as No.8011 please. Can anyone assist?

 

I obviously know that the loco was built in 1921 and was renumbered in 1944 and 1946 but, for example, when was the condensing gear removed?

 

Thanks,

Martin

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Without the time to look back through 47 image-less pages I thought a little note on how I just dealt with the scale 2foot gap between the N7 and it's stock. The overhang was so bad, that bogie coaches were de-railing on crossovers

I prized  the couplings out with a small screwdriver and pulled the coupling from the pockets. Then cut the pocket down by about 4mm.

From the spares dept at Sasquatch Towers I obtained two Bachmann wagon coupling hooks and two I think short straight couplings (less pockets). I removed about 1.5mm off the rear from the shoulders. Then using a 1mm drill in the pin vice drilled a hole centrally behind the new shoulders and removed the rest of the tail center extending the fork to the max. After trimming the fork tails to fit in the half sized pocket I super-glued the two bits together and added the wagon coupling hook. Oh what a difference!!!

 

Hope this helps someone.

Regards Shaun.    

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Good Afternoon :)

 

Does anyone have a photo of how the factory fit decoder is located inside? I picked up a cheap faulty sound fitted one - noisy mech and no sound. One of the speaker wires had been pinched, and so far I would say it's as noisy as my other one, so it's looking like a bargain.

 

The cables appear to imply the decoder sits within the boiler but there just doesn't seem to be any room.

 

Thank you :)

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