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NGS Hunslet Shunter


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This sounds like a problem of getting power from track to the decoder. As a light weight loco with fine wheels and a short wheelbase, the Hunslet is very susceptible to minor track irregularities or dirt on wheels. It might be something as simple as contact with the wheels on one side being lost as the wheels move laterally. I would be checking that the pickups remain in contact with the wheels even when a wheel is displaced laterally to the maximum extent. 

 

I only run mine on DC but obviously with every loco being decoder-fitted by default, this involves the chip. I tweaked my pickups to overcome the occasional stall with the loco sitting on straight track.

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3 hours ago, Mike Harvey said:

This sounds like a problem of getting power from track to the decoder. As a light weight loco with fine wheels and a short wheelbase, the Hunslet is very susceptible to minor track irregularities or dirt on wheels. It might be something as simple as contact with the wheels on one side being lost as the wheels move laterally. I would be checking that the pickups remain in contact with the wheels even when a wheel is displaced laterally to the maximum extent. 

 

I only run mine on DC but obviously with every loco being decoder-fitted by default, this involves the chip. I tweaked my pickups to overcome the occasional stall with the loco sitting on straight track.

 

Hi Mike, 

Thanks for your response. This was my first port of call really. But surely two locos, paired up, should be able to nudge each other through most situations on clean, well laid track? Between them they will occupy around the same footprint as a 37/47, I would have thought that two wheels on either loco (even though they aren't through-wired) can pick up on clean track with the higher current and voltage available with DCC... They often both stopped! 

 

What tweaking did you do to your pickups?

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7 hours ago, Benn said:

 

Hi Mike, 

Thanks for your response. 

 

What tweaking did you do to your pickups?

 

I had written a complete reply but describing what I did to a different continental shunter which has a different pick-up system. Doh! I won’t be back with my Hunslet for a couple of weeks. I’ll then have a careful look to see what I did.  I think it involved the sanding pipes being adjusted to limit the lateral movement of the wheelsets. 

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23 hours ago, Benn said:

Has anyone been able to actually shunt prototypically with one of these locos on DCC, for anything more than a minute or two without it stalling?

I've given my two a serious running in, for an hour or so each in both directions, wheels cleaned and my track is spotlessly clean. Even when I pair them up I cannot get them to run without stopping in random places (often on plain line and with no particular pattern). I tried them on my layout at Glasgow and they lasted about 5 minutes before they were taken off... I'm using a Lenz LH100 by the way.

 

Interesting problem, two of my three shunters have been out on a friends layout, which is DC powered, and they ran fine at slow speed and medium speed.  Interesting that they are stopping on plain track - I presume none of your other locos have any issues with the layout? Do you happen to know any local friends with DC or a non-Lenz DCC system that you could try them on just to rule out any power supply issues on the layout?

 

Rich

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all,

 

Thanks for your replies.

 

I was aware that the chemical blackening on the wheelsets might be at least some of the issue, so as part of the running in process I ran them on a Minitrix wheel brush for half an hour, and then on a length of track up against a 'stop', in the hope that might make some progress on that front.

None of my other locos have any issues on this front, they are all fitted with Zimo decoders; one of the main features of my layout Barton Road is that everything is run at prototypical speed (no more than about scale 40mph on the mainline and usually around 10mph max in the sidings), and there is plenty of hands-free shunting. As such, the track is kept very clean, and all loco wheels are cleaned at the start of each day. I cleaned the track and wheels before and during the testing of the shunters to make sure that wasn't causing any issues.

 

I do have an excellent KPM DC controller which I may try testing them with, but I won't be able to test them over anything other than a length of track, but I suppose that's a start. They've just sat in their boxes since I gave up with them last February!

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Interesting comments about the wheel blackening. I just got a (secondhand) N gauge Bachmann American GP40 Bo-Bo diesel of quite recent production a week or so back. It didn't look as if it had ever been run. I had trouble getting it to run reliably even with wheel cleaning until I used a fiberglass brush to 'rub off' the blackening on both the wheel treads and the backs - for the pickups. Since then it's been completely different.

 

I think the root cause of this wheel blackening issues might arise because of the changes in permitted chemicals in recent times and that the formulation now allowed doesn't conduct as well as that in this past did.

 

Bob

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On 13/01/2023 at 10:17, Mike Harvey said:

This sounds like a problem of getting power from track to the decoder. As a light weight loco with fine wheels and a short wheelbase, the Hunslet is very susceptible to minor track irregularities or dirt on wheels. It might be something as simple as contact with the wheels on one side being lost as the wheels move laterally. I would be checking that the pickups remain in contact with the wheels even when a wheel is displaced laterally to the maximum extent. 

 

Whilst the issue sounds like pickup (something stopping power getting through), there are no pickup wires/fingers to adjust.   The model is split-frame, pickup is via the bearing blocks set into the chassis.  

 

The ones I've had are fine, work every time they are used, but they don't get extensive running (and are currently in pieces in my workshop for converting the wheels to 2mm Finescale).   I helped the NGS with some of their development work on the loco, quite a few years ago. 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Nigelcliffe said:

 

The ones I've had are fine, work every time they are used, but they don't get extensive running (and are currently in pieces in my workshop for converting the wheels to 2mm Finescale).   I helped the NGS with some of their development work on the loco, quite a few years ago. 

 

 

 

Hi Nigel,

 

You did, with Julian Thornhill and Paul Churchill, and the models are all the better for it!  Many thanks again.  I hope to see you at Glasgow again this year if you can make it.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

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  • 3 months later...
On 12/01/2023 at 23:39, Benn said:

Has anyone been able to actually shunt prototypically with one of these locos on DCC, for anything more than a minute or two without it stalling?

I've given my two a serious running in, for an hour or so each in both directions, wheels cleaned and my track is spotlessly clean. Even when I pair them up I cannot get them to run without stopping in random places (often on plain line and with no particular pattern). I tried them on my layout at Glasgow and they lasted about 5 minutes before they were taken off... I'm using a Lenz LH100 by the way.

 

I don't understand how even as a pair, with 'stay alive', they can't keep each other running. The NGS stand staff who came to have a look at the situation at the exhibition were also baffled.

If anyone has experienced anything of the like with the Lenz controller, or might have a suggestion as to why it might be occurring, please let me know. 

 

Hi Benn

 

I too had problems with my Hunslet, despite cleaning the wheels thoroughly (which did improve things a bit). I'm on straight DC, but the loco would stall on plain track, not what I was expecting for something fitted with a keep alive chip. Anyway, after much head scratching I went to take the keeper plate off to see if there was a pickup issue and found that it had been screwed on extremely tightly. Having found no pickup problems I put the keeper plate back on, but only tightened the screws to the point where they stopped turning. Running was transformed and now at least on a par with my Farish 04.

 

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My grandad brought another shunter when we went to Doncaster model railway show in February this year. He brought the one in HNRC orange with the flashing light on the roof.

 

I've also been reading some of the comments on here about running issues (stalling etc). We've had no issues when running ours on their own but when I tried them as a consist, only one worked: the other didn't run. So from now on when I pair them up, I match both of their speeds together and they run around the layout fine. 

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