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Lynton & Barnstaple OO9 Loco from Heljan


Mike Bellamy
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  • RMweb Gold

Seriously considering cancelling mine, I have an earlier model which just about runs and my hope was that by now these issues would be resolved, but it seems that this may have misplaced hope.

 

I really want one, but it is a lot of money for something that may not cope with my fairly shallow incline and mainline points.


Roy

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The original model I have has been tested on the equivalent of a 1:50 gradient and ran out of stock to use. It maybe that there's still a minor issue with the pony truck pickups lifting the drivers on some models hence por performance. Mainline points again should be OK with maybe a minor tweak to the centring spring on the ponies if needed. 

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  • RMweb Gold

On my friend Tim’s layout there’s a stiff gradient that requires actual banking locos and the L&B 2-6-2 managed 6 coaches easily. 

The fixes mentioned in this topic and you’ll have a perfectly good loco in 10 minutes if you can get over the shouldn’t have to bit ;) 

On the Clyre Valley

43A56BDA-44E2-4E22-A218-36814154B49A.jpeg.52b98437fe3b2e6ac228bee0dab8f7a3.jpeg

 

Tim has a thread on NGRM online about its construction. 

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  • RMweb Gold

All I’d say is check the drop link in the valve gear first and if it will swing in and looks like it could catch gently bend it in the middle so it can’t swing into the connecting rod. The drive is very powerful so if it catches at speed it will rip out the crankpin. 

The other mods just help with running , only the drop link causes potential for damage. 

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On 17/10/2019 at 05:22, PaulRhB said:

All I’d say is check the drop link in the valve gear first and if it will swing in and looks like it could catch gently bend it in the middle so it can’t swing into the connecting rod. The drive is very powerful so if it catches at speed it will rip out the crankpin. 

The other mods just help with running , only the drop link causes potential for damage. 

 

That’s an interesting diagnosis. 

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  • RMweb Gold

This is the link and it has too much ‘flop’ so it can get tangled. I held it with needle nose pliers just below the top rivet and bent it gently out using the end of a coffee stirrer so I didn’t damage the lower rivet. I guess it’s about a 20-30° bend so it can’t flop back into the path of the main rods. 

 

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Edited by PaulRhB
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On 12/10/2019 at 06:44, PaulRhB said:

Looks like the v2 issues still exist then! Roundhouse said his Lyd didn’t need any fettling so we wondered if they’d sorted it. 

The  last  2  I have  had  were  nearly  perfect  and  still are,  only action necessary was reduce the  pony centre springing pressure to almost zero  and  remove  top bar centre section of  cow  catchers to allow coupling assembly ( attached to pony truck) to  swing  freely.

 

Nothing  has  fallen  off  valve  gear  works  fine:P

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I have three v2s- after tweaking the pony truck spring two run perfectly and one is a little sticky in reverse but acceptable. I have never lost pins but I only run at scale speeds. Excess speed may be a factor in lost or loose pins. 

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  • RMweb Gold

LEW arrived yesterday. Loco valve gear all ok and checked that none of it clashed.

 

However the loco leaned heavily to one side but ran fine.

 

Today I decided to take a closer look so body removed but wasn't to do with the way the chassis was fixed to the body.

I then checked the wheels and found that the centre set of drivers where not I. Line with the others so chassis keeper plate off and found one bearing on the centre axle was not seated correctly. That was soon sorted out but you have to be careful realigning the two axles with the gears as they need to be put back to keep the quartering correct.

 

The loco now sits much better and is fine currently being run in on the test circuit. No derailing pony wheels either. Now pleased with it but Heljan do need to improve the quality control. The other noticeable thing with all five of these I now have is that the wheels are filthy out of the box so they have all had a good clean.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Ordered a green Lyd from Bure Valley Models (who incidentally have it at £178, cheapest I've seen).
Unfortunately after a quick test run, the valve gear came apart on both sides (drop link came astray and one of the tiny pins shot off never to be found), so back it had to go.

 

lyd.jpg.afe41aacdea4b7146f01aa86e1b41ca0.jpg
Full marks to BVM, I phoned them on Friday to arrange the return, posted it on Monday, and the replacement (which they had test-run for me) arrived Thursday morning!

I've now had a chance to run it on my oval test track, and after applying the recommended fixes of loosening the pony centering springs and wipers, it *touch wood* seems to be running fine.

There's one dodgy track join where the leading pony sometimes comes off (I think my fault for poor track laying rather than the loco), and I haven't had a chance to try it on points yet, so fingers crossed.

 

Now to carry on with layout planning...

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On ‎16‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 21:22, PaulRhB said:

All I’d say is check the drop link in the valve gear first and if it will swing in and looks like it could catch gently bend it in the middle so it can’t swing into the connecting rod. The drive is very powerful so if it catches at speed it will rip out the crankpin. 

The other mods just help with running , only the drop link causes potential for damage. 


Following your observations/encouragement I didn't cancel my Lew order and in fact added a Yeo order. They arrived some time ago but owing to work commitments I have only today had a chance to run them in. Interestingly, out of the box Yeo was the better runner - I slackened the springs for the pony-trucks  slightly but that was it, the drop links were well clear of the coupling rods, even with the wheelsets pushed hard to either side.

 

Lew, however, was a different matter. One drop link was hard against the connecting rod, no matter where the wheels were pushed, that was eased out as you suggested. The springing on the front pony-truck  was so hard and off-centre that the wheels were off at a 10 degree angle and kept derailing - easily fixed.

 

I also noted that Yeo had no coal in the bunkers, obviously missed on manufacture. Not a problem as it makes fitting real coal easier. On that note, has anybody removed the moulded coal from these? On my other two it seems well and truly attached.

 

Thanks,

Roy

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  • 3 weeks later...

I finally had a chance for some short test-running this morning.   Drop links eased out, springs slackened,  I even attempted to push the pony contacts up a bit.   She ran fine other than an odd clacking sound.    I'm running Taw on Kato Unitrak, so I don't know if that my contribute to the clacking.   Any ideas?

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  • RMweb Gold
2 hours ago, AlfaZagato said:

I finally had a chance for some short test-running this morning.   Drop links eased out, springs slackened,  I even attempted to push the pony contacts up a bit.   She ran fine other than an odd clacking sound.    I'm running Taw on Kato Unitrak, so I don't know if that my contribute to the clacking.   Any ideas?


My test track is Kato Unitrack and I get the same sound going over the track joints. 
 

Roy

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