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W&M Railbus Problems


alangr
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I have a Heljan W&M railbus and have had no end of problems.  In trying to fit a 'suitable' decoder I have 'blown' a number of Lenz silver items but did eventually end up with a Bachmann decoder that allowed the model to run (really well).  Then I found that the decoder did not allow CV5 (maximum speed) to be set/used.  I am now trying to find a decoder that will allow me to use CV5 as intended and have asked Heljan for advice - but they do not answer!

 

Has anyone used a decoder with the railbus and controlled the maximum speed by setting CV5? 

 

Alan

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I have a Heljan W&M railbus and have had no end of problems.  In trying to fit a 'suitable' decoder I have 'blown' a number of Lenz silver items but did eventually end up with a Bachmann decoder that allowed the model to run (really well).  Then I found that the decoder did not allow CV5 (maximum speed) to be set/used.  I am now trying to find a decoder that will allow me to use CV5 as intended and have asked Heljan for advice - but they do not answer!

 

Has anyone used a decoder with the railbus and controlled the maximum speed by setting CV5? 

 

Alan

Have you tried contacting Howes ?
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Thanks for the thought, Ian.  Yes.  I severely reduced my story of what happened but Howes was involved in the problems and in finding me the Bachmann decoder.  They were not, however, able to offer anything that allowed setting/use of CV5.

 

What I do not understand is what Heljan just do not reply to what seems to me to be a very simple query!

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Hi there,

 

I have a different problem with my own W & M railbus and I hope you forgive me for posting it on here.

 

My model started making a loud clicking noise from one of the axles.  I removed the keeper plate and the gear on the wheeled axle appears to be loose.  When I checked the Howes website for spares, I can't find anything listed as a replacement wheel set or gear/axle.

 

Does anyone know if it can be repaired or if spares can be sourced elsewhere?

 

Many thanks,

 

Paul 

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I would tend to ask Howes to help - they have been very supportive with my problems.

 

It is possible also that Heljan could help - if they had a mind to!

 

Hope you manage to get the railbus fixed - it is a good model.

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  • 7 months later...

I have a W&M Railbus too. Now it has started clicking and 'hiccuping'.

Taking the cover off the gearbox on the offending axle appears to show the intermediate brass gear jumping out of mesh.

I have had this model for over three years now.

Is there anything I can do to fix it ?

 

Chris

 

 

 

Hi there,

 

I have a different problem with my own W & M railbus and I hope you forgive me for posting it on here.

 

My model started making a loud clicking noise from one of the axles.  I removed the keeper plate and the gear on the wheeled axle appears to be loose.  When I checked the Howes website for spares, I can't find anything listed as a replacement wheel set or gear/axle.

 

Does anyone know if it can be repaired or if spares can be sourced elsewhere?

 

Many thanks,

 

Paul 

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Back to the OP. I have mine fitted with a Bachmann decoder, but the old 554 type, which can be set for CV5. I found the new 'improved' 557 is a backwards step and quickly offloaded mine.  Anyway, as to the railbus, no problems with mine.

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I have a W&M Railbus too. Now it has started clicking and 'hiccuping'.

Taking the cover off the gearbox on the offending axle appears to show the intermediate brass gear jumping out of mesh.

I have had this model for over three years now.

Is there anything I can do to fix it ?

 

Chris

 

I'm just wondering if one of the plastic gears either side of the brass one has split, as is quite common with some N gauge locos. This can lead to a clicking sound, and would cause the next gear in line to 'jump' since the mesh would not be maintained. If this is the case getting a replacement might be difficult, but I do believe they can run quite well with just one powered axle, as others have had to do. They are certainly heavy enough to provide enough traction this way.

 

Izzy

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I'm just wondering if one of the plastic gears either side of the brass one has split, as is quite common with some N gauge locos. This can lead to a clicking sound, and would cause the next gear in line to 'jump' since the mesh would not be maintained. If this is the case getting a replacement might be difficult, but I do believe they can run quite well with just one powered axle, as others have had to do. They are certainly heavy enough to provide enough traction this way.

 

Izzy

 

Thanks Izzy,

I will have another look at it when I get home and try running it without the intermediate gear.

I will let you know how I get on.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

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I'm just wondering if one of the plastic gears either side of the brass one has split, as is quite common with some N gauge locos. This can lead to a clicking sound, and would cause the next gear in line to 'jump' since the mesh would not be maintained. If this is the case getting a replacement might be difficult, but I do believe they can run quite well with just one powered axle, as others have had to do. They are certainly heavy enough to provide enough traction this way.

 

Izzy

 

Off topic really, I know - but the Heljan O gauge Hymek used to suffer some problems with splitting gears

Definitely try Howes as a first point of call. I've not used Howes much myself, but my one experience,

and that of pals has been excellent service from them

 

Best of luck getting it sorted (and it staying that way)

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  • 4 years later...
On 09/12/2015 at 10:21, Chris_nicole said:

 

Thanks Izzy,

I will have another look at it when I get home and try running it without the intermediate gear.

I will let you know how I get on.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

Hi. Sorry for the old topic drag but did you ever fix this? I've just bought one and it's doing the same thing. Definitely a gearing problem. 

 

Thanks

 

Chris

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Hi Chris

 

Having been copied back in to this thread (and it was a while back that I started it with the railbus), I regret that I cannot add much to what has been said.

 

I have not experienced any 'clicking' problems and my issues were all about control and decoders.

 

As the model needs a 21-pin decoder the options were then (and maybe are still) limited but I ended up with an ESU LokPilot V4.0 decoder No. 54615.  This solved my elecrtical/control issues and all is OK for me now.

 

I am sorry that I cannot help on the 'gearing' problem.

 

Cheers

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Sometime ago, maybe up to 2 years, I dug my railbus out of storage for a quick play. The garage layout is far from a RTR state, the plan being to extend out to the garden, but the terminus area is wired and can be used to shuttle over a 10-12' length.

First I noticed an axlebox/spring was missing, more on that in a minute. Then the railbus really staggered when I tried to run it. Not surprising as one axle was not being driven, a strip down revealed a split gearwheel on that axle - and produced another axlebox that dropped off!

Anyway I contacted Howes by email, receiving back an invite to call a certain guy who only worked on specific days. When I rang him he was extremely helpful, offering replacement axle sets and the axlebox moulding for a very reasonable price. These came from models which he was stripping for spares, a situation I've found with both Hornby and Bachmann service departments too. They soon arrived and cured my problems. And I then found the original missing axlebox moulding....

Now of course we have Howes no longer doing the spares, and the new supplier (Gaugemaster is it?) not yet up to speed with supplies, but I'm sure given time they will get there.

 

Stewart

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On 13/03/2020 at 17:04, Ton37401 said:

Hi. Sorry for the old topic drag but did you ever fix this? I've just bought one and it's doing the same thing. Definitely a gearing problem. 

 

Thanks

 

Chris

 

Hi,

Sorry, I never got around to opening up the gear box. The model went back into its box and has not been run since.

It had been an impulse buy after our first show. It was the most expensive model I have bought so far.

So when it started going clicky, I was rather disappointed to say the least and the missus was not impressed!

 

I would have liked to get a Class 14, but after this I am very reluctant to buy from Heljan again.

 

Thanks,

 

Chris 

 

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