martin_l_jones Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 Here's two for the price of one....Scotrail HA25 and GWR GW04... 4 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Kaput Posted June 6, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 6, 2020 Tempting me into getting a rake + powercars (in Scotrail of course...) even though I don't really have the space for anything that long....dammit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin_l_jones Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 18 hours ago, Kaput said: Tempting me into getting a rake + powercars (in Scotrail of course...) even though I don't really have the space for anything that long....dammit. It will be an expensive game, but well worth it, they look really refreshing compared to all the other liveries.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Legend Posted June 7, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 7, 2020 Living in Scotland it was a must buy for me . I’m very happy . The coaches are good value at £31.95 , but the power cars are definitely over priced at £260. I bought when they came out thinking they might be in short supply but I think you can pick them up cheaper now, maybe in the £200-£230 range . 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomScrut Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 (edited) 27 minutes ago, Legend said: Living in Scotland it was a must buy for me . I’m very happy . The coaches are good value at £31.95 , but the power cars are definitely over priced at £260. I bought when they came out thinking they might be in short supply but I think you can pick them up cheaper now, maybe in the £200-£230 range . I got mine for £225 a while ago. H charge what they do as they get away with it IMO, and I can't blame them for it as it makes business sense, although I wish they were a bit better featured lighting wise for the money. You could argue the £70 MK3 DVT is better than a dummy HST, but there would be hell on if a coach with a cab got sold for £100+. How much would one say there is in adding a drivetrain? £20? Edited June 7, 2020 by TomScrut 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium nightstar.train Posted June 7, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 7, 2020 19 hours ago, Kaput said: Tempting me into getting a rake + powercars (in Scotrail of course...) even though I don't really have the space for anything that long....dammit. You’d better be quick. Coaches are all sold out at Hornby and Rails of Sheffield sent an email telling me they had limited stock remaining. They seem to be very popular. Hornby might well do a second run of course. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomScrut Posted June 7, 2020 Share Posted June 7, 2020 16 minutes ago, nightstar.train said: You’d better be quick. Coaches are all sold out at Hornby and Rails of Sheffield sent an email telling me they had limited stock remaining. They seem to be very popular. Hornby might well do a second run of course. I saw in Facebook this morning that KMS have full rakes still. At £35 each though I think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Kaput Posted June 7, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 7, 2020 Coaches ordered.... Powercars might need to wait for the bank balance to recover Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris89 Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 Got the coaches from my other half as a rather late B'day Present, came about 2/3 days apart from each other. Am incredibly impressed with them, Hopefully be able to find a friends layout to give it a run on. (Powercars now sounded as well to) 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Class 158 productions Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 Wonder if now we will see the prices of Scotrail powercars increase, I believe it happened to the GWR packs and LNER ones when their respective coaches arrived, I could be wrong. But I did notice gwr ones climbing slightly Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Legend Posted June 8, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 8, 2020 3 hours ago, Class 158 productions said: Wonder if now we will see the prices of Scotrail powercars increase, I believe it happened to the GWR packs and LNER ones when their respective coaches arrived, I could be wrong. But I did notice gwr ones climbing slightly I think there’s still a fair number around . In addition I believe Hornby have got another release in this years catalogue . What I’m thinking is they may we’ll introduce a power car in the Railroad range maybe next year in the same way as there is a BR one now and a GWR trainset . 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomScrut Posted June 8, 2020 Share Posted June 8, 2020 29 minutes ago, Legend said: In addition I believe Hornby have got another release in this years catalogue They have, so one could make up two rakes with different numbers for both sets. I aren't sure about RR in this case. Would the livery work at a Railroad price point? Would probably need to be Railroad plus or whatever. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium nightstar.train Posted June 12, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 12, 2020 Finally received my rake of 4 Scotrail coaches from Rails of Sheffield today. Must say i very disappointed. Visually they’re great, lovely looking coaches. But the ride quality is appalling. Pulling the rake one of the coaches always jumps on a point and derails itself and the following coach. I think I’ll have to get the callipers out and check the wheel measurements. And pushing is even worse. Frequent derailments, can’t complete a loop without coming off. To me it seems that the soft plastic of the couplers, coupled with the huge amount of slop in the NEM pocket is causing the couplers to ride up and over/under each other rather than pushing on the loops. It’s even worse on the coach pushing the power car. Really disappointed, I’d been really looking forward to these. A 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 1 hour ago, nightstar.train said: Finally received my rake of 4 Scotrail coaches from Rails of Sheffield today. Must say i very disappointed. Visually they’re great, lovely looking coaches. But the ride quality is appalling. Pulling the rake one of the coaches always jumps on a point and derails itself and the following coach. I think I’ll have to get the callipers out and check the wheel measurements. And pushing is even worse. Frequent derailments, can’t complete a loop without coming off. To me it seems that the soft plastic of the couplers, coupled with the huge amount of slop in the NEM pocket is causing the couplers to ride up and over/under each other rather than pushing on the loops. It’s even worse on the coach pushing the power car. Really disappointed, I’d been really looking forward to these. A Feel the same myself. The problem seems to be that awful coupling system that Hornby have decided to fit. After going round a curve, the couplings are not centralising on the straight at times. This is causing derailments quite often. Not a lot of improvement when taking the body off and backing off the interior retaining screws a touch and putting graphite grease behind the coupling arm arrangement. Seems a very similar problem to the coupling arrangement on the class 60 locos which I improved by grinding down the 'V' on the aperture the coupling revolves around. May well have to do this on the coaches! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Half-full Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 16 minutes ago, JohnC said: Feel the same myself. The problem seems to be that awful coupling system that Hornby have decided to fit. After going round a curve, the couplings are not centralising on the straight at times. This is causing derailments quite often. Not a lot of improvement when taking the body off and backing off the interior retaining screws a touch and putting graphite grease behind the coupling arm arrangement. Seems a very similar problem to the coupling arrangement on the class 60 locos which I improved by grinding down the 'V' on the aperture the coupling revolves around. May well have to do this on the coaches! You may be wise to invest in a pack of Hunt Couplers, they'll save you pulling the coaches apart Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomScrut Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 Just now, Half-full said: You may be wise to invest in a pack of Hunt Couplers, they'll save you pulling the coaches apart I have found the Hunt mk3SD couplers (same as their ultra close from what I can see) are a bit too short for my layout. I sorted this by having A mk3SD couplers and B close couplers to open the gap up slightly 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamvb Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, nightstar.train said: Finally received my rake of 4 Scotrail coaches from Rails of Sheffield today. Must say i very disappointed. Visually they’re great, lovely looking coaches. But the ride quality is appalling. Pulling the rake one of the coaches always jumps on a point and derails itself and the following coach. I think I’ll have to get the callipers out and check the wheel measurements. And pushing is even worse. Frequent derailments, can’t complete a loop without coming off. To me it seems that the soft plastic of the couplers, coupled with the huge amount of slop in the NEM pocket is causing the couplers to ride up and over/under each other rather than pushing on the loops. It’s even worse on the coach pushing the power car. Really disappointed, I’d been really looking forward to these. A I've had similar experiences with the XC carriages (both the couplings) but mainly the wheels - a number of the wheels seem to be incorrectly mounted on the axles (not square to the track/right angles to the axle), and around half of them are "out of round" either due to poor moulding or mounting on the axle. It causes a rather obvious and constant wobble as they run along. Alongside various paint finish issues and warping of the TCC/Buffet car its been a real pain. Edited June 12, 2020 by adamvb Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium nightstar.train Posted June 12, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 12, 2020 4 hours ago, JohnC said: Feel the same myself. The problem seems to be that awful coupling system that Hornby have decided to fit. After going round a curve, the couplings are not centralising on the straight at times. This is causing derailments quite often. Not a lot of improvement when taking the body off and backing off the interior retaining screws a touch and putting graphite grease behind the coupling arm arrangement. Seems a very similar problem to the coupling arrangement on the class 60 locos which I improved by grinding down the 'V' on the aperture the coupling revolves around. May well have to do this on the coaches! I’ve had quite a lot of success this afternoon. I replaced all the couplers with the semi ridged couplers that Bachmann supply with their Mk1s, the type that look like hoses. Vastly improved the running. I’ve managed to bend two of them to be stepped to connect up,to the power cars as well. Additionally I checked all the wheels. Not a single axle had the correct back to back. Some were as low as 14.2 mm. Corrected them as best I can and that’s also helped the running. Much happier now, although I’m rather annoyed at Hornby. These things seem very basic, and Hornby shouldn’t be getting them wrong. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium newbryford Posted June 12, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 12, 2020 1 hour ago, nightstar.train said: Additionally I checked all the wheels. Not a single axle had the correct back to back. Some were as low as 14.2 mm. Corrected them as best I can and that’s also helped the running. Much happier now, although I’m rather annoyed at Hornby. These things seem very basic, and Hornby shouldn’t be getting them wrong. B2B seems to be a weakness of Hornby. Even going back to the original 142s, I have two HST sets of non-SD Mk3s. During an exhibition I would get a random derailment. Culprit was a wheel that had moved on the axle. One day, they will be revisited with a suitable supply of epoxy adhesive. I have yet to run my SD XC set. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 13 hours ago, Half-full said: You may be wise to invest in a pack of Hunt Couplers, they'll save you pulling the coaches apart I have fitted Hunt couplings but still the same problem if the coupling does not centralise after traversing a corner. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin_l_jones Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 The coupling system has been widely reported as a real negative on the Class 60. I'm really surprised they have gone this way as its not really been a problem with it mounted on the bogies, and the coaches perform much better being pushed that way... I've also noticed there is a lot of wobble on some coaches on my second sliding door FGW set which I presume is plastic wheels.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Half-full Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 5 hours ago, JohnC said: I have fitted Hunt couplings but still the same problem if the coupling does not centralise after traversing a corner. Thats a pain. I do away with most close-coupling mechansisms - I standardise on Kadee No.5 couplings, though I am investigation Hunt Couplings for fixed rake stock - not much that will be pushed though Do you think some graphite rubbed on the mechanism plates would help? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium nightstar.train Posted June 13, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 13, 2020 1 hour ago, Half-full said: Thats a pain. I do away with most close-coupling mechansisms - I standardise on Kadee No.5 couplings, though I am investigation Hunt Couplings for fixed rake stock - not much that will be pushed though Do you think some graphite rubbed on the mechanism plates would help? A fixed bar type coupler seems to work well. It forces the coupling mechanism to straighten out. Does make it a bit of a sod to put the rake together though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin_l_jones Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 3 minutes ago, nightstar.train said: A fixed bar type coupler seems to work well. It forces the coupling mechanism to straighten out. Does make it a bit of a sod to put the rake together though. I've fitted the Hornby close coupler straight bars to mine and they perform well when pulling. The gaps not too bad either... The only thing you can here is the clicking of the vee bars as they straighten out... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westhillwagonworks Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 Please checkout Robs video here on mk3 sliding doors couplings not centring may help: 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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