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Growling Jinty!


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Hello, I recently purchased a second hand Hornby Jinty, running number 47480, not sure what the Hornby R number is as underneath the body it says R052-010 and on the chassis it states R052-0560. I thought it was either the R261 or R302.

Anyway, it runs nicely but it has a very noticeable "growl". is there any way I can reduce this please? Incidentally, when it runs off one of my controllers on to the second controller the note of the growl differs considerably. Would this be something to do with my controllers. One is a Railpower 1300 Throttle Control, the other is a Bachmann Speed Control from the Midland Marvel train set. I live in Alberta, hence the Railpower Throttle Control, where most things electric are 120 volts,

Many thanks in advance for any help or tips. 

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Oh they growl alright, the majority did this even when they were new, about sixty years ago! The end float on the motor shaft, any imbalance in the armature and the action of the worm and pinion, with direct conduction of the sum of vibration to the track and thus the baseboard, is what you are hearing. If one of your controllers is supplying something more sophisticated than smoothed mains frequency DC, that would account for the difference heard when using the different controllers.

 

There are palliatives, check armature balance, reduce end float to the practical minimum and use a sticky lubricant, polish the worm and pinion with a small run with Brasso  (or even abrasive toothpaste); but there is no getting away from the direct drive on an axle which means all the mechanism vibration is well coupled to the track and thus the baseboard, which amplifies the sound output.

 

Or accept it for what it is, and if you want a quiet one, Bachmann have a significantly more accurate model with a can motor and plastic multistage gear train.

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Perhaps it's just bad tempered...

 

Older models made a lot of mechanical noise and electrical hum by today's standards, and it may well not be anything to worry about if the loco runs smoothly and can be controlled at low speeds.  If it is bothering you, and a strip down, deep clean, and re-lubing does not make a difference, it may be worth trying to fill any empty space inside the bodyshell with something like milliput or plasticene.  This should deaden the noise by removing the empty area's ability to act as an amplifying sound chamber, and have the added benefit of ballasting the loco, improving weight over the driving wheels and improving both electrical pickup and haulage.

 

I'm unfamiliar with Railpower DC controllers, but as the company's name is Model Rectifier Corporation I'm assuming that there is probably some sort of half-wave rectification used in it's circuitry.  I had this many years ago on a H & M 'Powermaster', and it induced all sorts of noises from my locos...

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I gather she is R.302.  http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_details.asp?itemid=70

Links to the service information are about half way down.

 

Is the chassis noisy when run on its own?  There is quite a lot of slop in the bearings, which is not conducive to smooth and/or quiet running, though I can't recall my example of 47480* being particularly noisy (or allergic to my 'Powermaster'.

I am away from my collection at present and I can't trust the distaff side of the family to even undestand what i'm talking about....

(Dad's/Hubby's useless trains....  :scratchhead:  )

 

*Or any other the various locos I have with this chassis. One didn't want to run properly, but this was the result of the above mentioned 'slop' and  one of the wheelsets being very slightly out of quarter.

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