Hornby APT (2020 tooling)

[letterspider]

I really want an APT but all of these faults require major (warranty violating) interventions

Is it likely Hornby's second batch will amend these areas - or should I spend my money elsewhere?

[AY Mod]

15 minutes ago, letterspider said:

Is it likely Hornby's second batch will amend these areas

 

No-one here can answer that. Ask Hornby. 🥺

[boxbrownie]

55 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

No-one here can answer that. Ask Hornby. 🥺

Why, odds on they can’t answer that either 😁

[AY Mod]

1 minute ago, boxbrownie said:

Why, odds on they can’t answer that either 😁

 

Yeah well, they can have a dose of daft questions instead of us. ; )

[GordonC]

4 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

Why, odds on they can’t answer that either 😁

 

and could you really believe any answer they give you anyway?

[boxbrownie]

14 hours ago, GordonC said:

 

and could you really believe any answer they give you anyway?

I asked them why the cab lights on my new Class 87 didn’t work and the answer from technical came back that it hasn’t got cab lights fitted……so I sent a reply back with picture of the cab light assembly in mine and a picture from the Hornby website showing the cab illuminated.

 

They know their stuff for sure 🤣

[letterspider]

Thanks - that answers my question just fine!

[PaulRhB]

 

Thanks to @Melangoose my APT had a good run today. 
 

 

 

The APT-U development train also saw action. 

 

 

 

MiniBR publicity unit in action. 

[roundhouse]

5 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

 

Thanks to @Melangoose my APT had a good run today. 
 

 

 

The APT-U development train also saw action. 

 

 

 

MiniBR publicity unit in action. 

Did you have them speed matched and consisted to do that or a separate operator being very careful for the video?

[PaulRhB]

57 minutes ago, roundhouse said:

Did you have them speed matched and consisted to do that or a separate operator being very careful for the video?

APT run at a set speed with Nigel driving the HST in front. 
 

He did panic a bit when I saw how close I could get and got the APT an inch from the wagon 

😆

[Melangoose]

3 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

APT run at a set speed with Nigel driving the HST in front. 
 

He did panic a bit when I saw how close I could get and got the APT an inch from the wagon 

😆

That was good fun (and yes I was sweating at times).  
 

Your APT is welcome anytime 

[zoomer1979]

Well I finally feel vindicated today. I got to run my full set after I fitted pinpoint bearings and changed the pickups to low friction axle type, as sold by @DCCconcepts. Guess who doesn't need a second powered NDM for the 14-car formation? Well I still do! It does however run fine without the unpowered NDM. I will maybe try what others have and lighten the load of it.

On another note, having returned a couple of the intermediate coaches for repair to Hornby due to badly aligned bogies, the repairs have turned out to be super glue bodges. With the top bogie clips popping out and causing adjacent coaches to ride high and low, they decided to glue down the parts instead of replacing the clips. They have now warped again. See attached pictures. Another frustration for this underwhelming model.

Neil

[Bigeddie]

11 hours ago, zoomer1979 said:

Well I finally feel vindicated today. I got to run my full set after I fitted pinpoint bearings and changed the pickups to low friction axle type, as sold by @DCCconcepts. Guess who doesn't need a second powered NDM for the 14-car formation? Well I still do! It does however run fine without the unpowered NDM. I will maybe try what others have and lighten the load of it.

On another note, having returned a couple of the intermediate coaches for repair to Hornby due to badly aligned bogies, the repairs have turned out to be super glue bodges. With the top bogie clips popping out and causing adjacent coaches to ride high and low, they decided to glue down the parts instead of replacing the clips. They have now warped again. See attached pictures. Another frustration for this underwhelming model.

Neil

H

Hey Neil, sorry to here of your challanges, bit surprised at the bogie bodge, maybe its worth ringing them, explaining that it is an unacceptable temporary measure and in any case ineffective and insisting they replace the faulty bogies?

[pwr]

12 hours ago, zoomer1979 said:

Well I finally feel vindicated today. I got to run my full set after I fitted pinpoint bearings and changed the pickups to low friction axle type, as sold by @DCCconcepts. Guess who doesn't need a second powered NDM for the 14-car formation? Well I still do! It does however run fine without the unpowered NDM. I will maybe try what others have and lighten the load of it.

On another note, having returned a couple of the intermediate coaches for repair to Hornby due to badly aligned bogies, the repairs have turned out to be super glue bodges. With the top bogie clips popping out and causing adjacent coaches to ride high and low, they decided to glue down the parts instead of replacing the clips. They have now warped again. See attached pictures. Another frustration for this underwhelming model.

Neil

 

 

Have you referred your concerns back to Hornby?

 

Paul R

[SamThomas]

Has anyone considered that a single power car in a full set may be at full streatch to the detriment of it's service life ?

[zoomer1979]

3 hours ago, SamThomas said:

Has anyone considered that a single power car in a full set may be at full streatch to the detriment of it's service life ?

That was my thinking by fitting pinpoint bearings and low friction pickups. Not just to enable single motor car working, but just improving things.

[Wolf27]

It had to happen eventually, both APT’s out along with the HST-E powered test train

 

[SamThomas]

13 hours ago, zoomer1979 said:

That was my thinking by fitting pinpoint bearings and low friction pickups. Not just to enable single motor car working, but just improving things.

When installing lights into HO coaches I have used the Concepts pickup springs with excellent results.

 

Did you find replacing the original pickups alone made much difference ?

[JSpencer]

18 hours ago, SamThomas said:

Has anyone considered that a single power car in a full set may be at full streatch to the detriment of it's service life ?

 

After the first had a capacitor blow a hole through the roof, definitely!  So now I have two powered NDMs. Though I will probably only run one at a time on a reduced 10/11 car set.

[PaulRhB]

Yes I upgraded my dummy to powered using the separate NDM with the body swapped. It managed 12 on the flat but it was obvious the wheels were spinning on brisk starts and stops so it wasn’t going to be happy on gradients. Isolating the coach lights made a big difference but two powered cars just lowers the load on the motors and reduces wear on the NDM wheels from excessive slipping. 

To be honest the main consternation for me was the silly design of the decoder spaces with the plug in the way in the middle plus how shallow the driving trailers space is. Hornby may want to be a one stop supplier but then they need to make their accessories the best there is so people choose for that, not because it’s the only one that fits. Pantographs etc can be upgraded but carving out bigger receptacles for the decoders is a major job not easily possible with basic tools. 

[zoomer1979]

On 18/04/2022 at 10:27, SamThomas said:

When installing lights into HO coaches I have used the Concepts pickup springs with excellent results.

 

Did you find replacing the original pickups alone made much difference ?

Yes, it made the flickering worse, but each half set when pushed along by hand feels massively free running and will run away down slight inclines and round a corner before stopping. Previously it would squeel to a stop within its own length. Neil.

[SamThomas]

Thanks Neil - better make sure to use decent flicker frees then.

 

I have a nice rake of Lilliput Rheingold Coaches that are factory lit with bulbs - I plan to replace them with LED's & may as well replace the wiper contacts with Concepts Springs as the drag  means that currently few of my locomotive fleet will pull them (& I have no gradiants).

[Bloodnok]

On 18/04/2022 at 13:50, PaulRhB said:

It managed 12 on the flat but it was obvious the wheels were spinning on brisk starts and stops so it wasn’t going to be happy on gradients.

First time I set the 10 car set up (after running the NDM on it's own for some time), it got about two thirds of the train onto the gradient, and promptly spun to a stand.

It's now back in the box awaiting a way to motorise the other NDM and allow me to run it properly.

 

Edited April 19, 2022 by Bloodnok

[JSpencer]

On 19/04/2022 at 23:48, Bloodnok said:

First time I set the 10 car set up (after running the NDM on it's own for some time), it got about two thirds of the train onto the gradient, and promptly spun to a stand.

It's now back in the box awaiting a way to motorise the other NDM and allow me to run it properly.

 

The only way is to buy another NDM. The one due for release later in the year is the same as the unpowered one in the set. Some people intending to run only 6-8 cars might be happy to  buy an unpowered NDM (I've seen one sell for around £60 on a certain site).

[Pete the Elaner]

1 minute ago, JSpencer said:

The only way is to buy another NDM. The one due for release later in the year is the same as the unpowered one in the set. Some people intending to run only 6-8 cars might be happy to  buy an unpowered NDM (I've seen one sell for around £60 on a certain site).

 

I would do the same, but fortunately I was advised to order a spare NDM anyway.

The APT often ran as a 8-10 car set, so be patient & enjoy running it like this until the extra NDM becomes available.

 

I can only assume Hornby felt that few would want to run a 14 car train anyway?

 

Changing the body is a bit of a pain but I wanted to fit sound to the model & the decoder space is so limited that I have to remove the body to find space for anything but the smallest decoder & speaker.