Hornby A4 poor haulage (tender wheels?)

[Henry 84F]

Good afternoon all,

 

Apologies if a solution to the following is posted elsewhere. I've tried to find it but to no avail. If there is a topic already, could someone please point me in the right direction?

 

I recently bought one of Hornby's latest batches of A4 - R3701 - and have found that its haulage ability spoils a somewhat excellent product. The tender wheelsets squeal as it rolls and the tender on its own does not roll freely. Subsequently, the A4 slips with only three latest Hornby Collett coaches when no other model does.

 

I have just got back into modelling after a bit on an absence, but I remember a previous Hornby A4 (R2906 from the Rare Bird set) having a similarly poor-rolling tender. Its haulage was no where near as poor as this one though.

 

Before I start taking off the tender baseplate to see if I can free the wheels up, does anyone have any suggestions as to a solution? I am reluctant to send it back as it is an excellent model and runs perfectly otherwise.

 

Thanks,

Henry

[cypherman]

Hi there,

It could be that the wheels have not been put in true. Or that the wheels are slightly out of gauge and binding against the chassis. So it may need the wheels pushing out a bit.. There is a thread here some where about a new Pacer from Hornby where the wheels were all out of true. So it is not out of the realms of possibility that yours may be. Try turning the tender upside down and see if the wheels are misaligned. To be honest the only real way to find out what is wrong would be to take it apart. Now if the engine is new this might invalidate your warranty. So a return to Hornby may be your only option.

I hate to mention mazac rot as this is a new engine, But again it is a remote possibility. So worth checking what the tender chassis is made of.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

The combination of the captivated axles and the pick up wipers makes many Hornby tenders 'no roll', with the resultant traction deficit.

 

If the loco will run without the tender coupled on, you can make a quick assessment of the loco's real haulage potential. Worth checking independently to ensure there is not a further problem on the loco, such as a binding bogie wheel or the bogie lifting the front of the loco, taking weight off the driving wheels. It should take a dozen free running coaches without difficulty and whip them along at speed.

 

The tender running gear is not difficult to dismantle, just release the keeper plate, and either remove the wipers or reshape them so they only very lightly graze the wheels, Check that each wheelset can rotate freely, and retest after assembly to confirm it is now able to roll somewhat.

[DCB]

Started before 34 posted!   Sounds like a rogue, I would expect it to pull 6 on the level.    I would take it back to the retailer.   However I have sent a loco back to Hornby direct in the past and got a replacement.  

Failing that you could investigate.  The tender pickups always drag but yours sounds extreme, is a pickup twisted and binding on the wheel.    However I use DC and habitually remove tender pickups whch usually adds two coaches to the three they usually manage up a 1 in 30. Weighting the loco adds another two for my baseline performance of 7 up a 1 in 36 for 5MT and above

[micklner]

Remove the Tender baseplate's three screws. Push the pick ups back off the wheels. A4's do not need Tender pick ups neither do the A1 and A3's , the Loco wheelbase is more than long enough on its own.

Check the Loco pick ups are all working, again adjust after removing baseplate if needed.

[Theakerr]

My Hornby A4s out of the box will pull 9/10 Bachmann Mk1s with no problem, 10/11 pushing it.  Bit of weight and 14/15.  As i remember on one Hornby (cant remember which one) with tender pickups one of the pickups was physically twisted so that the pickup edge was on the wheel.  It screeched.  

[Henry 84F]

Thanks for the tips, all.

 

I will have a look this week at removing the tender keeper plate to assess the wheels and especially those pickups. I'll keep an open mind about returning it if needed too.

 

Thanks,

Henry

[kevinlms]

2 hours ago, AlexHolt said:

I had the limited edition A4 Bittern from the most recent releases and had similar issues. Found that the tender keeper plate was screwed down too tightly with mine and that stopped them from moving freely. Also found that the driving wheel keeper plate was not screwed in tight enough, which eventually made the driving wheels drop out whilst running. 

So on average, the screw tension was right!

[Henry 84F]

Thanks for all your suggestions.

 

Having removed the tender keeper plate, I eased the pickups against the leading and trailing wheelsets completely back as they barely rolled when they were connected.

 

Reassembled, it runs much more freely and there is a marked improvement in haulage. 

 

Thanks everyone for your help. 60028 seen here at 'Condiment Cupboard Corner' as circumstances currently allow!

 

Henry