Hornby 2P EM conversion

[down the sdjr]

Hi all,

I have a new found interest in RTR EM conversion and i have a pretty large collection of RTR locos, 1F, 3F, 4F, 2P etc. Lying in a siding hardly ever used is a loco drive Hornby Midland 2P,

has anyone done this loco drive to EM?

Cant find it on the usual how to guides so im guessing not an easy one. I see Alan Gibson sell all the wheels.

I can see it has a lot of pick ups on the wheels that may cause a problem.

Is it a easier to make a new chassis?

Thanks in advance,

Paul.

[hayfield]

If its the older style Margate Hornby locos the conversions are very easy. Using Markit wheels which self quarter can easily be used as markit sell Triang 9/64th axles especially for this purpose for 00 gauge not sure if they do EM ones, or you could bush the axle holes with brass bearings to take standard 1/8 th axles

 

The next issue is you need to pack out the wheels from the side. this could be simply done using spacing washers. 

A better method is to stick a sheet of 1mm plasticard to one side, then drill out the axle holes. Repeat the process on the other side

If you have the early Triang chassis which have steel chassis frames with cast blocks sandwiched in between. Remove the wheels, unscrew the chassis, remove the cast spacers. fit EM gauge frame spacers (or fit 00 gaune ones with washers to space out to a 11 mm gap) fit axle bearings then either Markit or Gibson wheels can be used

 

 

The second vies shows 00 gauge frame spacers with washers. As you can see by getting rid of the center castings most motors can be used with the appropriate gearbox/motor mount and gears

 

 

This is one taken apart, if you are going to all this trouble buy a set of Mainly Trains etched coupling rods

 

I have recently bought EM gauge axles and frame spacers from 247 Developments

Mainly Trains parts are now sold by Wizard Models who also sell some Markits products

[hayfield]

Forgot to add, you could build new chassis, Comet kits, High Level kits both sell chassis kits also Southeastern Finecast sell their chassis as stand alone kits, plus Alan Gibson has a very large range of Milled brass Mainframes

[PenrithBeacon]

I bought a body from Richards Spares with a view to doing a P4 conversion. The Comet chassis kit is for OO only so another set a spacers is needed and if modelling BR a different chimney is required, it's the same as a 4F. AGW and SEF can supply. There are other details needed too, again Comet or AGW.

HTH, Cheers

[PenrithBeacon]

Perhaps I should have mentioned that Wizard/Comet are still trading, but I don't know about AGW.

[down the sdjr]

Thank you for the replies, very kind to share your knowledge.

 

I have taken the chassis out. Being new to this i am not sure what type it is but does not look to different from the Bachmann one i did before.

Thinking i may be able to get some wheels and axles that i could fettle in to the chassis.

The driving axle has a locating bush on one side of the gear and the other wheels just have spacers. I do have some EM axles maybe i should remove the wheels and have a look.

 

 

Any advice would be welcome.

 

Paul.

[Izzy]

I'd just check the axle size, they may be 3mm or smaller. Gibson do produce wheels with certain axles sizes for RTR conversions where they are other than 1/8". If it's anything like the J15 I did a while back the wheels will be splined onto the (2mm) axles so you can't just twist them off the axle, and so will the final drive gear. I see one wheelset has tyres - ugh! (sorry, just don't like them). You might be able to increase the BTB to that needed for EM by pulling them out on the axles. Could be worth a try as a first step.

 

Izzy

[down the sdjr]

Hi Izzy,

Thanks for that, it does seem to work. Splined axles, pulled them off and re set with a BTB gauge. Will try a reasemble tomorrow and see how it goes,

[Izzy]

Yes, it's what I did with the J15, with the wheels re-machined for P4, but didn't know if it would work with EM without touching the wheel/tyre width. You can always fill the axle 'hole' in the middle of the wheel with plastic filler. That's what I did.... no one seems to have noticed.....so it must look okay....

 

 

Izzy

 

[down the sdjr]

The wheels have been reset and fitted.

I am not sure it would pull a 10 coach passenger but it wouldnt before anyway. It does work though, needs a bit of fine tuning.

I am waiting for a Peco Smart switch point control to arrive so have not tested anything across points yet.

That was fun and free..

Thank you.

 

 

[Combe Martin]

On ‎15‎/‎05‎/‎2020 at 10:39, down the sdjr said:

 

I am not sure it would pull a 10 coach passenger but it wouldnt before anyway. 

 

 

Yes it should do, it's the most recent type Hornby loco drive 2P with traction tyres.  Mine will haul 18 coaches !  I gave up adding more.

 

On the S&D, the heaviest unassisted load I've heard they were booked for was 8, and that was on the southern half of the line where it's a bit flatter, mind you there is still Parkstone bank to climb. 

 

 

 

Edited May 18, 2020 by Combe Martin

[down the sdjr]

11 hours ago, Combe Martin said:

Yes it should do, it's the most recent type Hornby loco drive 2P with traction tyres.

The gears slip when under load on this one. I bought it used from Hattons and it has always done it, must investigate and find the problem.