Hornby 040 drives

[revjem]

I'm new here, so may not yet have found the answer to an old question - if so please forgive and redirect!

I have 3 Hornby 0-4-0s - two "Holden" style tanks and a Smokey Joe. They look the same inside (motors, gears) and yet the Holdens run smoothly and sensibly and SJ does what it's famous for. What's the difference and why isn't everyone answering the SJ taming question with "put a Holden motor and gear in it"?

Many thanks for a superb website.

revjem

[revjem]

It helps to do a bit more investigation! The motors and pick-ups are clearly different, so I guess swapping isn't worthwhile.

While on the topic, I notice that the green "Great Western" runs faster than the red "Santa Express" but nowhere near as fast as Smokey Joe. Is this all down to the motors?

Thanks for your patience.

[Amand]

The “open frame” motor was discontinued a long time ago. The silver can motors initially had a high top speed, this was changed a few years ago. I think the internal windings were altered, maybe the original motors were really intended for 6 volts. 
 

There are two ways of moving to the slower speed motor. Easiest is to buy part number X8961, straight forward swap out. New chassis, wheels and slower running motor. Alternatively, buy just the motor X8964, though this will require a little bit of soldering and dis / reassembly. Make sure that the parts are labelled with the above X numbers, there could be someone selling other motors with the faster speed.

[revjem]

Sorry for the delay in thanking you for this reply. I have now bought the replacement chassis with motor and it works fine, of course. I hadn't realised spares were so readily available.

Many thanks, Jeremy