2023 Overall Feeling

[Dunsignalling]

54 minutes ago, vikingsmb said:

Just had it confirmed by Hornby as I spoke to the technical bods, 

it is loco drive (my apologies) and he said the catalogue is wrong, 

I'm a bit miffed about the 47 and warship not being ringfield type, however there is something in the pipeline regarding motors you can service again....... watch this space I think, I will buy the warship but will remotor it as its using lima tooling

TBH, I think you'll be waiting for a long time. AFAIK no model railway brand designs or makes its own motors any more, they are all bought-in. Bachmann can motors have also been sealed units since the year dot, TTBOMK.

 

I have examples  their early centre-can diesels (a Warship and a Class 46) that have probably done several hundred real miles each and, if anything, run better than ever! I've had a few of their old split-chassis steamers die on me, but through clapped out chassis; the motors were still fine. 

 

The modern industry standard, largely driven by pan-national limits on the emission of RF interference, is for sealed motors that can be guaranteed to be compliant throughout their service lives.

 

Spare Hornby motors are available at reasonable cost (and probably compatible ones for even less if you know where to look).

 

I've only needed one since Hornby moved production to China and that was partially seized through disuse rather than worn. Have you actually managed to wear out one of their sealed ones yet?

 

John 

Edited February 20, 2023 by Dunsignalling

[vikingsmb]

4 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

TBH, I think you'll be waiting for a long time. AFAIK no model railway brand designs or makes its own motors any more, they are all bought-in. Bachmann can motors have also been sealed units since the year dot, TTBOMK.

 

I have examples  their early centre-can diesels (a Warship and a Class 46) that have probably done several hundred real miles each and, if anything, run better than ever! I've had a few of their old split-chassis steamers die on me, but through clapped out chassis; the motors were still fine. 

 

The modern industry standard, largely driven by pan-national limits on the emission of RF interference, is for sealed motors that can be guaranteed to be compliant throughout their service lives.

 

Spare Hornby motors are available at reasonable cost (and probably compatible ones for even less if you know where to look).

 

I've only needed one since Hornby moved production to China and that was partially seized through disuse rather than worn. Have you actually managed to wear out one of their sealed ones yet?

 

John 

Sealed ones are Bachmann only 1 manor, 1 43xx, 1 peak, 1 class 24 and 1 x 25, and no, but it would be nice to replace brushes. Surely they can make one that is RF compliant

[Dunsignalling]

2 minutes ago, vikingsmb said:

Sealed ones are Bachmann only 1 manor, 1 43xx, 1 peak, 1 class 24 and 1 x 25, and no, but it would be nice to replace brushes. Surely they can make one that is RF compliant

No doubt they could, but that's not really the point.

 

Regulators (and consequently, manufacturers) require them to remain compliant throughout their expected service lives. Hornby et al need them to be affordable and they fulfil both requirements because the small motors in our models are used (albeit with different gears etc.) in in all manner of other things. We think model trains are a big deal, but the daily production of such motors exceeds Hornby's entire annual output of locomotives. This piggy-backing on bigger industries is also one of the reasons why coreless motors are gradually becoming more common.  

 

At cost, our motors are cheap (seldom more than £5 of what you pay for a typical loco) but that depends on using motors that are made in huge quantities for multiple purposes. Making structurally different motors for a relatively minor part of the market would eliminate existing economies of scale, resulting in a very considerable multiplication of unit cost for the motor you desire.  

 

Also, IIRC, the last time I acquired (with some difficulty) a set of new brushes for an X04, they cost almost as much as the £20 (retail) I paid for a new Hornby-branded motor (with fitted worm) for "Weymouth". The time and skill required to swap both was about equal. 

 

John

[No Decorum]

On 20/02/2023 at 09:15, Dunsignalling said:

As others have cited, there is hands-on evidence that the Railway Children 4F (at least) does have loco drive, and it would seem perverse to do any others or the 2Ps differently.

 

I personally consider that most printed catalogues (and not just Hornby's) have long ceased to be a meaningful source of information on what products will be available during the year printed on the cover.  They nowadays mostly appeal to those who like to collect catalogues.

 

An argument is sometimes put forward that they act as a record of past products, but most recent editions have featured several new ones that didn't see the light of day during their currency. 

 

For well over a decade, each edition appears to have been largely cut-and-pasted from earlier ones, so it's perhaps not surprising that outdated information resurfaces occasionally.

 

Hornby clearly consider that the traditional printed catalogue still has a place, but (IMHO) a company of their iconic (damn, there goes another 50p) status could, and should, be producing something far more attractive, imaginative, and informative than an annual formulaic rehash of the one before, the one before that, and....

 

That would restore "the book" to real collectability, and I'd start buying them again instead of disappointedly flipping though copies bought by others....

 

If you must do it, Hornby, do it properly. The release of each one should be an event. 

 

John

Even when Hornby tries, it’s wrong. The catalogue contains a nice picture of Earl Marischal belting along but it’s only Cock o’ the North renumbered and renamed. There are very noticeable differences between the two.

[drt7uk]

On 10/01/2023 at 16:27, phil gollin said:

.

 

I note, from a BBC London news programme, that today is the 160th anniversary of the London Underground.

 

So where are the anniversary models ?

 

😀

 

.

I'd love a Metropolitan No.1 E Class but that requires a completely new tooling (though maybe the LNSR M7 could be modified) so probs not likely