Hornby Schools Traction issue.

[Daniel533]

I recently got a chance to run my recently aquired Schools class 902 Wellington, and was somewhat supprised to see that it struggled to pull 6 teak coaches on a level stretch of track, whereas my LNER L1 walked away with 10 coaches on the same stretch of track. Will the loco perform better when it has been fully run in or will i need to add some lead ballast to the loco to improve traction?

[RFS]

Surprised you have a problem with this loco: my Schools (30932 Blundells) will happily take 12 Bachmann MK1s up a 1-in-70 gradient. I doubt there's any free space in the boiler, especially as the decoder socket is in the tender.

[10000]

I'm surprised as well. Mine (902) gives a real good turn of speed on my not level track with 6 Bachmann Mk1 behind. Also climbs my gradient with no problem. ( Not tried it with more as its normal load on my layout will be 5)

 

Before trying to add weight check as many things as you can like, the drivers are on the track properly, not being lifted by something. The resistance of the coaches, is the track polished resulting in less grip . After you have eliminated all possible problems and it's still the same consider a return to the retailer as there may be a problem with it.

[Daniel533]

I was rather suprised aswell, especially after reading how well they performed. I might try it with a different rake of coaches and see if i can eliminate it to the coach bogies. I did also notice that the loco would tend to pull to the left on a straight stretch of track.

[OFFTHE RAILS]

The traction problem may be due to the bogie riding too high thus not allowing full weight on the front driving wheels. The metal plate into which the bogie pivot pin locates may need bending up to allow full weight on the front drivers rather than the bogie. Look at the Schools loco diagram on the Hornby website to see the part I mean.

 

The Hornby Schools bogie pin is a very weak plastic thing and mine broke off after a relatively minor derailing incident. I drilled a hole through the bogie and used a brass 8BA bolt as the new pivot pin.

Ian

[brushman47544]

My 903 certainly pulls a good load of Hornby Maunsells. Never tried more than 7 but does that easily. Perhaps the loco is being discerning and just doesn't like Gresleys?

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Three things to look at.

 

That the bogie, as already mentioned, is both free running and not lifting the front drivers.

 

That the tender is free running. I have had several Hornby locos where the tender wipers were binding like brakes.

 

That the coaches are free running. Test them individually, a good standard is that a vehicle rolls away from rest on a true 1 in 100, and at the least should keep rolling on a 1 in 100 once given a nudge to start it.

 

Then give it some running to polish up the driving wheel tyres, as this typically lead to gains in traction. Something of the order of 20% increase will sometimes be seen, when new out of the box traction is compared to performance after several hours running.

[Daniel533]

Problem solved Turns out the Bogie was lifting the leading driving wheels just enough for the traction tyre not to contact the rail, all i did was bend the bogie bracket just enough so that drving wheels touched the rail. As we speak she is currently hauling 6 Teaks and 4 Pullmans with ease, lets hope my next Schools doesnt have the same problem Thanks for the advice chaps.