Hornby A4 Shorting

[Markeg]

Hi all,

 

I have a Hornby A4 R2615 Wild Swan loco drive model that has developed a short. It will not move.

 

I have emailed Hornby and they gave me the usual advice is to check the pickups on the drawbar to the tender information. But it is not that because even without the tender attached/hooked up with the loco it still does not work. I have cleaned and oiled it and still nothing.

 

Can anyone help with suggestions?

 

I should say it is a DC ready model, not fitted with DCC.

Mark

[davidw]

Screws on the undersde of the locohold the keeper plate in place - loosen then and see if the pick ups and check if anythings caught

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

The construction of these has varied since introduction, and not having bought any since shortly after then I don't know all the 'ins and outs'. But following on from what David has already posted, does it have a (blue) wire running from a tag secured by the screw that holds on the worm cover, to the DCC socket? If so the whole chassis block is live to one rail, and it doesn't take much in the way of a displaced or bent wiper strip on the other rail to cause a permanent short. Likewise with any internal wiring that has lost insulation and is against the chassis block.

 

Frankly this is a dodgy construction, and it is relatively little work to break off the contact 'peg' on the bottom of the chassis block casting, and solder a wire onto the pick up strip and carry that to the socket. With the chassis block link to the socket also removed, the chassis block is then fully isolated from the rails, and the mechanism far less vulnerable to short circuits.