Guest davidhood999 Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Hello, I have sent the following email to Hornby as I have read on their website and others that the new release HST locos are to have two motors as opposed to one centrally mounted motor; Hello, I read with interest that you are re-releasing the HST locomotives, this time with two motors as opposed to one centrally mounted motor on previous releases. I have 4 of your previous release locos and have the same running problems with 3 of them in that after running them for around 15 minutes they begin to slow down to the point where you have to put the transformer up to to full 100% to make them just crawl along. Not typical HST performance Im sure you will agree. When I phoned you about two years ago about this you said it was nothing to do with the locos and it must be my Gaugemaster controller at fault. So I sent the controller back to Gaugemaster who confirmed there was nothing wrong with it. So..... Is the new two motor design an admission that there is infact a design fault with this loco / motor? Otherwise why would you go to the bother of re-designing a tooling that is itself relatively new? Regards. David Hood. Does anyone else have the same problem with their HST locos (they are all new tooling) and if so how did you rectify it? Many thanks D Hood Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Fisher Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I would not have let it to go outside the warranty period. I assume youve had the top off to see if nothing might be catching? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin_l_jones Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I presume you completely removed the screw which held the black support bracket in place ? That's a symptom I suffered from on one of my sets. Mine was self inflicted, I had not removed the screw fully... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevelewis Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Totally off the topic but interesting to note that they are intending to use seperatley powered powere bogies Kato have recently done this with their H0 Genesis US diesel loco which is now receiving excellent reviews. Any one wishing to know more should have a look at the Kato website Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted December 17, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 17, 2013 I don't believe this is a problem with the design as such. If others had experienced it then surely we would have had complaints before now. My HSTs run perfectly and have probably clocked up a couple of hundred hours "on the road" now. They run in full correct 2+8 formation meaning the powered unit is under a fair load at all times. They run happily at an appropriate speed and will run at very high speed if cranked up. There is no slow-down and the units do not feel uncommonly warm after use. I use a Morley Vortrak controller on DC which puts about 1.1 amps into the track; to run the HST at a prototypical speed requires the controller to be set at about 60% of maximum. Gaugemaster units quote 1 amp I beleive which is perfectly adequate. I suspect there might be something else amiss. Have you checked the locos are free-running and not warming up / slowing down because there is something else (the packing screws are a potential suspect) preventing correct operation? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest davidhood999 Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Hi, In reply to everyone; Yes the packing screws have been removed, one loco does seem to get quite hot and the others warmer than you might expect. There are also what looks like shards of metal that appear underneath the bogies, but this is not confined to the HST and affects all recent tooling Hornby locos. On a slight aside I have had issues with most recent Hornby locos, with longevity being the main problem. Bachmann locos just seem to stay together and perform better for longer. David. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
'CHARD Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Oi! David! Are you having a dig at Hornby? I love Hornby. In fact I buy everything they release, especially the annual Hornby wagon. Their Railroad Warship has pride of place in my fleet. I have based my Production Design university thesis on the manifold success of their Design Clever philosophy, with case studies on the Great Western tank and 4-VEP. Hornby shows the world the way in its handling of production delays from the Far East, and is an exemplary market leader in its communications with dealers and customers, particularly in respect of release dates. Hornby demonstrates a consistent approach to all eras, from pre-Groping to Modern Image, and I've yet to meet a modeller whom I believe to be credible, that has anything but praise and gratitude to Hornby for everything they do for this hobby. Hornby IS model railways. Please don't forget that when you choose to mock them in such a public manner. Or woe betide what I might do. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bigbee Line Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Totally off the topic but interesting to note that they are intending to use seperatley powered powere bogies Kato have recently done this with their H0 Genesis US diesel loco which is now receiving excellent reviews. Any one wishing to know more should have a look at the Kato website The powered trucks with coreless motors are available as spares from the Kato website. I have a pair waiting for a test. Will report on running, but expect it to be of the usual Kato standard. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bigbee Line Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Hi, In reply to everyone; Yes the packing screws have been removed, one loco does seem to get quite hot and the others warmer than you might expect. There are also what looks like shards of metal that appear underneath the bogies, but this is not confined to the HST and affects all recent tooling Hornby locos. On a slight aside I have had issues with most recent Hornby locos, with longevity being the main problem. Bachmann locos just seem to stay together and perform better for longer. David. You mention shards of metal. Is this being attracted from the track bed? It would be useful to establish their source and eliminate. They could be the cause of the problem. Also do they run hot if you run them with power straight to the motors ie with the chassis suspended? Hope that helps. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waverley West Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 I can only echo Gwiwer's comments. I have three HSTs and all run superbly, running smoothly as 2+7 in "push" or "pull" mode. Do you have a link to where you read Hornby are going to fit double motors? I'd be amazed if they were going to. It seems very unnecessary to me and I think if there was a problem, you'd have read plenty about it on here. I have had a few issues with Hornby products in recent years, but their HST is superb in my experience. I also generally don't find longevity an issue with Hornby locos, so maybe you've just been unlucky. Certainly, there's something amiss with your HST, as it's obviously not performing as it should and can. A good close examination of the motor and loco generally is called for, I'd say, especially those shards of metal as other posters have said. If it's outside the warranty period and you can't see anything obviously wrong with it, then dismantling it or returning it to Hornby or elsewhere for repair might be your best option. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest davidhood999 Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Hello, I have four of the blighters and three of them run poorly, so in my humble opinion there must me a known potential fault, or I am as you say "unlucky". I will look for the info again on the web about Hornby re-motoring the HST and post the link when I find it. I was as amazed as you all to read it. David. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kal Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 HI it was here: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79822-2014-Hornby-announcements/?p=1264572 but I do not think they mean two motors, rather a motor with twin output to both bogies. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waverley West Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Hello, I have four of the blighters and three of them run poorly, so in my humble opinion there must me a known potential fault, or I am as you say "unlucky". I will look for the info again on the web about Hornby re-motoring the HST and post the link when I find it. I was as amazed as you all to read it. David. I think you've misinterpreted the announcement and I also think you've been incredibly unlucky if you have three out of four run poorly. Difficult to explain though except through incredibly bad luck, unless there are other possible causes? I'm presuming it's only your HSTs that run poorly? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Not that it excuses the behaviour of the OP, but it does say "powerful twin motor drive" and I would read that as two motors. Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waverley West Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Not that it excuses the behaviour of the OP, but it does say "powerful twin motor drive" and I would read that as two motors. Ed It's certainly ambiguous and not very well put, Ed. No doubt about that. My interpretation was based more on the view that 1) using two motors is generally unnecessary for most people and 2) it was highly unlikely Hornby would make such a change, especially given the absence of any problems being flagged up by modellers as far as I'm aware. The single motor certainly works fine for me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Belgian Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 Not that it excuses the behaviour of the OP, but it does say "powerful twin motor drive" and I would read that as two motors. Ed One thing Hornby does have a good record of is putting ambiguous information in press releases and their own publicity material. It seems highly unlikely they would retool such a recent model without making a big (ambiguous) announcement about it . . . but what a farce this and the other (locked) thread by the now ex-member has turned out to be. He's certainly made some wierd comments. At least it's given us all a good laugh! JE Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trains&armour Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 What do you want? Well I was told outside ... Don't give me that you snotty-faced heap of parrot droppings! What! Shut your festering gob you tit! Your type makes me puke! You vacuous toffee-nosed malodorous pervert! Look! I came here for an argument. (calmly) Oh! I'm sorry, this is abuse. Oh I see, that explains it. No, you want room 12A next door. I see - sorry. Not at all. (Stupid git!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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