Dad

I emailed Hornby about this a few weeks ago, and yesterday received the following reply: Thank you for your email, please send in the loco to the address below with your contact and address details along with a summary of the issue. Repairs have the part but cannot send it out so the loco will need to come into us. Case XXXXX Hornby/DS Unit 5-10 Sparrow Way Lakesview Int Bus Park Hersden CT3 4JH Yours Sincerely Simon Watkins Customer Care

As an update to my post above, I bought a pack of Bachmann spoked wagon wheels from Footplate in Kidderminster, and replaced the wheels on the Dapol Fruit D. As a result, the wagon runs perfectly and is now a very sweet runner. So there's definitely a problem with Dapol wagon wheels!

I've got a late crest E4, which has not been a good runner and frequently derailed at a couple of curved points on my layout. After reading through this thread, I removed the rear bogie and ran the loco, and behold, not a problem anymore with derailment even at full speed. I refitted the wheels and fittings, making sure that they all fitted snuggly, and moved freely, and applied a film of oil on all the moving internal parts. Result! The loco now runs much better over the curved points, with very few derailments. Thanks to everyone for the info.

I too have a Dapol Fruit D. It suffers from the very same issue you mention. Very easily derailed almost at random on my layout when other wagons, trucks and coaches run perfectly. It's the only Dapol item I have, and it's put me off ever buying anything else from their range. It now sits on a disused siding with the couplings removed, looking like a dumped, un-needed item of rolling stock - which it is.

I bought my example of the Adam radial tank from my local dealer in Kidderminster, along with a DCC chip to go with the loco, a few days before Christmas. A present to myself. Get it home and run it in DC mode - the maximum it will run is at a scale walking space. Maybe it's because it's in DC mode, think I. Take off the body to fit the chip, and spend the next hour trying without success to fit the chip, plug and harness into the small space available in the bunker. Run the loco without the body and still it goes no faster than a scale walking pace. So back to the shop with loco and chip to exchange both. Off home I went with a replacement loco and DCC chip which plugs directly into the holder without a harness and it fits perfectly. Put the loco on the track, still numbered 03, and it makes a noise, moves forward six inches, stops, and refuses to move any more, never more to run on my layout. Take the replacement loco back to the shop and proprietor Derek promises to take to home to get it sorted out. Fast forward three days and go back to the shop. Derek tells me it has blown three chips, which he puts down to faulty soldering on the chip holder. He's hot wired the chip into the loco and it's working. Take it home again, place it on the layout, it moves forward, stops, and refuses to budge again. Take it back again to the shop and swap it for a Bachmann E4, which runs perfectly. I'll wait for Hornby to bring out their Radial Tank.