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I've emailed Stickswipe, I'll get these as soon as I hear from him. I've attached a pic of my current wiring attempt. I did find a few pics around the net but they didn't match what my 17 had, tried them anyway with partial success.

I got the TV12-27 from Roxey and its a drop-in fit. I just pulled the flywheels off and swapped them onto the new motor. its a flat-sided type so I discarded the existing mountings and laid it on some black-tak with blu-tac above for the circuit board to rest on. I've run it about 300 feet so far. On the track that is laid straight onto ply it is very smooth and quiet but on the ballasted track it ampifies a humming sound! It runs fine on DC, haven't tried it yet on DCC as I'm trying to sort out the lighting. I had stripped the wiring from the circuit board as it looked pretty poor but now the red lights stay on at both ends. Is that normal? I know they're not very noticeable but I'd disconnect them if that's the case. Just trying to dim the headcode lights now. i see that a replacement was mentioned on page 1 of this thread but doesn't seem to be around now. Any help once again would be appreciated. Syd

Thanks again Brian. I see they have a TV12-27 which may do the job. I've emailed them. Syd

Thanks Roy, your memory was spot on. I had guessed some of the possible opening points but they looked so tight I hadn't chanced prying them open. I've now had the gearbox opened . The gears and bearing are turning OK. If I get the loco running I'll take care until I'm sure they are still free running when in use. Trouble is now I need a motor to complete the rebuild. I see some for sale which I could possibly adapt but they quote quite high RPM figures. I got my Class 14 out of it's box and set it on the track and it ran an inch or so and stopped, so next project is decided. Regards Syd

Thanks Brian, the thrust washer is worth some work then. What I haven't worked out is how to remove the bogies so that I can work at them. Hope you can describe the process after all this time, it would be great to sort this. Mind you, I discovered I have a Class 14, probably never been out of it's box and whilst reading up on the 17 I see they have problems too! Syd

I bought one of the early 17s back when they were new but stored it for when I built a layout. Layout now at least finished enough to run trains so got out the Clayton and, unaware of all the problems duly wrecked the motor. I see that all original motors are gone but I'm willing to search out a replacement. What I can't work out is how to get at the gears to attempt to sort them. Can anyone describe the method please? Syd

I contacted Hornby yesterday just after my post above. I said I would be happy to fit the new components if that suited them. The new parts, with, extra screws, arrived before lunch today and Thane is now up and running this past hour or so. Hornby are doing a great job of sorting this saga, full marks in my case. Good to know parts were available as well. Syd

I reported a while back that I'll be getting a new body from Hornby for my "Thane of Fife". Meantime I was running it on my layout yesterday, probably has 10 or so hours on it so far. My circuits are 30' by about 10' so trains get a decent run. It had made a few circuits when right in front of me it stopped dead (from high speed) and fell sideways off the track. The track is perfect (at least there) and never caused a derailment in that area. When I inspected it I saw the left side eccentric? was bent where it had hit the corner of the plywod platform. Further inspection showed that the connecting rod on the right side had split into two and was dangling, obviously having then spun round and jacked the loco up. No sign of the pin though I doubt I could have rejoined it anyway. So, another sorry saga. I'll be contacting Hornby today. Syd

II have explained that after a new ios was applied, maybe 12? my iPhone Xr stopped working with Touchcab. It would appear for a second then disappear. Many others had the same problem. I have tried every now and again reinstalling that same version, didn't help. On a routine updating notice from the app store a few days ago there was one for Touchcab. I had removed Touchcab from my Xr a short time ago and before that I had tried it every now and then, still didn't work. Since it was marked as an update I thought I would reinstall it unto the Xr and now it works. That notice is from Apple not the people who took over Touchcab. I would guess they have some software that was set to look for flawed older apps and alter them with that note included. There would be no reason to change the version number. I have 3 iPhones 6, 5 and 4s all kept for Touchcab only plus my wife's iPhone which also got the notice. I aplied the update to the other phones without incident though it didn't seem to affect anything on them so safe enough. I then thought nothing to lose, loaded it unto my Xr and it has worked faultlessly since, over three two hour sessions. Do you have a newer iPhone that doesn't work since the change of os a while back? If so theres nothing to lose to redownload TC and try it. How can I be the only one to get update markers on 3 phones and my wifes?

Peter, I know the App number hasn't changed. It was Apple who made work on the latest ios and mentioned it now worked with 64 bit. My phones all had it listed as an update and it made my Xr work. I have downloaded the app a number of times right up until recently and this update is a modification of the core I guess rather than features. I've gone and got my wife's phone which has Touchcab loaded but not updated. See pic attached, taken just now.

I've updated my phones so I can't see exactly what the wording was but it was something like Apple have updated this app, etc Each phone I have with Touchcab installed hat it notified as an update as normal and each one had the same wording. Should come as update available on your app store notices. As I said it's an update alright as it is running on my ios 14 Xr and it didn't before. Syd

Hi Martyn I discovered just yesterday that Apple have updated the app, it's working now on my Xr! Syd

I discovered yesterday that Apple themselves have modified the Touchcab app. It was when I was doing general updates to my iPhone 6 that I keep for railway use only, I was surprised to see that there was an update available for Touchcab. I had removed the Touchcab app from my main iPhone XR as iTC no longer worked. Posting this in case anyone else doesn't know. Glad to say I reinstalled it and it's working great! Syd

Thanks for taking the time to compile this detailed information, it will be really useful to quite a few I'm sure. Syd

You certainly have. Maybe your location meant they wanted to avoid returns, better inspection pre-dispatch.

Sorry Dave, I don't have a Golden Age loco. I reported at one stage that I had cured my GA coaches of their derailing habit. Turned out I had only reduced it. What I finally discovered was that the couplings were so poor that they were twisting and catching on the side of the aperture they pass through in the body. Final cure, drastic, was to cut a piece out of the chassis cross section and mount a special narrow Kadee box and each coach has a short and medium coupling. These are a good looking spacing and a may try two short couplings next. This is off topic but I'll just add that the eight coaches can be propelled at a good rate with no problem. Never thought I would see that with this set! Tony Wright has A GA Gresly loco, he would answer your query about its haulage power I'm sure. Strangely I never had any problem with friction and I might next even put the bogie springs back on. Need to find corridor connectors now as the GA couplings had pulled must of these off. Syd

That picture of the LMS tank makes it look really powerful. Pardon my lack of knowledge, why would it be at Peterborough? Syd

My Thane of Fife is waiting for a new body. Messy glue to the front windows, two lengths of the boiler top misaligned and black plastic showing. Could cover the boiler top by weathering though it would need a slight rub to sit level. Also a couple of chips on the chassis, again weathering will fix. Windows would be impossible to fix well. My Sun Castle overall much better but again a short(er) black line but i'll fix that. Both run beautifully using Lenz basic decoders. They pull eight Golden Age brass Gresleys without slipping. Syd

I prefer number 3. I like the wagons framing the right side of the shot. Syd

"There was a better one, but I can't find it, as the bl**dy thing has hidden it somewhere." I use a little program called Agent Ransack. I've used it for yrears. I just checked and it's still available. Mine is freeware but I see there is a Pro version too these days. It's been very useful over the years. Syd

That's a great picture Gilbert. The sky is very natural and the loco has superb weathering. I like the lamps, Modelu? Syd

I enjoyed the many anecdotes that came with votes for various staions etc. It would be nice if we could see more of those. Syd

Under the roof this morning. Different distances, and crops, which do you prefer? I like both versons for the same reasons as Mike. What I prefer with all these wonderful 'under the roof' shots is when the figures are further away from the camera, as those near the front are out of focus and draw attention to their inevitable defects. Those just a bit further back look great and quite realistic. You have some great figures in your collection! Syd

I've ordered the trial pack as a starting point. What length have you ordered fpr the Bachmann coaches Gilbert? Syd

A rushed vote this morning because this afternoon I am getting married. Congratulations David, I hope you and your bride will be very happy. We got married on this day exactly 50 years ago! Syd