liathach

Hello all, I eventually went DCC last year. I initially tried Gaugemaster and DCC Concepts...both very poor running. Tried Lenz: much better control albeit the big step from standing put me off them. Similar with ESU. Eventually settled on Zimo decoders. They have far more choice with the CV range. I was happy initially with the Bachmann Halls, but realised at medium to high speeds, just the Halls (not other Bachmann or Hornby locos) had an odd start-stop-start staccato wheel revolution. Formerly on DC they were silky smooth. After testing all sorts, I reduced the compensation far lower than with other locos. Also, Zimo gives the option to reduce compensation cut off (rather than switch off completely) at a set speed step. After experimentation with reducing compensation cut-off at a moderate speed to about a third of the low-speed compensation, the rhythm of the Hall loco movement looks much better. I've not yet tested if this gives satisfactory running when double-heading.

Hello Ray, since my last posts on RM Web, I've gone over to DCC on a rebuild. I bought R2822 5053 Earl Cairns and R2848 5011 Tintagel Castle. Both these are from the same production group. Both at slow and moderate speeds tend to intermittently "lock up" when hauling a decent load. My investigation this time led me to the meshing of the motor worm and central gear. With the motor out, the chassis rolls evenly, with no indication of the motion being any issue. The motor runs well out of the cradle. I swapped motors (bought a new spare to eliminate motor issue). Looking closely at the worm and gear there are no obvious defects in either. However, when they mesh, it looks like the gear tends to get drawn up in to the worm unevenly. I've tried reducing lateral and horizontal movement of the gear, but so far nothing has ironed out the problem. I have ordered a replacement gear to test an alternative. If that fails, I might give up on Hornby Castles again! I've tested a Hornby Star with the same group of wagons at the same speeds and that runs fine.

Further to the above, Hornby had no interest regarding my experience! Be warned! I have got the Loco running acceptably in the end...providing the chassis doesn't split into pieces (as seen in earlier posts) * Glued down the motor with araldyte instead of the fragile housing from Hornby. * Filed away clearance for the bogie pin to prevent that from being load bearing * Concentrated weight between the motor and the cab. I experimented with weight just in front of the motor aswell (this made no difference). The weight on the rear driver has made a big difference to preventing the loco slipping with loads. I've gone from it taking 3 coaches maximum to 6 or 7 on my gradients. BE CAREFUL with the cab backhead. This easily pops out, but is very tricky to get back in to the correct position.

I've just (regretted) buying at the weekend an R2829 new from a shop on the east coast. The shop owner didn't want to take apart the box work to test the loco for me. I trusted them. It was clearly new from the factory with nothing moved. It was screechingly noisy running. The front motor retainer was fractured from the chassis as discussed previously. It did work OK briefly. Then the rear sections of the motor housing also fractured into small fragments. I have since emailed Hornby directly about this. I am pending a reply. Of the many locos I've had over the years, this one has definitely been the biggest waste of money. The cab body sections have come apart due to me trying repeatedly to fix the motor housing. I have ended up trying to glue the motor in position, then utilized foam inserts to hold the motor in position against the body. I doubt this will work long-term. I tried a recent Hornby M7. I had had multiple problems with that. I got rid of that via Ebay. To describe my experience with the M7 and T9: both looked great in the box; completely hopeless as running model locomotives.

Thanks for the advice on the Kings! I've had a similar experience with the current castle class locomotives. Three bought and two failures. The remaining loco just about hangs in to its position in the fleet (until another manufacturer comes up with a GWR 4 cylinder product). Cheers, John

Thanks for the post Ray, I've been thinking of getting one of the counties and then trying to detail it. Excellent summary of the Railroad versus the earlier chassis. Tempted to modify a set of earlier Wrenn slide bars to fit, hide the daylight above the front bogie and in the drag box area, as well as add sand boxes. I recently bought another (current) Hornby Star class in the hope it had better tractive afford than initially released. Same story: struggles to pull five coaches on my gradients where all my other locos (apart from recent Hornby Castles, B1s and K1s) easily haul double before they even think of a gentlest hint of spin. If only Hornby would work harder on getting weight in to the locomotive and also using a different metal on the driving wheel tyres! CHeers, John

Bachmann E4. added Phosphor bronze contacts to either side of the rear truck. After a bit of tweaking the truck holds its centreline and doesn't drag. I looked at filing room for the centre driver to float a bit, but that was prevented by the drive gears being meshed to the centre. No issues with derailing so far with the modified truck. Vast improvement with slow speed over all the frogs.

Cheers for the information. I might get another E4 and look at seeing if I can easily get some some movement in an axle, or possibly run contacts to the rear wheels. On the Hornby locos I have, the contact set ups are flimsier and thus more prone to need attention than the Bachmann locos I have. Dave Jones appeared to do a great job with the contacts on the O2 though. Looked very robust. It just needed more weight balancing out so that the two driving axles had as much possible traction as feasible. I have a few of the Midland 3F and 4Fs. Excellent runners and the ones I have were great from the box on the traction-side. Added tender contacts.

I am mulling over purchasing a Bachmann C Class or the Hornby 700 Class. I bought and returned (or sold on) a few Southern locos lately due to imperfect running. Bachmann E4…pity no pick-ups on the rear truck (am thinking of returning to that) or the very handy sprung centre driver to ensure electrical continuity. Hornby M7….faffed about for ages to try and cure the very poor flimsy contacts. Kernow / Dave Jones o2….great runner but unable to pull a pair of coaches. So, I like a smooth running loco at slow speed capable of pulling a fair load….how do the C class and the 700 class models compare?

Since returning the Bachmann E4, I thought I'd try a Hornby M7 instead. Although the M7 did have pick ups on all wheels, getting them to marry up consistently was a mare. As a result the M7 was more prone to variable stalling than the E4. Rather than graft at replacing the very flimsy contacts on the M7 I thought I'd give the Kernow DJ Models O2 a go. The O2 looks truly wonderful and it runs very smoothly over point work and crossings. No issues with stalling or derailing. However, she can barely pull two to three free-running Bachmann coaches. I experimented with the springing of the rear bogie and also trying to get more weight over the front driving wheels. None of these cured the poor adhesion. If only the E4 or M7 had the same pick-up set up as the O2!

Regarding the running, as per other comments, shame they didn't look at a sprung central driver as this would have reduced slow-speed stalling over point work. Either that or contacts to to the rear wheel set. I returned mine, rather than get irritated by the stalling on some points. I tried a Hornby M7 - despite having contacts on all wheels, the assembly quality was far worse, so that stalled far worse. Has anybody compared the performance to the DJ Models O2? Am thinking of trying one of those, or maybe revisit the E4 but see about adding contacts on the rear wheels?

Hello Ray, enjoyed your article on the Collett. I had a Mainline version in my youth. Like a lot of Mainline models it had two primary speeds: stop and a very noisy 300mph without nothing in between! I've had three of the Bachmann jobs. One on of the earlier ones I bought, the driving wheel electro-plated (I think) surfaces wore off partially causing erratic running. I have the same model of 3205. I've experienced the same issue with the wiring passing through under the cab. Somewhere under the cab, the contacts or wires have been shorting against the black-painted chassis. There is also very limited clearance for the wheel contact strips and these might short against the painted chassis block. This might be happening to yours. I've not traced the exact spot where this happens. Separately on the model, I used a brass strip as a shorter drawbar, with wires going to extra pick-ups to the tender I added. Separate to the short in the cab, this improved a lot the running on this loco. On my other loco, I've not progressed with tender pick ups as it runs smoothly as it is (so far!). On both models I have used odd red painted bits to try and simulate the running gear under the boiler to hide the noticeable flat surface. Surprises me none of the companies out there do a detailing kit for such a popular model? Cheers. John

Thanks for the articles on the A4 and the A1 Ray. I shall probably get round to adding a Bachmann A1 at some stage so your information regarding the improvements is most welcome. Re comparing the Bachmann LNER locos against the Hornby, I only have a late crest V2 60825 from Bachmann and I have a Railroad A4 Falcon and a loco-drive Gresley A1 Gladiateur in apple green. Comparing those three the V2 is a relatively old model. I do have a soft spot for it. The detailing is a bit chunky in places, but you at least you know it is sturdy to handle. Despite it's split-chassis age and old body, it's a very reliable and smooth runner. I've not needed to do any major work on the loco, save for a quick shortening of the tender gap and then re-soldering the cartazzi truck pick up wire connection once. She pulls all the loads I normally use (say up to 6, 7 or 8 coaches) fine. The more recent locos from 31-560+ are well worth their bargain prices. I am very tempted to add the current BR Black release! The A1 Gladiateur is the current/recent loco-drive engine. I've had it for a good few years and it has been faultless - far better than some of the recent Hornby locos I've had! The motion work is very fine so it needs careful handling whereas the Bachmann locos are a lot more sturdy in that sense. Some people state the Hornby rods are too thin. In relation to performance the A1 has been excellent. It has been faultless and will pull anything I put behind it. Bear in mind these have the fixed cartazzi truck; thus if you have train-set radius curves the truck overhand is very noticeable. The A4 Falcon is in garter blue. It shares the same chassis set up as the A1: hence excellent running. However, the tender is the old tender-drive with the old connection. I've shortened the tender gap slightly. Given all the old weight in the tender the A4 is not as strong or as fast as the A1, but still pulls 6-7 coaches happily. For the price if you can get a bargain on these they are a good buy if you're willing to put up with the limited body detailing (there is no cab glazing). Cheers, John

Hello All, Having had all of the models referred to, my impressions are similar to Ray's. I had the split chassis Bachmann Hall for many years. For it's time it was a very good model. The chassis was heavier and it could a fine load. I did have a problem with the odd derailment in reverse over Setrack radius points. I worked out this was due lack of side-to-side clearance of the rear drivers outside the split chassis. A little filing of the chassis blocks solved that problem. The split chassis block needed regular cleaning of the contact points. Other than that it was an attractive, durable and sturdy engine. Due to Handling the Lining eventually wore. I have two Granges and two current Bachmann Halls. I find the paint finishing (although some observe the Bachmann lining can be too wide) on the Bachmann side - the depth of the greens - look more convincing. Despite the lack of all wheel pick ups the Halls run really smoothly. The Halls (although I've not weighed them against the Granges) seem slightly heavier. They do pull a larger load than the Granges. I believe this is due to the metal finishing Bachmann have used and with the sturdier metal chassis used. I've not needed to do any maintenance on either new chassis Hall. On the Granges I have had to occasionally clean the wheels and contacts. Handling-wise the Hornby locos are definitely less sturdy than the Bachmann range. I would like to see if Bachmann could maybe modify their Hall tooling to make Saints and well as the Halls! John

Hello Ray, I am impressed you got the loco running true again. Hopefully the 8P lasts the distance. I was fortunate a few years back to be given a current chassis Britannia with the fixed cartazzi truck. I've never managed to get the body off as it has fused sealed to the motor - a common issue with these apparently. Although she runs noisily, she's been fault free and a good, strong hauler. I returned Beverston Castle to Hattons today - they were excellent regarding the failure of the loco! Am tempted to see if any improvement will have been made with the next release of Castles when they arrive!

Thanks for the information Ray. I couldn't resist going for a Hornby Star Class - Knight of the Grand Cross - on the assumption I'd been very unlucky with Beverston Castle. It certainly looks a picture and runs smoothly. However, the thin plastic mouldings (chassis/footplating area) are a concern. Secondly, it is a hopeless hauler! I have a ruling gradient of no more than 1/80 I'd estimate. The loco goes in to a wheel-slipping frenzy with 5 coaches on. Most of my other kettles have no problems with 8-9 coaches on! Inside the body but there is very little room to add extra weight anywhere. Even where I could add extra weight, this made no difference. I tested cleaning the wheels and allowing running time to bed in to no avail! if only Bachmann entered the GWR 4-cylinder loco fray. I shall probably trade in the Hornby Star for a Bachmann Hall. I'd recommend the Hornby Stars or Castles as a collector's items (never to be removed from the box) but not as a working models. Regards, John

I purchased R2849 Beverston Castle from a well-known shop in Liverpool this week. Alas, all the problems mentioned above happened to mine. When I first tested, the loco ran poorly at slow speed backwards. I tried to take the body off to try and check more closely. The pipe work by the cab fell apart. Then getting the body back the front bogie pin sheared off (fixable). The loco then ran sweetly for five minutes, then everything jammed and a coupling rod fell off to a rear driver. I spent hours trying to re-quarter the wheels and eventually gave up. Never before have I had such a badly made locomotive. An absolute waste of over