Toftwood

Hi Brian, although I have not been on RMweb for quite a while, ( got dischuffed as it seemed every time I logged it had been changed and fiddled with) I have followed your Deneside build. Glad to see it in RM today. It looks really good. my own build ‘Cullerbay and Marden Road’ is coming along slowly, but I post mainly on its own FB page and that of Great Eastern Models Recommends page. once again well done, really nice. regards Pete

Thanks for that David. Very kind of you. Peter.

Hi, you say you found the fault/short in your point. I have a short somewhere which has had me stumped for ages. Maybe if you could point(!) out where the fault was with a photo or diagram I could at least check my dozen Tortoise motors. I am usually fairly good with wiring but this has going crackers. thanks Pete

David, a question if I may from a novice at renumbering and ultimately weathering my loco’s. I have just renamed/numbered my new Hornby A2/3 Sun Castle to 60511 Airborne, with Heaton shed plate. When you give a coat of ‘Clear’ do you use just one coat or as many as required to get the shine you want? Would you then weather after or before ‘Clear ‘ application?

I think there is a slight misunderstanding here, I was in the process of returning the loco to the dealer as defective goods which is the correct thing to do as the contract is with them not Hornby. If it wasn’t for the off chance post on the Hornby FB page and the subsequent correspondence, the loco would have been returned to the dealer who offered either a replacement (leaving them to dispose of a shoddy item and me with the possibility of them not having any more stock) or a full refund. The fact that Hornby became involved has meant that I get a correct item, the dealer is not out of pocket or left with a useless item to be returned (?) to Hornby at their cost and Hornby have become aware of a serious problem on one of their production lines. Pete

As the contract is with the supplying dealer, I was about to return my A2/2 to them but as I said in a previous post Hornby picked up on some Facebook chatter and so I am now waiting for return details from Hornby and for a replacement. So praise for Hornby for a quick solution. Regardless whether this just a rogue batch or not if you accept a faulty model how are Hornby (or other manufacturers) going to identify and rectify the problem? This is an important launch for them especially with the A2/3 on the horizon they will want to know that is correct before release. Pete

Thanks, I don’t feel it’s Hornby’s fault as once the model has been signed off for production half way round the world, it’s down to the company production line and shoddy workmanship/product control. Hornby in U.K. can’t then check every box , they have to trust those in China. Unfortunately in this case that trust seems to be about to be broken. Pete

We shall see... Pete

The Head of Brand no less has promised a 100% correct model. Pete

I have posted above about the state of my A2/2. Hornby have been in contact after some Facebook postings and they are going to replace with a new example. regards Pete

Thought I would give an update on the saga of my example. Suffice it to say Hornby became involved after some Facebook chatter. An email was requested which I sent . I received a reply from Head of Brand and as a result the matter is being passed to the customer services to arrange a ‘100% correct’ replacement. She did say in the email that they were aware of some with similar faults. So a good result. I look forward to the A2/3 when it comes out, hopefully soon. Pete

Lucky you, this is however the first ‘reject’ I have ever had with ‘new’ stock from the major manufacturers. I just hope there is a good one out there and the A2/3 Sun Castle arrives in good condition. Pete

This is mine. note the gap on the front footplate under the frame, the motion etc the works plate is derisable. Pete

Send it back, as I am doing with mine. Pete

I have 60505 Thane of Fife, working from front to back, there is a gap under the left hand front frame above the footplate, obviously the colour, boiler bands are missing the orange bands, the left rear driver seems to have a slight quartering problem in that the rear con rod is not level, possibly excess play on the axle, the cab has a small gap between it and the boiler, a tender handrail is flush with the body and the water scoop underneath is backwards. Suffice it to say it’s being returned to the dealer. Otherwise it’s impressive, just under a foot long and runs smoothly on a rolling road. Very disappointed obviously no pre delivery inspection. Hope the A2/3 is better. Pete

I have a couple of colour prints of D8590 on a van train waiting for signals east bound. I have the Heljan model DCC fitted(very tight squeeze) and it does run very well. Pete

What should have been posted earlier

So, taking Ian’s succinct advice, I managed to fit the remaining point this morning. It went well apart from spearing the end of my thumb with a small screwdriver I tidied up some of the cork edges, removing it where it was no longer required. Finally I finished making up the harnesses for the remaining four Tortoise motors. stay safe Pete

Hi Paul, nice to see you are still following the thread. I believe all the fishplates are in the correct poisons regarding insulated and non insulated. My problem is how to get the point and two stubby bits of track into the gap without doing any damage. The track at each of the three ends are secured. Pete After all this time I have just had a gander at your thread. Just a quick skim through. Nice idea in such an area. Will follow with interest if I can figure out this web. Wish they would stop fiddling around with it.

I thought I might put in half an hour in the shed this evening, too cold really to be out there much longer. I have been test fitting the final point and short sections of track before adding point motor and wiring up. Maybe one of you may be able to let in to the secret method of being able to fit track when you have to fit it in a gap of already fixed track? As in the photos below . I understand about sliding the fishplates along but with the insulated ones, you can’t do that?? The point in the centre has two short stubbs of track at the frog end. How does one get them secured without bending the track/fishplates?

I am not long away from completing track laying in Marden Road station. I still have four Tortoise motors to fit.

I see that it was June last year that I last posted on here. I fired up my MacBook to find it all changed again. I scrolled to my last page and found the photos were not showing. Got back to February 2020 before I found some photos in the thread?.? I am writing this on my iPad which appears to be showing all? Can any one enlighten me ? I know I don’t post often and haven’t followed my usual favourites for a while and have been using my Facebook page more often but I thought I would post some updates on Rmweb but can’t even do that on my laptop.?

Some further progress on Marden Road has seen the cork stuck down for the main track formation through the station. I have started to build the large factory kit from Kibri which has been in store for years waiting for the right moment for it to be completed. The two gaps in the cork left and centre are where the platforms will go. Pete

Excellent as ever Brian. Pete