David62

mines is the same! frustrating to the least!.. i have had to file down two of my standard points frogs as they make the bach 66 step up onto the frog and derail I can turn it round to the short cab side and it goes through no problem?? then i can bring the loco round to another point and it derails again!! turn it round again to the long cab side and it goes through no problem??? I have had the body off and all sorts cannot see any problem apart from both the bogies catching on the body underside when on each turn through Left & right hand points... the style of the bogie shape catches on the underside of the frame.....mainly the tops of the bogies where theres a rise of about 2mm is enough to catch on the underside my Hornby 66's dont have this or derail as much as this one!! so many £££'s for superior Quality eh???!!!

Hi yeah the wheels are fine Mate its running fine now dunno what was goin on with it?

Hi Guys thank you all for the valuable replies! Its a simple controller as one reply mentioned was just to test the new track and the track clips were working ok on the old layout as Bachmann state make all the track Live. I have the Hornby Elite with which the track clips are also used to make all the track live and I will connect the beast when all the point motors and modules and wiring are installed. i have checked the EZ command for coasting function and all other functions and that was turned off so the problem lies with the 20 loco as both the 47 & 56 were working fine on the same layout afterwards. I will check the loco out for the above mentioned possible problems by all the replies i had and will let you all know what happened Thanks Guys!

Hi folks I have a Bachmann class 20 on the EZ command controller (whiskies Galore DCC sound set) new! now! the 20 used to operate great and at top speed with sound function perfectly on the oval circuit with the EZ command controller supplied with the whiskies galore set but now its on a 6x3 folding shunting yard layout 4 tracks with points and Hornby point clips on all the points to make all the track live and track feeders wired to the track joins when its set up and still it runs very slowly? I have a DCC class 47 on the same layout set up as above with the same controller it runs at slow & top speed! but the 20 seems to have slowed right down for some reason I have tried re programming it and its just the same slow speed? even at full turn of the controller speed knob sound functions great but the speed has decreased enormously!! there is a coasting function on the EZ command controller and its working fine too so whats going on?? HELP PLEASE!!

Hi Guys! just discovered this morning my Bachmann class 66 with 8 pin to 21 pin R8121 TTS had its lights on when the power was turned on (Elite) but could not get it to function sound running direction lights horns etc or move either way, i reprogrammed it on the programming track and the locos cab lights flashed on and off when reprogramming it never did that before?.. I have had the decoder for 6 weeks now without a hitch... what the H--- is goin on????

Hi Mate.. got it!... the switch on the underside when i moved it to on running tail lights flickered so moved it to off and it worked?? Jeez?.. kept working it to and fro early this morning yawn! finally! Just being plain stubborn! retailer said it had been sitting on the shelf for ages with no sale.. the sound edition sold quick enough though! thank you for the reply much appreciated!

Good evening folks Just Treated myself to a Bachmann class 66 GBRF Evening star to which i fitted a Hornby R8121 to a 8 to 21 pin adapter now i have the main running headlights (white) forward and reverse but now no red tail lights both sides ? all other functions ok but I have checked the underside with the switch to on and still no red tail lights.. all was working before i installed the Hornby R8121 and the 8-21 pin adapter.. why everything so complicated when one gets older?

Ahaa! so thats it!.. I wondered why it was revving. my Bachmann 66 has this but does it just now and again along with the spirax valve (function 11 on the Elite) clicking and then the Hornby TTS does it about three times when its standing idling and the start up horn doesnt work as the Bachmann 66 does this every time i get it on starting sequence but when i did reset the Hornby TTS decoder back to factory it sounded the horn three times as the Bachmann does before it started up!! god only knows?.. thanks for letting me know Mate much appreciated!. David

I have three Bachmann 66's whcch are absolute belters of Locomotives sound built in all sound absolutely Brilliant!

Hi The Hornby 66 only has one powered bogie the Bachmann has two driven by driveshafts.. the Hornby 66 is not worth the £75 i paid for it! I now have Bachmann Period! although i paid a small fortune for the 3x 66 sound editions and the 37 sound edition & the class 20 sound edition BR green.. all magnificent! and the sound from the Bachmann locos is way far better. the Hornby TTS sound is not very good the BM has the start up sound plus all the bells and whistles the Hornby has a different sound shall i say.

GOT IT! I reset the decoder CV8 = 8 both locos sorted!! thanks to the retailer! getting old means its not that easy to teach an old dog new tricks! after me years ago having a zero 1 !! cheers for the reply!

Hi Mate thank you for your reply and the advice it was new when i bought it as with the decoder, I did notice that also it is revving up every so often when standing still and the remedy for that is No.7 on the keypad No.6 on the decoder function sheet which actually revs the engine so to speak dunno why anybody would want that? to be frank, i think the decoder is faulty as you say,as with the Bachmann 66's they all sound the horn when starting up , the Hornby isnt doing that as the prototype does given the fact these days when most model rail companies are sending out boffins to record the real item for their locomotives to be realistic. I have actually switched the 8 pin board round on the loco's board as a last resort as sometimes mistakes are made at any factory.. anyway the switch on the 8 pin only made it stop doing certain functions so that wasnt it either! so i did a swap over with my youchoos decoder from my gwr prairie it sounded strange with steam sounds coming from it LOL and that worked ok! so it sounds like the connection to the motor bogie on the Hornby decoder!? as before on DC it runs like the wind so thats out. the decoder i think! i will have look at the connections on the loco board. i'll let you know what happens!.. David

the red arrows are the raised short plastic mouldings onto the rails i found that the shallow wheeled bogie types class 40,66,37,20 etc hit these and bounce quite hard! especially at slow speeds. so i filed them down using a small flat file till the plastic was level with the track it helped a lot! now they dont bounce at all.,the locos just breeze through! I used a small model tri square to keep a check on the level . check the Y channel too (blue arrows) the plastic guard rail (green) on either side inside the rails does not help either making the bogey 'climb' onto the rail these got filed too between the rails very carefully the (H) standard straights are just the same, but these are not for the long type locomotves like the 66 and 45's I changed to Bachmann express points they're not quite as bad.

Good afternoon folks Treated myself to a Hornby class 66 Malcolm logistics services R3886 (66405) £75 DCC ready and Hornby class 66 decoder R8121 TTS. £47 MM? on DC it runs great along the test bed but installed the R8121 TTS programmed it on the program track to my choice no.4 (from default 3) and it stutters like hell.. all installation instructions were followed DCC 8pin to No.1 on the board and all sound functions start up horns etc are fine apart from running properly stuttering and the sound stops and I physically tap the loco and it goes through the start up procedure all over again (button 1 on the elite) the layout is perfect with all locos running perfectly so what is going on???? I ran the H66 back on the testbed 7ft long track on the dcc elite and again it stuttered so i ran my 3 Bachmann 66's along with with the 37 and 20 all ok!! All my Bachmanns are fine apart from the Hornby (Again) theHornby GWR large prairie i have had the same problem (youchoos decoder installed ) I am absolutely fed up with Hornby now! all my Bachmanns with 21 pin run like clockwork! ..

Good afternoon David... cheers for the info and its much appreciated! i managed to get it going last night again after removing the dcc unit i had it on the DC and it flew away like a bat out of hell so i ran it up and down the straight for 20 mins backwards and forwards and then re-installed the chip and it seems to have done it the world of good! it still stalls at very low speed on the Elite, up a couple of notches on the speed and it seems to be better though... theres a lot of play on the track with this loco as ive had to push it sideways a tad then it picks up again? I checked the pickups all 6 of them and they seem to be ok and all the wiring too! a lot of money to buy this loco combined with the youchoos multi function chip £235.. for that amount i want this loco working for a living Lol makes me wonder if i had bought the DCC RTR version would i be getting the same grief??