simmo009

Until recently it said Winter 2022/23 on the website, now it says Spring 2023. So, 1 year difference between the Hornby website and the Hornby magazine article. Yes, I know they are not co-owned. The magazine are only relaying in good faith what they have been told by the manufacturer, so either their website has been incorrectly updated, or someone at one end or the other didn't verify what year.

Personally, I will not hold my breath. Having not seen that publication, just curious as to whether it states 'April' or 'April 2022'? Could be another year waiting for these.

Is the quartering correct on the front left side driving wheel? It looks a bit retarded compared to the other two. Right side looks fine. Left side as looking forward obviously.

If it's something you 'must have' then I would say yes. With the proviso that they continue to honour the launch price irrespective of delivery date. Any price increase applied will wipe out whatever discount you get from your preferred retailer, who will, as an added bonus, probably not get enough of any item to fulfill your order anyway. Delivery dates and order allocations. Are these decided on Friday afternoons, after lunchtime drinks, with the assistance of a customised revolving dartboard?

I agree Hroth. Especially when compared to the standard DCC Ready option. I have pre-ordered one, so should there be a price increase between now and delivery, Hornby's usual m.o. is to honour the price at time of ordering. Given that 2020 announcements are still a year from delivery, I take the predictions on delivery for the latest releases with an amount of salt that Lot would find impressive.

Your second iteration has a better flow, and is proof that 'less is more'. Plenty of variety in a smallish area, nicely done sir.

So, I took the plunge and ordered a magnetizer from Ronald Dodd. What a piece of kit. It has definitely helped these locomotives, and I will now be reinvigorating all of my stable over Christmas. But this actually wasn't the problem. Ivatt - the problem only manifested with the body on. I found a small piece of wire insulation had worn away, and was causing a short when the body was fitted, pushing the wire against the motor frame. A new piece of slightly longer wire was fitted and now as good as new. 4P - all was good as you put wheels on the track from the front bogie backwards. As more wheels touched the track, still good until the last axle in the rear pony touched down and it stopped. Lifting the rear axle brought it back to life. I found that the flanges on the rear wheels were just touching the coupling frame, and this was causing a short. Replaced rear metal coupling with a plastic one from the spares bin, and job's a good 'un. Thanks to all who pitched in.

I must admit that the magnet in the 2MT feels weaker than that in the 4P. All of the pick ups are correctly adjusted and are not fouling the wheels. Note in original post I stated that the chassis runs well without the motor, and it runs fine off track with the motor fitted. I will ask around my club if anyone has a remagnetizer, if not I may well be sending a package to Mansfield. Thanks guys.

Hi. I am having an issue with a couple of Hornby locomotives, namely R055 2-6-4T Class 4P and R852 2-6-0 Ivatt Class 2. I have disassembled them for service and maintenance. The chassis are cleaned and lubricated, checked for correct geometry and smooth movement, checked for short circuits. All good. The motors (X03 & X04 respectively) cleaned and lubricated, new brushes fitted, tested. Both are without fault. I then put the motor back in the chassis, and again check for shorts. Still no problems. The whole is then tested with the chassis suspended so there is no friction. The motors run and the wheels turn. I then put them on track for a final check before refitting the body, and neither does much of anything. Best is a slight hum from the motor. Can anyone shed any light on this? Did I miss something? Any / all suggestions welcome.

Your platforms seem quite short. How many coaches will you run? Consider moving the turntable and loco shed left, bringing the coal/station yard toward the bottom a little and then you can extend the platforms to the right. But otherwise, quite a nice project to learn on. Are you using DC or DCC?

As previously mentioned, there are reach issues with the 4' deep board and access to only one side. A possible solution to this could be a Topside Creeper. We are considering one for our club for the self same issue. Just another idea to join with the others. Good luck.

Nice idea. Don't rule anything out, saw a shunting layout built on an ironing board recently.

Maybe it was just me (probably was), but getting both frogs to synch was a nightmare, blade change wasn't a problem. IIRC, I was trying to use a single decoder for both points, not two decoders with the same address. That rings a bell.

That's fine with Insulfrog points such as SetTrack which you show, but you need to watch the frog polarity if you go to Electrofrog.

SetTrack is based on 67mm track centres, but Streamline is 50mm. You either need to transition you curves down to 50mm centres, or space the points to 67mm. Peco do a piece for this, ST202 or ST203. I think it is the latter, around 80mm long.

Welcome Wildrover. For Carnforth inspiration, try and get hold of Model Rails 'Ideas for Layouts' 2018 edition. This has 3 options of differing sizes. This is a big space. I would recommend something smaller as a first go so you can practice techniques such as board construction, wiring, track laying etc. I really found this worthwhile. Additionally, it gives you something to play with during the big build, as modelling fatigue can set in if you need to wait until the end. Also, there are some excellent YouTube channels such as Chadwick, Lakeside, Everard and Dean Park that are full of ideas and information. Best of luck.

So, a 4.8mm styrene tube fits perfectly in the holes left by the rivet. I glued this to the bogie. The holes in the weights partially prevent passage of the tube, so I drilled these out from 8mm to 10mm. Then I used some spare plasticard with a 5mm hole as a guide piece, glued to the weights. Finally a cotter pin to hold it in place and allow for removal in future. Feed through the wires, and jobs a good 'un.

I used a pointy thing from the Dremel tool set and went slowly (after removing the wires). Prepping the body for paint, so you will need to wait for the reassembly. But I have 3 rainy days to work on it.

Well, I have got the rivet out and the bogie off. The 4.8mm dia tube is a perfect fit. I have a plan, and will post some pictures when I reassemble. The nut/bolt is not viable in this instance, due to the need for the pick up wiring to pass to the inside, and it would foul the centre axle. But thanks for your input.

Thanks Grovenor, keep it simple. I have some 4.8mm tube which looks to be about the right diameter. So if I make some washers, form a top hat, and then apply the other one after it is in position, I should be good to go. Famous last words.

Wise and skilful persons of RMWeb. Can anyone give me some tips on removal and most importantly refitting of a locomotive bogie that is attached to the body/chassis with a rivet. As an added bonus, the pick ups run through the centre of the rivet. This is the old Hornby Class 31 late 60's early 70's vintage. I am going to respray and detail it a bit, and the bogie is very much in the way. I can source replacement rivets, but have no idea how I would secure it. Any suggestions or alternative methods welcome.

We use micro switches to kill a goodly length of the bridge approach track when it is lifted. Currently I have not looked at this bit of electrickery, but it works well. Our club has several people who do this stuff for a living, so I defer to them. Our bridge builder extraordinaire is cooking up a hybrid from these suggestions, I think the resin method is looking favourite, combined with some bonnet hinges, and a male/female cone system for alignment. Maybe a metal frame too. I will post pictures once we make a start.

Big Jim, I must say that your use of resin is quite ingenious, we never even considered that. David, yes, levelling and solidity are key, more so as the scale gets smaller. We are looking to build a large multi-gauge layout, and the N group have raised concerns. We did some quick and dirty track laying on the existing O/OO bridge last night with just standard track pins, and it worked well. The current bridge was designed with O gauge in mind, and OO has recently been added. Our builder really did a fantastic job on them, especially when you consider they had to be repaired twice due to incorrect operation (the mind boggles). So the new bridges will have much tighter tolerances to cater for the N. Luckily, we own our clubhouse, so we are able to cast steel supports for the bridges into the floor to limit movement in this critical area. Thanks all of you so far, keep them coming.

Fabulous John, much appreciated. Nice layout in progress there too.

Any more examples, preferably with pictures, would be most welcome.