Johnfromoz

Pete, Good to know. Might experiment with these a little. Another factor which seems to influence the smoothness of braking was momentum rates on cv3 & 4

I found putting a high value into cv179 produced a too abrupt braking effect, quite unrealistic. Don’t need to put 182 at 0 as not using F5 to bring loco to absolute stop. I find the Zimo braking to be far more in keeping with momentum etc. As stated earlier, each to their own preference.......

Thanks to Locoman, MarkW and others who have unlocked this mystery. All 6 of mine have now been reprogrammed to make the F5 active in braking. As a non-user of JMRI I would never have worked this out. I’m betting plenty more V5 fitted Hattons 66s out there have this issue so hopefully this saga has been of use to others. Some personal observations: found the most realistic, subtle braking effects in sinc with sound to be had by setting cv182 to 8 and cv179 to 1 but personal tastes will differ on this (I will use the Powercab red button for emergency stopping). All in all though, it does no feel as intuitive or responsive as Zimo braking. Obviously, momentary key action would improve it but I am not going to remap my 66 fleet.

Locoman, Thanks for interpreting! will try these settings tomorrow.

Thanks Mark, Thought I was going mad! Not a user of JMRI. What is an indexed CV?

Hi Ray, yeah correct, F5 is a latching key but turning on or off still fails to activate any semblence of braking (other than the braking noise effect when throttling down). Could it be that this feature ONLY works with a momentary key? John

Plot thickens... have adjusted cvs 179 and 182 to appropriate values and....nothing. Still no sign of any physical braking on applying F5. Wondering if if anyone else using Powercab has had these issues?

Thank you locoman, i had just set cv179 to 200 and it still made no difference (ie no suggestion of the loco slowing at all) so will now investigate cv182. As all 6 of my V5 Hattons seem to have come from the factory this way, I am surprised others have not commented on the F5 issue.

Thanks Pete, I will check my cv179 settings. John

Hi, I have about 6 of the sound fitted Hattons 66s. Maybe I am reading the Hattons manual too literally in thinking the Loksound V5 Function 5 actually slows the engine, like Zimo braking function? In all of my Hattons 66s, pressing F5 has no effect on the speed of the loco but does activate a braking sound when throttle is decreased. Am I missing something here? Using NCE Powercab for control. Any ideas welcome.

Very useful explanation re the bogie tower clip. Thanks. We shall see whether it’s a long term bugbear.

Yes Dave, it makes me handle the bogies with a lot more care. Certainly no downward pressure thats for sure. Time will tell I guess whether thesewill pose long term issues. Perhaps adb968008 can comment further on his tower clip that was broken, was the plastic split etc.?

A useful fleet survey, remarkably similar to my findings over a similar number acquired. All bar one of mine have been seconds / returns. Perversely, you have the likelihood of a better purchase outcome from the pre-owned ones rather than the ‘new’ stock, purely because the photos are of the actual loco your buying, so you can see presence or not of axle boxes, handrails, steps etc. In relation to the gear tower clip, was just fitting a chip to my 66756, and sure enough, noted a loose bogie on one end. Examining the bogie, it seems that the clip over the brass worm which holds the bogie in place is a weak design. I pushed mine back in place but there is no reassuring ‘click’ as it relocates, suggesting it may fail/loosen in the future. That said, this is the first instance of this of a large number purchased. With the axle box caps cut and fixed in place, all are rock solid, silent runners now. Overall good value, with most (apart from sound ones) picked up for 100 GBP or less.

Thanks Mike. EWS/DBS traction only I assume? Did GBRF or FL ever get a look in on these workings? cheers John

I have just splashed out on a set of these in latter day VTG grey, as it’s more my modelling era. Does anyone know if the VTGs ever shared mixed trains on the spoil and gravel workings ( eg with monsterboxes or similar?). Would like to beef up the 5 set.. superb wagons btw AS.

Thanks Richard, as I suspected, not even sure the basic directional lighting would work properly with TTS. to the other respondants; you’ve. missed the point entirely! I have 15 Hattons 66s, 6 with factory sound. Was just wanting to add further sound to the fleet economically. Fully aware of the limitations of TTS. Hey ho.

Revisiting this, not for eliciting views on the quality of TTS etc, but purely to establish if anyone has actually used the 66 tts chip in the Hattons model? I have a sizable fleet of the H66s and looking to economically fit sound to a few of the dcc ready versions I have (after using the 8 to 21 pin adaptor) I will be happy to get basic light functions, Forward and reverse. Anyone tried this yet?

Yes, it’s as if releasing the wheel sets from any relationship with the axleboxes leads to exceptionally smooth and stable running over any track. Certainly the case for every one of my fleet.

If your puzzled. Look at it this way. Despite the fixes discussed here I am unconvinced that in the long (That is long term) they will not work themselves loose due to poor engineering design (short axles) . I have no desire to be chasing down tiny axle box caps around the layout in future years, no doubt long after the spares become unavailable. As I said before, your view may differ.

Indeed the majority of returns have been precisely for that reason and hattons declare this in their description. As with you, I have chosen to cut and fix axle caps to bogies resulting in perfect running for the 13 I have acquired from the seconds sale so far, the majority around the 100-110GBP mark, indeed the latest FL version picked up for 95 at weekend. Fixing the axle caps on place in my view makes these bullet proof for future use. Other views here may differ.

A hopefully helpful hint to those removing/replacing the body on these. As most know, getting the body back on without fouling these pesky plastic cab step handrails is a nightmare task if you want to get them vertical, as they have a tendency to splay out or inwards. Using sharp snips, remove about 1.2 mm of the bottom inward part of the handrails, leaving just the suggestion of the turn in at the bottom. Be careful not to remove too much. Less is more. This makes replacing the body MUCH easier while retaining the look of the step handrails.

Have to agree. As someone who is not fussed about the axle box feature, I have picked up a dozen of these at around the 100GBP mark, cut and fixed the axle box caps to the bogie frames. Result is that all without exception are now excellent runners.

No. Until or if the are re-engineered I have no confidence that in the long term, all will remain attached. In any case, it is not a feature of importance to me. This issue has been done to death BTW.

I have picked up eight of them, ranging from Digital Fitted (110GBP) to Sound (230GBP) , figuring at those prices less VAT they are worth fixing. Cheaper than Bachmann. So that’s 96 axle caps to be cut short and glued into the bogie frames!! Yes you guessed it, I can’ be ar**d hunting down axlebox covers on the layout in years to come. I reckon once this whole sorry saga is over for Hattons the exercise won’t be repeated so its now or never.....

So looking further, I would summise that on a great many FL 66s this (presumably vinyl backing) is completely invisible, on some it appears darker and and some markedly lighter! I guess the obvious variables are age and fading of the loco paintwork, weathering and lighting. I suppose Hattons had to pick a version and run with it, though the darkening looks a tad exaggerated. Thanks to John and Roy for input.