Hornby Henry R9292

[Pennwolf]

Hi Guys

This is a great engine and my son loved it- until we fitted the Dcc decoder

 I fitted the Dcc decoder but on operating the engine was sluggish and then  the track rods have come undone and the engine does not work. Hornby Customer care customer care has kindly suggested that I send the engine to the repairs section.

 This the second time this has happened and the first loco is beyond repair as I tried to fix it before Xmas and each repair by me raised another fault.-it was an Xmas present. My query is why do the track rods pins keep coming undone within 30 mins of use on two seperate occasions. Is it me and if so what am I doing wrong. I'm really at a loss so all ideas gratefully rec'd.

[WilliamDavid]

The answer is, they should not come loose in use, unless not correctly tightened up during assembly.

Send them both back.

[Chrissaf]

Do the heads of the pins have a hexagon head or a circular head?

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If they are hexagon, then they are probably tiny threaded bolts and will come loose through vibration if not completely tightened up (but don't go overboard and strip the thread). A 12BA (2.5mm) nut spinner is usually the right size to fit these tiny Hornby bolts. If they still come loose after being securely tightened, then try a very small dab of BondLoc B222. Be sure to only get BondLoc on the threaded part and not the bolt shoulder where the connecting rod needs to be freely turning on it.

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If they are circular heads, then they will probably be push fit spring clips and shouldn't come loose unless they are badly worn.

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I have a Hornby Engine with the hexagon heads. I found the 12BA nut spinner was all I needed. I haven't yet needed to resort to using BondLoc as well. If you have been trying to tighten the tiny bolts with pliers, then they are indeed likely to come loose. The right tool for the right job comes to mind, hence why I have given the link for the 12BA spinner.

[Pennwolf]

Do the heads of the pins have a hexagon head or a circular head?

.

If they are hexagon, then they are probably tiny threaded bolts and will come loose through vibration if not completely tightened up (but don't go overboard and strip the thread). A 12BA (2.5mm) nut spinner is usually the right size to fit these tiny Hornby bolts. If they still come loose after being securely tightened, then try a very small dab of BondLoc B222. Be sure to only get BondLoc on the threaded part and not the bolt shoulder where the connecting rod needs to be freely turning on it.

.

If they are circular heads, then they will probably be push fit spring clips and shouldn't come loose unless they are badly worn.

.

I have a Hornby Engine with the hexagon heads. I found the 12BA nut spinner was all I needed. I haven't yet needed to resort to using BondLoc as well. If you have been trying to tighten the tiny bolts with pliers, then they are indeed likely to come loose. The right tool for the right job comes to mind, hence why I have given the link for the 12BA spinner.

 

Thanks for this i'll buy the attchment. We had our third Henry deliverd today and it run quite smoothly-hooray ! But when we attch the tender the Select controller  says "OL" -overload. We had similar problem with flying scotsman engine sometime ago -it just kept saying overload but the engine sustained other damage and sowas disposed of. Our other loco a Gordon runs perfectly .Any thoughts?

 

[96RAF]

First thought is STOP USING THE BLUE ARROW then people will be able to see which text is yours and which is a ref back to a previous post. If you need to quote from a previous post just copy and paste it in part then highlight and invoke the quote (66) icon.

 

If the loco attaches to the tender by a post on the tender into a hole in the lco drawbar arrangement with brass springy fingers then that is where the problem probably lies. The brass clamp should contact the post and the springy fingers should contact the plate on the tender. These are a common place to see distortion causing shorts.

 

If the loco attaches to the tender by way of a fixed drawbar and the electrics via a small white plug then there may be a cross wiring problem requiring the use of a multi-meter to check continuity ensuring loco left wheels are continuous with the tender left wheels and ditto right wheels.

 

As usual if the product is new and appears faulty then the first course of action is to take it back.

 

Rob 

[Chrissaf]

Pennwolf, I came really close to hiding your reply that quoted my earlier response, because I thought it was a re-quote in error that did not add anything new. I only realised that your addition in italics within the yellow box was yours, because I didn't recognise it as being my own text. As Rob says above, try to avoid using the blue button. This is not a 'Reply to this post' button. It causes less problems if you write replies in the purpose 'Reply to this post' text box at the bottom of the page and click the green 'Reply' button.

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Don't be concerned, nobody is having a go. Virtually all newbie forum users do the same. It was not your fault, it is the fault of the forum software developers. Firstly for putting the blue button there in the first place and also for not having an obvious 'Reply to this post' button in its place.

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The OL in the Select display means 'OverLoad' which in reality is typically a 'short circuit'. Follow the advice given by Rob above regarding the coupling post and the continuity of connectivity between left and right sides and between loco and tender. If the right hand side wheels of the tender are electrically contiguous with the left hand side wheels of the loco and vice versa then a short circuit is created when both loco AND tender are placed on the track. The Hornby Chinese factory have a habit of crossing wires during manufacture, which is not helped by the fact that they also tend to use the same colour black wire throughout for the internal wiring.

[Pennwolf]

RAF96 and Chrissaf opps ,sorry ! Out third Henry now has a loose track rod-give me strength! So that is on its way back to the seller. If you're in the  interested in the score the second one is with Hornby to repair and the first one is in the bin as i made it worse by trying to get it going on Xmas day! Thank for all the tips.