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Flying Scotsman noisy tender


Jonesy Red

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Hi, Seasons greetings. Just after a bit of help/ advice please. I've bought a second hand R1039 flying scotsman for my son for Xmas. It is Chinese made and as an estimate less than 10 yrs old,  good condition,  but the tender  is quite noisy and gives an audible whirring noise as it runs. I have run a 'Gordon' r9291 which is basically the same sort of loco but in comparison the noise on that is almost non existent. My question is would said noise indicate any sort of problem? If so and before I run it again could any of you kind folks offer any of your expert advice please as to how I might put right.  Cheers for your time people. Sean

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Have a look underneath.

I may possibly have tender current pick-ups or 'fingers' which will be touching the wheels. Check these are nicely aligned and not twisted.

 

Another way sometimes, was metal wheels at least on one side, with a 'finger' rubbing against the axle if I'm not mistaken.

 

The 'noise' is not unusual, but should not be loud unless the pick-up is misaligned.

 

Al.

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Hi Al,

Thank you for your generous reply. I have checked the 'fingers' and these are all aligned no twists. I had considered that it may be a case of simple lubrication to the loco or tender maybe as I have no idea over its lifetime if this has been done, is this an easy job if I am going down the right path? I am a real novice but willing to give this a try. Regards, Sean

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Hi Sean, I was thrown by the 'Made in China' bit which generally implies quite modern.

There have been MANY variants of the FS over the last 50 years.

Hornby have '2 qualities' shall we call it, being the simpler but very acceptable 'Railroad' locomotives, and the full fat 'Super Detail' ones.

There was a period of time when most steam locomotive replicas with tenders actually had their motor in the tender, with a couple of rubber tyres.

The 'latest trend' is that all are now locomotive powered - generally - as everyone complained having the motor in the tender was not realistic.

R1039 is very good, but looking at a video just now, as RAF implied, it appears to be tender driven.

There are many threads, some recent, relating servicing, etc., of tender drive locomotives.

The noise can simply be that of gears 'meshing'. In the video I saw, it was relatively silent, so it may require a little lubrication.

I would look at a couple of YT videos just for reference.

All Hornby locomotives have a HSS - Hornby Service Sheet. Your set should have one for your locomotive which will give all of the main servicing tips. Main thing to remember, it's a light machine oil required and most say 'if you can see the oil you've put too much on' ...

 

Al.

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Don’t get confused with Service Sheet which is essentially a parts list for the mechanical bits and has to be downloaded from the Hornby site (if it has been issued yet) and the Maintenance and Operating Sheet which is included in every model’s box and explains how to remove the bodywork as well as showing the lubrication points and where a decoder goes if applicable.

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If it is tender driven then buy some of that PTFE grease off Peters Spares, it does wonders. Put it on the gears and motor spindle. With my class 86, which has a similar motor, someone on this site suggested lubricating the motor spindle and that definiely removed a lot of the noise.

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R1039 was in fact a FS set. I have one, bought in 2003 - my one came with four coaches - spome have three. The loco is tender driven as WTD says.  It's only been out of the box once or twice, and I found the valve gear needed a little bit of attention to get it to run smoothly, which it eventually did. My set was a "Sunday Express Special"  it came with Track Packs A & B and a Trackmat.

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Hi, thanks to you all for your generosity and time in replying to my post. I have off the back off ordered some hob-e-lube and a needlepoint oiler from gaugemaster, hoping this does the trick will let you know how get on with. Unfortunately the loco maintenance sheet wasn't detailed in the sense it was just general maintenance not specific how to open the tender up so may need to rely on a bit of YouTube for this plus a wing and prayer. Derek B I can certainly say my buffers are certainly of the fixed variety so not too sure on that one good luck if you find an answer to though. Cheers again will update further! Regards, Sean

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Hi Jonesy Red

Does your FS R1039 have sprung buffers ? 

I am trying to track down the R No of my FS ... it sounds the same .. the Ringfield fitted in the Tender is the 5 Pole version .

Derek

Hi Derek, my sincere apologies there I gave you my reply whilst I was away from home I was convinced they were fixed, they're not they are sprung having opened up the tender it is the 5 pole ringfield like you have so unquestionably yours is the same r1039 as I have. I am just giving mine a light service and then give it a blast next few days. All best. Sean

 

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Hi Jonesy Red

Does your FS R1039 have sprung buffers ? 

I am trying to track down the R No of my FS ... it sounds the same .. the Ringfield fitted in the Tender is the 5 Pole version .

Derek

Hi Derek, just to add to my last message I believe after a little research that the FS is numbered as R398, the 1039 is for the set, regards, Sean

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Hi all, as suggested I used some ptfe grease on the motor spindle and gears but the noise seems no less however I'm sure lubrication has done it no harm either, rather than taking the whole unit apart from what was visiual the commutator looked relatively clean. My trouble is the engine seriously lacks pulling power, sending the tender out solo on the track is fine, runs smooth, pushing the locomotive again relatively fine beyond this though is a definite no and adding any coaches results in a huge amount of protest. Thanks to  Al here in particular, the 259c service sheet notes traction tyres which my tender did not come with, it seems to make alot of sense that I get some to test this theory out as i cannot seem anything else wrong would anyone agree this is worth a shot?. It is paining me slightly as I bought this as a xmas present for my 6 year old but it isn't delivering the joy it could and should be  😢 Cheers again for all your time people, with thanks, Sean

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Yes, most certainly.  If one wheel on the front axle and another on the third axle have grooves cut in to their treads, traction tyres will make a considerable improvement to the pulling power.  If the wheels have been changed to non-grooved, you will have to restore the grooved wheels first.

GS

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Thank you GS, I'll take a look later and double check this, do you happen to know the normal arrangement with the traction tyres as in one side, both, every wheel or other? I hopped onto a few YouTube videos and the difference by adding the tyres on was quite remarkable. I admit the tender to this engine has a reasonable weight to it so I can only assume traction tyres were an original fit to give it some extra grunt going around the track. Who knows? all I know is as it is at the moment it isn't anything to write home about which is actually a bit of a shame as it is a good looking train with its 4 coaches so all show and not much go but who knows perhaps I can get this back to normal service and a bit of cheer to my wee boy in the process. Cheers GS. Sean

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Looking at the tender chassis from below, the front righthand wheel should have a groove to take a traction tyre as should the righthand wheel on the third axle, these being the axles driven by the motor.  No other wheels should have tyres fitted. 

GS

Thanks again GS that is most helpful I'll check when I'm back home as away but I just also read up an alternative way to solve the problem which is to add lead weight to the tender, I'm not sure if you or anyone reading has experience of this that it has worked, from what I have researched it appears so my only minor gripe about the tyres is they are not at all cheap 7 quid for a pack of 10 isn't what you would class as a bargain but hey ho. I did look up bullfrog snot but that cost is another stratosphere altogether! Cheers again people, Sean

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Sean

I think if you do an ebay search for part nos X8030 and X8439  ... you will find sellers who will supply just 2 tires  ( at around £3 - £3.50 )  which is all that you need... Not too sure which tires you need so check before you buy.

Derek

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