2019 Collecter Club Gift Dud

[Spenjys Dad]

My first exhibition which I attended with my 8yo son so we could join the world's greatest hobby as deeply as possible came after his birthday gift of a Mixed Freight DCC Set with many extra additions and free tickets which we won when visiting Hornby at Margate they included the VIP lounge. I took home the included R3775 Network Rail Diesel Shunter (2019 Collector's Club) gift with a very impressed little boy. Having spent some time planning and collecting materials, I built his 2400 x 1200mm folding basebord and allowed him to test the "official" layout before we commence scenery and permanent fixing. He was of course absolutely blown away and spent hours practicing control with the Select DCC unit. I meanwhile read the instructions and understood why the R3775 Free Gift did not work. It is not DCC fitted and I put it to one side until I discovered that you can run it on DCC track by assigning it 00 as a code and this morning I followed the manual and it worked . . . for two or three minutes when it overloaded the Select and stopped. I checked again and discovered only a mention of not using "coreless" motors but I cannot find any information on which locomotives have coreless motors. Most annoyingly I cannot find information on the R3775 on the Hornby website even though I have carefully copied all the descriptive information from the box in which it arrived into the search function.

My questions are:

If this locomotive cannot be used on DCC track then why is the box not marked with that fact?

As it was a free gift to collectors who are deeply involved enough to pay for the extra "club" membership (which I did) and VIP lounge experience, is it not obvious that they are likely to have DCC track?

As it is described so fully on the box, why is it not found on the website with some sort of information such as: it will overload the Select DCC controller and should not be used on on DCC track?

Why is there a method in the instructions for adding DC only locomotives to DCC track if it is obviously not recommended?

Is the R3775 any use now it has overloaded and does not run? I can test it with a 9vPP but even if the wheels turn it is no use to my son on his DCC set.

Finally: will Hornby please add a warning to DC only and/or DCC sets to prevent other people using the wrong locos? and I apologise for the length of this rant.

[Chrissaf]

Why is there a method in the instructions for adding DC only locomotives to DCC track if it is obviously not recommended?

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The feature is historical. Read item 2) and 3) on this page. The author of this page is a member of the NMRA, the body that wrote the DCC Standards.

https://sites.google.com/site/markgurries/home/technical-discussions/dc-loco-on-dcc

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Note this line quoted below from the last line in item 2) above:

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"The only place it can still hold true value is in the TOY TRAIN SET market where DC will not go away."

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Personal opinion and I shall probably generate some heated comments of sacrilege by making this statement, but I do not see the Hornby 'so called free' Collectors models as being serious collectors models. IMO they are quite squarely in the 'TOY TRAIN SET' part of the market as referred to in the quoted line above.

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The current latest Hornby Select has this feature turned off by default, but it is not yet fully removed from the Select firmware. It should be IMO.

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The Select manual does actually have a statement that the use of this feature is not recommended, but it is tucked away in 'small print' and should IMO be displayed more prominently because of its significance to damage DC loco motors.

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TIP: As a newbie poster on the forum, just be aware that the 'Blue Button with the White Arrow' is not a 'Reply to this post' button. If you want to reply to any of the posts, scroll down and write your reply in the reply text box at the bottom of the page and click the Green 'Reply' button.

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Particularly as my reply includes an image, using the 'Blue Button' may result in your reply being held back for image approval, even though it is an existing image.

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See also – further TIPs on how to get the best user experience from this forum.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/tips-on-using-the-forum/

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[Jimbo1707820979]

Welcome to the Forum, Spenjy's Dad.

I fully understand your disappointment. Several years ago I also burned out 2 analogue locos using that Select method. Never again !

I agree that Hornby should delete that dangerous method from Select (or other) literature. Unfortunately it will still be around in second hand stuff.

As Hornby will probably not see this complaint I would advise you to phone or drop them a line. I am sure other people have fallen into this trap.

Best wishes. Jimbo

[Spenjys Dad]

"The Select manual does actually have a statement that the use of this feature is not recommended, but it is tucked away in 'small print' and should IMO be displayed more prominently because of its significance to damage DC loco motors."

Now you have said this is a problem from 25 years ago I am even more annoyed: in twenty-five years Hornby have not corrected the problem but they have continued to sell sets which are suitable for AC only and without including a prominent warning against following the text in their manual which they clearly should have removed at least a decade ago!

And why give "collectors" useless toys a quarter of a century after DCC arrived? I assumed that it must be a recent development and I have been amazed it took so long to be adopted (now I know better). I understand the need to get rid of old stock but they must be making hundreds more of the old-fashioned toys! For whatever reason it is annoying. There is also a huge difference between the rolling stock we bought originally and the free (Tredegar) wagons we have received as gifts in the following year: I do not want such gifts as they bring more problems and less value.

I will mention it to Hornby but otherwise I must tell my son to put the burn-out on a bookshelf as an ornament.

Thanks for your helpful replies, it's DCC all the way for us from now on.

Best Wishes

TJ

(Spenjy's Dad)

[96RAF]

You can get a new motor for a 0-4-0 loco for less than a fiver and its a few minutes work to replace if you can solder. A whole chassis including motor can be found for £<10-£15.

... scroll down here https://www.newmodellersshop.co.uk/hornby_spares_motors_and_gears.htm

[Bulleidboy]

One of the reasons DC Train Sets are still produced is that for very many "young" persons, the interest will be short lived - so no point in producing, at that level, epensive sets that will be trashed or forgotten about within a short time. Also there are very many railway modellers who do not want DCC - if you had built up a large collection or have a large established layout, the last thing most would want is to have to change everything at considerable expense. The "free" 0-4-0 is a toy.

[Simmo009]

Welcome to the hobby. I think it is best to assume everything is DC only unless specifically stated to be DCC ready/fitted/compatible. DC has been around since the 1950's, and many people still use it. DC can be converted to DCC, but not all locomotives are the same on the inside, so each has their own correct method. There are many relevant videos on YouTube if you need to do the conversion yourself.

When the current restrictions are lifted, I strongly recommend a visit to your local club, there is a wealth of assistance available there.