Sir Nigel Gresley 4-6-2 Mallard R309 Spares

[DGT002]

Hi Folks,

I am looking for spares for a locomotive, I think its from around 1987, Sir Nigel Gresley it has 4498 on sides and front, I think its a 4-6-2 Mallard - R309.

The part I need from service sheet 117 is the screw to attach the Pony Truck to the loco and part number of the screw is S.1193 I think from the Hornbyguide webiste..

Any ideas where I can get this part.

Thank you in advance for your help.

David

 

[The Doc]

There are two on ebay at present.  Search Hornby S1193.

[96RAF]

If its SNG 4498 then its not going to be Mallard 4468 is it. Two different A4 loco identities although the basic design and parts may be identical.

 

Although I knew someone who gave his locos different identities on different sides so it looked like he had twice as many locos than he did.

[ColinB]

Surprisingly I have this loco, I just recently converted it to DCC and added a 5 pole motor, I think originally it came in a set. I bought it second hand. Yes, it is the same shape as the Mallard and I think about the time they made this, they made the Seagull which looks exactly the same except for the numbers. At the time I think Mallard was BR Green without skirts. I just recently sold mine on EBay. Surprisingly you can get more spares for this one than the new ones.

[Going Spare]

The relative availability of replacement parts is not that surprising, despite the age gap.  When production was at Margate, Hornby had direct control over production 'under their own roof' and from UK subcontractors (for brushes, screws, etc.), there was far more commonality of parts, additional requirements could be met quite easily and they were in a better position to meet requests for parts not normally available.  Also production was not always controlled as tightly as it perhaps could have been, resulting in excess parts stocks eventually coming on to the market. 

With the move to China, direct control over production was lost, as I understand it the factory being contracted to produce a given quantity of finished product plus OR MINUS an agreeed percentage, plus a range of additional parts to meet after-market requirements.  However, it the ordered quantity of parts proved not to meet ongoing demand, the factory was unwilling to produce (either directly or from its subcontractors) additional parts until a model incorporating those parts came back on to the production line.  And with many parts being specific to a particular model, that could result in a considerable time lapse.

[ColinB]

Thanks Going Spare for that information. I am not surprised, in my old job I quickly realised that once you "Outsourced" your production you lost virtually all control even minor chages attracted a premium, we even noticed the effect it had with cleaning of the offices. That probably also explains the shortfalls in new products, people not getting a product when they did an advanced order. Sadly short term it saves money, long term it appears a very good road to disaster as many firms are beginning to notice. 

[96RAF]

Having followed with interest the Airfix side of the company and their rapid advances in prototyping and production I think the Hornby side could learn from these new techniques which could lead to more spares being made available as they deplete.

 

The problem appears to be that Hornby, although it has a limited spares outlet on their web site, has offloaded the bulk of part sales to the likes of Peter’s Spares or New Modellers Shop, etc. Despite that the practice of limited spares runs, then no more, is poor customer support policy in my opinion.

[DGT002]

Thanks for replies, I have now ordered the screw from Ebay.