Loco15666 Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 The concept does not seem right to me. The loco should be doing the work. I have seen some great looking examples but could not think about buying one. Do you have tender drives? Are they great? What are the dis/advantages. Tell me some stories (about tender driven locos) good or bad. I am DC at the moment but do tell all. Cheers Loco15666 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elmo Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 The whole crux if the thing here is that the loco wheels must turn without judder or locking up. Whilst I much prefer the loco to do the work, I have some tender drive locos, an old pre-hornby dean goods and Lima King. These work well because the loco wheels are free running. In N gauge I have a Peco Collett, again the loco wheels are free running, and when all is running well you cannot tell where the motor is located. The down side is the possibility of wheel jam and the occasional heavy train making the loco driven wheels slip just like the real thing. If the tender-drive loco is one of your 'must have locos' just keep the motion clean and oiled and you will have many years good service from it. Elmo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
da4472vid Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 if you can get them cheep then you can, (as long as the fixing scews ar in the same place) ,think about a new loco drive chassis thats what i would do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VESPA Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 I have never had any trouble with them except the tyres become loose in time. Some have experienced gears failing on the shaft but so far I have been OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graskie Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 I got rid of all mine because they looked stupid when they occasionally locked up but continued to be moved along by the tender, as if saluting. They just didn't feel or look right either, the grey plastic slide valves spoiling their appearance entirely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poliss Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 I have an N scale loco that has the motor in the tender, but it powers the wheels in the loco via a cardan shaft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
da4472vid Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 What would be better would be that the tender and loco should be powerd be the same motor that way going up hill wouldent be a ploblem like witch is 1 in 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
da4472vid Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 da4472vid said: What would be better would be that the tender and loco should be powerd be the same motor that way going up hill wouldent be a ploblem like mine witch is 1 in 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loco15666 Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 Thanks guys you have told me a lot I did not know. I might steer clear of them for now. The range of other locos is massive so will do me for many years to come. Cheers, Loco15666 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernman777 Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 Loco15666, Hi, the main advantage of tender driven model locomotives is that more detail can be added to the loco including light under the boiler etc. The larger more powerful motor can be more easily hidden in the tender. Hornby often added traction tyres to the tender wheels enabling longer trains to be handled. I have had no problems with OO tender driven engines but remember that the newer similar engine driven locos will have newer and hence 'better' motors and detail. Have fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VESPA Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 Loco15666 said: Thanks guys you have told me a lot I did not know. I might steer clear of them for now. The range of other locos is massive so will do me for many years to come. Cheers, Loco15666 I personally would not buy anymore purely because all the new stuff is of a better detail. I will not be parting with any though at present. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fazy Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 i recall that hornby use to do loco driven models then they all become tender drive as it was seen better i remember an duchess in the late 70's early 80's having being tender drive but when i had to take the loco apart for something can't remember what now you could see where the motor would have fitted and now we have gone back to loco driven i wounder if it will swing back to tender in the years to come for such things as opening smoke boxes lights in the fire box smoke gens or even sound etc etc are wanted by the modellers as for which is best that all depends on what you want from your loco slow running power smooth running reliability or (cost which tends to be taken out of our hand as hornby pick the motor they use) but after building some of my own locos you get to use other motors which are on the market and can see just how bad the RTR ones really are has in no spares under powered etc as for five pole motor well seven pole motors have been around since the 70's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
da4472vid Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 like i say the idear of the brake coaches and vans have the motor so the locos can have the things on like smoke, lights, opening smokebox doors, fire efect in the firebox, the list goes on.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graskie Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 I think tenders need to be reserved for sound chips and speakers, plus perhaps rear lights, if that's what you're into. I have a tender loco like that, plus light and smoke on the loco itself. I have seen others with a glowing firebox in addition but I'm not too bothered about that feature. It just doesn't seem right to have a motor in the tender, and having a single motor driving the two units would spoil the appearance with a probably visible shaft revolving between them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Hornby seem to be fitting sound in tenders - see Merchant Navy with sound for example where the chip and speaker are in the tender with a wiring harness going from loco to a socket in the tender. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2e0dtoeric Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Post a new reply... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2e0dtoeric Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Sorry - pushed the wrong button then! AFAIK, all Hornby steam outline tender loco's have the sound chip and speaker in the tender, where there is more room for a decent size speaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
da4472vid Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Im not convinced on tender drive they would always seze up on me loco drive with traction tyers would a bit better i think Graskie said I still can't really think up a new signature. Any advice? how about Class Clown. lol :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poliss Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Traction tyres are the work of the Devil! They mean there are less wheels to pick up electrickery. What's needed is metal bodied locos with strong motors and lots of weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkingthedog Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I removed the traction tyres from one of my older Jintys and it improved the running 100%. Nasty things, tyres not Jintys. I never liked tender drive locos. Nothing looked worse than a loco moving along with the drive wheels skidding on the track. As soon as replacement loco drive models became available the tender drive versions were gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LCDR Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Tender drives were a necessary evil in days gone by because the motors had to be fairly large to pack in sufficient power especially in 4-4-0s and 0-6-0s. Nowadays motors tend to be smaller, and yet pack a lot more punch. The old pancake motors were being used in disesels too, so a tender drive was just a motor bogie in disguise. It kept costs down. I like the idea of an all wheel drive (tender and locomotive) for maximum traction, I wondered whether it was possible to make the Railroad Evening Star do this but up to now I haven't had the time (or the bottle) to try. Oddly enough the only Triang origin tender locomotive that survived the tender drive era unscathed was the Battle of Britain. It remained loco drive right up to the time the super detail version appeared. It would be pleasant to see it return in the Railroad range at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graskie Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 da4472vid said: Im not convinced on tender drive they would always seze up on me loco drive with traction tyers would a bit better i think Graskie said I still can't really think up a new signature. Any advice? how about Class Clown. lol :-)Many thanks, David. It partially solved my dilemma! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
81F Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 My Margate built tender drives (a King, Saint, 28XX and 8F) all perform well at medium and High speeds. However, since fitting a DCC chip low speed control is a bit erratic although they were pretty good on DC. Fitting chips to the 28XX (and original 440 County) is problematic as I had to drill out and fit a plastic bush to isolate the carbon brush cover to insulate the motor. Although not too difficult after you have done a couple! Having said that I have replaced my County 440 chassis with the new loco driven one from the railroad range. Another down side is when the bar connecting the loco to the tender is sprung. Although this allows closer coupling when running on the straight the tender can sometimes move a few mm before the loco does thereby destroying the illusion. On a plus side they seem more powerful (providing the traction tyres are not streached) and parts are more interchangeable. One of my 8Fs has the tender chassis from the afore mentioned county (with new sideframes) and my king has an armiture from an old Black 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
81F Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Having just posted the above i have just remembered my Dean Goods and Old Airfix Castle. Although easy to chip their tender drives are cheep and nasty which spoils what is a very nice looking loco. The castle body has now been transfered to a Hornby Hogwarts Castle with little modification while its tender drive is waiting to provide spares to keep the Dean Goods going until Hornby make a loco drive one (Please!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
da4472vid Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 are the bottom is all ready there 0-6-0s just a littel modification needed for the Dean Goods http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=dean+goods&start=114&hl=en&sa=X&gbv=2&biw=1024&bih=651&tbm=isch&tbnid=SqKNqRftlINFZM:&imgrefurl=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Photographic-Prints-Goods-locomotive-Steam/dp/B001NIB6A6&docid=0CMfWpXk7DG3rM&imgurl=http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YmNzXIaAL._SL500_AA300_.jpg&w=300&h=300&ei=77LoT474KceD8gPHtZT9Dg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=596&vpy=3&dur=2600&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=114&ty=133&sig=112463214718074166888&page=8&tbnh=140&tbnw=140&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:114,i:89 also ive noteset this odd loco http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=County+Class+4-4-2T&hl=en&gbv=2&biw=1024&bih=651&tbm=isch&tbnid=ER1jQY8KIxrfTM:&imgrefurl=http://spellerweb.net/rhindex/UKRH/GreatWestern/Narrowgauge/ChurchCount.html&docid=DOO4DXx2OgrzkM&imgurl=http://spellerweb.net/rhindex/UKRH/GreatWestern/Narrowgauge/CountyTank.jpg&w=797&h=275&ei=lbPoT4DIHseu8APcn9SzCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=598&vpy=186&dur=1380&hovh=132&hovw=383&tx=234&ty=84&sig=112463214718074166888&page=1&tbnh=65&tbnw=189&start=0&ndsp=13&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0,i:82 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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