Hornby H191 Class A4 Tender Drawbar SCREW

[ed-1235504]

Not sure of the appropriate 'forum' however ill go with general discussions and see where it gets me.

So Next up ...

I have a new Mallard no.4468. R3371-37-525. Ran it a few times and in the process have somehow managed to lose one of the drawbar screws connecting the tender to the loco.

I've pretty much dismantled the house looking for this dam thing and can't find it anywhere. Swept the offending area with a magnet ... and a metal detector at one stage... nada.

I have subsequently spent what now feels like half my adult life scouring the internet for a replacement screw, all to no avail...incidentally and irritatingly there's no service sheet that I can find for this loco, but I'm past caring now.

The closest I got to the offending item was a 'Temporarily Out of stock'; which really means permanently out of stock, from Peters Spares. Although that's not his fault I'm sure; I suspect the blame falls squarely on Hornby's shoulders.

Either way, the item on his website is referred to as-

"Hornby H191 Class A3 A4 Tender Drawbar Screw'.

Code H191, but I didn't know if that's his code or Hornby's.

Now, do any of you kind folks out there have one spare and are willing to part with it or are able to point me in the right direction as to fixing this situation, it would be greatly appreciated by not only me .... but everyone I know who's sick of me complaining about it...

[TVR1707822112]

Maybe have a look at new modellers shop or phone Hornby?

Best wishes

[96RAF]

If you ever had the screw then you still have it - check your layout for starters with a magnet, if no luck then use a torch to check the floor as these things bounce for England when they fall.

[Chrissaf]

Not necessarily for your particular loco, but some [not many] drawbars and screws are listed on this site near the bottom of the page. One of these screws may be a substitute for your missing one.

https://www.newmodellersshop.co.uk/hornby_spares_couplings.htm

In regard to anyone having a spare one. I'm afraid there is no 'Private Messaging' capability on this forum, and if you publish personal contact information within a post it is Hornby's policy for mods to remove such information on sight. However, if someone does indeed offer one F.O.C, the mods will try to facilitate contact via alternative means.

[Going Spare]

H191 is a part number created by Peters Spares.

Schools drawbar pack X9935 is still available and includes a screw but I have no way of knowing whether it would be an exact match.

[ColinB]

Peters Spares was the only spares supplier that did these, Hornby use M2 or M2.5 screws on all their other drawbars, but this is a stepped self tapping screw. The A4/Mallard tender doesn't have enough depth for a captive thread hence why they used this type. You could for the moment use a self tapping screw until he gets some more stock in. I have in the past used a self tapping screw and a valve gear distance piece to act as a spacer. I am always complaining about Hornby not selling specialist screws separately, I have recently given up. Don't what ever you do lose the stepped screw holding your front bogie to the bracket, they are impossible to get.

[ColinB]

Thinking about it as your Mallard is new, phone/email Hornby Customer Service explaining you have lost it. They will probably supply you with one, they did when I mailed them about a lost part from one of mine.

[ed-1235504]

@ColinB @GoingSpare

yea trawled through that website and they don't have the part / same screw.

[ed-1235504]

Yea Hornby and their spares policy is a useless bad joke - Just ridiculous and the lack of availability clearly shows they just don't care.

[ed-1235504]

@ColinB

tried that - still awaiting a reply - I get the feeling it's like throwing stones into a deep well

[ed-1235504]

@96RAF

as I said .. started off with crawling around with a torch then slowly moved onto dragging a magnet up and down, progressed up the chain to sweeping the area with a metal detector, and in a last ditched attempt swept the whole area thoroughly with the Dyson vacuum cleaner .. followed by same actions sifting through the vacuum cleaners detritus..... nothing.

[ed-1235504]

thanks - yea saw this during my search, sadly its a different part.

[ed-1235504]

Frankly, it just seems a bit 'mental' that every loco has a completely different solution to the same problem using un interchangeable / nonstandard parts.

[Brew Man]

tried that - still awaiting a reply - I get the feeling it's like throwing stones into a deep well

 

 

@ed

You'd be better phoning them, they usually take well over a week to respond to emails for some reason. However, I've usually had good response from them over the phone.

[ColinB]

Part X9935 is the drawbar for a Schools loco that screw is completely wrong it probably has a M2 thread on it, instead of a coarse self tapping thread. I agree with you about the commonization of drawbar bolts it would save them money in the long run but just remember "it is all about the detail". It does not matter about the detail when a screw falls out and you can't get a replacement, so you can't run it anyway.

[threelink]

@ed

Having been through the same experience more times than I care to admit to, I now have a box of miscellaneous small screws, nuts and bolts and other fixings scavenged from redundant IT kit, broken radios, cd players and other electronic refuse. Nothing goes in the bin until I have dismantled it for fixings and re-usable parts. These days I rarely find myself unable to find a replacement for missing or dropped screws. It is axiomatic that so soon as you find a replacement, the original mysteriously re-appears. I once spent a long time scouring the floor for such a tiny escapee before finding it stuck to my sock. It's called "Bods Law" or something very similar. Happy hunting.

[ColinB]

I found the right part it comes with a drawbar but you can bin that. You want X6339/1 it is a Tornado drawbar but comes with the right bolt. Do a google on it, Peters Spares have them but they charge £5.00 postage and packaging, there were a couple of other Sellers on EBay that do them with more sensible postage and packing prices. That is the tender end of the drawbar, if it is the loco end buy a X7215 drawbar, which is a Royal Scot drawbar which comes with the right bolt. Peters Spares doesn't have any, but I am sure other Suppliers do.

[ed-1235504]

Thought id share this ..... got this back from what is jokingly referred to as 'Customer Support' ......

Hello,

Unfortunately, we do not carry parts tor trains. Sorry

Regards,  

Manny Montezdeoca 

Customer Support  

[ed-1235504]

@ColinB

Excellent, very helpful, thank you very much - had no idea that the part would have been listed under different train types so I appreciate that intel very much! Curious, how did you know this?

[ColinB]

@Ed I am always modifying locos and building them from bits. I treat it as a personal challenge to outwit Hornby in their quest to avoid supplying spare parts. All I do is figure out what the original loco was originally derived from, so A4s come from A3s and A1s so the models will do roughly the same. Well at least they carry roughly the same tenders. It is like the Duchess it has the same tender as the Royal Scot so the Hornby parts are the same. So I figured A4 has the same tender as an A1 Tornado, Hornby confuse things by say supplying a drawbar plus screw for a Tornado whereas for an A4 you might get the screw or not.

Funny that response from Manny Montezdeoca, doesn't she realise on this site there is a spare parts section. Hornby need a big sort out before it is too late.

[VESPA]

Sorry a bit off topic (again) with the response from Hornby I thought this may be of interesting. Several years back (1988) I bought an MG Maestro 2.0 Efi. My local parts supplier who got parts for anything I was repairing or servicing, knew most parts off hand without referring to a book. He even supplied me with about 30 parts to rebuild a gearbox the day after I ordered them. Anyway, the company he worked for went but but a new gang took on the business and continued to trade getting rid of my mates and him in the process. What a pain it was trying to get the basics without a chassis or engine number. On one occasion I was overhauling the distributor on the MG, just the basics, and they insisted on the engine number. I gave them the part numbers but they insisted that they had to have the engine number. Then the argument started with them saying it was wrong. It turned out it had been a Police version never sold to the Police and I had had it from new. There were several times that parts were "not available" when indeed they were just under another number common to a Rover 600. It just shows that parts are there and finding them is sometimes a search. My wife collated all same parts for a white goods maker and shifted sometimes over 20 same parts into one area carefully leaving the old part number with the alternative generic part number next to it to avoid any confusion. It is time Hornby did that excercise as it would save them money as well.

[ColinB]

I know Vespa I am always saying the same, the "die hards" on a lot of Model Railway sites somehow think it is cute them having different part numbers. I was complaining about Hornby using at least two different sizes of valve gear/con rod screws, when somebody on a site complained it would ruin the detail. I mean I don't think the real locos have screws like that holding on their valve gear. The other thing I find amazing about Hornby spare parts is say a drawbar, sometimes it comes with screws sometimes it doesn't. Then there are chassis bottoms some come with pickups, some don't. I think the duchess tender bottom doesn't come with pickups but the Royal Scot does, they are exactly the same tender bottom on some models.