Service sheet for Mallard R3173

[Bobby B]

Hi again,

im now looking for a service sheet for R3173?

[Topcat2018]

As far as I am aware this loco is a DCC-ready Chinese-made Railroad model circa 2013. It's not the later one where the loco is permanently linked to the loco that has a plug and socket to connect to the tender for a sound decoder but one with the flimsy contacts on the back of the loco. I could be wrong but I'm guessing that a service sheet for any Chinese-made A4 of that period would be suitable and mechanically it should be the same as a Chinese-made A1/A3. Unfortunately I don't know what other A4s and A3s were made then.

[Going Spare]

There has not been a Service Sheet issued specifically covering R3173 - I would contact Customer Services for their advice.

[ColinB]

To be quite honest the only differences between the A4 Railroad version and the super detail version of this era is going to be the valve gear and the tender. The later Railroad versions had a different chassis and motor, but these ones share their chassis with the super detail one. I think both sorts are listed on the New Modellers Service Sheets. Service sheets 344, 358 and 394 seem to cover all variants. I suggest 344 for the tender and any of the others for the loco. The biggest concern is if you need wheels, they come in red or black depending on your model. So I think from a previous post R3173 is a blue LNER one, so you need red wheels which either have RD after them or the easiest way to find them is to do a search of Peters Spares. If your valve gear is broken, I think there is a shortage of Railroad valve gear, but the super detail one fits as long as you use the corresponding cylinder block.

[Bobby B]

Thanks again for all the great replies. Much appreciated and food for thought. I’ll do a little digging on your advice.

[Bobby B]

And the detailed answers with time taken to reply is especially appreciated.