Keeps cutting out

[Lauren -1229089]

Brought the Flying Scotsman set for my son from the Severn Valley Railway set it up and it worked fine for the first five minutes and then it just cut out. Turn it off at the power for a minute and put it back on and it works but only for a couple of minutes. We have never had this problem with any of his other sets. I've checked and double checked the track and power is all connected properly but to no avail. Any suggestions?? Thank you

[96RAF]

The basic controller supplied with train-sets is not very good. Cutting out is a well known problem.

To prove if it is the loco or controller you could try a controller from his other set(s). If the same thing happens with another controller, the loco may be drawing too much power. If it runs OK with another controller, then the original controller is suspect.

[ModelerXYZ]

I believe its a basic oval with no points, so they can't be causing trouble.

Clean the tracks. Methalated spirit or isopropol is good for this. The black muck that accumilates naturally with running trains causes high resistance, and the small train set controller can't cope with too much power.

It sounds like a short. Does it only occur if the train is running in 1 direction or does it occour whichever direction the train is running in?

XYZ

[DBfan]

As suggested invest in a better controller. If the set is new the track should not need cleaning

[DBfan]

As suggested invest in a better controller. If the set is new the track should not need cleaning

[ColinB]

If the controller is new and there are no faults with the track, which it sounds like there aren't, then it sounds like an issue with the controller. Electronic components have a habit of doing that if they are faulty. Generally the time period gets less and less until it dies completely. The other thing to check is the forward and reverse switch, I have had issues with these not switching properly.

[atom3624]

It's probably the pathetic standard controller.

Good for 0-4-0 / small diesel locomotives, but not 'large, heavies'.

Al.

[JJ73]

Want to get a better controller??? I've made a few vids that you may want to watch to help you out :-

Hope this helps - thanks for watching 🙂🚂

[ColinB]

I have one of those cheap Hornby controllers that came with my Pendolino set, to be fair I have found nothing wrong with it. I even got it to run a couple of Wrenn loco, admittedly not for long, but I use it for testing all my locos. I suppose though I only use it on a straight length of track for testing locos on DC, as my layout is DCC. The biggest issue I had was the backward forward switch. I eventually removed that interlock, although even now if you don't press it firmly to either end, it sometimes doesn't work. From the description of the fault it sounds like a component failure inside the unit as it warms up, which is a common failure mode for electronic devices.

[Going Spare]

The latest Flying Scotsman set R1255M does include a lefthand point.

While probably not the cause of your problem, if the controller cutting out coincides with you changing the direction of the point, it may be worth replacing the point with a plain section of track as some recently produced points are known to have a manufacturing fault causing a short-circuit.

The most likely source is the controller failing unless the problem persists when using another controller which is known to work correctly - in any event, you need to contact the seller under the set's warranty for a replacement faulty component or even a complete set if the actual source of the trouble can not be positively identified.