Cock of the North derailing

[tootsiewebb24]

Hello, I have just purchased a Hornby railroad model of the cock o the north, we took the body off to fit a decoder, now the front bogie keeps derailing. Thanks for any help

[ColinB]

This one comes up a lot. Generally the reason is there is not enough weight over the front bogie so it bounces around and eventually derails. What I did with mine was add a sliver of phosphor bronze weight glued on top of the bogie.

[96RAF]

Did you have to remove the front bogie to get at the body retaining screw. If so did you reassemble it all correctly including any spring if present. Ref to the service sheet for what bits go where.

[DonnyRailMan]

This one comes up a lot. Generally the reason is there is not enough weight over the front bogie so it bounces around and eventually derails. What I did with mine was add a sliver of phosphor bronze weight glued on top of the bogie.

 

 

I have made similar addition to my P2s. Front bogie like a supermarket trolley wheels.

[Yelrow]

now, i have one from new, never dismantled it, and it has never left the rails. make of that, what you will.

[ColinB]

You have been lucky Yelrow, perhaps it is something to do with the points layout. I watched mine go round my layout sometimes it derailed sometimes not, but it was obvious that the front bogie was bouncing all over the place. Now if it was just mine I would happy to own up and say it is my trackwork but then I watched a YouTube video by Barrie Davis saying exactly the same thing, he used a washer to add weight. He was running Hornby standard track, I run Peco Streamline with medium and large radius points, so it is not the trackwork.

96RAF unless they have changed the design, I think there isn't a spring, if there had been one, that would have been the first thing I changed. It may be that disturbing the body has released the bogie so it moves a lot more.

Just black tack a lump of metal, like a washer to the front bogie and see if it improves. If it doesn't then you can easily remove it.

[Topcat2018]

I think that this problem has come up before. I have a lot of old lead flashing that I use for weighting things such as lightweight Chinese-made 0-4-0 tank engines. Lead is about 50% denser than iron or steel and you can bend the flashing to the exact shape you want and/or cut it with tin snips, hammer it out if it's too thick, melt it and mould it etc.

[Brew Man]

I think that this problem has come up before. I have a lot of old lead flashing that I use for weighting things such as lightweight Chinese-made 0-4-0 tank engines. Lead is about 50% denser than iron or steel and you can bend the flashing to the exact shape you want and/or cut it with tin snips, hammer it out if it's too thick, melt it and mould it etc.

 

 

Being careful not to suck your fingers afterwards joy.

 

 

[Topcat2018]

@Brew Man

There's actually little danger of being poisoned by metallic lead unless you ingest a lot of it. It's lead compounds and particularly organic ones that are the real danger. I've used tin/lead solder for 50 years and not suffered any ill effects. My mother-in-law had lead water pipes in her house and lived to be 96!

The only time I suck my fingers is if I've eaten something like a sticky cake or spare ribs!

[tootsiewebb24]

thanks for the advice guys