Hornby Patriot 2001 era

[pendeenpete]

I have acquired a tender driven Hornby Patriot (r2182b), it has extra pick ups on the loco and tender wheels, and seems to be almost a one off in the way it's put together. Firstly I can't see any screws to release the loco body, other than the one that holds the awful draw bar assembly, could this be the one?

The draw bar has two whiskers as well as the normal brass contacts that wrap roun the tender pin.

There doesn't seem to be a service sheet for it, so I'm a bit stumped for body removal and possibly a part number for the draw bar connectors.

It runs ok forwards,but sometimes loses connectivity at the draw bar in reverse due to the connectors being prone to drooping.

I seem to recall people with similar faults resorting to permanently wiring the loco and tender together, but can't find the post. Sorry this is a bit rambling,thanks for getting this far, any help appreciated.

Thanks

[Going Spare]

Have a look at service sheet 237. As you say, the drawbar screw also attaches the body at the cab end and a lug on the chassis block locates it at the front.

[atom3624]

I'm certain GS's advice is correct - always is!

I've 3 rebuilt Royal Scots, which I believe will have the same basic set-up.

The locomotive body retaining screw is UNDER the front bogie.

It's normally preferred to remove the bogie to give clear access to this.

Everything is very tight - motor, wires, etc. - so you will need to gently ease up the body.

The chassis will have one or 2 pegs which push into the plastic body at cab level, but there's very little movement available in view of the shape for you to push back to release the body.

I hope this makes sense.

If there's a speedo cable, remove this from the driving wheel it's attached to before removing the body.

Be careful of all of the detailing parts - lovely models, but a pain to work on!

Al.

[pendeenpete]

Thanks gents, unfortunately there is no screw under the front bogie, just the draw bar one at the cab end so I'll give that a try.

The loco seems to be like when Hornby did their design clever thing, quite different to my older tender driven ones.

Think I might try and wire the loco and tender together permanently if nothing else works.

[508006]

Usually with the patriot locos there is q screw to hold the drawbar in place ( as described ) but there is also a seperate screw located under the drawbar which holds the chassis and body together but to get to this screw, the drawbar has to be unscrewed 1st, this should then reval the screw that holds the chassis and body together, the removal if which should then allow access.

In reference to your suggestion of wiring the loco and tender together, I would definitely recommend that for 2 reasons.

1st, the thin wires attached to the connections on the drawbar can and do frequently become detached from the drawbar and can result not only in loss of power supply to the motor but also result in a dead short if the detached wire touches the opposite connection.

2nd, permanent wiring ensures good power supply to the motor but this in turn relies on the pickups on the loco being clean and making good contact with the wheels but beware, removing the base keeper plate to clean the pickups will allow the driving wheel bearings come out of their slots on the chassis.

To prevent this from happening, I found it best to leave the base keeper plate in place and just to use a piece of emery cloth / paper and gently maneuver it between the wheels and pickups and clean them that way because the pickups can be a pain to get back in place.

I once had a tender driven A3 from about the same time as your patriot loco and it was a nightmare getting them bearings back in place and keeping them there while refitting the base keeper plate.

The crunch eventually came when 1 of the pickups got caught in 1 of the wheels and ripped out the rest of the pickups on the same side, my solution was to remove the base keeper plate again, remove the other pickups and all the wiring from the loco so that it would not be collecting power and couple a parcels coach to the tender once the coach had been modified with 2 rail pickup on both bogies, wires connected up and routed inside the coach then passing through the gangway which would require drilling of sufficient diameter to allow the wires to pass through to be connected to the motor. Once the process is completed on the coach, place only the tender snd the coach on the track, apply power and touch the wires to the motor terminals to see whether it goes the same way as the power has been applied, if it does then your good to go once the wires have been soldered in place, if not then they need to be reversed and can then be soldered in place.

Once I carried out that very process on my A3, the wheels rotated without further issue and I never had to remove that awful base keeper plate again because in order to oil the bearings, I just drilled through the keeper plate at the exact locations of the 3 driving axles which allowed easy oiling to take pkace when required.

Hope this helps.

[ColinB]

I think you are all getting confused with the later loco driven ones. I had one of these that I modified with extra pickups and I connected loco and tender together with a two pin JST lead and socket. I think if I remember the loco body clips on as was the case with the early tender driven A4s. Unfortunately I replaced my then Duke of Sutherland with an equivalent Bachmann model. What I do if I get really stuck is see if there are any chassis on EBay and bodies on EBay and see if you can see the fittings that hold it together. You could try mailing Peters Spares as he sells secondhand ones.

[pendeenpete]

Thanks for the deatailed information 508006, this one has a clip on plastic keeper plate,which can stay exactly where it is, the only screw I've seen is the one mentioned holding the drawbar.

I've ordered some fine flexible wire, and will try to connect the loco and tender permanently.

Lubrication of the loco axles is going to be easier if the body comes off I think.

Thanks also Colinb

[atom3624]

I'd mistaken it for a later model.

It's an earlier, tender driven locomotive.

Here's a link to an Ebay posting of a very similar locomotive: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363176692020?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=CjwKCAjwoqGnBhAcEiwAwK-OkULndJ5YhEWLb32YP4n0DdwxtxVl4qSBRxKreVifGG3zuI_oymmC_RoC7fwQAvD_BwE

Look at the photos, there's obviously part of the chassis which locates IN THE FRONT of the locomotive body - under where the centre cylinder would be on the real thing.

Only one visible screw as the OP states.

I don't know this locomotive / model. Sorry.

Al.

[pendeenpete]

I removed the body by undoing the draw bar screw, it does indeed locate in the front slot.

So now it's off I gave the pick ups a clean, didn't undo the two screws that hold the pick up cover, thought I'd better re read the advice first. Waiting for the wire to see if a permanent connection is next on the list.

Again,many thanks everyone for your time.