Sultan

Bang on! Always buy the recommended quality decoders from the likes of Zimo, ESU or Lenz. For Hornby models a suitable Hornby decoder can be used.

Thank you for your answers. It must be a motor manufacturing fault as I have an 09 that has been in store and that also has a noisy mechanism. Neither loco has had much use. I am amazed that a new Hornby motor cost in excess of £30 when the loco bought as new was just £49.29 admittedly that was a long time ago. Such is progress. I will try an new motor in one of them to start with.

I have a class 08 that has a particularly annoying and very loud squeal coming from the drive mechanism. At walking pace speed no problem but above that it gets a bit loud. I have stripped and cleaned the mechanism of old oil and grease and lubricated with fresh oil and grease. The motor runs very sweetly out of its cradle so I know it's not the motor bearings. Al the gears in the drive run smoothly and the axles rotate freely. I am wondering if it is anything to do with the worm gear and its bearings? Although these move freely and have been lubricated. Any advice will be gratefully received.

I have been building one out of styrofoam and mount card.

Some lovely cast white metal vacuum pipes, coupling hooks and etched instanter couplings to detail my rake of over 90 Bachmann china clay wagons. I am going to be a busy boy sunglasses

Colin B I can't see how you can say the Hornby magnetic coupling is any better than the variety of options offered by Hunt Couplings. I have fitted these to many coaches and wagons and they perform faultlessly using just a single magnet and are far less conspicuous. That's my personal opinion anyway. Loose couplings can be held in with a dab of pva and allowed to dry will hold the coupling fast.

Much egg on face joy

For Kadee couplings to work they must be aligned correctly using the special alignment tool when setting up. Droopy NEM sockets should be adjusted so that they do not droop. There are various ways of doing this and many tutorials on YouTube. Once properly set up the trip pin should be ok, if not it too can be adjusted using a special pair of pliers.

I paint all the metal buffers on my locos and rolling stock with matt black paint as the shiny blackened metal finish is unrealistic. This usually renders the springing inoperable which is not a problem as i use tension lock couplings, Kadee knuckle couplers or Westhill Wagon Works magnetic couplings between rolling stock. My rakes of china clay hood wagons are coupled using fine wire hooks and the buffers do touch when being propelled. I consider sprung buffers on small wagons are unnecessary as they would not provide any benefit.

DCC Concepts make wheels with friction free pickups https://www.dccconcepts.com/product-category/specialised-model-accessories/dccconcepts-wheels-and-wheelsets/

The best thing in the announcement is the steam generator for some of the bigger steam engines. The worst thing is the 'Titfield Thunderbolt' set which is currently being developed by Rapido Trains under license from Studiocanal who own the film rights. Why do Hornby have to copy others? Oh and the prices. £326 for a pair of HST power cars. Loco prices are reaching ridiculous levels - thank goodness I don't need anymore.

I have never heard of using T cut to clean wheels before. I would suggest using a proprietary wheel cleaner such as the one sold by Gaugemaster - https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/magento/rightlines-article/gaugemaster-wheel-cleaning-brushes.html - which works well on Dc and DCC at removing stubborn dirt. Alternatively rest the loco upside down in a Peco servicing cradle and clean the wheels with a cotton bud soaked in IPA. There are plenty of videos on youtube.

The largest train I have run on my loft layout Liskwithiel Road is a Western diesel hauled train of 57 4 wheel china clay wagons. You can see a film of it on my Liskwithiel Road YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDp1U3K2NBg&t=2s&ab_channel=LiskwithielRoad

I recall many years ago when I bought myfleet of clas 50s there was a manufacturing fault with the pcbs. I contacted Hornby Customer Service and they sent me new pcbs which I fitted myself. I am not sure if it was to cure an issue with the lights or not though. Suffice to say all of them now run perfectly with the correct lighting displays. Most are on the basic Hornby 8 pin decoder and one is on an ESU Loksound V5 with Howes sound. I have also disconnectd the fan drive which has really helped with smooth running atlow speeds.

@D M Houghton If you remove the fan drive belt you will improve the running qualities too 😎

I find it hard to comprehend that there are so many CVs that have to be adjusted to get any loco to run smoothly that Hornby do not do it in the factory so all we have to do is plug and play. It is creating so much frustration through this forum with with experienced modellers so I dread to think what it is doing to the newbies.

You can use any TTS decoder in any loco if it has an 8 pin socket. Unfortunately none of the TTS decoders feature the Sulzer 6 cylinder 6LDA28 power units used in class 25 or 26. The class 47 TTS decoder would not be suitable either as the class 47 was fitted with a Sulzer 12 cylinder 12LDA28-B pwer unit. Have a look on YouTube for footage of full size class 25 and 26 locos.

In short Class 37 and class 27 power units are by different manufactures, ie English Electric and Sulzer and sound very different. As RAF96 suggests do some research onYouTube to ensure that you will be satisfied.

Of course you could always send it RealTrack models to get them to set it up for you?

You could try very carefully bending the brake blocks away from the wheels or as you suggest return to the retailer you bought it from. When bending do it very very gently and hold the block away from the wheel for a litle while for the plastic to remembr its new shape. You may have to do this afew times for it to have any effect. I have had to do this with the brakes ona Shark brake van.

If I were you I would send them back and get a refund or exchange for the newer MK2s. These railroad ones are possibly the old Airfix ones on which the bogies and wheels are truely awful. I have been rewheeling a rake of Virgin Mk2s with Hornby 12.6mm diameter plain wheels and they slop about in the bearinsg so that the ride uneven and is too low. There is also a lot of friction in the bearings such that it caused one of my heavy Heljan class 47s to stall on a 1:40 bank with just 6 of these coaches! To improve running I have been fitting top hat bearings in the bogies. This requires a special tool to drill out the bearing. The improvement is incredible.

I am wanting to upgarde my rake of Virgin Mk2 coaches to include painting the interiors and adding passengers etc. I cannot find how to remove the body though. I also want to remove the bogies to upgrade them by fitting metal wheel sets running in pinpoint bearings. I have bought a bearing reamer and the bogie really needs to be removed from the coach to work on it safely without causing any damage.

I would avoid using a 21 pin to 8 pin converter as they can cause fitting issues with the extra height above the socket sometimes making it hard to fit a decoder. Instead I would look at any of the following 21 pin decoders: Lenz Siver+ 21pin DCC Concepts Zen Black ZN218 Zimo MX638D

@462steamtrain Not wanting to appear stupiod by asking a daft question but is your central dmu fitted with a dcc loco decoder. If it isn't the dc motor is receiving an AC supply and will hum and not move much. If you conctnue to feed AC power into a dc motor it will burn out.

@RAF96 Thank you for your explanantion of cogging. In both the case o fteh Sentinel and the 66 the knocking is certainly not due to a worn out motor as they hardly get or have had much use at all. It may possibly be some running in is needed. Interestingly when I see other locos on layouts on YouTube etc they dont display this problem. In the video below on my Liskwithiel Road facebook page you can hear the knocking when the Sentinel starts working up hill. https://www.facebook.com/766345680042627/videos/770136766330185/