Lb101

Doh, That’s so bad it’s good 😆

Just as a footnote to my last message, does your front bogie assemby have a spring. I seem to remember mine didn’t. I added one from a spares and repairs Railroad Mallard (which Had suffered a major crash down the loft hatch banging off every step as it went 🫨).

I have this loco from around the same time, assuming it’s the railroad one And noiticed it did sometimes do this on two particular facing points. i tightened the front bogie assembly (four small guide wheels at the front, sorry if that is teaching you to suck eggs) which was very loose and wobbly compared to my railroad Mallard. This improved things as well as the derailments I was seeing. The screw is easily visible underneath. Just an idea if what’s been said doesn’t resolve it. I also make sure I push the point in tightly with the slider (I have the latest Hornby track).

Thanks both, this had clarified my plan. Anything that involves a bit of wiring, soldering and another switch to play with gets my vote so electro ones looks like the way to go for us and they’ll easily fit on a curve. I might even try to incline the turnouts so that the wagons stay put against the buffer stop when we pull back the shunter. Ta.

I’ve just realised the Autocoupler I’ve mentioned above is a electromagnet which is fixed under the baseboard. My plan if possible is to: 1. Have a track fixed decoupler somewhere on the layout so we can uncouple the hauling loco and park in a shed (I have a Hornby one lying around) 2. Remove the metal connecting part of the back of the rake. 3. Use a shunter with the thing above I’m looking to allow him to move the wagons where he desires. Maybe remove the ‘back’ (in relation to the shunter also being at the back of the rake) metal connectors so he can use the track decoupler to split the rake and have ‘bare’ wagons he can shunt separately. Will probably mean more unwanted decoupling but I have other wagons/coaches with connecting parts missing (one coupler connecting wagons) without problems. my problem is that most (all) of my sidings are curved so the track decouplers don’t fit the track. And we just like the idea of having a go at it.

I’ve been in the hobby about 5 years and built a large layout (OO scale), purchasing mainly my young sons favourite loco models in Hornby railroad where possible (Mallard, Eurostar etc) or older second hand (class 37,55 etc). For me it’s more the modelling that floats my boat. We recently assembled an n scale layout and I bought an Arnold (which I believe is a Hornby European brand) set. It has a little metal shunter with couplers either end which pop up when you first move. This allows coupling, moving and decoupling wagons. The result is he spends forever and a day playing with this. This is great, I’d like to move the idea onto some of our OO scale layout and locos. Has anyone heard of this as a retrofit to say a class 8 (we have an old Triangle model) to be used on wagons and turnouts. The only DC one i can find is the (I think it’s DC) Dingham Autocoupler. Any ideas welcome on my options, thanks.

I have such a converted attic and I am very tempted, if anything simply to impress my son and his mates who are taking an interest in the hobby. This beast would definitely sway a couple to get off there games consoles a bit more (grumpy old dad whinge over). The only thing holding me back is I run DC and I think this thing needs to sound alive perhaps more so than my other locos for max effect of massiveness (only option I tend to do is play loco noises through a wireless speaker via my phone when they aren’t looking, obviously failing to match the sound with what said loco is doing)!

If it is the newer R8250 controller, are you able to switch the direction slider? If not then perhaps it is stuck on full and become detached from the control knob. To be clear, this is happening with two controllers and two transformers right?probably me but I’m not clear, if it’s the one controller and new, take it back, if it’s old I’d get a new and better one (maybe try a friends on your layout if possible?). Best of luck.

I kept my two R8250 set controllers. One is perfect for my Hornby Turntable (variable speed and direction). The other for my smaller n scale layout which only runs one new loco at a time. Still cuts out from time to time but not a problem. Can also use them on lights etc as a dimmer.

Yes RDS. Distant, the current produced by your controller is dependent on the load being asked for by your loco (Voltage doesnt change). You’re controller cuts out when too much load is asked for, seems in your case even at low speed though it probably requires a high current to get your loco moving). Same will happen if you run say two or three new locos at the same time. I upgraded to the Hornby hm2000, never had any problems running very old locos and more than one at the same time.

It cuts out due to the current draw From your loco’s. Only remedy (other than cleaning your motors though probably won’t solve it) is a controller with a higher current output.