ColinB

I think my units are fitted with LaisDCC 21 pin units which surprisingly work really well. Sorry but when I used the Gaugemaster predecessor admittedly not in a 21 pin version I had similar issues as to what you are getting. They are not cheap either.

When I converted my 0-4-0 locos, I converted them by using a six pin socket, it is quite easy on these locos. I used the DCC Concepts 6 pin socket as these seem to be the most robust, on a lot of the others the wires pull off too easily. I then used a Zimo MX617 decoder which has a higher current rating than the the Hornby ones and is a nice decoder. The Zimo MX617 also has the option of adding "stay alive" if you want it.

I must admit I am surprised about the Elite. I suppose it could be that the IC manufacturers are concentrating on the more lucrative PC and automotive market ICs. The Elite I assume uses an old micro as in microprocessor terms it is an old product and I doubt Hornby buy thousands of the device.

On a more serious note if Hornby wants to make serious money a Hornby Dublo A4 Dominion of Canada would be a good bet. The old versions seem to fetch very high prices, so an updated version with a metal body should do extremely well. Plus the existing A4 is very good so it is just a change of body material so minimal investment.

It will be interesting to see if the pre orders decrease next year, as most people will probably have list of items that they ordered at the last announcement and have still not received.

I thought Elite Controllers were ex stock, surely you don't have to pre order them.

This one could be interesting seeing as a great deal of last years locos didn't make it. Be interesting to see if there are any more Hornby Dublo locos and whether the loco with smoke makes it.

I have done loads of these, I generally replace them with the A4 one, for some reason it runs better. Take the bogie with the 4 wheels on making sure the tangs at the front are pointing down. Now take the nut and push it into the central hole from the underside. Hold it in the hole with a screwdriver or something else so it will not fall out. Take the "stepped" screw and push it through the slot in the bent bracket. It must be pushed down through the bracket with the bend on the bracket pointing upwards. Now screw the "stepped screw" into the hole in the bogie from the top, the nut will be on the underside still held in by what you supported it with. If you don't hold the nut in with something it will fall out as you start to screw. So now you should have the bogie dangling on the bracket. Now all you do is screw the bracket to the screwed hole in the chassis. If I have missed anything out please feel free to correct me. If you Google Hornby X6873 it will show you what it should look like fitted together, the bracket is a bit wider but the idea is the same.

This seems to be the thing with factory fitted sound options, they behave like the real thing. On my Rails 18000 fitted with DCC sound I found it wouldn't go very fast until I realised you have to press a function key to get it to run on the Gas Turbine rather than the diesel engine. With the sound switched off, it behaves like a normal model train.

I have got to admit to this being a bit of a guess so if I am wrong enlighten me. Electronic track cleaners use high frequency to clean the track, perhaps because of the motors armature having no iron it causes the windings to overheat and cause damage. It does say in the article cooling is an issue.

Read this: https://www.motioncontroltips.com/what-are-coreless-dc-motors/

I suppose if you really want one and you have tons of cash then paying over the odds doesn't worry you. From my point of view I wouldn't pay anymore than the recommended retail price, even then it is begrudged. I got mine for just under £200 as Hornby honoured their original price. The thing that does upset me is when Retailers do it, I know making a profit in these times is difficult, but you are fuelling inflation. It also gives Hornby a reason to hike the prices by another 10% as they think the market can stand it.

At £220+ it has got to be perfect, you will only regret it later. I agree with Going Spare, contact Hornby, if you fix it for them they save a packet in labour costs. I read on RMWEB that they have a separate team working on the issues.

@96RAF well I didn't know, if half of it was missing most of us wouldn't know. It looks real so did Hornby ever sell it? It could be self powered with a battery and run on plastic toothed rails. I am surprised it wasn't available on the first of April. That one in Germany most of the presenters had done articles on it, it appeared it was built over the river as that was the only space left.

It broke off just like the photographs you see taking a slight bit of the chassis with it. Invisible repair with a fraction of "Super Glue". To position them inwards I would have needed to break the other one off. Knowing my luck it would taken more of the chassis with it. They are so flimsy and stick out so far that is is a recipe for damage.

I have a Lima class 66 with the latest Hornby chassis and bogies (I converted it) and it definitely has traction tyres on the two outer axles (not the middle axle). Rather than having them on the same side as with tender driven locos, you might find that they are on opposite rails, so lets say that on the first axle it is on the wheel that is on left track, on the third axle it is on the wheel that is on the right track. Having said that on my Hornby class 47 it would only pull if the traction tyres were on the same side. I think I did read somewhere that initially the Hornby class 66 didn't have any traction tyres early on, but they used to slip all over the place, so they added them later. With a shredded one on the track it is going to have come off the axle bar the centre one, that doesn't have one.

I know on my one the front steps broke off just putting it back into the clear plastic tray and I am incredibly careful. I suspect I misaligned it as I let it sink in, so doing it at speed I can see how you can easily do it. Hornby has a thing with steps, the ones on Britannia tenders always seem to get caught and fall off.

@maw78 yes but most people don't know. If you watched Barrie's YouTube video or the Welsh guy's one you would think that they are brilliant. They have level track and probably run it at a reasonable speed, the getting stuck on points only happens at low speed. Plus there are many people that just want an unusual model. From reading the RMWEB forum it appears Hornby have a special team on it, lets hope they do better with the next one.

I think Hornby's issues are more than being in the Public Eye. I would say a fair proportion of their Customer Base bought their pre order models from two Retailers, Rails and Hattons so when they effectively desourced them they alienated their Customer base. Add to that in the case of Hattons the customer didn't find out until in some cases the model was released. Then there was the huge price hike 10%, now I can understand that everything has gone up so they had to do it, but now the customer expects a lot more, the model costs more than many "smart TVs". Then finally they mess things up by taking money out of the Customers credit card a whole two weeks before the article is delivered and when it is delivered the packaging is so poor that the £200+ loco is damaged. Most normal retailers would probably never recover from this, history is littered with them, read about the demise of BSA/Triumph, fortunately this is Hornby but if we look at many major brands that have failed even that is not always a guarantee.

There is some town in Germany that has that system hung across the river. I didn't even know Hornby had made it in the past. Is it something you have just bought 96RAF? It really looks good.

Hornby do that a lot. When I was building an original West Country from bits I had, I found the wheels and pony truck from the rebuilt ones fitted. Even the valve gear can be created from the rebuilt Merchant Navy, which was good as I had a set that was broken where the glue had come apart. It is a minor thing but you might want to file the post on the chassis that used to connect to the chassis pickup, down a bit so the pickup sits a bit flatter.

Yes, I would agree with that. Some of the things they have done have improved the locos like the sprung front bogies. On my layout they have definitely improved running. Some of their modern locos are really good, Duchess and Princess Royal being really good runners, but a lot of the separately fitted parts quite often fall off when you pick the loco up or quite often when you are running it around the layout. According to the forums and Retailer experiences quite a number of them fall off in the box when delivered. Trouble is separately fitted, glue and production line don't mix that well, although having said that you don't hear the same complaints about Bachmann who must do the same.

Hopefully if there is some sense in that company, they will have rectified things by the time the rebuilt version or the P2 come out. They did eventually sort out the Thompson A2 the later versions being a lot better than the earlier ones. The big issue is and will always be, that they have no control over their production.

It is probably the same fault Sam had with his one, he figured something was wrong and immediately tried to fix it. If you were someone that just runs the locos ( which you should with a new one out of the box) then if something is sticking in the mechanism then something has to give. It probably made one of the gears free wheel on its axle rather than stripping them. Although on the late locos they use a lot thinner and smaller gears so they could just strip. The effect is the same. It would interesting to know the failure rate. The Chinese accept 10% as normal, plus whatever Hermes damaged, so how many of these did Hornby make?

It is probably the same fault Sam had with his one, he figured something was wrong and immediately tried to fix it. If you were someone that just runs the locos ( which you should with a new one out of the box) then if something is sticking in the mechanism then something has to give. It probably made one of the gears free wheel on its axle rather than stripping them. Although on the late locos they use a lot thinner and smaller gears so they could just strip. The effect is the same. It would interesting to know the failure rate. The Chinese accept 10% as normal, plus whatever Hermes damaged, so how many of these did Hornby make?