ColinB

Great thanks.

Its all in the title, what sound profile is closest to an 8F?

This is not a criticism, I am just wondering if anyone else has noticed this sort of behaviour. I bought a sound decoder for my Hornby 8F and it sounds really good but every so often when it starts up there is sound but no loco drive. Change the loco direction on DCC and suddenly loco drive works, it will now work in both directions properly. Now I have noticed that when it does this it does seem to be on a dirty bit of track, but then it is so random that it is hard to tell. Once it is running it works perfectly ok but it is just a bit weird what it is doing. I will add the loco previously contained a Zimo normal decoder (not sound) and I had non of these issues even on the same pieces of "dirty" track. To me it doesn't look like there is anything wrong with the decoder, more like a software initialisation error, so I don't think it is worth sending it back and the sound is great. I just wondered if anyone else had noticed this behaviour. Every other decoder make I have had issues with it is normally the sound that disappears whilst the motor is running.

I suppose I should ask, does the "Quote" button now work? On the old system we were told not to use it.

Most of the time on RMWeb I hardly notice the adverts, in fact sometimes they have shown me something I didn't know about. There is always the "x" button somewhere to get rid of it. RMWeb is ok, you do get the passionate ones that get wound up over something trivia, I even had a couple complaining about the use of "stay alive", but that is life there are always people around like that. This upgrade works, I don't think it is much of an improvement over the old one. It is harder to get started and not so easy to do a quick scan to see what is going on. The plus point is it seems faster. Trouble is, IT guys think differently to most and what they think is easy is generally not. What they should do is take them away for 6 months to do something different and then bring them back to use the product they wrote, then they would understand.

That is a shame, he knew an awful lot especially about old Hornby locos. He was also a good source for videos on how to fix them and things like decent traction tyres. He also knew a lot of practical things about BR and Underground trains identifying lighting, a lot from his personal experience. I think he will be sadly missed.

It is ok, seems to be a lot faster but there could be many reasons for that. I wouldn't have classed it as brilliant.

I am a great believer that software should make things easier but adding an extra step, to me doesn't help things. Mod Edit: Your post has been edited to remove impolite comment. R-

Yes the guy that highlighted that needs a medal. On RMWeb people are wondering what happens next. That really is a serious failure.

Perhaps the easiest solution is to replace the 21 pin socket with an 8 pin. likewise with the HM7000. Normally I wouldn't suggest such a thing but it might just give you sufficient room. Alternatively put the HM7000 into another loco and buy an alternative sound decoder that will fit. To me they seem the only two alternatives. I must admit I find it surprising that sound profiles that existed on TTS are not replicated on HM7000, whether it involves getting new recordings or not. I also find it surprising that Hornby don't class sounds for the current range of locos above others. I recently was looking for sound for an 8F, in the end I bought one from a competitor.

I asked the same question on RMWeb, same old design. I assume they has moved decoder to tender with 4 pin connector and made the pickups pickup from both wheels rather than use the chassis. Someone even said that it doesn't have NEM pockets which I find difficult to believe. So basically a very old design.

I looked about a week ago and it wasn't there. He did mentioned he was scheduled to go into hospital for an op, so perhaps that is the reason.

It seems to have lost my original post. I use these motors in a lot of my old Railroad locos, a simple upgrade for the 3 pole ones. You can take them apart I have done it a couple of times. On the ones I bought there was an issue where the clip that holds the pole pieces on fell off. This may well be the issue. Once this clip has unclipped itself it jams the motors occasionally. It is worth a try what have you got to lose, if it fails buy a new one.

Someone on RMWeb pointed me to a review and it sounds like it is just a rerelease still with traction tyres. I couldn't find out if they had improved the pickups.

Has anyone bought this model? I am thinking of getting one to replace my old Airfix one that is terrible. I read somewhere that this latest version has some improvements and as I have about £30.00 of points off Hornby, I can get it quite cheap. The trouble is I don't want to buy it, if is bad as its predecessor (traction tyres etc). Trouble is it is a Railroad model so probably not that many sensible reviews out there. I know it is not DCC ready but I can sort that.

After all that it still derailed but not so often, it was even worse with coaches. The final fix for me was to change the washer underneath the nut that the bogie bolt screws into. I think it is too thin so stops the bogie moving properly. I replaced it with a thin copper one and that seems to have fixed it completely, so it may well be that is all that is needed or use a thicker silicone washer. I don't know if Hornby has changed from the one fitted to R3404 or whether it just that the supply was different, either way it seems to work for me. I don't want to dismantle R3404 so I will leave well alone. Trouble is it is one of those things very difficult to find, so on a perfectly level track probably no issues. I am sure I have done this fix before, perhaps that is why the other locos run alright.

Done.

Is there one for an 8F seeing as Hornby has just rereleased it? I couldn't find it in the list.

And sometimes he seems to get the duffest model out there the 9F Evening Star being a prime example. Actually for all his perceived faults Hornby should be very thankful, I have lost count of the locos he has tested that I had never seen and finally bought.

Well the wheels don't help they have a thinner flange but the main issue is the bolt they halved the diameter. Replaced it with the older bolt and it runs much better. Also I found increasing the back to back spacing on the rear bogie by about 1 mm seems to fix it completely. I tried the back to back before, but I think the bolt is the major culprit. I don't what you do about that?

It is either the bogie bolt or the wheels, the replacement bogie works perfectly. I will leave it to run for half and hour then I will start looking for differences on the bogie. My first impression is the bolt may be too thin but I will compare once it has finished running.

I have found a decoder in another loco that I fitted and surprise surprise my one derails, only occasionally. I have 3 of these (yes I know it is excessive, I built most from bits after I had to fix one) and they all work perfectly. I have checked the gauging and that measures the same as the others. I have a relatively new one R3404 which I bought new and that seems to be exactly the same as R30271 except it is black rather than red and that runs perfectly. It might be the wheels on the bogie. I have a spare bogie with different wheels, I will see if that makes a difference. As far as I can tell LT&SR_NSE it all looks the same as R3404. I will change the bogie and let you know.

I must admit I have a few of the old ones of these, I haven't got round to fitting a decoder to this one yet. Usually they are ok, but I suppose a lot depends on your layout. I notice on mine the steps are an added extra (on the old ones they were pre fitted) , so have you added them and is it possible the bogie hits them on curves. Back to back spacing on the bogie is the favorite, it could be it gets stuck on the chassis. My decoder comes soon, I will try my one out to see if there is an issue.

I honestly don't know why so many people get so twitchy over YouTubers, they are there, it is no worse than buying a magazine, except in many cases the magazine generally never gives bad reviews. Many of the cars I worked on had very favorable reviews in the motoring press which compared with what I was testing, amazed me, 3 months later when the public buys it we are in panic mode. I bought my latest HST on a review from a YouTuber, I wanted to know if the fans were driven and fortunately the reviewer covered it very well. Surprisingly that information was not in the technical spec of the loco on the Hornby site. Similarly I was thinking of buying Kernow's steam based coach, at least two reviewers commented that getting the body off to fit a decoder was difficult. In fact Sam was probably the least negative of the two, the other one pointed out that one part you need to remove was glued on. Surprisingly these things are important, if you are going to attack a £200 loco it is nice to know how to do it properly seeing as most of the instructions supplied have a habit of missing bits out. YouTube is like any other sort of media you watch it and make your own opinion that is what I definitely do. I suppose come to think of it same could be said of this site and RMWeb.

I watched that clip from charlie, I don't think Hattons have been operating like that for a long time. Back in the late 80s and 90s when there were huge discounts around then yes but of late no not really. What I think killed them off is Hornby and its tier system and the loss of the Bachmann business. Then they moved to an industrial estate giving them no real identity. I remember when they lost all those pre orders thinking how will they survive, they must have lost thousands over that. I had at least 4 pre orders with them and then is something about phycology, if you pre order an item you don't seem to worry about the cost, whereas if you buy it in the shop you do. I did think at the time "how are they making a profit". Yes their specials made them some but they didn't make enough.