ColinB

People are always saying about using the smaller shops, in my local model shop there was a Bachmann diesel it was £60.00 dearer than what I could get it for on the web. I could accept £10.00 difference for the convenience but £60.00. There are some smaller progressive model shops where they match prices and generally I buy from these when I can, that is exactly how RoS started, I remember buying stuff from him in the 80s/90s where it was him and I suspect his mother running it.Smaller shops are great if they run a decent service, I have been in some where running a business is secondary to their hobby and talking to their mates while you wait for 10 minutes to get served. As I said previously if the article is only slightly more expensive in your local model shop then that is ok but if we are talking multiplies of £10 then that is a different story. A couple of firms I buy from are preservation railways where not only are their prices competative but you know the money is going to a good cause. There is a preserved railway in Kent where their prices are always maximum recomended retail whereas there is one in Howarth and Grosmont where their prices are very reasonable.

I don't know what an A2 controller is, but if I remember back to my youth, Hornby Dublo used to have screw terminals on the transformer and a length of track with screw terminals on. So you can use basically any wire that fits, so thin mains wire, bell wire etc.

I found it on the Hattons website when I moved my order and yes, I had previously checked the Hornby site and it came up with a page error. Probably someone is updating the website. Collets have the original date of April to May 2020, so obviously it is not that well known.

I know Chrissaf, I said the same. I think the only reason I moved mine to the tender was I had recently blown a decoder up by squeezing some other one into a loco. I also don't like taking the locos apart seeing as the valve gear seems to be the first thing that gets damaged while you are struggling to take it apart and generally is not always available as a spare part. My P2 has the TTS decoder in the loco as does my Railroad Mallard.

Hornby only ever supply the standard speakers. I have even had issues sometimes fitting them into the tender as they don't fit always that well. From what people say on this site, changing the speaker is probably one of the best things you can do.

Well R3632 is not even listed in their shop anymore, so assume that is now a 2021 release. I suppose then there was the Rocket wagons, RoS decided to make a product that was not available, then Hornby thought that was a good idea and decided to make them. I must admit every time I have had to talk RoS customer service they always seemed ok, when I needed to send something back they were very good sending me a prepaid label. The trouble with dealing with smaller shops is that if there is an issue with your loco, that was probably the only one they had, so they are not going to be very keen to send you a replacement.

I must admit I have used lots of different makes of decoder, they all seem to work ok. The only issue I find is the way that some behave with poor DCC signals. So in a Bachmann diesel with decent pickups, I have up until recently been using LaisDCC and they worked perfectly ok. Similarly I have a couple of Hattons ones that perform OK, the only issue being when I fitted them to a Ringfield based loco, in that they couldn't handle the "stall current". I use a Hornby Elite of a Fleishmann Twin Track, to control them.

The Hornby class 66, well anyway the one I have, does not have lights (I spent ages fitting them) and I gather from posts on this site nor does the NHS one. As for RoS, I am old enough to remember when he first started and how hard he worked to make a succesful business, so if he appears arrogant then he has probably earnt the right. R3632 was due end of 2019 according to my 2019 catalogue, I have had it on order since mid 2019 and in this year's catalogue there isn't even a date, so where are you getting your data.

Yes it is funny that, some of the stuff they are supposed to release they never do (eg) R3632 Merchant Navy to name one, but then they can rush through jobs like the NHS class 66. I suppose though a class 66 is a lot easier to make than a Merchant Navy class, their one doesn't even have lights.

When I ordered it, it said it was preorder. I order some electrofrog points at the same time. I was amazed when I got a mail to say that they were processing the flexitrack. I just assumed that they must have just received a shipment. I am still waiting for the points.

So I suppose I have to move my preorders to Hattons, trouble is I will now go to the end of the list. So I wonder what is going on? Surely as businesses, they need each other. I order virtually all my new locos off Rails.

Has Rails had a falling out with Hornby? I have just had a mail to say that they are cancelling all Hornby preorders. What is going on? I would have thought Rails is a Supplier, you wouldn't want to upset, they must shift loads of locos.

Looking at the web this is a tender driven motor, so for a start you must have loco and tender coupled together as the loco picks up one side of the supply, the tender the other. If if still doesn't work, unclip the tender top and put the battery across the motor brush retainers (the shiny pieces of metal), then at least you can establish that the motor works.

It is standard for Hornby to put the TTS decoder in the tender. They use the standard round speaker or rectangular in the case of Class 66, neither of which will fit in the loco. My P2 has the socket in the loco, I managed to add the sound by using an ice cube speaker below the cab, but even that loco has provision for a socket in the tender. I had add a light on the front so I couldn't move the decoder to the tender. I cannot remember whether I changed the tender bottom on this one as generally most Railroad version don't have tender pickups. The 0-4-0s being the exception, because they wouldn't work without them.

With my Tornado I initially fitted the TTS decoder in the loco using a suger cube speaker. I then realised that the loco kept stalling on bad pieces of track as there were no tender pickups, so I bought the later tender bottom that has the pickups and the socket in the tender. I then moved all of it to the tender. It does mean as well as a new tender bottom and pickups, you need to buy a 4 pin lead and socket, but the loco runs tons better. I also hate having to cram the electronics in small spaces as it increases the risk of it blowing up.

Just in case you didn't know. Hattons now have flexitrack, they delivered me,10 lengths of it today.

Perhaps if anyone ever talks to someone in Hornby about Elite upgrades, it would be a really good enhancement to use one of the keys as an "enter key" in programming mode. The ACC key seems like a good candidate. That would get rid of the issues with the controller key moving, when you click it.

So you are saying that the motor moves but no forward or backward motion. You don't say if it is tender or loco driven. If it is loco driven then there is something worng with the gears that connect with the wheels. Check that the valve gear is not jammed. If it is tender driven then the favorite is the brass gear on the end of the shaft becoming loose. Also if it is tender driven it could be the traction tyres not gripping anymore. In all cases it is a take it apart moment.

I am pretty sure the B ones fit, it is supposed to be a standard. I do remember someone on this site saying that one sort seems to be a bit tighter. I noticed that you can still get the ones made by B. The ones on my locos fall out on a regular basis that I am sure some of my Hornby's have Bachmann ones.

I think what you are after is called a NEM pocket. This clips into the bogie and the coupling pushes into it. If they are the same as the locos they are either always falling out or breaking if the coach derails. Somebody will probably tell you the right part number or you could Google it. Trouble is even if you change the coupling type, they all fit into the NEM pocket which quite often seems to be the weakest link.

As a follow up I was trying to find out when I bought this decoder. It appears the original had no sound at all, I returned it to Hornby and this is the replacement. Surprisingly, it is just about a year old.

Has anyone had issues with the sound out of a TTS decoder being distorted. I bought a P2 TTS decoder about a year ago, it made sounds so I was happy. Fast forward about a year and I have bought very many TTS decoders. So when I was testing out the P2 I suddenly thought that the sound was a bit distorted. So I changed the speaker to an ICE cube and it sounded a bit better but still not that good. Anyway Amazon were doing the P2 TTS decoder really cheap (£32=00) so I thought I would buy one just to check. Sure enough the new one is perfect even more so seeing as it now has a really decent speaker. Does anyone know if the old one is fixable? I cannot return it on the Hornby guarantee as I am sure it is over a year old. I know roughly how they work but as to the actual circuit I haven't got a clue, plus I probably would not be able to see the component. If not I suppose I could use it as a DCC decoder. I am so used to them blowing up, having something like this is something very new.

You could hardwire it, it is just that it is a pain when trying to fix anything on the loco with them permanently connected together, plus for me permanent wiring is always an issue. This is a Bachmann so although it has the decoder in the tender, it doesn't have any pickups in the tender. I agree with Chrissaf it is much better to fix the loco properly, but each to their own. On the one I fixed the guy had had extra pickups added to the tender, but after I had fixed it he said it ran better than ever, which was because one of the pickups on the original bottom plate was bent, which replacing it obviously improved the running. You will find as I have on many occasions, that when you fit the decoder to the tender, having it permanently wired to the loco will be a pain. For me replacing the part was a much better option. The reason the wires fall out, is people don't pull out the connecter when they work on them or they try to pull the connector of by pulling at the wires. As Chrissaf says, buy the proper extraction tool and you will have no further issues.

On my Duchess and A4 tender driven locos, I converted them to DCC, so I used the excuse to put the DCC socket in the loco and connect the loco to tender with the Hornby 4 way lead and socket, putting the 4 pin socket in the loco as it is easier to find something to screw it to. I also added pickups to both sides of loco wheels. The result is that they run better than they ever did.

I have just fixed one of these, you can get a replacement from Bachmann, I think it was about £7.00. It comes complete with the pickup plate, not too difficult to replace. As for the TTS decoder, you will need to use a small speaker, I used a small iphone one, there is surprisingly little space in the tender but the TTS should fit.