ColinB

You missed the point it was a humorous reply to 81F's post that he had waited 8 years. As to the locos virtually all the ones I have preordered from the last 3 catalogues are still on preorder and they are all not new builds. I think the Yesterday program made it worse because we now know when many were designed.

Obviously that is why our hobby doesn't appeal to a child. Perhaps in Hornby's case they would be better off having an abridged catalogue, or a catalogue that contained locos they haven't got round to making so the list of unfinished designs didn't get longer and longer. At the moment with their finances limited as you guys keep telling me, they have no chance of ever catching up. The catalogue at the moment becomes a list of what might be available in a couple of years time. Lucky it is not like one firm I worked for, the average lifespan of an Engineer was 2 years before they left, then the replacement made all the same mistakes.

I must admit I asked the question because it completely baffled me as to why you would configure it that way. It was annoying as when I do the DCC decoder to tender conversion I try to make it as neat as possible so two joints where there is only a need for one upsets me. There is also the fact that an "inline" joint is normally a point of failure. I will eventually take one of the new A1s I got off TMC cheap, apart to see if the lead is the same in them. Up to now I have only worked on the previous A3/A4 chassis. I suppose I could take the loco completely apart and replace the pickup leads with longer ones.

The thing that surprises me a two rail HD loco is usually a lot cheaper than a Wrenn, but basically they are the same. Surely the Hornby Dublo two and three rail locos are the same except for the pickup arrangement and different front and back bogies. I know years ago I converted my 2 three rail HD locos to two rail using Wrenn parts. When HD were going they used to advertise the loco in the catalogue and you just picked whether it was two or the three rail option you ordered so the bodies are exactly the same, I don't know about the tenders though. I know Wrenn used Hornby plastic tenders.

Yes I did get an answer here it is "In regards to your question this is neither a design change or manufacturing error. However, not every locomotive has longer wires on the outside of the plug, sorry for the inconvenience caused." So if if they don't have longer outside wires why not make them all the same length and if you are going to change the length you give them a different part number. I think if I remember an A3/A4 has the pickup wires coming out underneath the motor so perhaps that is the difference, although in reality the difference in length is minimal. Either way I fixed it, hopefully the next batch will be the right length.

Thanks LT&SR_NSE, I have contacted Hornby so I will wait. I suspect it is the first case as the App does not give me the option to do a reset in any of its menus.

So where is this "Resettable Device"? I have a "Resettable Devices" but nothing happens if I tap on that.

I found the device address using a blue tooth scanner, so where do I enter it to do the reset?

I think 96RAF mentioned ages ago that if it had linked to the wrong app it messed up the decoder. I have mailed Hornby. The App has loaded properly and the scan obviously works.

Thanks SteveM6, I assume I need a reset code from Hornby as the App comes up under Resettable Devices "HM6010_850" which is probably from when I first tried it with the QR code pointing to the wrong app.

So I have finally got round to testing this app. On my play.com list on my phone I have two apps HM|DCC and HM|DC. So I assume HM|DCC is the right app, is this correct?

Actually I don't care how Hornby operates that is entirely up to them, the market will decide in due course. It does annoy me that I order a loco and don't see it for 4 years but then if that is how they want to run their business up to them, I am just pointing out that not all people are willing to wait that long.

Sorry 96RAF what is your post about? Are we talking about a previous model? Interestingly I got a mail from Hornby today to say my Lord President had arrived, I think that order was about 4 years ago but at least I got about £50 off the current price. There again I wouldn't pay the current price for that model but perhaps there lies Hornby's problem.

There is another point of view, by announcing the model and taking orders before you have started taking making the thing, you fix the price too early. Hornby's current strategy is to honour the pre order price, so if it takes 4 years to produce the model the pricing is all wrong. How can you predict the price when you don't know what your manufacturing costs will be at the time you make it? You can have a rough guess but when you are talking intervals of 4 years it gets incredibly difficult especially when it is not your "in house" manufacturing.

Actually your argument about cars to me doesn't make that much sense generally most of the public just want a car. As the 3 year old platform anyone that has worked in the car industry will tell you that you don't touch a new model for at least 6 months. If you guys are happy with the preordering system then who am I to complain, it appears though from a lot of posts I read not everyone is. I preorder my locos because that is the only way to guarantee the price, the danger of not getting one seems to have passed.

No I haven't, I was just trying to figure out why they would do it. My logic says make the two inner wires shorter. I had one like this that I bought off Lendons about two months ago, but the next one I nought was ok. I just thought it was a bad one. I ordered two from Lendons and they were of the new design and then just to check I ordered two off New Modellers and they were the same. As I say the logic just defeats me, the pickup wires are normally at the front of the loco the motor at the back, so unless the pickup wires are extremely long, it means you have to extend them. I will email Hornby.

To me it seems a dumb idea, unique it seems to model railway. People on this site seem to justify it until the cows come home, so far none of their arguments really stack up. Working out how many items to make is generally part of the marketing function so trying to do by preorders is a bit of a cheat. I know in the car world my company lost very many orders to customers because many of our competitors could provide a model immediately rather than wait 6 months for it to be made. It has to be special for people to wait a long time. Currently they get away with it but who knows what the future holds.

I know this is a trivial subject but perhaps someone can explain the logic to me. This X6113 is the 4 way wire that links the tender to the loco on a modern DCC loco. I convert all my locos with a tender to the latest design with the DCC decoder in the tender so I use a lot of them. Originally when I bought them all 4 wires were the same length. Now normally the distance to the motor is shorter than the distance to the loco pickup wires, so I normally cut the loco leads a bit shorter. Anyway the last batch I received from two different spare suppliers have the two outside wires shorter that the two inside wires. As the two inside wires go to the motor and the two outside go to the pickups, the design is completely about face. Any idea why Hornby would do this, or is it a case that they were the wrong length for production so they are selling them as spares. For me it means having two joins in the lead to make it longer which is not ideal.

Now if they did, I think that could be a definite money spinner but it depends on what is required to fit it.

It is a shame that there is a shortage of Zimo decoders at the moment. I found that the 6 pin one was very small and fitted mostly everything. It also has a output current limit of 0.8 amps which is good enough for most locos. On some occasions I have ordered the 6 pin wired one and rewired it to 8 pin as was the case with the Hornby class 87. I have never had that much success with Gaugemaster decoders but that could be me.

I did a lot of work on my tender driven Duchess locos when I converted them to DCC. I think your big issue is using a Hornby decoder. They are only rated at 500 mAmp a Ringfield can draw up to 600 mAmp. In fact I am surprised you haven't fried it, with mine it stalled on a point and it was no more. I use Zimo DCC decoders in my old Ringfield locos and I don't have any affiliation with the company, I just found that they worked the best. They are rated at 800 mAmp so more suited to the motor. I also found Hatton's and DCC Supplies ones also seemed to have issues with Ringfields although according to their specifications they shouldn't. There again that is just my experience.

It is probably the decoder, Hornby decoders seem to have an issue with heat dissipation. The decoder wasn't encased in heat shrink by chance? I doubt there is anything wrong with the wiring as it would have blown up immediately. The only other thing to check is that the motor isn't shorting to the chassis/Wheels when it goes round a piece of curved track. That is what happened with an Oxford loco of mine. I have never measured the current on these but I use a Zimo one in my Terrier which has a slightly higher current rating 0.8 verses 0.5 amps.

Yes atom3624 I should have done that, if it hadn't have weighed so much I would have sent it back. I just wondered how come they didn't notice. On the subject of Mazak rot, I just recently bought another broken Royal Scot off Rails. It is ok it was advertised as having Mazak rot. I ordered a new chassis ready to change it but surprisingly the chassis was ok. The motor mount had it, as did the top mounting for the motor that fits on the the chassis but the actual chassis has no signs of it. I will change all of it but obviously the chassis was made of a different mix. Was is it on these models the valve gear is so flimsy, look at it and it breaks.

I know I have bought many basket cases off EBay and I always wonder if they knew or not. There again some people genuinely don't know so I normally just accept it. I recently bought a second hand buffet car off a well known firm in Liverpool and found it to be full of lead shot, it weighed a ton. I suspect even a Wrenn would have struggled pulling it. It was rare so I fixed it but it was obvious by its weight that something was wrong so how come they didn't. I bought a rebuilt Royal Scot off EBay the guy said that the motor didn't run properly so I got it cheap, that is when I was introduced to Mazak rot. Eventually I got it running with a new chassis when I mailed the guy to tell him why it didn't run properly, his comment was "I wondered why I couldn't get it to work properly".

Trouble is as is the case with this Class 31, the Seller is selling it because someone has died and knows nothing about model railways. So Mazak rot will be completely alien to them and even taking the loco apart a task that is beyond them. It is Hornby's fault they should have done decent quality control on their manufacturer.