ColinB

Yes, I had that issue, I worked it out that there isn't enough weight on the back bogie. What I did eventually is replace the weight with a Hornby weight that was twice as high. I think I got it from Peters Spares.

I agree with Vespa I sold a lot of my tender driven locos from the 80's on EBay a couple were limited edition models. They didn't fetch much more than the others. It seems a limited edition model is worth most a few weeks after all the model shops have run out of them. The ones I have noticed that do seem to retain their value are the West Country and Battle of Britain locos in unbuilt form. In Hornby and Wrenn form they always seem to fetch a lot of money. Even the bits are expensive, why I do not know, they must be the simplest in valve gear and the square body. I buy locos because I like them, so if I make money when I sell them (which I rarely do) it is a bonus.

Yes, DarkRedCape a couple of weeks ago I was on holiday, the day I came back, a parcel arrived . The driver delivered it to my neighbor but checked in the evening in his own time that I received it. That was definitely a personal service, but I live in a small town/village and our sorting office is local so perhaps that is why.

Yes, DarkRedCape a couple of weeks ago I was on holiday, the day I came back, a parcel arrived . The driver delivered it to my neighbor but checked in the evening in his own time that I received it. That was definitely a personal service, but I live in a small town/village and our sorting office is local so perhaps that is why.

Yes I agree with you on that Topcat, many times since Covid started I get a ring on the doorbell, go outside to find the parcel propped up against the door. The delivery driver is nowhere to be seen. So if I was not in would it have stayed there all day?

Thanks 96RAF, I didn't know they made them. My layout already has isolated sections dating back to its old DC days so easy to add. At the moment though, the 3 Amp power supply seems adequate. The maximum number of loco I can have running and not waiting at points is 3.

I think the thing is with RM it all depends on their staff, where I live they are excellent. The trouble is the underlying organisation, so RM have been doing it for years and generally are consistent. DPD were brilliant when they first started but I suppose the accountants got involved and they are still good but not as good as they were. We don't mention the other firms, if you want it damaged then they are your preferred option.

I think the thing is with RM it all depends on their staff, where I live they are excellent. The trouble is the underlying organisation, so RM have been doing it for years and generally are consistent. DPD were brilliant when they first started but I suppose the accountants got involved and they are still good but not as good as they were. We don't mention the other firms, if you want it damaged then they are your preferred option.

Well that is good news for you. Surprising though, Hornby don't seem to be making much at the moment.

No they can't, unless it is something like a Brighton Belle where all the carriages are connected to the loco to run the lights. Well at least on the ones I have. Be careful though with the tenders, most modern locos pick up power both in the loco and tender, so your isolating section needs to be long enough to accommodate both loco and tender.

I think their prices on the locos especially their modern image ones are at least 10% above what they should be. If you compare them with Dapol, then 20%. I just compare the Bachman class 90 with the Hornby class 91. The Bachmann has a metal controllable pantograph, the Hornby pantograph is plastic non controllable and more expensive and I gather it has coupling issues. Generally across the range Hornby are generally more expensive, the only thing they are substantially cheaper for, is rolling stock although on their coaches they are rapidly catching Bachmann although the new Bachmann coaches are generally wired for lights and DCC. I don't think Hornby's business model fitted in with Rails. Having dealt with Rails for very many years I think the concept of telling a Customer after two years that they can't have their pre ordered loco because they didn't get enough allocation is totally against the way they work, you could lose that customer for ever.

I use both tacks and glue dependant on where it is going. On the Peco code 100 flexitrack, I use Peco pins and m1.6 screws on the points. My baseboard though is fibreboard. With the parts where I used MDF or plywood you need to drill before you put the pins in, that is usually where I use glue.

I suppose what you really want is a buffering circuit, basically something like a DCC controller with its own supply that takes the existing DCC, buffers if and feeds it to another part of your layout. So basically you split you layout into isolated sections and feed it with the buffer signals. I don't think anyone makes such a thing. So basically you have several DCC controllers that are a slave to one master. Perhaps something for the future. My DigiKeijs only has a 3 amp supply, fortunately I got rid of all my old Lima locos.

Me tackful, thank you for the compliment people are always complaining that I am too aggressive. The thing people don't seem to realise is that I want Hornby to be around for a fair number of years more but their current activities makes me wonder if that will be the case. People say "oh no that is an institution" but so were BHS and Woolworths and sadly all the signs are there, exceptionally high prices (much, much higher than their competition), serious quality issues and treating their customers and Retailers badly. Oh and I forgot questionable marketing decisions. They need to get a grip.

Hornby didn't do the honorable thing, they were forced to withdraw it. When it was first announced many of us thought that is a very questionable decision seeing as another company will have paid a substantial amount for the rights to make it. It is a bit like me starting to make "Star Wars" figurines, Disney would be down on me like a ton of bricks. The whole marketing department of Hornby seems to need to go on a few courses about dealing with your customers and outlets. The stories I have heard in the last week of how they are treating they own tier 1 Retailers makes you wonder if they are serious about selling products. With the "Hush Hush" mess up we know that buying direct from them is very questionable, not only are they slow on dispatch but they didn't seem to understand the mechanism of secure packing. There are plenty of locos they could make, they could even make the ones they have promised in their catalogues for the last two years, so why waste resource on a project that virtually everyone knew was doomed.

Surely the best idea is to fix why it doesn't run smoothly on DC before jumping in and changing CV values.

Why don't you do what I and Jenny Kirk do, create switchable isolating sections. I doubt you will be running all the locos at the same time so create switchable isolating sections, that you can switch on an off when you need the loco. All my points have an isolating section so if the points are set wrong the loco stops. Unless you have a mega layout generally the most you can have running at a time is 4 or 5. Then there is the point that if the loco is stationary it will not be absorbing that much power. I suppose with sound it will take current but not as much as if it running.

I must admit to not knowing the internal circuitry of an Elite, but generally if you design a device to work with a 4 amp power supply, all the output drivers within the device will have a maximum rating of 4 amps. So basically you will either blow up the Elite or it will limit its output current to 4 amps. I will let 96RAF comment a bit more, he knows the circuitry a bit better than I do.

Topcat as I stated in my response, on some you can get away with a shorter screw as you state, but on others there is not enough plastic to use the shorter screw. As I said I retapped them with a parallel thread, much better solution than the orignal design also gives you a larger range of screws to use.

Topcat you are sort of right although two screws hold the two brush plates to the chassis, which by doing so acts a secondary means of holding the plate , So yes the plastic clips do hold it on, but so do the screws.

The screws on the ringfield motor you are talking about a probably self tapping screws. They don't make nylon screws in self tapping styles because as someone mentioned the heads "snap off". In true "bodgit" style someone worked out you could force a parallel screw into previously self tapped hole, again a not very good idea. When I converted mine, I tapped out the two holes to take a M2.5 or M3.0 thread and then used similar thread nylon screws from China (you get a whole bag very cheaply). If you use nylon screws for both brush holders then you don't have to worry about mixing them up when you take it apart in the future. On the later ringfields the plastic brush holder where the screws fix is quite thick, so again I tapped it out to m3 and then used very short 4mm long laptop screws, the plastic is thick enough that they won't touch the chassis. You might have to enlarge the slots in the brush holder plates slightly, but a much better solution.

I know 96RAF, I thought the same but I am only repeating what I read. I think Hornby are a bit naïve if they think they can do that, it is a big difference selling a few locos from your website compared to selling everything.

Well 96RAF I suppose you noticed that was an old Hornby Dublo layout, I am not sure the article is a bit out of date, last year it was probably right, not so sure about the present. Going Digital generally refers to selling over the web which sounds bad news for Model Shops. From what I was reading on RMWEB yesterday it appears Hornby are cutting out the Model Shops even those with tier 1 status.

I was just reading the RMWEB forum which commented on the recent disagreement with Rapido models over the Titfield Thunderbolt. It appears Hornby lost, so I assume that they had to pay the other clients legal costs which must have put a large dent in their development fund, so perhaps that is another reason for all the build dates moving back.

It is electric so Hornby TTS is out of the question. you will have to buy a decent sound decoder from the specialists. I don't know if it sounds like a class 90 or 87. It won't make much noise anyway.