ColinB

As Fishmanoz says, there is no difference between a 6 pin DCC decoder and an 8 pin except for the wiring to the connector. Some of the 6 pin ones I have seen for N gauge are a bit limited on power, but I doubt this is the case with your one. I have found there is subtle differences between the way decoders work, but Hornby is one of the better ones. I use Zimo ones as I found that they seem to be the best at running, so if you are that concerned replace your existing one with a new 6 pin Zimo one. Of course the existing decoder may have a fault, which may explain it, so replacing it may prove the point. If you do find the decoder is at fault don't bin it, use it for test or cases say in a DMU or EMU where you need a decoder to control the lights in the dummy end. Whatever you do label it, so you don't go through the loop again. I suppose the only other thing is that the motor in your loco is pulling more current, so the decoder is struggling to provide it. In DC mode you wouldn't notice. My Bachmann shunter is incredibly slow, but it is designed that way.

There is probably very little room inside a shunter for an 8 pin socket, so I would use an 6 pin decoder. You can buy 6 pin decoder sockets off many companies, I would suggest the DCC concepts or Bachmann ones as the pins don't fall out so easily. As to the availability of 6 pin decoders, there are loads, as they are used extensively in N scale models. In my Bachmann shunter I did the conversion and used a Zimo decoder which is about the same price as the Hornby decoder but has a higher current rating and is a more robust product. As to the wiring, cut the two leads going to the motor. Connect the red led of the socket to the cut end not connected to the motor. connect the black lead of the socket to other motor lead cut end not connected to the motor. Now connect the cut end of the lead going to the motor to the orange wire and the other cut lead going to the motor to the grey lead. Now a good idea is to buy a 6 pin DC header, they are quite cheap off EBay and put this in the socket. Check the loco still runs on DC with this in place. Now take out the DC header and replace it with the decoder checking it is the right way round. Keep the DC header so that if you ever sell the loco, you can take out the decoder and put the DC header in to put it back to DC. Surprisingly DCC ready rather than DCC fitted are more popular on EBAY, plus you can use the decoder on another model. Hope that helps.

Thanks a lot for the link. Having watched the video I can see why the other video of it crossing points looked ok, the loco was travelling at speed. They look like Peco electrofrog points. Interestingly my W1 has a similar issue with one point on my layout, run at speed no issue, except a "clonk" as it goes over the point, slow speed it actually gets stuck. Wonder if the issue with the class 91 occurs just with a certain few? We have all watched the Hornby TV program where they test over multiple points, so how did they get it wrong? Unfortunately for Hornby their locos are now in a price band where people will expect a high level of quality, it is not so easy to throw away a £200 model.

So where are this bad reviews of this model? All I could find were glowing reports as to how good the model is. Another one with videos of one crossing multiple points. I definitely believe that there is an issue, I have a W1 that gets stuck on one of my points where all the reviews I read, except Sam's tell me it is a wonderful model. Sadly Sam of Sam's Trains doesn't tend to do reviews of many modern diesels. I know he doesn't always get it right but his reviews are the most balanced.

Instead of a class 87, I would buy the new Bachmann class 90, wonderful model, runs brilliantly. Having said that I have a Hornby class 87, the new type and it too is a good runner. The Bachmann though is probably cheaper. Oh I forgot and on DCC the pantograph can be raised or lowered. I looked at the class 91, but the price put me off, I am now glad it did.

I use Peco electrofrog points so IRJs are a must. I tend to make an isolating section before each point on one of the tracks that feeds the point (so each branch of the point has an isolating section). I then power these isolating sections by a relay driven by the point switch. This way if the loco gets to a point that is switched to the other track, the loco stops automatically.

Thanks Brewman for clarifying my question, that was exactly what I was asking. If you have an existing layout as in my case, where the spacing between tracks if 50mm then if the spacing on the level crossing is greater it causes issues, it means it just doesn't easily fit in. It is like using the Hornby station pedestrian footbridge, I have the Skaledale Goathland Station, but because of the difference in spacing between Hornby and Peco Streamline the footbridge is too wide, so where the footbridge sits I have had to widen the platform.

When I converted mine I used a standard Zimo decoder which has a current limit of 800 mA verses 500 mA for the Hornby decoder. I must admit when I used a Hornby decoder in any of my models equipped with a Ringfield motor, it invariably burnt out, so I suppose you are pretty lucky.

Those type of connectors are terrible for crimping. In the past I have tried to make my own ethernet cables and even bought the proper kit. I had so many where it didn't crimp properly, I eventually bought decent ones off Amazon. Then if they are rubbish you can send them back, which is what we should do with suspect model railway equipment. I must admit I am as bad as the rest, trying to fix the stuff.

On all my class 66 TTS decoders (Bachmann and Hornby) I set CV 150 to 1. It definitely removes the jerky action.

P Henry I can understand your description, the negative earth shouldn't be going anywhere near a pin other than via the base of a transistor/fet which in the mis wired case is a function output. I can see how it can happen you blow the open collector output which creates a short to the negative rail, normally it would just blow that function (been there done it on a TTS). Has anyone had issues with lets say Zimo decoders failing. The dear old Hornby decoders have virtually no function output protection whereas other makes do.

Will you be making them to Hornby spacing or Peco streamline spacing? That looks like something that would be really useful.

Does it really kill the decoder or just kill the function output on Pin 3? Having said that an E0 display means a short, so probably the decoder is dead. I know this is an error from a long time ago, but it is a fundamental mistake. I assume when they designed the PCB they got confused with the underside and top on the connector PCB when they laid it out (our hardware guys were always doing this). So I assume the fix is to cut the tracks to these two pins and hard wire them. I assume the front and rear lights are the wrong way round as well.

Not so sure about the spare bolts, generally most suppliers are out of stock. Normally I get mine when I order a new set of con rods, certain ones come with new bolts others don't. The tolerances on the valve gear for missing each other are very fine so it only needs a loose rivet and then you have issues. Nobody has answered which valve gear it is?

Hornby is the weakest link with con rods in that they very rarely make spare ones. I have managed to repair ones by making a good one out of two broken ones. Britannia ones are terrible, look at them and they break. You need to say what ones you are trying to fix and what the issue and then we can offer some more detailed advice.

@Going Spare I bought my LokSound one from Road and Rails, he seems to be an expert on sound so I assumed he knew what he was doing. The sound is sort of "tinny" nothing like any of my other locos, probably more high pitched so I don't know what it is based off. It is definitely different to my Hornby A4 TTS and P2 TTS but there again the circuitry and technology are different between the two types of decoders, so who knows.

I was having issues with the latest Zimo MS range using a Fleishmann twin track controller. Not many people have one of these, looking at the circuitry I assume they were mega expensive when new. I bought mine second hand in unknown state missing leads and power supply. Nice controller though but unfortunately with the new Zimo MS range it would only drive the loco one way. I did contact Zimo but although they insisted it wasn't their new software, but by a simple case of illumination, in that it worked with all my other decoders, it was. Anyway I decided that all decoders are going to probably go that way so as I liked the look of the Digikeijs, I eventually bought one. There is a separate thread about my issues with the new Zimo sound decoders.

It is possible but Hornby would have to add some software to the Elite. You can buy wireless dongles so it could be done, all the remote commands are available to RM so no reason than they could not be used by an external app, but Hornby would still need to write some software inside the Elite to handle the wireless dongle. To be quite honest if you want that functionality you would be better off with a different DCC controller. The Elite is great at programming decoders its only bad point is the lack of an "enter key". Using the press function on the rotary controller is a bad choice as frequently as you press to enter a number it increments or decrements by one occasionally, as the rotary function moves slightly. I have a layout with 3 individual loops and I found the Elite's two channel functionality a pain. I eventually bought a Digikeijs controller after watching a "YouTube" video from a New Zealander who had used an Elite and was singing the praises of the Digikeijs. I must admit I was not disappointed, it also talks wirelessly to a mobile app although the main box does need to be connected to a PC. It means I can control as many trains as I want via the PC and one via the mobile phone app.

So what is the issue with the PCB? I have 3 of these so it would be nice to check. Mine all work with DCC and the lights work so I assume that they are ok. I didn't know this model suffered from Mazak rot as well.

I initially used a P2 one as I had one spare, then on this forum someone said that they were different engine types. I eventually saved up and bought a LokSound decoder and I have to admit the sound is totally different to any of the other locos I have with TTS in, so perhaps it was worth the extra money. I will also add that normally I use Zimo sound decoders, but amazingly the LokSound one was 10% cheaper, also I had been having issues with their new type and my controller. I have since changed my controller so the issue has gone.

Thank you for the info Fazy, I didn't know that. It was handy as I had just ran out of Plastic Weld.

I have used Plastic Weld to modify Lima chassis to take the newer Hornby powertrain bogie ( I glued the motor mounting bracket off a class 92) and found it glues really well. As someone said previously, use plasticard to give it extra strength. I never found superglue worked that well.

Looking at mine the other question to ask is, have you added the drain cocks to the cylinders, if so that would definitely explain it. I noticed on mine you can glue these to the bottom of the cylinders.

I checked my East Asiatic Company one and it goes round perfectly, trouble is my tightest bend is probably bigger than 2nd radius but not by much. If a bogie is going to cause issues that is where it usually does it. Looking at the loco statically I can see that it could catch the bottom of the cylinders but on mine the bogie slides on the slot to avoid them. So I suppose next question is what model is it, R number please. My ones are Hornby's latest so I don't what level yours' are at. I suppose the next thing is to check the cylinder block is in the right place.

I think the thing is they have to want to. Having been an electronics engineer working in a mechanical firm I can understand why, electronics is treated like an afterthought. Mind you the Bachmann V2 wasn't that easy and that is a new design.