ColinB

As I implied earlier the delay is a function of the software in the DCC decoder. All decoders seem to be different. The easiest solution to test it out is disconnect the TTS decoder and put a Zimo standard decoder in its place. I say a Zimo because this is the only decoder I use that doesn't have lags in its system when the decoder is straight out the box with no CV changes. As I said before, I know TTS has a lag because when I am testing a loco built from bits the delay quite often catches me out. I found some of the early LokSound sound decoders are even worse.

If your loco is fitted with a Hornby TTS decoder even with the sound off, if will be sluggish moving off because even though the sound is off, the logic in its software waits for the loco to steam up ready to go. I noticed it with my TTS decoder when I switched the sound off. As to chassis for the A1/A3/A4/Tornado, I have been doing a lot of work on these lately. I had a spare chassis what I thought was a Tornedo one. When I ordered the valve gear I found that the latest chassis for a Railroad A3 and A4 is wider at the front than the one for a Tornado. The motor and the rest is the same, although the A4 has a couple of metal cross members missing (easy to snap them off). My chassis was in fact a Railroad Flying Scotsman one. When I finally acquired the Tornado one I could see the difference. As 96RAF has mentioned the weight is different between the Tornado and A1/A4 chassis. Hornby don't seem to update their Service Sheets very often so often you have to look at 2 or 3 to find the actual fitted parts.

Bachmann EFE released a set recently as Barrie Davis did a review of it on YouTube. It appears he used to drive them so he explained a lot about them, really good desciption of what all the bits were. Sadly he was saying that his and many others had a lot of build issues.

Well I eventually got to the bottom of the issue. On the new part that clamps onto the spigot, Hornby undercut the hole so that the hole at the top is larger than the one that attaches to the spigot. They had not undercut it deep enough so the mount doesn't go fully home, so the clamp is not tight. I just drilled the hole to be the same diameter all the way through and used a screw and large washer at the top, rather than just a screw as Hornby did. I assume on the production ones they get it right.

No atom3624 leave well alone. I have a brand new one I bought cheap and I no intention of taking it apart, for one, the fit between body and chassis is incredibly tight. The one I had all the issues with was a non runner mainly due to Mazak rot. I have enough spare pieces to build a chassis, I will see if I can do that and then you can see what I am getting at. Either way it doesn't matter much, unless Hornby do a retool on it, it just intrigued me. On the one I modified I opened up the spigot hole and filed the motor end mounting down so that it fits parallel with the chassis, meaning that there is only upwards stress on the spigot.

I don't really know if the design was used on other variants, definitely not on any of the locos I own not even the unrebuilt Patriot Railroad model. The trouble is the more I look at it the more it looks wrong. Trouble is as you screw down on the screw (self tapper to make things worse) the more you are putting sideways stress onto the chassis spigot, which is probably why you see so many chassis with it snapped off. I did think of helicoilling mine so at least there is a decent thread to screw into but there is not enough metal to take the helicoil. I assume it is an old design, long before the current regime, it just intrigues me as to why?

This is just meant for discussion. The chassis on my Rebuilt Royal Scot suffered from the dreaded Mazak rot, on the chassis, and motor mounts. I was able to get a secondhand chassis and motor mounts but still the motor kept disengaging. Anyway looking at the way the motor is clamped in, I decided to modify it so it worked better, this involved making the clamp sit more vertical. Sure enough it did. Fast forward a year and suddenly Peters Spares has new chassis available. So last night I swopped everything over to put it back to the original motor setup, but still the motor slips, so I reverted to my modified design. Can anyone explain to me why Hornby went for such a complicated design? It is sort of a cantilever that puts undue stress on the post and doesn't work very well, as the clamp is angled so difficult to clamp the motor properly. I did wonder if it was so under the boiler was a clean profile, but looking at mine I am not even sure that is correct. So any ideas why it is like this? It is definitely not for cheapness.

Thanks 96RAF I did wonder how you differentiated between the two. At the moment there seems to be a shortage of Zimo 21 pin decoders, well at least at YouChoos. I must admit I normally mail YouChoos and ask them which one they suggest.

There is an article about the loco in this months Hornby magazine. They explain that you need a 6 function 21 pin decoder and say that some types don't work but not why. That is a big deviation from Hornby to control all the lights, it is also not publicised in their catalogue.

Sorry in my previous post, it should read 6 function. I keep forgetting that they add the two lighting functions at F0. The bigger question is why does the class 91 need all the extra functions, I assume it is the control the lighting functions, but what are they doing controlling each light individually.

It sounds like the new class 91 that you have bought needs a 4 function decoder. Trouble is a lot of the 21 pin 4 function decoders only have sufficient drive current on the lower function keys (F1 and F2) the upper two functions are logic only. I wondered why you could buy a conversion circuit on EBay for the upper two. So you need a full function 4 function decoder. I didn't realise until I read an article on it. I think Zimo and the LokSound (just decoder) plus a few others have the full four function drive

Here is something I noticed yesterday with my City of Manchester. Now I know the wheel arrangement is somewhat different to a D16 but it is worth mentioning. My loco kept derailing and stopping on a particular piece of track, all my other locos had no issue with this piece of track. Then I noticed there was excessive movement in the side to side movement of the centre wheel. What it appears is happening because of the excessive movement the valve gear locks up causing the derailment and stopping. The piece of track it happens on, is a tighter curve than the rest of my layout which has sweeping bends. This bend is definitely larger than second radius but obviously not as large as my other bends. I bought the chassis second hand and I tested it on my straight piece of test track, but looking at it there is far too much movement of the axles within the bearings. I have ordered some new wheels so hopefully that will fix it. So it is a fault worth considering.

I have to admit looking at the photo they look really good. Ok perhaps they are not pro typical but i doubt many people would notice. Are they easy to fit?

Sorry, I never noticed a dot, I binned it last night. It did have some white stuff on the underside underneath the clear sleeve. I suppose it might have been heatsink compound.

It is the bin then, probably explains why it was cheap on EBay. Runs really well though with a Zimo decoder in it.

Has anyone had an issue with Hornby DCC decoders that work perfectly well but won't program or let you read anything out of them. I think this decoder came with the loco I bought on EBay, I tried to change the address and nothing happened, similarly I tried to read the Man Id and version number and on my Elite I just get the dreaded XXX. I have reset by writing 8 to CV 8, but still no joy. I have replaced it with a Zimo so it is not an issue, but just before I allocate it to the bin, I just wondered if it was an issue with the early Hornby DCC decoders.

The trouble is a lot of Sellers see that the price of new models has gone up so they adjust their prices up as well. The jury is still out as to whether Hornby's new pricing structure is working. I find it difficult to justify some of the new prices and when it comes to EBay it basically is a toy fair where you can't actually see the actual item. So generally with most stuff I have limits which I suspect most other people have as well. I noticed it with classic bike parts, at one point Dealers asked exorbitant prices for second hand bits that were far from new and people just stopped buying them.

I regularly go to NRM when I am on holiday near York. Admittedly it is not a Bank Holiday but generally there are demonstrations of the electric turntable and other things. The last two years have been a bit different for them because of Covid, but I can understand that. When I was there last year the miniature railway was running but there was nobody at Mallard. There again Mallard is staffed by volunteers so it is up to whether they have the staff around. The refreshments, yes they are not that good but again when I was there they try, in the carriage display the meals are expensive and generally something my son won't eat so I generally don't go there. Considering you don't have to pay to get in, although I always give them a generous donation, I think it is good value for money. There again myself and my son go to look at the trains and the memorabilia, I don't want the "Disney Experience". Actually last couple of times I went to Orlando Florida, I didn't get much of it there either, other than the parade.

My locos stalled all the time on the long crossing, I must admit it was when I was running old Hornby ringfield based locos with only pickups on the power bogie. I have a similar issue with the double slips if the the loco is a short wheelbase 0-6-0 tank loco. The locos with a tender with pickups work perfectly, but then they should.

Oh dear AndyMac you do seem to have had some bad experiences. I must admit when it first started I did get ripped off a couple of times but EBay reimbursed me. Since then I think buying and selling I had only one bad experience where the guy won it but didn't pay. I must admit most times now especially for new locos it generally cheaper to avoid EBay and use Google. One time I wanted some coaches which were really expensive second hand on EBay, I got them cheaper brand new off Olivia of Sheffield. Generally Olivia are expensive, but it just shows how expensive EBay was. The big issue with EBay is they don't charge for reselling the item, so you can put it up for an exorbitant price, if it doesn't sell then relist it hoping somebody buys it that doesn't know the going rate. It is like the guy at motorcycle autojumbles that has had the same stuff on his stall for the last 5 years. I suppose generally I am buying second hand bits to build a loco or selling locos that I no longer have need for. Most of the time I just want shot of the stuff, so I put it up for what I actually want and if it goes higher it is a bonus. A few years ago before prices in the US got expensive I used to buy lots of Triumph motorcycle parts and get them shipped over, generally by boat (USPS don't do this service anymore), again no issues. As for "Rip off Britain", I didn't watch that episode, but if you ignore the sensationalism, they generally are good at telling you what to avoid, you just have to make your own judgement. They also highlight a lot of the "scams" that are going on, again it is very helpful if you know about them.

Yes, I found this, why I do not know. To make matters worse the long crossing has a huge plastic frog which makes things even worse. I eventually bought double slips, but again you cannot get them in electrofrog, although in this case I could see it would be very difficult to design. I just get the opinion Peco want to focus on code 75 track

I am beginning to wonder if perhaps it has had its day. I recently bid on a few things that normally there would be some bidding activity, but nothing.

The favorite has got to be that 4 pin connector between loco and tender. I have had ones where it was not crimped properly so the wire falls out. I actually bought a socket and connected 1 to 2 and 3 to 4, so I can run the locos without the tender to see where the issue is.

Yes, virtually all my locos are Zimo, they are the only ones that have never failed on me without a valid reason. AT Hornbys recommended retail price they are virtually the same price. Similarly most of my sound ones are either Zimo or Hornby (mainly because of the cost). That is interesting that Bachmann have switched to Zimo, I assumed that they were LoKSound, especially in the locos I bought with sound prefitted. Now I have finally got my new type Zimo sound decoder working in my O1 (bought a new DCC controller), that sound is even better.

I have had lots of issues with Bachmann decoders so I am not surprised. There was a YouTube video where a guy was complaining about them.