TT-Man

Both the Hornby Dublo Sir Nigel Gresley and the Flying Scotsman have the new drawbar connection. It just plugs in and contains all the electrical contacts. Very neat. Much like that seen on the Dapol Manor and others. A great improvement over the old style with the trailing wires.

It is becoming increasingly common that DCC Ready locos come with a speaker already fitted. This socket could be a speaker connection. But, in which case it's odd that no speaker is actually fitted.

I didn't say I couldn't find it. I was pointing out that one of the routes to past posts is broken, as an example that there are some aspects of this website that don't work.

My records show that I have uploaded 12,056 photos and 114 videos from my iMac to various sites and servers since 2009. This is the first time that there has ever been a problem. I have just made a test upload to another site from both the iPhone and the iMac without any issue. I made a photo upload to the Hornby Forum in a post on the 18th March and there was no problem. So it may be premature to attribute the problem to Apple, especially when there are current bugs with the Hornby website e.g. when trying to find the 18th March post referred to above, I looked at the MyCommunity/ForumActivity webpage. It fails when you press the 'Next Page' or page selection dropdown box, by taking you back to previously viewed screen rather the next page of Forum posts.

Regarding the 4 test images just uploaded. I would point out that all four of these pictures appear in the correct orientation in the native CAMERA app on the iPhone as the phone detects its orientation and immediately corrects the finished image. This is still the case when 'Screen Lock' is applied. So you can't fool the app into making an inverted picture by holding the phone upside down. You can subsequently make an inverted image by using the rotation feature in the phone app or in the iMac app after you have already taken the picture. But this is manual manipulation in the software after the image is captured.

I think you may be mistaken. The photo was taken with an iPhone. The phone was in the correct orientation when the photo was taken. This is supported by: A symbol that appears on the phone showing the phones orientation at the moment a picture is taken.When reviewed on the phone the photo appears in the orientation that it was taken.When uploaded to my iMac a photo always appears in the orientation that it was taken.When uploaded to the forum from my iMac, before the "Post Reply" button is pressed it is shown as the correct orientation.It only after the post is published that it shows as being inverted. The second photo was uploaded in the EDITed post as an experiment after being inverted on my iMac. The inverted photo has been published inverted.

I installed decoders in 2 new Hornby Dublo locos today. I noticed that underneath the PCB that holds the decoder there was another socket. It looks like a 4 pin male socket. You can see it on the bottom right side (EDIT - the photo has been published upside down so is now top left) of the PCB in the photo. There is no reference to it in the instructions that come with the locos. Does anyone know what it is for?

After initially being very excited about TT:120 my enthusiasm cooled when I accepted the reality that it could be years before there is a large enough range to be worthwhile building the layout I had in mind (5m x 2m on 3 levels). For now I have returned to OO and am just collecting TT items against the day when I will have accumulated enough stock to make building a TT layout worthwhile.

Looks like this offer has expired already.

My hidden storage loops have Peco setrack points and 3rd radius curves. The visible areas of the layout are all 4th radius and above with medium and long Peco Streamline points. I suppose the only way to know is to try it out. Changing the wheels is a simple job so I will have a go.

I just took delivery of the Hornby Dublo Flying Scotsman. It has an optional set of rear pony wheels that are flanged, whereas the fitted wheels are flangeless. I have several other similar Hornby Dublo locos on order and I assume they will have the same option. What radius of curve will these negotiate if fitted? Or are they only intended for display.

I have had 12 orders arrive so far this year. Not one took less than 20 days. So I have seen no improvement in delivery times. I have 3 orders currently in transit which already show that they won't be any quicker. I was charged VAT twice and customs processing fees on one order which Hornby refunded. I have one order that I paid for on 2nd February that has never arrived. When queried with Hornby they said they had been informed by the carrier that it had been delivered. It hasn't and I have asked for what proof they have. I had to sign for all 12 orders I have actually received so it will be interesting to see what they respond with. However, its been a week since I last heard from Hornby about this, so they are taking their time. On balance I am happy as long as orders turn up within a month and Hornby provide free shipping and deal with the importation hurdles.

Thanks to all above for the time taken to give some thoughts on this question. I have a Digikeijs DR5000 on back order. There is a lack of availability currently due to the world wide chip shortage. I can always use the DR5000 with the Z21app but I thought it would be nice to try the HM7000 if possible. Although I don't foresee myself using Bluetooth decoders so I don't need it for that reason. In the past I have used Digitrax, Prodigy Advanced, Z21 Start and Daisy II. All of which I found to be excellent for my needs at the time. But for my ambitious new layout I thought the DR5000 and its accessories would be the best fit. I will also be using Train Controller or iTrains on the new layout as well. I have used Train Controller before but that was pre-iTrains existence. I am still trying to weigh up which to go with for the new project.

Will the HM7000 app work with Digikeijs DR5000? Can HM7000 communicate with Wi-Fi or only Bluetooth? Is the Dongle required to work with Digikeijs? Any help with these questions is much appreciated.

@ColinB. Yes for me it's always better to fix myself if possible rather than return. This loco took 5 weeks to get to Bulgaria with useless Royal Mail International and being held in customs jail for 10 days. I did ask TMC to send it by courier but they screwed up. Sending it back and then getting a replacement would have been another 2 months plus! Then there is possible argument with customs that you have already paid VAT once and you don't want to get stuffed a second time - and there would be another handling fee. Thanks Brexit I love you so much!!!

As an aside. I was always under the impression that once assembled locos were tested to check that they actually run. Clearly this loco wasn’t. It is physically impossible for the drive shaft to fall out if fitted correctly. So this loco could never have been run before being put in its packaging.

I am not sure if the terms are used consistently but there are basically two different types of mechanism. The first is mechanical and so relies on a moving part to effect the switchover. The second is electronic. The latter having no moving parts is more reliable but tends to be much more expensive.

I wasn’t asking if there was information on the website. The question in my original post was quite clear. If I bought something that used batteries I wouldn’t expect to have to do a web search to find out if it needed AA or D cells. Also there are some DCC ready locos that don't even have the information on the website. Of course if people want to defend this incompetence that's up to them.

I think your comments are mistaken and misleading. I have 8 Hornby locos all bought this year. All are DCC ready. None of them have any decoder information written on the box or in the instructions. There is no way to tell from the item bought what type of decoder they take i.e. Next18, Plux16, 8 Pin, 6 Pin etc. You either have to remove the body/tender to look or find information on the web. What’s so difficult about putting information on the box or in the instructions?

Why is it that Hornby do not put any information on the packaging or the instruction sheets of locos that says what type of decoder can be fitted? It is most unhelpful.

I think you must have misread this thread. There was nothing wrong with the coupling and Hornby hadn't run of those. It is the pocket they didn't have.

While I was waiting for the photos to be moderator approved I worked out a solution. Not sure why the photos are upside down as they were the right way up when posted by me. In this model the motor cannot be moved in a way that would enable the shaft to be re-inserted, as the motor mounting prevents the necessary movement required. I later realised that even if I unsoldered the wires it still wouldn't have helped. However, I discovered that (as atom3624 mentions in point 3 above) there is a removable clip above the worm gear. When the clip is removed, the worm gear and the drive shaft holder can be lifted out of the assembly allowing the drive shaft to be reinserted. The loco is running fine now and with its LokPilot decoder fitted performs very nicely indeed.

I just took delivery of one of these locos from TMC that was in their recent sale. Fitting a DCC chip was easy. But the instructions as to how to remove the tender body were incorrect. The illustration shows the screws that need to be removed being located at the loco end of the tender. In fact they are at the opposite end! But that was the least of my problems. When I unpacked the loco a small part fell out of the loco body. At first I wasn’t sure what this was, but I thought it looked like a drive shaft. Putting the loco on the track and applying power I could hear the motor accelerating but there was no movement of the loco. Removing the loco body showed that as I suspected the part was the shaft that connects the motor to the drive train. I have attached photos to show what I mean. The small part is next to the letter M on the service sheet. I have tried to refit this part but I can’t find a way to do so. The wires attached to the motor do not allow sufficient movement of the motor to get the shaft back in. Unsoldering the wires may make it possible but I don't want to risk that as it may not be a solution and might invalidate any claim for a refund. There is grease on the areas where the shaft connects but none on the shaft itself, which makes it look like the shaft was never fitted in the first place. Any ideas?

Well this is confusing. After having apparently washed their hands of the matter I have today received this from Customer Care. "Many thanks for the information that you have supplied. I have now made sure the spares team locate the correct part. I have passed the request through to our spares team at the warehouse. Assuming that the part is available the part will be sent out to you as soon as possible." So is the part available or not? Let's see.

I suspect that what may have happened is that someone in the parts department raided the packet for the NEM pockets as they were out stock as a separate item. Then when someone came to deal with my issue they just grabbed the pack that says X9289 on it, not realising that it had been previously cannibalised. It seems like bad logistics planning to let parts that are installed in currently for sale locos go out of stock. Not a good sign for direct sale only TT models where it is not possible to fall back on other suppliers.