Rolling Road R8211

[Paul-362522]

Just had engine on the RR - few issues with controller - steady beep and then cutting out - checked water level, wheels correctly on rails etc.

Then tried again - looked fine, engine heating water ok then I noticed one of the wires from the rear of the RR was smoking - quick switch off and unplug!!!

I’ve not modified the RR - bought from Amazon Aug 2022 - any suggestions?

[Going Spare]

Possibly oil or some vapourising material contaminating the terminal or wire? When Live Steam was introduced, but long since discontinued, there was a rolling road specifically for that system. Hornby now say the R8211 is suitable for both 12v and 17v supplies. I do not run Live Steam but I would have thought that any overload would have been detected by the controller?

[gowest1707822480]

The problem with rolling road is it is under rated for live steam as the engines require 6 amp to operate properly it is possible to improve the design by changing the connectors and beef up the wiring and connections I did do some work on making the rolling road a better system for running live steam this involved a totally new idea which after building and testing was much better for live steam engines

The rolling road is not the best unit to test live steam as it stands and can cause more damage to the engines system this I have pointed out before here years back.

[David-P]

Suggest you directly connect power underneath the tender. Either make your own lead or buy one from OO Live Steam club. Screw connection under one of the small screws under the tender on each side (rearmost is easiest) and you then avoid all the potential problems of rolling roads and high currents with the wheels/pickups etc.

[mjb1961]

Ive had the same RR for the last 11 years ,used it to test locos running in DC,DCC and LIVE STEAM,never had any problems.

[gowest1707822480]

Yes I have 2 rolling roads one works ok the other smoked from the start so mods soon put that right and I keep the beefed up one just for the LS as it tends to get very oily which has rotted out the rubber feet I also fitted extra rollers as I has some 2-8-2 engines

[96RAF]

I soldered some decent gauge wire direct to my RR feeder rails and like Ken I maxed out the roller count, whilst shortening the fixed rail to make more room for them.

Note that some RRs came with all live rollers and some had dead rollers. Check with a meter.

I still have a few new spare rollers from an over-order error.