[Ozzie21]

Did my monthly shopping expedition at the week end. I managed to get 3 Bachmann locos and eight Hornby coaches, 5 Pullmans and 3 new BR/LMS Staniers. The locos I bought were a BR/LMS Royal Scot ;The Royal Horse Guardsman, BR/LNER A1 Great Central and a BR/WD 2-8-0. The first two locos ran quiet as the grave, the Royal Scot especially. The WD was horrible, grinding it's way round and taking twice the throttle to move compared to the other two. the motor ran hot as well and could be felt easily through the boiler shell. Upon investigation, pulling it to bits, I found that it hadn't been lubed. Not a trace of oil or grease anywhere. I would guess it was either built on monday or a friday and somebody just forgot about lubrication. She's okay now but it's not something I would have expected in a new RTR model. So just watch Because I reckon that if I had ran it for another hour it would have seized good and proper.

Ozzie 21

 

[CeeDeeI]

I don't know if I would have the nerve to pull a brand new model to bits. Luckily I have never been faced with your situation.

 

[spongebob]

I suppose if you had run it to death it would've been your fault for not lubricating the loco enough!! I would hope that is the exception rather than the rule but it serves as a reminder that these things can occasionally happen. You have good taste though i wouldn't mind a WD myself.
Just out of interest how does the Bachmann A1 stand up to the latest hornby A1 and 3? as i would like one of those too at some point.
Be thankful it wasn't one of the early A1's with the puny motor in it which also used to go into meltdown and forced possibly the only product recall ever.

 

[dwb]

>i wouldn't mind a WD myself
In another topic, Columbo commented on the amount of space required to do an MPD justice. I was browsing my reprint of the 1959 Loco shed book and noted 43 WDs were shedded at Wakefield (56A). Now I don't know the dimensions of the model and the latest Bachmann catalogue doesn't give any, but at a say 1 foot long, if all the locos are on shed, that's 43 foot of standing required buffer to buffer. Or maybe 5 lines eight foot long, or... and that's just the WDs.

Big places these MPDs.

David

 

[double00]

I bought some months past, a Bachmann 158 two car DMU set - and yes, this model did generate a terrible noise while traversing over the layout.
Extra lubrication was added to the power bogy bushes and a slight ease of the power pick ups was necessary - plus running at a modest speed in both direction for a total of two hours - this reduced the noise level to a lesser decibel.
Only after a few weeks of constant running, did this model quieten down.
A new disaster - connection coupling has now broken.

 

[Gary]

Noting Oz that you come from Australia and also noting that you have just had a very very hot Summer which almost burnt down Sydney. I was wondering if maybe the hot summer had anything to do with the lack of lubricant in the loco. It may have dried out in the heat. It is probably best to lubricate all new locomotives purchased in your part of the world. The hot running motor could well be down to the additional friction caused by the lubrication issue. If the loco had been on the shelf for a while then who knows...

The only real way of finding out if this was the case would be to try another example of the same loco from the same store.

You now have the excuse to buy two!

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[Ozzie21]

QUOTE (spongebob @ 7 Mar 2006, 04:37)I suppose if you had run it to death it would've been your fault for not lubricating the loco enough!! I would hope that is the exception rather than the rule but it serves as a reminder that these things can occasionally happen. You have good taste though i wouldn't mind a WD myself.
Just out of interest how does the Bachmann A1 stand up to the latest hornby A1 and 3? as i would like one of those too at some point.
Be thankful it wasn't one of the early A1's with the puny motor in it which also used to go into meltdown and forced possibly the only product recall ever.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Spongebob, Yes you are probably right but it is the first RTR to run loco I have ever bought that was that dry. It looked to me when I took it apart that it had never been lubed at all. Even the motor bearings appeared to be dry. After applying grease and oil it started to run quieter but it will go back on the bench after an hour's running and be cleaned and relubed. As for the Bachmann A1 v the Hornby A1/A3 well I think the Bachmann is a better model in some respects, no horrible barrel join, but the cab detail could use some work. Paintwork is good on both models as is the decaling but both manufacturers could do with suppling a painted crew. I think the running qualities of the Bachmann loco is better as the Hornby loco lacks weight a problem I find on a lot of British RTR, US models are a lot heavier try a Bachmann 4-8-2 heavy mountain which has a cast metal boiler, split chassis, individual power pickups to all drivers and tender and partial springing of the drivers plus a crew. I think though it's horses for courses Hornby and British Bachmann have a slightly different philosophy when it comes to manufacturing and design as does the US makers. I think that if you want a Bachmann Peppercorn A1 then it's the only way to go other than building a DJH kit.

Ozzie 21

 

[Ozzie21]

QUOTE (CeeDeeI @ 7 Mar 2006, 03:40)I don't know if I would have the nerve to pull a brand new model to bits. Luckily I have never been faced with your situation.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Bob, No problem pulling new stuff to bits. I been building locos from whitemetal kits for a few years and have been rebuilding brass models as well. You should see the look of horror on some people's faces when I tell them how I cut up a $4,000 brass model just so it would be an accurate model and also so it would run. This meant new geasrboxes, motor and wheels plus the addition of power pickups on engine and tender and the installation of a DCC interface plus lighting.
It's just the fun part of the hobby for me.

Ozzie 21

 

[Ozzie21]

QUOTE (Gary @ 7 Mar 2006, 05:44)Noting Oz that you come from Australia and also noting that you have just had a very very hot Summer which almost burnt down Sydney. I was wondering if maybe the hot summer had anything to do with the lack of lubricant in the loco. It may have dried out in the heat. It is probably best to lubricate all new locomotives purchased in your part of the world. The hot running motor could well be down to the additional friction caused by the lubrication issue. If the loco had been on the shelf for a while then who knows...

The only real way of finding out if this was the case would be to try another example of the same loco from the same store.

You now have the excuse to buy two!

Happy modelling
Gary
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Gary, This hasn't been the hottest year I can remember. 90/91 was the worst I saw. The bushfires were so bad at one time if you looked at a map of the east coast from northern Queensland down to southern Victoria 30% of the east coast was on fire. Where I was working then the smoke was so bad we didn't see the sun for a week and the temps were in the high forties celcius most of the time day and night. Thank god for air conditioning. As for the loco well I tend to think it was just a one off chinese boo boo. Now that I have stripped it down and greased and lubed it it's a lot quieter though noisier than the Royal Scot I bought at the same time. A second one, the weathered one, is on order.

Ozzie 21

 

[Ozzie21]

QUOTE (dwb @ 7 Mar 2006, 05:01)>i wouldn't mind a WD myself
In another topic, Columbo commented on the amount of space required to do an MPD justice. I was browsing my reprint of the 1959 Loco shed book and noted 43 WDs were shedded at Wakefield (56A). Now I don't know the dimensions of the model and the latest Bachmann catalogue doesn't give any, but at a say 1 foot long, if all the locos are on shed, that's 43 foot of standing required buffer to buffer. Or maybe 5 lines eight foot long, or... and that's just the WDs.

Big places these MPDs.

David
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I haven't decided what area I going to base my model on though the S&DJR in BR days is high on the list. I have a track plan for Bath Green Park and MPD and to do it justice I'd need 30ft just to squeeze it all in. I have 36'x16' of shed to fit it into so some comprimise may be order. Or as I was born in Scotland near Ayr perhaps Ayr station and the MPD at Falkland Junction may be the order of the day.
If I did that I'd have to find a really good excuse for running A1's,A3's,A4's, Merchant navies,BoB's, West Countries etc in Scotland.

Ozzie 21

 

[Makemineadouble]

I have a great article from March 1982 model railway constructor on BGP. Would you like a copy scaned and emailed to you ?

 

[Ozzie21]

QUOTE (Makemineadouble @ 9 Mar 2006, 08:53)I have a great article from March 1982 model railway constructor on BGP. Would you like a copy scaned and emailed to you ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thats very kind of you. Yes please I would certtainly appreciate it. MRC from 1982 ? I thought they had ceased publication by then so when did they stop publication? It was always a more interesting magazine to me than RM, more construction articles, locomotive building thant sort of thing. RM seemed to be more aimed at the complete novice with an 8'x4' than the more serious hobbiest.

Ozzie 21