[Saint Johnstoun]

I recently bought a Hornby King William III.

The loco runs fine on my rolling road test unit but on the track it seems that there is a pickup problem.

It tends to stall in certain places on the track. My track is clean!

Now it's the only loco that I have that is doing this on my layout - any idea of a problem with this chassis?

It is of course the later loco drive variety.

 

[TonyDaly]

QUOTE (Saint Johnstoun @ 5 Oct 2008, 22:10) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I recently bought a Hornby King William III.

The loco runs fine on my rolling road test unit but on the track it seems that there is a pickup problem.

It tends to stall in certain places on the track. My track is clean!

Now it's the only loco that I have that is doing this on my layout - any idea of a problem with this chassis?

It is of course the later loco drive variety.

This post struck a chord with me straight away.I am at present building a layout 21ft x 9ft & I am at the wiring & track section testing phase.
I am using 3 locos for testing & one of them A Lima diesel does what your loco is doing.
Does your loco stall at the same spot each time ? My loco may go for a small period with no problem then stall & move on again. It never happens at the same spot more than once. The track is clean.This is something I put on the long finger as the other two loco's I am using for testing have no problem & the Lima is not that important to me. It would be great if someone has any ideas on this.

 

[Richard Johnson]

QUOTE (Saint Johnstoun @ 6 Oct 2008, 05:10) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I recently bought a Hornby King William III.

The loco runs fine on my rolling road test unit but on the track it seems that there is a pickup problem.

It tends to stall in certain places on the track. My track is clean!

Now it's the only loco that I have that is doing this on my layout - any idea of a problem with this chassis?

It is of course the later loco drive variety.

****I'm guessing it stalls on non straight sections of track. Its probably pickup adjustment needed, plus a little TLC. H & B don't always make the pickups work as well as they should, but its easy to fix.

Turn it upside down and look how the plate securing the driving wheels is fitted. probably 2x small screws. Remove it carefully and adjust the pickups to add a little more pressure. replace it.

Now apply power to the wheels while its upside down. (DC or DCC, doesn't matter)

Take a fibreglass brush (Maplin part # KR61R) hold it against the BACK of the wheels and polish from the edge of the flange to where the spokes start (thats where the pickups run)

Now take a cotton bud and put some contact cleaner (Maplin part # JP17T) on it... enough to wet the bud properly. (Its an aerosol product but don't spray it on the model)

While the wheels are spinning, apply to both the wheel tread and to the wheel back whee you just polished.

The loco should, if pickups were correctly adjusted, now work flawlessly.

regards

Richard

PS: Tony: a similar procedure should help your lima a wee bit too.

 

[Saint Johnstoun]

Thanks Richard - I thought that would be the problem but didn't start dismantling until I had shared the problem with others.

I've also had problems with Bachmann WDs. I can advise on a cure for that if anybody has found that their loco suddenly develops a short!

What happens there is that the bronze pickup strips warp and make contact with the chassis frame. The cure is to remove the baseplate and insert two narrow strips of insulating tape over the pickup strips inside the baseplate. This cures the problem. I've had to effect this on at least two WDs.

ATC

PS - where can I get a fibreglass tool from?

 

[Richard Johnson]

QUOTE (Saint Johnstoun @ 6 Oct 2008, 14:58) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Thanks Richard - I thought that would be the problem but didn't start dismantling until I had shared the problem with others.

I've also had problems with Bachmann WDs. I can advise on a cure for that if anybody has found that their loco suddenly develops a short!

What happens there is that the bronze pickup strips warp and make contact with the chassis frame. The cure is to remove the baseplate and insert two narrow strips of insulating tape over the pickup strips inside the baseplate. This cures the problem. I've had to effect this on at least two WDs.

ATC

PS - where can I get a fibreglass tool from?

***Its in the post I made - Maplin - I even gave U the part #!

Richard

 

[34C]

Just one thing to add to Richard's excellent advice: another weakness on Hornby is the antiquated wiper system on the loco to tender coupling for electrical connection. It only needs one of the little upward curving wipers to be slightly deformed, and it will contact the post on the tender occasionally on curves, causing a momentary short which is tolerable for DC, but a real bear if using DCC.

 

[Saint Johnstoun]

The loco to tender coupling on the king is different - I suspect it has something to do with using the Castle tooling for the tender chassis. It consists of a plastic and copper sandwich which makes contact with a plate on the tender - which only collects from one side unlike the later Hornby usual pattern which gives 6 wheel or 8 wheel pickup.

Again I suspect a shot of contact cleaner will cure any problems there.

 

[steverhodes]

I have often used a soft pencil to rub the insides of wheels where the wipers make contact on the basis that the graphite is a lubricant and conducts. This can improve erratic running.

 

[34C]

QUOTE (Saint Johnstoun @ 6 Oct 2008, 08:57) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>The loco to tender coupling on the king is different - ..
Ah, that's what comes of refusing to buy a Hornby GWR express 4-6-0 until they do an all new Castle or King to 'current standard', never actually looked closely at the mechanism side of the present offerings.