Model Railway Forum banner

Hornby T9 and Schools Class

19K views 75 replies 34 participants last post by  neil_s_wood 
I received my Hornby T9 today.

I was impressed by the general level of detail. I was disappointed to note that when I placed the locomotive on the track it "stuttered" when the connecting rods reached their full upright position. The problem was more attenuated at moderate speeds rather than slow or fast speeds -- in short, the speeds at which one would ideally operate this locomotive. It was worse in forward and reverse. My Gaugemaster rolling testbed confirmed the problem -- the ampmeter fluctuated significantly at moderate speeds. The locomotive came with a DCC Hornby decoder fitted (I intend to replace it with a loksound ESU decoder from DCC Concepts when Richard Johnson produces the T9 sound file which I understand will happen -- I use the old decoder for light and other accessory purposes) and the hesitation was not as pronounced when operated using my Digitrax DCC controller -- perhaps there is EMF feedback through the decoder which ameliorates the problem.

Has anyone else experienced this difficulty? Is there any quick fix solution? Is it perhaps linked in some way to the use of the traction tyre (a retrogressive step on the part of Hornby -- I hope that they will not use the same system on the forthcoming School class locomotive and a replacement tyres and non-tyred wheels will be made available) is there a problem with Hornby's quality control?

If I cannot find a solution I will have to return it to Hattons. As I live in South Africa this is not a simple option.

Please let me know if this is an isolated problem or whether anyone else is experiencing this difficulty.

Brian Patterson
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top