Hornby T9

Hi
The T9 Is beset with a lot of problems ,poor haulage pipe work the wrong way round and front bogies lifting the driving wheels up.
On a number of web sites people have modified the front bogies buy filing done the pin that goes up into the front of the loco taking about 1.5mm off seems to help with the haulage . (but you should not have to do this as this should have been sorted out by Hornby)
The problem you have with the tender removing the weights from the tender leaves it very light and thus not pushing it down on the track .
With the problem of derailing on bends ,this is due to the traction tyres ,which makes the flange sit high up on the track (I Have the same porb with my two) If you remove the traction tyres it will not even pull itself along ,let alone any rolling stock!!!
Hornby have stopped sending out any more until all these problems have been sorted out .

Just an update on the T9 problems.

30124 Fitting ZTC 4007 decoder.

Removed all Hornby weights from tender,when the tender tank is removed there is a channel around the chassis,in this channel I fitted double sided sticky pads and then fitted lengths of lead rope in the channel.The tender now runs like a dream.

To overcome the problem with the loco de-railing I had to to completely re-pack the bend which was causing the problem to get the loco to run correctly.

Having completed these works the loco runs very well in both directions.

Dont go away theres more

My second T9 30310.

Received the loco froms Hattons perfectly packed,opened up the Hornby packaging took the loco out and one of the traction tyres fell onto the floor,the tyre was obviously broken when the loco was dispatched from Hornby and I rekon that the packer had just licked the rubber to make it stick to the wheel and then hoped for the best.
I have since returned this loco to Hattons who have re-imbursed me for all of my costs.

At present I do not intend to purchase any more T9s in the forseable future especially with the basic problems outlined
by some of the forum members.
I had intended to purchase some School Class locos when they come out but I have put this on hold in view of the problems with Hornby 4.4.0.locos with traction tyres

It does seem like there's something going wrong here. In fairness you only tend to hear from people who have a problem- it may be that there are lots of satisfied owners out there - maybe 90-95%. Also model railways does seem to be a peculiar market where people who buy a less than satisfactory model will go ahead and modify it or tolerate it because "we've never had it so good"

However ,it does seem now that there are a number of people who are having problems. Of the two Yeovil has bought , both were defective in some form- clearly this is more than coincidence. MREmag contains more instances. Could there be labour problems at the Chinese factory? Even if there is - Hornby should compensate by increasing QC to 100%, yes even if it means they employ some people in Margate to get them out of the box and test them > I'll bet some of their former employees are still around who could do this. More expense - oh yes , but probably less expensive than ruining your brand image.

Why are the Schools delayed? Similar problems ?

Deafening silence from Hornby

Anyone taking bets that the major model railway magazines take this up? This will be a interesting. Are they on the side of the consumer /model railway enthusiast or the manufacturers who they usually seem very cosy with. They were effusive in their praise of the T9 stating it could pull 25 coaches- will there be a follow up or will the issue be quietly brushed under the carpet?

Surely delays from China and lack of quality (non manufacturer specific) are one of todays biggest issues in the railway modelling fraternity. Does it not deserve coverage?

Alone of the mags , Hornby clocked the variable haulage issue, while I think RM sussed the tender frames. It will be interesting to see the follow up,if any.

Russell

Received my T9 today & fitted a Hornby decoder in tender.
Tried ZTC 4007 but found that the top would not fit on correctly.
So fitted a Hornby deocder but that also stopped the top fitting on correctly.
I was reluctant to remove the weights from tender as it would reduce the sffectiveness of the pickup from the track.
I found that there was space behind the weights.
So I shrinkwrappped the decoder not to tight.It will still slide off.
Placed all weights back on top replace screws & tighted up enough just to hold in place.
The wires from decoder need to be tight to where they come from the decoder otherwise they push up against the slope part of the tender top again restricting correct fitting of top.
It will be interesting to know how Hornby have fitted the decoder to the X i.e. DC Fitted version.
I suspect they have taken the weights out.

My T9 runs fine.
I did have a problem with the front wheels derailling but that was down to when I fitted the hook assembly as oppsed to the coupler.
The linkage needs to be kept forward & the last link attached to the hook.
Otherwise it can catch against the front boggie which can result in the wheels coming off the rails.
I have found this the case for quite a few of the locos where I fix the hook to the front.

Loco runs a dream pulling two manusel coaches + the parcel wagon.
The model I have is the R2711.

If you did not have traction tyres would you not get a lot of wheel slip?

That prompted me two add two celestory coaches, they are quite heavy coaches and I have to say I was impressed.
Applied power slowly the wheels started to slip but the loco pulled away & once rolling no problem.
I suspect that is more real to life, a bit of wheel slip.
Can`t wait to get a sound decoder for it & should sound great with the wheel slip.
Great looking loco & excellent detail.

Would have to add though regarding packaging when I removed the loco I was expecting the transit bracket to be attached to the loco but it was not.
The fixing screw was loose so it & the bracket fell out.
Quality control!

Yevoil
Have you tried oiling the axles I found some of mine were a bit stiff & so I oiled them which sorted them out.

From what you say I suspect yopu have removed one weight.
Yours is the four axle version perhaps that extra weight does make a difference.
Place it on top of the tender & see it does make a difference.
Could it not be shortened & still fixed in?

*** Actually I think nobody at H is paying enough attention to the detail of some projects.

Witness the fact that even the hornby T9 6 wheel tender variant service drawings also showed the tender sideframes on backwards - only a failure of H's product management can reasonably explain this, as if their product management people paid attention AND actually knew what the loco should look like) then it could not possibly have happened.

Its not reasonable to blame the factory unless a clear brief is received and specification set. In any project where a major part can be placed wrong all the way from factory floor to service drawing, its clear it wasn't properly managed by the client.

I agree a full QC check could be done - and yes, a full QC check costs only pennies but standards have to be properly specified and the added check paid for (I know - I have 100% operational checks done on my own electronics ex China)

In general I think H do quite well with their locos, but this one is, I think, is one project that really fell through the cracks.

Richard

This is all rather disappointing. Are we in a minority? I purchased two of these locos, 30724 and SR 729. With both locos the restraining piece that holds the loco in the box was not attached this meant minor damage to 729 which I could easily fix. However 30724 stuttered and jerked along and even after some running in was a poor performer. She had a tendency to stick as the connecting rose to the top.

Poor old 729 remained quite stationary and on inspection I noted one of the the small wires to the plug had come apart. ( I don't know whether I like the idea of this little plug, its a devil to unplug if you need to do so)

Now I don't have the skill to fiddle with chassis and cranks and as some have already commented why should I have to do this. So reluctantly I have returned them to Hattons, (Who I cannot recommend highly enough for their help in this regard.) Well it's an expensive disappointment as postage from down under isn't cheap and you don't do these things lightly.

So, overall, marvellous models beautifully executed but maybe let down by poor QC. I want to replace them, in fact would like the one in SR Bullied livery but will wait until I hear that Hornby have rectified some of the gremlins. Makes me wonder about the Schools which I have on pre-order.

I purchased a decoder fitted T9 before Christmas, which was duly opened on Christmas day. It couldn't grip anything and was very erractic with stop starts, plus a lot of wheel spinning. Back it went- to be replaced with another that did the same. Hornby are sending email replies with a modification for under the front wheels. You can admend yourself or send it back to them or the retailer.

I have around 60 Bachmann and Hornby steam locos. All run very very well. I did have a problem with a Bachmann North Eastern with a lot of wheel slip but I just tweaked it slightly. A few locos had out of gauge wheels and detailing bits fall of Hornby locos. This is the first loco to have a real problem.
It is a quality control issue and may have been a result of rushing for Christmas or problems with the Chinese factory iteslf (it was taken over due to difficulties).

1 I am sending back the second version and will use the money to buy something else. I will buy a t9 some time in the future. I think the loco is, at present, flawed with a design/quality issue.
2 I am expecting all these Chinese made locos's prices to be going up in the future. The Chinese currency has increased around a third against the pound.
3 have the good times-cheap prices/new models gone?

My mate Mike sent me an e-mail asking what was meant by "light passenger work" (quoted from Hornby's write up) because he was thinking about getting this lovely looking T9 loco. Well, I'm not really into kettles but the complaints about the T9 are so many it was difficult to miss them, even on Hornby's forum.

Giving Mike a quick summary, I was stunned when he replied "to late, I've bought one"! Now Mike doesn't yet have a layout to test the thing but we hastily arranged for him to come round and try his brand new T9 on my little layout. Guess what, it performed faultlessly and managed two bogie coaches up a 1:20 incline around first radius curves.

Mike was relieved, I was impressed with the model - it looked fantastic.

So I suppose there are some good ones out there. Must admit the packaging was a bit of a puzzle to undo !