Flying Scotsman 4472 Posted June 3, 2012 Posted June 3, 2012 Recently on one of the threads on the site the Hornby Railroad range came into question. Performance and pulling power were said to be not very good. This I disagreed with so here is a couple of DVD's to let you guys make your own minds up and hopefully put the issue of the railroad range to bed once and for all. The 2 models I used are a class 55 and a class 73 both new out of the box and both fitted with a £11 Train Save decoder. I coupled up a rake of 10 coaches as most people would not be running much more than this in a rake and I felt this was a good load to show you guys. They both pulled extremely well and on the up hill section I slowed the class 55 down just to see if I could get her to spin out and stall but to no avail. I also show you in the videos starting off from a stand still and stopping both were smooth and had no problems. Quote
heirflick Posted June 4, 2012 Posted June 4, 2012 impressive anthony! where did you buy the decoders, and any problims with them? Quote
irishthump Posted June 4, 2012 Posted June 4, 2012 Layout looks great, Anto! The Railroad range are pretty tempting, you can get either one of those locos for under €60. From what I understand they are Lima toolings with newer motor bogies. How are they as regards powerpickup? Have Hornby fitted them with more pickups? Quote
Mayner Posted June 4, 2012 Posted June 4, 2012 Layout looks great, Anto! The Railroad range are pretty tempting, you can get either one of those locos for under €60. From what I understand they are Lima toolings with newer motor bogies. How are they as regards powerpickup? Have Hornby fitted them with more pickups? I wonder have Horby done anything with the wheels? The biggest problem with Lima was that after a few weeks running the wheel plating got badly pitted, pick up and runnng suffered and it was a constant battle to keep the wheels clean. The HO/OO stuff was not to bad their N Gauge locos lasted an average of about two weeks. John Quote
burnthebox Posted June 4, 2012 Posted June 4, 2012 Anto, layout looks just great, but tell me this please,are these dcc or mono, & if dcc do's this make them more responsive or is there no difference, easier to control ! Quote
Warbonnet Posted June 4, 2012 Posted June 4, 2012 Layout looks great, Anto! The Railroad range are pretty tempting, you can get either one of those locos for under €60. From what I understand they are Lima toolings with newer motor bogies. How are they as regards powerpickup? Have Hornby fitted them with more pickups? When you put things in perspective they aren't that great value for money. You can go to Hattons and pick up much better detailed Bachmann, Vitrains (like the lovely 47 in Anthony's other video) and Heljan diesels on special offer for cheaper or similar prices to a €60 railroad loco and they'll have proper chassis too. The 55 for instance is terrible, too short by a large margin, tooling over 30 years old now, crude detail, HO bogies, non flush glazing. The 73 is still a superb piece of tooling mind you, and offers a cheaper alternative to the Dapol loco. They have pick-ups on both bogies, a major advantage over the old lima locos they come from. And as for the haulage test? Well, lets be fair, Hornby Mark 1s and Dapol/Airfix/Hornby Mark 2 air cons weigh next to nothing. Stick them on a rake of your MIR wagons, then I might be impressed. There's no doubting their smoothness, and they are a decent motor bogie, but nothing will beat a central can motor and flywheel drive powering two bogies. If it did, we'd still have our 141s and new 201s powered that way. If the railroad bogie suits your needs then fine, I'm still going down the all-wheel drive road. And don't even get me started on traction tyres!!! Quote
irishthump Posted June 4, 2012 Posted June 4, 2012 I wonder have Horby done anything with the wheels? The biggest problem with Lima was that after a few weeks running the wheel plating got badly pitted, pick up and runnng suffered and it was a constant battle to keep the wheels clean. The HO/OO stuff was not to bad their N Gauge locos lasted an average of about two weeks. John True. I have a couple of old Limas that I converted to DCC, they run fine but as you say the wheels are muck! I'm considering switching out the wheelsets whenever I get around to it. And as Warbonnet says, don't mention those traction tyres! Having said that the old Lima pancake motors will pull anything, noisey as hell though. Quote
Flying Scotsman 4472 Posted June 4, 2012 Author Posted June 4, 2012 (edited) Having said that the old Lima pancake motors will pull anything, noisey as hell though. They ain't fitted with the old pancake motors the have new motors fitted and are very quiet Edited June 4, 2012 by Anthony Quote
Guest hidden-agenda Posted June 4, 2012 Posted June 4, 2012 Nice video mate and i have to say you have them running fine. Quote
Flying Scotsman 4472 Posted June 4, 2012 Author Posted June 4, 2012 impressive anthony! where did you buy the decoders, and any problims with them? Seamus you can get the Trainsave decoders anywhere DCC Supplies/Hattons/eBay etc. I think they are a great decoder very smooth slow running at low speed and all for around £11 I have them fitted to my 141/181 and also some of my 201's Quote
Flying Scotsman 4472 Posted June 4, 2012 Author Posted June 4, 2012 Anto, layout looks just great, but tell me this please,are these dcc or mono, & if dcc do's this make them more responsive or is there no difference, easier to control ! They are running DCC I can't advise you as to whether there is a difference in performance running DCC or DC as I only run DCC Quote
Joe Keegan Posted June 4, 2012 Posted June 4, 2012 I wonder have Horby done anything with the wheels? Yes ,they are using an up to date wheels,gears/gearbox and motor.The wheels are closer to RP25 profile. No more pancake motors and steam roller wheels with rubber tyres. Regards Joe Quote
Warbonnet Posted June 4, 2012 Posted June 4, 2012 Another thumbs up for the trainsave decoders, great value for money. Quote
irishthump Posted June 4, 2012 Posted June 4, 2012 Their ain't fitted with the old pancake motors the have new motors fitted and are very quiet Oh, I know. I was just saying the pancaske motors did perform well. Quote
Flying Scotsman 4472 Posted June 4, 2012 Author Posted June 4, 2012 (edited) When you put things in perspective they aren't that great value for money. You can go to Hattons and pick up much better detailed Bachmann, Vitrains (like the lovely 47 in Anthony's other video) and Heljan diesels on special offer for cheaper or similar prices to a €60 railroad loco and they'll have proper chassis too. The 55 for instance is terrible, too short by a large margin, tooling over 30 years old now, crude detail, HO bogies, non flush glazing. The 73 is still a superb piece of tooling mind you, and offers a cheaper alternative to the Dapol loco. They have pick-ups on both bogies, a major advantage over the old lima locos they come from. And as for the haulage test? Well, lets be fair, Hornby Mark 1s and Dapol/Airfix/Hornby Mark 2 air cons weigh next to nothing. Stick them on a rake of your MIR wagons, then I might be impressed. There's no doubting their smoothness, and they are a decent motor bogie, but nothing will beat a central can motor and flywheel drive powering two bogies. If it did, we'd still have our 141s and new 201s powered that way. If the railroad bogie suits your needs then fine, I'm still going down the all-wheel drive road. And don't even get me started on traction tyres!!! Ok Fran here we go if this don't impress you bar short of putting a rope around the house and pulling that I don't know. BTW my MIR cement bubbles have lead shot in them for ballast and as any of the guys that have been down to my layout will tell you they are heavy. I also put on 8 x 45' MIR container wagons for good measure BTW check out the second video with the Vitrains class 47 on the same rake. It could not pull snow of a rope. A nice model but a bit disappointing regarding performance and a very slow top speed and I don't run my trains fast. Also the LED lighting is very bad What more can I say mate the videos speak for themselves Edited June 4, 2012 by Anthony Quote
Warbonnet Posted June 4, 2012 Posted June 4, 2012 Ok, I'm impressed. Did you add any weight to the 73? I have 5 vitrains 47s, and have all been good pullers! The lights are poor though, you're right there! Quote
Flying Scotsman 4472 Posted June 4, 2012 Author Posted June 4, 2012 Ok, I'm impressed. Did you add any weight to the 73? I have 5 vitrains 47s, and have all been good pullers! The lights are poor though, you're right there! No mate the black EWS 73 is straight out of the box I ain't cutting her up for her chassis that one is for my UK collection the blue one still in its box is for a donor chassis. Quote
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