Model Railway - What's your latest acquisition?

It was auction, so perhaps not. £85.00.

They often still go for 'silly prices', like super detail A4's or rebuilt WC / BoB pacifics are going for nowadays!

It's a good runner, I'm still working on feeding the fan belt onto the flywheel - I'll 'win' eventually (or snap it!).

What is curious is I'm suspecting it's a sort of custom DCC PCB - it has a speaker hard-wired onto it, which fits perfectly in a central space.

If this is true, then I'll probably never be able to have the lights working without replacing with an 'original Class 56' PCB.

This one is a 21-pin, and does not resemble the 2022-issue Class 56's - which is the 1st date HORNBY created a 56 with 21-pin DCC sockets / decoders!

What is strange is that the items used fit perfectly on the chassis, using the standard mounting points.

Contacting the seller, he says he purchased it from a Model Railway Club, so I'll probably take a few photos and post onto RMWEB - see if anyone recognises the PCB and can confirm a fix for the directional lighting.

Al.

Hi Al

Silly question do the switches move/work? could they control the directional lighting?

Having read a number of write ups in the Hornby Mag where there were switches in the loco controlling the directional lights, cab lights etc.

Hi Tony, I thought of that one, and initially tried it - no joy, but could be wrong - will try again once I get the fan drive belt on .... I will persevere as I love the moving fans!

I've also 2 other 21-pin blanking plates. I tried one, and it works fine, but no lights.

The lights are wired in.

The PCB is slightly shorter than standard, with a 21-pin socket, not 8-pin. Holes appear 'standard' and align perfectly with the diagonal pins / other diagonal (4 holes) screws, leaving a gap in the centre for a rectangular speaker - which is hard-wired into this same PCB (no, there's no sound, or crackling on DC).

This is what had me thinking it's a full-on DCC PCB, which permits a blanking plate fitment to operate on DC.

I shall continue to have a little play, but keep my eyes peeled for a 'fixer' 56 / replacement PCB - very limited budget, so nothing silly.

There are light kits about I'm sure, if needed, as I've fitted to a couple of Rats (Class 25) and a Class 40.

Al.

I had to partially dismantle the fan unit to permit mounting onto the flywheel.

All assembled, no parts missing, but will need to tidy up the wires - noisy when reversing, silent going forwards - which is good enough for now.

I replaced the original, larger 'blanking plate' with the 2 slider switches. I tried all options - no sign of any lights.

One option is the Stickswipe, Ebay Railroad lighting kit.

LED's normally require a resistor in the circuit somewhere, and I'm not certain where they are in the standard Hornby ones.

Al.

Here's a few photos of the PCB - upper part of the chassis.

Printed underneath the chassis it states 'DCC fitted' - so chassis NOT from R3050A.

As you see, the speaker is hard-wired onto the PCB. PCB is 21-pin.

You can see the blanking plug - with the 2 switches.

I tried all options - no lights.

All cables appear to be connected.

I tried 2 other blanking plugs - loco worked perfectly with them as well, but no lights.

Thoughts?

Al.

Stickswipe - always helpful - has replied to confirm Hornby did use 21-pin DCC decoders for their XS (digital / sound) models and it does look like one of them.

Lighting remains a puzzle - I'd like it to work as my other 2 do without (major) issue.

At least it's running very well, and the fans work again!

Al.

Hi Al

I am not a DCC person, just wondering have the lights been switched off or disabled through either the cv's being changed or not having a full chip installed?

I think this is where a an electrical diagram would be handy for all the new models.

Hi Tony, I checked the shell, which was fine - and popped the led's anyway!

Chasing circuitry, changing all manner of whatever ... not really a speciality and as she runs beautifully, I don't want to change that.

Yes, forgot Hornby don't insert resistors directly next to the led's, and popped them, so Jason's got me as a customer again.

He mentioned the super detail body's pilot / tail lamps are 0.5mm wider apart than the Mainline / Railroad one, so he's making a lightly modified kit for me to fit.

As my other 2 Hornby 56's lights work just fine, it's a shame this one runs so well, yet doesn't have lights, so will retro fit. Stickswipe's kits are excellent quality.

Al.

Just received from Hattons a Hornby GNER Class 91 and DVT. Will now save up for matching coaches.

I was at the toy & train fair in port sunlight on sunday and managed to pick up 5 x Mk2A coaches in Blue & Grey livery for a total of £25, 1 x Bachmann suburban coach in Maroon livery to match 6 other suburban coaches I already have, this coach cost £6, 1 x bogie frame for a Mk2A coach which needed s replacement bogie £2 and finally a tenderless R398 Scotsman which cost £15.

The tenderless loco won't be Scotsman as I already have a body in the dark green which I painted myself, but it was dismantled and cleaned up as some of the non insulated wheels were a mess with rust in places.

During the cleaning up of the chassis, I fitted a gear cog onto the 2nd driving axle which required some of the keeper plate to be cut out for the cog to show through, this cog was secured on the axle with superglue and left out of the chassis while it cured which didn't take too long, once set, the axle including wheels was refitted into the chassis and correctly quartered to ensure smooth rotation of the wheels.

An X04 Motor was also fitted and wired up with a capacitor fitted in the tender along with my own self made pickups but during my initisl tests the loco was sparking from the 3rd driving axle on the insulated side which I found this morning was due to the tyre touching the chassis while running.

I cured this problem by removing the affected wheel and fitting a reasonably thin metal washer behind the wheel and once the wheel was refitted and quartered the loco was tested again, this time with the connected and wired tender supplying power to make sure all my soldering was working well and that little modification has proved to be a good idea as the wheels now turn without any mini lightning shows from the tyres, another successful conversion even if it did take 3 days to sort oit all the issues.

In terms of the Mk2A coaches, they all required re-wheeling with the latest hornby wheels as they had the old fixed plastic wheels which cannot be re-gauged but suffice to say the coaches now run well and without jumping the frogs on peco turnouts.