Silver Sidelines

Some six months have elapsed since my Blog entry commenting on the Hornby New Castle: In fact I have acquired three or four models, all ‘new’ and with one exception, all from UK retailers.   During this time I have been able to run the different engines and make a few adjustments. First a view of Hornby’s all purpose nylon washer or spacer.   Seemingly they are used to position the front bogies on the Schools Class.   They are used here on the New Castle to pack the gear train.   They also make appearances on some of the driving axles.   I say ‘some’ because not all my Castles have the same chassis arrangement. I have shown above a view of the chassis from ‘Earl Cairns’.   This I think is my newest Castle.   The slidebars are nicely parallel with the ‘frames’.   The leading driving axle is packed on both sides with nylon spacers to reduce sideplay and prevent the nuts holding the coupling rods rubbing on the connecting ro...

Following from my earlier Blog I have been asked by a friend whether I have had any problems with the front bogie of the latest Hornby Super Detail Castles.   In short the answer is 'no'. Seemingly there is a recent review in the model railway press that says that on first removal from the box, the front bogie was detached.   I have included a few pictures here of the bogie on my Castle highlighting what I would describe as Hornby's cheap and cheerful means of attachment. Underside of Castle Bogie Disassembled The Pivot Pin with Retaining Collar When the engine is lifted from the track Hornby have provided a tiny plastic collar glued to the top of the bogie pivot pin to stop the bogie dropping off.   I guess the success of this system relies heavily on the   amount of glue originally used.   However I would say that the design is easily repairable.   For example if the plastic collar is missing, all that is requ...

After praising Airfix Castles in this ‘Blog’, I have to now admit to purchasing one of Hornby’s new Castle Class locomotives, Ince Castle. Historically I had one of Dapol’s engine driven castles, Dorchester Castle.   More recently I tried out Cadbury Castle, the Hornby version.   Neither could cope with seven coaches and the grades on the Longsheds Layout, quite a disappointment. Ince Castle seems to be a different proposition.   It has quite the longest ‘can’ motor that I have seen.   However straight out of the box it seems to me to be rather light weight and when placed on my 1 in 56 gradient with seven coaches it just sat there with wheels spinning. There seems to me to be lots of spare space inside the body for extra ballast and I have been able to get the locomotive weight up to almost 400 gram.   This appears to be just the right weight for the layout.   For those of you who can bear to watch trains going round and round there i...