Was I Wrong About The Hornby 9F? | Sam'sTrains Live

[D605Eagle]

I believe that motor has been used in just about every new hornby loco in the last few years and is prone to quality control issues. I have an S15 and a B12 with that motor and they both run perfectly, however a mate has an HST with one and it was junk from day 1. If you go on aliexpress you can buy these motors sans weights and gears for peanuts. There's absolutely no excuse at all for using motors that cost Hornby pence in a model that they want the best part of £250 for.

i bought five of these lookalike motors from AliExpress for a couple of quid the lot and they run sweet but so far of the five two have failed so just cheap junk in reality. Who knows what ends up in the models, yet I have donkeys years old 0-4-0 pocket rocket motors still going strong.
Edit - bring back the old Monogram slot car motors that could be dismantled and new parts fitted as required, screwed assembly, serviceable brush gear, oilite bearings, etc.

I couldn't agree more!

[Bigmet]

i bought five of these lookalike motors from AliExpress for a couple of quid the lot and they run sweet but so far of the five two have failed so just cheap junk in reality. Who knows what ends up in the models, ...

That last is 'the trouble' from the perspective of the purchaser like me that wants the model to run well long term, ideally with access to spares including a replacement motor. Because we don't want just any old motor of the right exterior dimensions, but one that develops enough torque at low revs to perform well on the loco driveline, and ideally a reasonably linear power input to revs curve.

I now have a few RTR specimens bought quite early after the Chinese OO production got started, for which there are now no identical replacement motors available; but these I have 'covered off' already with various Mashima and Buhler motors bought fifteen and more years past.

But the present situation is a blizzard of variation in motors, what with six different brand's loco products running on the layout (and every prospect of two more joining the party in the near future) and motors of all sorts of shapes and sizes inside, with quite often not a hint if iron core or coreless. At need, my instinct will be to try Branchlines or High Level, if the manufacturer cannot oblige with a replacement.

It was a pleasant surprise to find an X4026 motor (on the 'exterior lookalike' basis!) in my new Hornby W1. Since it performs as the X4026 motors that have put in good service in my own and friend's Hornby pacifics these past 20 years, I hope it is the same unit...

[Alexander Court]

I have the S15 (is that the goods 4-6-0?) That's in BR black, the motor in it is a bit...odd. Some days it works, for a bit, a lot of the time its starts running and then gets worse and worse, til it slows to a crawl...

Does the motor or top end of the driveline become hot as it slows? Need to run the model with the loco body off to investigate. These small electrical motors have a very small power output, and one dry binding bearing, either on the motor or in the drive line, is enough to slow them to a crawl. The fact that it still runs 'next time' suggests that the brushes and commutator, windings and magnet in the motor are all OK, so its worth a look.

Thanks for the advice, I'll have to see if I can find time to investigate this further but also try not to break it at the same time.

Alex