Part x6346 or x8849

[joshv8]

Hey guys, I bought a second hand A1 to find a broken gear inside, parts list states it as part number x6346 and x8849 seems to be the same part but seems to be out of stock everywhere I look, is there a replacement somewhere that someone can let me know about? It's a 21 tooth gear.

Edit: I've glued and plastic welded this one and its working for now but I would still like to find a replacement.

Cheers,
Josh

[Bigmet]

Josh, it would be advisable to include the catalogue R number of the model you have, and ideally the service sheet number(s) you have looked at, just to ensure any respondent is singing off the same hymnsheet; because Hornby have produced several of Gresley A1 and Peppercorn (Tornado) A1 versions over the years and while some parts are interchangeable - I happen to know X8849 is applicable to all the 2004/5 introduced Gresley A1, A3, A4 - sometimes there are changes...

And good luck with chasing down the required part, it can be a lengthy process.

[Mountain]

Hey guys, I bought a second hand A1 to find a broken gear inside, parts list states it as part number x6346 and x8849 seems to be the same part but seems to be out of stock everywhere I look, is there a replacement somewhere that someone can let me know about? It's a 21 tooth gear.

Edit: I've glued and plastic welded this one and its working for now but I would still like to find a replacement.

Cheers,
Josh

Sometimes Elaines Trains sells the odd spare chassis. Worth a try. Also the business that owns this site does spares. I take it you have tried the other usual places such as Peters Spares?

[joshv8]

Josh, it would be advisable to include the catalogue R number of the model you have, and ideally the service sheet number(s) you have looked at, just to ensure any respondent is singing off the same hymnsheet; because Hornby have produced several of Gresley A1 and Peppercorn (Tornado) A1 versions over the years and while some parts are interchangeable - I happen to know X8849 is applicable to all the 2004/5 introduced Gresley A1, A3, A4 - sometimes there are changes...

And good luck with chasing down the required part, it can be a lengthy process.

Hey mate,
The loco is a flying scostsman that was simply sold as being 'not a railroad version' and is later model, Chinese built, has the not so super 'super detail kit' and DCC ready. But I never recieved a box or parts sheet unfortunately so the part number of x6346 comes from the railroad version parts sheet.

The gears seem to come as a set of 2 gears on an axle shaft that drive directly off the motor and a single reduction gear on a shaft thats an intermediate between the previous dual gear and the gear on the wheel set. That later one is the gear I have broken.

All my research has concluded Hornby use the same basic gears here across many locos but come in a 21 tooth or 18 tooth variant. I'm looking for the 21 tooth.

I have found some 3d printed ones on ebay which aren't expensive but 20 pounds postage (or $40 Australian) is just extortion for a tiny gear in my opinion. I had 2 separate loco's posted for that amount recently.

Cheers, Josh

[joshv8]

Hey guys, I bought a second hand A1 to find a broken gear inside, parts list states it as part number x6346 and x8849 seems to be the same part but seems to be out of stock everywhere I look, is there a replacement somewhere that someone can let me know about? It's a 21 tooth gear.

Edit: I've glued and plastic welded this one and its working for now but I would still like to find a replacement.

Cheers,
Josh

Sometimes Elaines Trains sells the odd spare chassis. Worth a try. Also the business that owns this site does spares. I take it you have tried the other usual places such as Peters Spares?

Hey Mountain,

I did try Peter's spares and this site oddly enough and they were both sold out.
I don't think I will go to the effort of buying a whole chassis for the one gear. As said I have done a repair being a flat gear and has worked for now but I fear will fail again down the line (nice pun in there).

Considering these are sold out everywhere and I can find a number of posts across forums of people looking, theyre a commonly failing part. I'm sure loads will become available on the market soon enough to continue to service these failing parts.

Here's my soap box moment though, Hornbys quality across the board now is just crap. I've had a new A4 with a split nylon worm gear, my very expensive P2 the decoder killed itself and now this as a near new loco has a split gear. And I read a plethora of issues with their products. They build a nice looking loco but all the mechanical and electrical quality control is out the window. And by now for the extortionate prices they charge for a loco, 350 pounds, and the sort, they should spend the extra $1 in Chinese manufacturing and have full brass gear sets.

Cheers,
Josh

[aleopardstail]

possible solution? 3d print one, ABS like resin maybe?

[joshv8]

possible solution? 3d print one, ABS like resin maybe?

I dont have a 3d printer personally however a friend does. I could draw a file and potentially laser cut one though or even mould this one and cast another. All options in desperation.

Cheers,
Josh

[Bigmet]

Here's my soap box moment though, Hornbys quality across the board now is just crap. I've had a new A4 with a split nylon worm gear, my very expensive P2 the decoder killed itself and now this as a near new loco has a split gear. And I read a plethora of issues with their products. They build a nice looking loco but all the mechanical and electrical quality control is out the window. And by now for the extortionate prices they charge for a loco, 350 pounds, and the sort, they should spend the extra $1 in Chinese manufacturing and have full brass gear sets.

I am sure that many would like to see such improvements to mechanism quality, and systematic spares support. But here's the rub, these are manufactures from the 'toy' department, and made to that standard. If they work for a year from new purchase, that's good enough in UK law as I understand it.

My own new purchase experience from the three manufacturers currently 'longest continuously standing' (BaHeHo) in offering powered OO product over the past 20 some years.
Mechanism failures, includes one moulded gear failure, that was sorted promptly by replacement part: the rest I fixed myself as it was just minor adjustment of parts fits required.
Motors, zero failures.
Wiring, all worked as supplied*, lots of 'tidying up' and resoldering of joints for long term robustness. *Exception, Bachmann released their K3 with lead free solder, an experiment they didn't repeat: bought these at discount in knowledge of the problem, and fixed it before they were tried out, no problems.
In 'yet better news' my new purchases of very few locos from 'the new boys on the block' Dapol (1), Oxford Rail (6), Planet industrials (1), Rapido (1),Sonic (1) all good as received.

I buy 'DCC Ready' to fit my own choice of decoder, only buying DCC fitted when the price drops below the DCC Ready price for a model I can use. Learning from this, the decoders in 'DCC fitted' are typically cheap and nasty, fail to obtain optimum performance, some cannot even match what the mechanism delivers without a decoder on resistance controller DC!

My second hand purchase experience from retailers is very different: once 'Johnny Ninethumbs' has been at work it's a very different picture regarding what retailers offering s/h have in their stock. In short, all sorts of damage, random disassembly and reassembly, faults way exceeding the 'new purchase' experience. Some have been offended over the years by the following assessment when I have put it up online: even if it only first went on sale last week, second hand means someone has damaged it already.

Private s/h purchases from modellers that know what they are about, based on the evidence of sustained online input: PERFECT!

[joshv8]

Here's my soap box moment though, Hornbys quality across the board now is just crap. I've had a new A4 with a split nylon worm gear, my very expensive P2 the decoder killed itself and now this as a near new loco has a split gear. And I read a plethora of issues with their products. They build a nice looking loco but all the mechanical and electrical quality control is out the window. And by now for the extortionate prices they charge for a loco, 350 pounds, and the sort, they should spend the extra $1 in Chinese manufacturing and have full brass gear sets.

I am sure that many would like to see such improvements to mechanism quality, and systematic spares support. But here's the rub, these are manufactures from the 'toy' department, and made to that standard. If they work for a year from new purchase, that's good enough in UK law as I understand it.

My own new purchase experience from the three manufacturers currently 'longest continuously standing' (BaHeHo) in offering powered OO product over the past 20 some years.
Mechanism failures, includes one moulded gear failure, that was sorted promptly by replacement part: the rest I fixed myself as it was just minor adjustment of parts fits required.
Motors, zero failures.
Wiring, all worked as supplied*, lots of 'tidying up' and resoldering of joints for long term robustness. *Exception, Bachmann released their K3 with lead free solder, an experiment they didn't repeat: bought these at discount in knowledge of the problem, and fixed it before they were tried out, no problems.
In 'yet better news' my new purchases of very few locos from 'the new boys on the block' Dapol (1), Oxford Rail (6), Planet industrials (1), Rapido (1),Sonic (1) all good as received.

I buy 'DCC Ready' to fit my own choice of decoder, only buying DCC fitted when the price drops below the DCC Ready price for a model I can use. Learning from this, the decoders in 'DCC fitted' are typically cheap and nasty, fail to obtain optimum performance, some cannot even match what the mechanism delivers without a decoder on resistance controller DC!

My second hand purchase experience from retailers is very different: once 'Johnny Ninethumbs' has been at work it's a very different picture regarding what retailers offering s/h have in their stock. In short, all sorts of damage, random disassembly and reassembly, faults way exceeding the 'new purchase' experience. Some have been offended over the years by the following assessment when I have put it up online: even if it only first went on sale last week, second hand means someone has damaged it already.

Private s/h purchases from modellers that know what they are about, based on the evidence of sustained online input: PERFECT!

Glad to hear you've had some positive experiences atleast. Just seems to be a bit of a minefield knowing what you'll end up with these days.
For me it really comes down to the cost, I have no issues buying and repairing something that I'm pre aware of the condition. I have an issue with expensive prices and things being new or 'near new' and then quickly becoming a problem.

Im guessing so much of sales as you say are intended as 'toys' and probably get gifted out at christmas and after a few runs live in a box.

Here's hoping to better experiences with future purchases!

Honestly though, I thinking I'm just about better off buying 80s/90s era locos and upgrading the motors to CDs or modern replacements for X03s and 4s and adding DCC. For the most part the details are still very good and some of the deeper flange wheels dont bother me too much on code 100 anyway.

Cheers,
Josh

[GeraldH]

There are people selling 3D printed replacement gears on Ebay for Hornby locos, so you may find what you need there? The seller "asis3d" (no connection other than waiting for a part from them at the moment) has good feedback and seems to offer a few. They might even start making the one you need if you ask and they don't make it currently? Ultrascale also sell gears and may have something suitable though it can involve a long wait.

[joshv8]

There are people selling 3D printed replacement gears on Ebay for Hornby locos, so you may find what you need there? The seller "asis3d" (no connection other than waiting for a part from them at the moment) has good feedback and seems to offer a few. They might even start making the one you need if you ask and they don't make it currently? Ultrascale also sell gears and may have something suitable though it can involve a long wait.

I did find the 3d print gears on ebay but to Aus it was sonething like 20 pounds postage on a 7 pound gear so that ends up like $60 aus for me which is an awful lot for a tiny plastic gear. Still, if I dont find another option it may be a way to go. That said though Im thinking my plastic weld on the current gear will hold just fine, Im also considering giving one side a roughen up and epoxying a thin washer to it to help hold it together.

Cheers,
Josh

[Bigmet]

...thinking I'm just about better off buying 80s/90s era locos and upgrading the motors to CDs or modern replacements for X03s and 4s and adding DCC...

The limitations are a smaller selection of models than present production provides, and those steam loco models that had the best appearance turned out to have flaky and not readily repaired mechanisms (Mainline, Airfix GMR) although lots of parts have been reused in various ways due to prior experience, see below. The N2 has proved to be the sole robust steam model, of the small selection I purchased to try out.

And before those two brands came along, I and many others had largely abandoned RTR OO, because to model a specific subject kit and scratch building was absolutely necessary; for which there was a very good choice of products to use: most of which resulting models I still have and run, and they look very well alongside current RTR OO. Still a selection of LNER/BR/ER kit built items that have as yet not been produced in RTR OO...

[joshv8]

...thinking I'm just about better off buying 80s/90s era locos and upgrading the motors to CDs or modern replacements for X03s and 4s and adding DCC...

The limitations are a smaller selection of models than present production provides, and those steam loco models that had the best appearance turned out to have flaky and not readily repaired mechanisms (Mainline, Airfix GMR) although lots of parts have been reused in various ways due to prior experience, see below. The N2 has proved to be the sole robust steam model, of the small selection I purchased to try out.

And before those two brands came along, I and many others had largely abandoned RTR OO, because to model a specific subject kit and scratch building was absolutely necessary; for which there was a very good choice of products to use: most of which resulting models I still have and run, and they look very well alongside current RTR OO. Still a selection of LNER/BR/ER kit built items that have as yet not been produced in RTR OO...

Yes you do make a good point regarding availability of models. I suppose some attitude adjustments are needed on my end that these are toys and fix them if they break. I just wish they got a bit more use before they broke.

Cheers,
Josh