Hornby R2563 Britannia Class 7MT "William Wordsworth" : Repair Request

Duncan contacted me to say that his Britannia Class "William Wordsworth" had a split double gear.
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[@robbyboy03]

The Britannia class has always been my favourite. Well done Bill. I appreciate your vids.

[@platformten5958]

Hi Bill. Very fiddly indeed, but another successful repair job by yours truly. However, you forgot to give her a 'torque' test after the gear replacement unless, of course, you did it off camera. Incidentally, the hill is looking great. Maybe put one or two animals on it to give it more authenticity (not cows this time 😄). Ciao, Paul. 👍❤

[@speleokeir]

I'm sure the sheep will make an appearance at some point.🐑😀

[@mrstude]

We are used to split gears here in the states. Bachmann has been having issues for years ! Good job !

[@modelrailroader5619]

“Fun & games…”, nice one, Bill!

[@richardsweeney197]

Running very smoothly!!

[@rannopaul4711]

Same old issue, that double gear is split on mine, now waiting to get spare. I'm toying with the idea of replacing the rear drivers with a Romford set and using brass gears to the worm.Hornby needs to re-tool these locos and standardise all their large wheeled locos final drives, this would make them cheaper to manufacture( we would still pay over the odds)

[@eddierools]

I've got the older tender drive version of the Hornby Britannia, 70038 Robin Hood, and I've always wanted to get myself one of these later loco driven examples! Though i never knew that the double gear had a tendency to split like that, which as you've shown can be a bit nerve-wracking to replace with all the small details on the model itself. I'm low key starting to wonder if I should even bother with these newer Britannia's and stick with my tender drive model. Regardless, another excellent repair Bill, and your layout is really coming along nicely! Can't wait to see it finished! ^^

[@johnstephens649]

Always liked this class of loco. Very graceful. This has put me off buying any newer used loco (post 2010 or so) as they look fabulous but also seem over-complicated and a potential nightmare to work on. Also, you need to find a way of getting your shuttle to stop at the through station…

[@bigmac60]

Nice work. And the layout is really coming on 20:51

[@jeffreysmith156]

I stand in admiration of your abilities. I have a Hornby Royal Scot called The Green Howards. I had heard that it was on the troublesome list of models but, while I did not run it very much, I had had it for nearly ten years when, recently, the motor stopped engaging. I could not get the body off for ages despite all screws being undone. Eventually I did succeed and nothing seemed to be wrong. I put the body back on with difficulty only for the motor not to engage. This process was repeated several times and, despite me taking care, bits started to make successful bids for freedom. Worse followed when in trying gently to unscrew the motor mount it sheared. Then the mount for the DCC chip sheared off as well. Then the valve gear on one side broke a pin. Hornby said it was too far gone to repair so it now languishes in a display case. As you say, the newer models have fantastic detail but I dread having to do anything to them!

[@ModelRailwayShed]

Great Repair Bill and your layout is looking amazing.

[@ausfoodgarden]

That looked ridiculously fiddly, well done getting it fixed and together without breaking anything. My Brittania must be an older and much simpler model because I'm sure I wouldn't forget if it was as complex as that to service. the layout is coming along nicely btw.

[@stephendavies6949]

Wow. Watching 3 trains working simultaneously on your ever-evolvibg layout is extremely entertaining. Awesome repair job too.

[@dfishpool7052]

Hi Bill, I bought one of these as a non-runner and the problem was the 'double gear'; apparently in these models its a known problem.The replacement part was around £4 but removing and replacing the body was a nightmare and I damaged the motion - I think that the previous owner had probably had the body off and had caused some initial damage to the motion - the problem arose with the very fine connectors that attach to the lubricators. Well done for fixing this one.

[@petersmith4455]

if its a known problem why dont you fire off at hornby for their rubbish locos,happens all the time, we had brass gears in the Triang days

[@Proper_Chuffed]

I am utterly obsessed with this class of loco, good job on getting it running again Bill 🙌

[@DaiElsan]

Your layout is starting to look fantastic. I'm super impressed. Your loco repair skills are pretty awesome as well. 👍👍👍👍

[@johnmassey7687]

three trains running at the same time,,,very impressive , plus another great repair video

[@thedepot7416]

Layout coming along nice

[@erikjaneskes5575]

Another superb repair job, Bill! On a side note- your bridge looks majestic!

[@keithparker5125]

As soon as you started to test the loco, I heard the clicking and promptly thought of the split drive gear -the same happened on my N-gauge Arnold 'Sweinenause' and I immediately recognised the sound! I remember 'Willie Wordsworth' when it was a regular appearance hauling the 'Up' Parkstone Key to Liverpool Street boat train in 1962, notably with a rake of Thompson coaches (a swift school lunch and I just had time to get to my local station to see the train come through about 13:00 before running back to school again). When Willie wasn't on the train, it was normally 'Ollie Cromwell',

[@stevehewitt4190]

Why do they produce that double gear in a brittle plastic that is known to split? I hope Duncan appreciates the amount of effort you put into this "open heart surgery" on his locomotive.

[@thestocktonflyer4059]

Great repair job bill 👏 👍 the layout is looking very good too 👌 keep up the good work my friend 👍

[@roberthocking9138]

Hornby has lost the plot. Glad it was you that tackled that Bill and not me. Great job

[@JohnJohnson-cn9fh]

great job bill,but these loco,s cost a fortune these days, the gears should not crack, they should be built to last, jpj

[@YsanneOshea]

Good to see the Brit running again but what a faff to get it sorted! Well done Sir! On another matter........did I recognize the 37 as a 1970's Hornby survivor?

[@johndrew3202]

Thanks for an excellent video again Bill. I have 4 Clan models and hope that they don't have this problem as well, bet they do though! Yes, they are a pain to work on and I have replaced a couple of sets of motion due to my mishandling. But they do look and sound great when fitted with sound, a nice load and fair speed. These are made for enthusiasts, not as toys.

[@colinmeredith7114]

The times that I have stripped these models down to the bare chassis. The 5-pole motor used (X9588...there's also another part number for this motor) is also an excellent replacement for the Hornby "Smokey Joe" model with the 3-pole motor. The metal used for the valve-gear and rods, etc., is too thin, too fine, and too flimsy and will break if you look at it the wrong way!

[@charlesemerson6763]

The split double gear is quite a known problem and common to quite few of Hornby's line up, Brit's, Clans, Fowler 4MT's and others. However I can go one better. a Heljan Garrett that had the wheels go out of quarter on one engine. Upon investigation I found the axle boss on five of the six drive wheels split allowing the wheel to turn on the axle. And if you thought the Brit was hard to take apart try a Heljan Garett.

[@MrResin001]

I managed to fit smoke , lights and sound to mine - hope I never have a failure as the body was a nightmare to get back on !

[@MrCarl40]

Great repair can you help tho. The front bogie have a spring to keep them front wheel on track as mine keep coming off. Thanks great videos you do keep them up

[@oobill]

Check the back to back measurement of the front bogie wheels. Not shown in the video but the bogie wheels on this were way to wide apart and were derailing often. Gave them a squeeze together and they were fine.

[@user-js1wh7zr2q]

Hill , enjoy the repair work, I am just starting to have a go at a number of locos . A close up of your work would be helpful if you could ? Hornby locos from china look good when ok , there seems to a number of different designs to the " in side " . I also find that why use one screw when you could fit five ? Thanks

[@seanwaddingham6985]

Lovely repair as usual but shouldn't Hornby be hugely embarrassed over "split gear" problems in these recent models, either in the gear column or on the drive axle? I think they're just shoddily under-engineered and not fit for purpose. I wonder if the new, hugely over-priced metal body types have better quality drive chains?

[@mikeking2539]

I have 2 of these classes of locomotive, and yes they are really nice models, but what a p in the whatever to work on. I want to put doc decoders in them, but keep putting it off, because as you may have noticed there's very little space for one. Again nobody at Hornby considered this at the designed stage. It's kind of like "OK just stick a 8 pin socket in, and we can say it's DCC ready" 😅😮

[@jameshardy4354]

This is a common problem why hornby do you make locomotives hard to take to bits and parts that aren't up to the job

[@user-im3hr1ed2l]

The layout is looking great ,big step up from the last one and so are the videos. I do find the lamp cord behind the viaduct, very distracting (just saying)

[@ianhughes-zf1ll]

Hi oobill Another great detailed repair video you do know your stuff about model trains . So have you done any straight forward service video’s as I am new to this with tt120 have a couple of locomotives and as listening to you I know keeping them clean is important but worried about taking these locomotives apart in order to service them and which bits are important or do you know of any videos showing all of this . Ps keep up your brilliant work

[@David-cq2mz]

Modern manufacturing usually means companies try to monopolise the repairs,but Hornby seem to be doing the exact opposite? It’s great you give up your time Bill to keep all our models young and old running..

[@granddadtony]

Great video Bill. What’s your knitting like?

[@TheHoplites]

What an awful response by Hornby! If the loco does work by law they must replace it! I had the same issue and they were really quite unpleasant. I would never deal with then again.

[@petersmith4455]

hi Bill, its typical hornby cheap conponents and we get charged the earth for their locos, back in the day Triang would always fix locos and would be pleased to do so

[@speleokeir]

Hornby do have a repair service, you just have to ask. They charge of course so if you can do it yourself it will save you some money.

[@ChobertonJunction]

Really is a great looking loco but as you say sometimes you pay for the detailing. Still wouldn't say not to one.

[@ollychap1985]

Lucky you could get the gear for some locos you can't get them. The merchant navy being one

[@mikep4821]

I’ve had this type of gear failure on THREE Hornby Pacifics, all with fiddly speedos, fortunately all repaired under warranty, but WHY?!? Why make the models so difficult to repair, so fiddly for the amateur and so vulnerable to failures under load? Some of us want to add 6-8 or more coaches and recreate sights of our youth, Bachmann offer a more robust product than Hornby for this, sad to say.

[@donniblanco5239]

Crikey it’s like Micro Surgery 🥴 If I needed Another reason why I’ll never go DCC, that was it 😁 On the Edge of my Seat there 😥

[@EngelsNederfiele]

Some poor underpaid person somewhere thousands of miles away is still having nightmares after probably having to put together whole production runs of those models, we have to hope it won't give you nightmares too!

[@iainmacleod3648]

Why use five screws….that’s just nuts… 😂 11.02

[@chrissouthgate4554]

Known issue = Design flaw?