The best running qualities make a model railway more enjoyable to operate. TREVOR JONES turns his attention to getting the best from locomotives.
Above: Reliable locomotives make a model railway a pleasure to own and operate, particularly outdoors as with Trevor Jones’ ‘OO’ gauge garden railway. At Flackwell Heath station a Gresley ‘A4’ 4-6-2 heads the ‘West Riding Limited’ while an ‘N2' 0-6-2T has charge of a suburban train and the unique ‘U1’ 2-8-2+2-8-2 waits in the engine shed headshunt.
THERE is nothing better than a reliable running locomotive which takes every journey in its stride. We all enjoy operating our model railways and as a group the Hornby Magazine team are serial layout builders and operators.Over the years we have amassed techniques and tips which allow us to extract the best from ready-to-run models of any age and origin to ensure they run reliably at every session, and that is what we are sharing with you here.
This guide covers both brand new and existing locomotives going through the process from initial running in to routine maintenance and the typical faults which present themselves over time with a well used model locomotive. Nearly everything is a simple fix which will take a few minutes on a workben…
