New Hornby Grange DCC install

On the install bench last night a New Hornby Grange with a note on believing info that the manufacturer supplies with the model.

Just a little info on the new Hornby Grange with a don’t believe what you see on the instruction sheet.
For DCC decoder fitting don’t open the loco to fit the decoder it is fitted in the tender.

When opening the box you will find a paper diagram on how to open the loco up with a diagram that show the location of the screws etc

It also show a 8 pin plug inside the loco on the chassis however this is not the case
The 8 pin plug is actually in the tender.
Also seems to show a tender of the type from the previous grange version the sheet could just be from the old model reprinted.
There is no mention of actual decoder install or the location just a drawing showing a 8 pin plug mounted on the loco chassis forward of the motor as per the previously released Grange that had the issues with Zink pest and the chassis crumbling apart and turning to dust.
There are no info at all on the tender that is supplied with the model the one picture is of a different type and only show how to remove the coal load.

To open up the tender you will need to remove 2 screws located between the second and last axles these were found to have had some sort of glue on them and took some force to crack the bond.
Now you also have to be careful as there front handrails on the tender extend from the body into the chassis located in a very small hole and both were also found to have been glued and required some careful work with a fine tipped poker to tap the protruding tip from under the chassis to brake the glue bond
The tender top now comes away easily and a TCS DP2X-UK decoder can be installed into the plug and in this loco the marked Number 1 pin was actually correct (something quite random with Hornby modlels)

Care in refitting the body is required to locate the hand rails correctly so as to get the body to sit correctly on the chassis.

On test running the locos is very smooth without any decoder tuning
The only issue noted was the Center wheel/Axle of the tender is lower than the outer axles alignment, all the tender weight is therefore on it, so the tender rocks Slightly on the centre wheel set something that may cause issues if doing a lot of tender first running

 

Your spot on Keith
The Hornby QC seems lacking an a disturbing level with a disregard for their customers a lot of people had apparently emailed Hornby customer service re the instructions being for the previous Model, with not even a courtesy reply.
Wouldn’t be hard to whip up a PDF for the current tender and chassis arrangements.

On another forum a Modeller is having to send for a third replacement Grange due to poor quality assembly his second one the loco body looked like a Bannana.

I had also noted the cylinders of this model run down to the rear so there is no alignment of the piston rod with the Center of driving axle.

The redeeming factor of this particular model is how smooth it runs straight from the box.

 

Hi Sol it’s been posted on RMweb and I’ve been informed by several people now that they have emailed Hornby with the result, “no reply”.

The owner of this model above has advised, instructions have now been compared to the old models one and they are not exactly the same so what was going on in the Hornby department responsible for these was it a guess or was some production change made and the paperwork not changed to the same ???
After the very poor situation with the last Grange Models falling apart whilst you were running them due to Zinc pest you would think Hornby would have gone all out to make sure the model was all tip top in all areas.
Hornby