Hi Everyone,
After reading the postings on this forum about the Lionel Hogwarts Express I decided to add my two cents worth regarding this fine train set. First let me start by saying that this is a fine product and anyone who is interested in purchasing one should not feel reluctant to do so. As long as you observe the minimum radius requirements you should have no problems with this equipment.
Having said that I do have some observations about this equipment and a couple sugestions for fine-tunning your Hogwarts Express to make it run even better.
For starters, the layout I run my Hogwarts Express on is compossed of MTH Real-Tracks with O42 minimum curves, 45 and 90 degree crossings (diamonds), and several switches. With the exception of one part of my layout the train tracks very smoothly. As for that one exception, the locomotive's lead driving wheel wants to pick the switch points of an O54 switch as it comes out of an O54 curve. I Currently manage this rough spot by I simply slowing my train down when traversing this location, the transition from the curve to the switch is still rough but the locomotive does not derail. A more permanent solution would be to file down the stock rail on my turnout so that the flange of the lead drive wheel does not snag on the switch point.
On a related note as far as track is concerned, I noticed that on my layout my Hogwarts locomotive had a tendency to stall on certain locations on my layout, one location in particular was a spot where the train must negotiate a 45 degree crossing followed by an O42 swich. I solved this problem by soldering a 2-pin Micro Connector jumper wire between the tender and the locomotive. This little improvement is easy to acheive by tapping into the electrical power pick up for the air whistle and connect it to the power pick up wires located on the top of the locomotive's frame. Using the 2-Pin Micro Connector wire (made by GRS Mico Liting part number GRS906) enables you to "unplug" the tender from the locomotive when you need to seperate the two. After I made this improvement I had no further problems with electrical pick-up with my Hogwarts Express.
Another thing I discovered about Hogwarts Express is that it's performance is greatly improved by adding proper lubrication to all friction bearing parts. In prarticular the location between the locomotive's pilot truck axles and sheet metal bolster! My HWX locomotive's maiden run around my layout revealed that the friction point between the pilot truck's lead axle and the bolster was so tight that the wheels litterly locked up! This probelem was also easy to fix by applying a small dab of Moly Grease (made by Hob-E-Lub) on the axles between the wheels and the sheet metal bolster. You must use grease on the pilot truck, oil will not do the trick. While we are on the subject be sure to use oil on the other moving parts as instructed in Lionel's instructions.
Finnally, and this is just a pet peave on my part, I noticed that on the tangent (straight) track on my layout, the Hogwarts coaches appeared to be following the locomotive in a cockeyed fashion. Upon further inspection I found the the trucks on the coaches are designed to slide sidways on their bolsters by as much as an eigth of an inch left and right of the center of the car. I have no idea why the cars were designed this way, I have never seen anything like it. While the cars tracked perfectly fine on my entire layout, I found the cockeyed look of the cars as they followed the locomotive somewhat disconcerting. I chose to correct this problem by removing the trucks from the car bodies (using of a Xuron cutting tool to remove the truck mounting rivets) cementing a piece of styrene plastic inside the car bodies over the original truck mounting slot, and drilling a new centered bolster hole in the styrene plastic. To reattach the trucks I used threaded flat head sheet metal screws that I purchased from my local hardware store.
On a final note, and this is an issue I have not solved, I discovered that my Cab-1 controller and TPC will not activate the air whistle in the tender. The air whistle does work with the the train set's powerpack so I suspect there is some sort of compatability problem here. Has anyone else experienced this problem?
Well those are my two cents worth, happy railroading!!!
Srenchin
PS: Has anyone installed TMCC in their Hogwarts express? I would like to hear from anyone who has made the conversion with this rolling stock. SER
"IT's GOOD TO BE THE KING",by Mel Brooks
Charter Member- Tardis Train Crew (TTC) - Detroit3railers- Detroit Historical society Glancy Modular trains- Charter member BTTS
I use the CAB-1 and TPC and have noticed I have to hold down the whistle button down for a longer period of time to trip the unit. It responded much faster with the CW-80. I've also quick tested a TPC sound board I have that was meant for installation in a Pennsy freight engine. It features the single chime "banshee" whistle. It's not quite as sharp as the British ones, but is does sound nice. One problem is I removed the battery leads as the install was originally part of a TMCC command control upgrade. I have to figure out where to reattach the battery leads.
Thanks for the tips on lubrication.
The side way action that you describe on the passenger cars is the same design that has been on the market for several years with the Polar Express. It is more or less a time tested design that works well. Though I have never seen either the PE or the He track side ways when moving under power. I don't doubt that your does I'm just saying it isn't common.
I suspect this design permits the use of smaller curves.
SRen,
Interesting post and a creative solution.
Thus far, I have run my Hogwarts set only on 060 curves. It seems quite happy there, but I'm not sure how it would do on a tighter radius. The connection-rivets between the floor and the trucks that go through the "slots" on my passenger cars were assembled so tightly as to render the slots non-functional -- whatever their function might be. In view of what you've been through, I intend to leave them tight, until and unless I run into a problem that requires them. I agree that a passenger car seemingly headed off in its own direction could be quite disconcerting. It would seem that the slot mechanisms would need to be very loose, so that they would allow the car body to re-allign with the track after exiting a curve, or they couldn't be useful at all. I don't claim to understand it totally.
I also found that the entire assembly of the pilot trucks on the loco was assembled too tightly, but a little white lithium grease, applied very sparingly, cleared this up.
It is actualy a cool design that permits these beginner sets to operate on the typical childrens layout at Christmas time. Lets face most of these sets will see more circles around a tree than a full time layout.
If you operate the sets on 36 curves you will see the cars swing like a well rehearsed dance. One car end will swing out while the other car will swing in permitting a larger passenger car to be fully functional on the 36 curves. They actualy get pretty close to each other during the process. When you view it from above it may look a little strange but then agin we are not talking about a protypical set with these two the PE & HE.
I see no harm in doing a retro to the design if you are running these on larger curves. The again you could always upgrade and buy the top of the line passenegrs cars and have them painted to match the ones in the set.
Sometimes I get the feeling (not from you two) that Lionel should make two version. The He set that I bought for $209 and another set for $2,000 so the finicky people could be satisfied.
Renovo PRR,
I appreciate the exclusion from your generalization.
In my case I would have preferred an even less-elegant more rugged set with fewer detail parts that would run on everything from 0-27 up. No rivet-counter I, "my" set is a gift to my 8-year old grand-daughter and I'm testing the heck out of it to try to ensure against a Christmas morning disappointment. Indeed, I already had to exchange one locomotive and sincerely hope I don't find anything else. My LHS has been great about it.
The HWX train is so lovely, in my opinion, were it mine I'd probably just display it on a shelf; but knowing my grand-kid as I do, I think she'll probably run the wheels off of it.
Running my HWE with a 1033 transformer worked well, but I also could not get the whistle to work. Thinking the whistle tender was DOA, I was about to rip it apart to look for a loose wire. Then I figured I ought to at least try running it with the supplied transformer. Pressing the whistle button fired it up loud and clear! Whew - that was a relief.
I put a few drops of the "Christmas" scented liquid smoke in it and it is ready for Saint Nicholas to deliver it!
Happy Holidays everyone and Happy Training too!
One thing about trains: It doesn't matter where they’re going. What matters is deciding to get on.
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