I have been surfing using Wayback machine and found some of the old Hornby forum here. Maybe there's much more.

https://web.archive.org/web/20060323195346/http://www.hornby.com/pages/livestm_tpc.aspx?topics_currentPage=0&fid=5

What is fascinating is the range of problems that people were reporting but often with no real knowledge about what to do other than "send it back to Hornby"

Some of the advice given at the time is laughable eg

Melting sleepers admin@hornby ( 30/08/2005 16:44:00 )

Since the launch of Live Steam two years ago, Hornby staff have regularly demonstrated Live Steam at a number of roadshows. During this time, there has not been a problem with melting sleepers due to hot oil.

It seems that hot oil is spilling onto the track because the loco has been overfilled. Once the oil gets hot, it turns very runny and, if overfilled, will drop onto the surface below.

Try only filling your loco with oil every six to eight runs; also, do not fill the loco with oil until it overflows from the steam chest, but only put in 2ml each time, for example. These simple remedies should stop the spillage.

==== ends ===

Today we know exactly why sleepers melted. If only we could take our hindsight back 12 years

And all the old names popping up; TerryrB, Christpatch, John Webb etc,; where are they all now?