Technical

Hello,

I live in South Australia, Australia.

I recently purchased a second-hand Hornby Mallard Live Steam loco and I tried to operate it. I think it is circa 2004/2007.

I am writing to determine if these locos are still able to be serviced and/or whether you can give me any information as to what the problem I am encountering may be caused by.

I have contacted Hornby UK about this matter and they have suggested that I contact you with my query as they are unable to assist me. So I have now become a member of your group.

The following is what happened when I first attempted to operate the loco.

I filled the oil reservoir with the correct oil ( I did overfill the oil a little as I did not realise there was already oil in it).

I then half-filled the boiler with distilled water (as I did not want it to run for long)

When I turned on the controller and provided power to the tracks, the super heater was hot and activating but I think there was more a smell of burning oil rather than water boiling although there were a couple of hisses..

Although the loco’s red light did not light up at the start, it did eventually and then the green light came on. I pre-heated the loco for 10 minutes as recommended.

I then undertook the required swiveling of the speed regulator and only the electric motor in the engine turned over and the loco green light went out.

There was no action from any steam components of the loco and a warning high-pitched sound came from the Controller and the red power LED of the controller went out.

Now, when I try to activate the loco by turning on the controller, it heats up for a few minutes, then the high-pitched warning sound from the controller comes back on and the controller red LED goes out.  

Is this something that any of your group who may still be familiar with this live steam loco, can help to diagnose please?

Just need some help with the procedures I should go through to track down the problem.

Kind regards,

John Keipert

(ps Since writing the above I have learnt that the Controller high-pitched warning indicates there is no power to the track but just not sure why that would be so, given that the connections are all in place, unless something has burnt out in the loco!)