Hornby Railroad P2

[Danby Wiske]

Easiest is wartime black though

Or 'undercoat' as it's known to the popular press...

[mistahjim]

The Railroad P2 chassis is a good chassis, I feel. I'm not 100% sold on the lack of brass bearings either but I can say for definite that it is much better engineered than Duke of Gloucester - we LNER fans got lucky I feel with our releases...

I've certainly found it to be a superior chassis to a number of others I have. A combination of slight gradient and 3rd radius curves caused all manner of slipping for both Tornado and Scotsman with 8 Hornby 61' Gresleys. The less said about the issues it caused some of my 4-coupled locos the better but the P2 had no such problems.

That said the smoothest and most powerful loco I tried was the old split frame V2, but that might be a combination of mass and having had more running and so being pretty much prime condition in terms of being run in.

[S.A.C. Martin]

The Railroad P2 chassis is a good chassis, I feel. I'm not 100% sold on the lack of brass bearings either but I can say for definite that it is much better engineered than Duke of Gloucester - we LNER fans got lucky I feel with our releases...

I've certainly found it to be a superior chassis to a number of others I have. A combination of slight gradient and 3rd radius curves caused all manner of slipping for both Tornado and Scotsman with 8 Hornby 61' Gresleys. The less said about the issues it caused some of my 4-coupled locos the better but the P2 had no such problems.

I think the age old advantage of eight versus six wheeled traction is probably why the P2 is superior, together with the very heavy die cast chassis: DoG by comparison is a lesson in what not to do when designing an RTR locomotive.

That said the smoothest and most powerful loco I tried was the old split frame V2, but that might be a combination of mass and having had more running and so being pretty much prime condition in terms of being run in.

Every V2 of the split chassis design I owned was a terrible runner out and out. I never got a good one! Bachmann's new chassis is, however, excellent.

[mistahjim]

Every V2 of the split chassis design I owned was a terrible runner out and out. I never got a good one! Bachmann's new chassis is, however, excellent.

Doesn't say much for QC at Barwell, or did I just get lucky? 2003 I think I bought it.

The Hornby Claud is delightfully smooth, as is the Black Motor (not mine, I ran my Dads in for him) so the current designers are doing a good job. Fingers crossed for the B12

[Hatfield Shed]

The split chassis V2 mech was pretty rough. Even if you lucked into one that ran well initially, it didn't last nearly as well as a quiet and smooth runner as the A4 or B1. It would keep graunching on sounding like a coffee grinder, until the gear splitting axle muff disintegrating tyre plating wear out finally put it beyond repair. (Until the new mech came along I was adapting Bach Std 5 motor units to keep mine operational.)

[Atlantic 3279]

My split chassis V2 bought in the nineties is still running very nicely.

Luck of the draw, or appropriate care?

[Hatfield Shed]

No amount of care prevents the plating wearing through to the mazak on the driver tyres. I am an operator above all else, and two or more hours operation every day I am home soon finds out the weaker constructional techniques.

[drmditch]

My Railroad P2 has just arrived. I haven't got a full layout yet to test it properly, but it seems to run nicely straight out of the box.
It navigates 24" radius curves and short PECO insulfrog points with no problem. There does not seem to be any hesitancy in starting, although I can't test it yet for load hauling.
It will obviously need work doing, as well as the intended conversion to P2/2. It will have to considerably upgraded, or all my other engines will laugh at it. The tender drawbar will need modification. The short setting gives problems on the said 24" radius curves, and the longer setting would give the fireman a major safety hazard!

I note Hatfield Shed's comment on the wheels, but that will not be an immediate problem. It will be an occasional visitor to my railway, having been sent south from Haymarket to Newcastle under cover of darkness, and then further appropriated for a heavy train to Durham!

Does the coal load slip out, or is it moulded together with the side plating?

It'd better go back in it's box for now while I carry on with the sawdust-making activities required to build my new railway.

In relation to the original V2 chassis, one of my engines has got through two, and the other one is still fine.

[S.A.C. Martin]

My split chassis V2 bought in the nineties is still running very nicely.

Luck of the draw, or appropriate care?

All of mine were second hand so it's a fair point. And to be fair, when I was younger 60903 was run absolutely ragged over many years.

[manna]

G'day Gents

I have both of the engines under review here, the V2 I have had since the mid 90's is a good runner, although it sounds like a Deltic, it doesn't get a lot of wear, may a couple of minutes a month if it's lucky, When did you last see a V2 at Edgware ??

The P2 is a good model, quite, very powerful, I've had 15 coaches behind it, which is half way round my layout, no other loco come's near it for raw power, bit like the real thing, I suppose, can't wait for the 'New build' to take to the tracks.

manna

[Hatfield Shed]

I am just hoping that the P2 makes it to operational condition, before wayward steam operators on the network lead to a blanket ban.

[Atlantic 3279]

Maybe weeding out certain figures with no regard for the regulations would help to prolong steam's ticket on the mainline?

[S.A.C. Martin]

If anyone is about at Erith Model Railway Club tonight I will be running in my P2 on my train of teaks. Having done my first soldering repair on the valve gear I am hoping all goes well!

[DonnyRailMan]

Sorry if this is question is answered elsewhere, but a haven't found it in search.

I have seen a Railroad P2 available locally for under £100, and was considering purchasing one for a future conversion into one of the Walschaerts/Gresley geared bugatti-nosed engines.

Is the Railroad mechanism a good option?

(I'm not sure if I've seen references to inadequate driving wheel bearings somewhere.)

Should you need to change the 3 pole motor ,mine would not pull the skin off a rice pudding but now she flies
with 5 pole motor. Links below .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdBYbiO ... 7&index=87
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSmFUx9 ... 7&index=86

[Mersey508138]

Hi Guys

Long time no speak, hope you are all well.

I have a few questions that I need help with.

1) I bought a P2 chassis last week for 1 of my locos in an attempt to make it look and perform better than it was but what I am looking to do is convert the valve gear to walschaerts valve gear and do away with the caprotti gear, does anybody know of suitable hornby valve gear that could be fitted, I had thought of using fowler 2-6-4 valve gear but after doing research last night I found the fowler tank and P2 locos had both different size driving wheels and different length cylinder connecting rods ?

2) If there is no suitable hornby gear available would Bachmann V2 Valve gear for the new updated V2 be better to use on the P2 chassis?

And finally

3) A 3 part question here.

1st : Is it possible to make the rear truck on the P2 pivot instead of being fixed in place ?

2nd : Is it possible to modify the rear P2 truck to have correct sized flanged wheels in place of the unflanged wheels to keep the loco running straight as it looks like a dogs hind leg irrespective of which direction the loco is running ?

3rd : What are the correct sized wheels that can be used on the rear P2 truck ?

My apologies for all the questions but I asked about thison RMWeb and I was advised to ask on here instead.

The reason for parts 2 & 3 of question 3 is because I like my locos to be fitted with flanged rear under cab wheels but the problem is that no matter which wheels I have tried they either do not make contact with the rails or a set will be in contact with the rails and cause a short on the underside of the cab area where the tv interference capacitor sits.

Please help me to sort this out so I can get the loco running as it should be.