Hornby Life Steam

C

coerni

Member
Hi everyone,

I'm thinking about buying a Hornby life steam modell and I wonder, if anyone has some experiences with this vehicles. I havn't found very much information in the web so far.

In germany this packages are unbelievable expensive, but if you buy them directly from the UK, they are quite affordable.

sincerly Karsten "Coerni" Cornelsen
 
hi,

I'm more interested in realistic views of the product. Catalogues usualy are a bit single sided... ;-).

Perhaps someone is running one of the locos... .
 
a friend purchased a few and they break easily !

By break I really mean that they wear out and simply stop working. I must add that he used his on a fairly regular basis and I'm pretty sure that they're only intended for 'once in a blue moon' use. Each of his models would no longer work after about six months of use. They'd more than likely work for years if only given, say a 10 minute run once every six months or so but where's the fun in that !

His were some of the first models released so the reliability may have been improved by now but it's an expensive lesson to learn if it isn't.

It also took him a long time to learn how to control the engine. There's a video where the engine reverses and couples to some passenger stock and then sounds the whistle before driving off - my friend was never able to do this as he kept crashing into the consist. You really need to be a 'predictive' driver and plan your accelleration and breaking way in advance to get the thing to perform anywhere near prototypically.

Steve.
 
if they stop working so soon you should try to contact hornby, they are always happy to help. as well as being expensive to buy they are also expensive to run as you need to buy special oil and water. also, they run on a different voltage to normal hornby trains, and so they need their own dedicated track (although it is possible to wire it up so you can switch between live steam and normal locos). the hornby catalogue is a bit one sided but it does give a good description of how they work and how to use them, it also has a nice cutaway drawing (although the catalogue is quite expensive itself!)
 
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