TL45 Mallet

pghewett

pghewett

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I thought folk might like the attached picture of the TL45 Mallet and two Harz coaches undergoing trials last weekend.  Loco and stock ran well - and could even be run with loco propelling at full speed through an  R3  reverse crossover.  A couple of niggles, tho`:  the power skates are poorly mounted and come off at any gap between rails of more than c2 mm - we haven`t tried running without the skates yet, although are getting tired of playing `hunt the spring` whenever a skate comes off*; and the two coaches, although both billed as Harz Red are slightly different shades (although equally clearly, aren`t the bright LGB Red, to be avoided).

Graham

*The skates can`t be replaced with LGB ones, which have a longer mounting shaft.  Any good ideas?
 

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Graham - the skates - may be a design problem from what I recall - there's actually nothing to keep the spring in place - Mr Duffy (of this parish) has had the same problem and can elucidate further
 
Nice, Graham! Any chance you could post a good closeup of the skate design--then maybe we could do some brainstorming and come up with a solution for you.

Keith
 
Oh - my TL45 Mallett has had loads of running and has not lost a Skate yet.

I did bang on about them catching on LGB and other Track and on mine I have removed them and bent the ends up a bit before returning them as I previously mentioned. I think this was in the original review thread about these superb beasts.

Do I need to find and link that post?
JonD
 
mine has two differnt motor blocks, so being rebuilt correctly, the plastic lug to hold the skjates in is next to useless. a small modifcatiob is being carried out by Paul,at P+S hobbies(the surpplyer) foc..the two motor blocks run at differnt speeds due to the motor blocks being differnt, so new gears.wheel set hhave been sent from trainline.. :o..but otherwise, its perfet.. ???
 
Can you elaborate on that at all, Mike? Are you saying that your two motor blocks actually have different gear ratios in them....?? :o

Mine (black 5901 like JonD's) did exhibit some slight differences when brand new, when up on test rollers it was clear that one motor block started to turn before the other on speed step 1 - but it was never apparent on the track, and since the loco has been well run-in the problem has definitely lessened.
I've also not (so far) had any problems with skates coming off - though I might actually be tempted to remove them anyway, has anyone tried running one of these without skates? I would have thought that with four wheels picking up either side, it SHOULD be OK with just the wheel pickups provided they are good enough.

Does yours have the Massoth or the Zimo decoder, Mike?
I thought that all the green 5902s were being delivered with Zimo chips, but Modell-Land seem to be offering both options with a 50 Euro premium for the Zimo version.

Jon.
 
i can ionly tell you what the surplyer told me.. i was concerend about excessive wear on the nylon gears, whislt repeatedly fitting the skates.. i sent it back for paul to sort out, under warnenty.. acording to him, hes had emai9ls from the manufacture statting they havent had thjis problem before, loseing skates/spring.. they comented that the blocks seem to be diifernt batches.. its been fitted with a massoth xls, a pulss smoke unitand a flickering fireboxs, all massoth,by paul.. it was origanlly anolog..
 
JonD - Thank you for the thought about bending the shoes upwards slightly. I'll try that when the weather breaks (....) . Running without the shoes was my fallback option. [I couldn't help noticing that the shoe problem occurred on TL45 points as much as LGB ones...]

Hadn't noticed the blocks turning at different speed - after running in, seemed very smooth on plain track. Mine was a DCC version supplied by GRSUK and was as factory fitted - since I run it on analogue, may be that is the explanation for the motor blocks behaving properly.

[member=1981]Keith RhB[/member] - I will try and take some photos but the problem seems to arise from a lack of a secure mounting in the slot that carries the shoe - virtually impossible to photo its interior usefully as it's only about 2mm wide.
 
Greahem, just remember it is easier to do it with the Skates taken off the Loco and in a Vice. Not difficult to get them off, just be careful with the Springs and put them in a Container so the you do not loose them. Same for the Screws from the Chassis.

Hope I am not telling you how to suck eggs!
JonD
 
pghewett said:
virtually impossible to photo its interior usefully as it's only about 2mm wide.
Click to expand...
Use the macro function if your camera has one (most modern ones do) :D
 
@JonD - The Springs - yes, we played "Hunt the spring" several times, sifting through many metres of loose ballast sometimes. ... Any tinkering will take place in an ebola-style containment facility! BTW does anyone know of a good source of small springs (sometimes use ex-biro ones for pans and the like, but the shoe springs are a bit beefier)?
 
They should be available as an LGB Spare Part, try Glendale or GRS. They will be pretty much the same as the TL ones.
JonD
 
Having read various problems with this loco i was hesitant to jump in - after all its not cheap.
I looked through loads of adverts and asked a few questions. Model-land (Germany) were excellent. They answered all my enquiries (in English) and various owners offered loads of good information.
i jumped.
Model-land said they were doing a special, they added, `in house` a Massoth XLS sound decoder and a pulsed smoke unit with wheel sensor. All for well under what some UK sellers wanted for the basic model.
So here it is - along with my thoughts on the improvement that have been made.
DSC05801 (Small).JPG
 
It looks as though the skate retainers have been beefed up somewhat.
Also, the base plate now has 4 screws to keep the gears meshed correctly.

DSC05802 (Small).JPG
 
a wealth of detail on the cab side, better than the focus of my camera!
DSC05807 (Small).JPG
 
the motion is very good. it looks finer than LGB or Piko and is less glossy. My carp pictures dont do it justice.
DSC05809 (Small).JPG
 
So, I am pretty happy with it. well, yes, but I have not run it outside on the main track yet!
Its not to the quality we associate with LGB or similar, one of the tank side steps and the bell were loose in the box, presumably they fell off. I will use a bit of glue, but that said its a very nice looking loco and as I saw the original back in the summer it sort of was a `must have`.
DSC05806 (Small).JPG
 
The coupling detail is no where near the standard of current LGB production however.
 
Well perhaps some are not impressed with these babies. But mine continues to give good service and has had some additional detailing done as I have described elsewhere. There is more to do and some serious weathering must be applied. Not grot and rust as if it has just come out of Barry, no just subtle dirt and oil stains as would be seen on a working Locomotive. I am currently saving up for a Green one to go with my Black one this will also be weathered. That and the LGB 6001 will represent my experiences in the Harz back in Feb 1981. The bad old days of DR which i so fondly remember and am attempting to replicate on my line. So you see Train Line have been the answer to a prayer. And if I have to do a little fettling to get them right, no matter what the cost so be it.

The hours that I would have spent to Scratch Build 2 of these does not bear thinking about. And yes I could have scratch built them if I had needed to.
JonD
 
This link from Sinsheim 2014 clearly shows a TL 45 HSB Mallett on a rolling road with the forward motor block certainly faster than the aft block. 23.54 minutes in from the start.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pd2ev6_Xas
 
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