Hornby X04 motor

"Sailor" wrote

Not from Tri-ang or Hornby, but didn't Romford produce a 5-pole version known as the 'Bulldog'?

John.

and an ECM with a plastic bit on the back to make it fit

I bought a 5 pole x03/4 lookalike motor in a bag labelled Mashima from a reasonably honest trader - but where it came from and who identified it ? Also bought an almost complete Nu-Cast B1 kit loco which has a decidely X04 lookalike but is 5 pole. Theyre totally different the B1 motor has almost identical housing to X04 and narrow bits between wiring (yes v technical) and looks very old. The 'mashima' one is smaller neater and has wider bits. However it is physically much smaller so perhaps X03 ?

Would be interested to know what these are if you find any info.

Iain Rice mentions in his book on chassis construction that the Romford Bulldog is 5 pole as John said. He also mentions the MW005 as 5 pole equiv to X04.

Cheers, Simon

Most of the Romfords were 7 pole. MW005 and Airfix (1001?) were 5 pole. The armature was available seperately for fitting to Tri-ang and Hornby motors. I probably still have one or two somewhere. There was also a 5 pole armature for Tri-ang motor bogies.

Regards, Greg.P.

So who manufactured and or distributed the MW005 ?

Cheers, Simon

As they came out in two different packages in spite of being the same product (Airfix + MW) I'd guess that MW made them and sold them to Airfix. It seems unlikely that Airfix would make them and sell (some of) them to a smaller firm to market in opposition to Airfix. The "Slimline" or "1002" motor was intended for slot-cars but used the same armature as those intended to replace the Tri-ang/Hornby armatures. For a long time they were my motor of preference for loco building until I discovered Sagamis and Machimas. Even now they are more than adequate, although Tri-ang/Hornby locos fitted with them could do with a better gear ratio.

There were actually three alternatives that were a direct slot-in replacement.

The Romford Bulldog,

One from ECM(?) that used a Buhler motor in a frame that fitted the Triang chassis,

The Airfix 5-pole.

Whether you could get any of these today I have no idea - we're talking about maybe 30 years ago.

Thanks men --- it looks as if time has stood still since 1976 -- all these things were very familiar then. I looks as if a X04 will have to do.

Sad really -- I bought a pretty little M7 on eBay which was immaculate & as new, MIB, virgin and never run. So I replaced the pickup arms and mounting plate, re wheeled the pony truck and ran it - twice! Now it has an open circuit commutator connection and the carbon stripped off of a brush carrier!

As Sam Vella, our Maltese Chef said of an egg, newly boiled, which had a runny white and a solid yolk , " The eggs are too fresh". - We had not revictualled for about 8 weeks!

Regards

"simon" wrote

The X03 & X04 motors were identical in terms of overall dimensions, but one had a brass worm (X03?) and the other a nylon gear. Both were 3-pole.

John.

In message , John Turner writes

According to the "Tri-ang Railways - the first ten years" book, the mark III motor was introduced in 1953 and the mark IV (the XO4) in 1955.

The book also contains a copy of "Servicing Sheet No. 1" giving the spare part numbers of each component of the XO4.

No information is given about the differences between the two.

Not sure that time has stood still, the current versions of Hornby locos are vastly better than those of 20-50 years ago. Are you expecting more modern motors to be made to fit those older models? That ain't going to happen.

Sounds like it overheated at some stage in its career - no oil? Probably better getting a 2nd hand model from a swap meet, with a poor body, but good mech.

Kevin Martin

Hi All ,

I've been following the thread on the motors with interest and have actually gained quite a lot of info that I hadn't known about. Thanks for that.

Other than the motors , the piece that also picked up my eyes was the Q about Modelspares re-opening . I've been waiting as well for the new chap to `start up' Modelspares again from where Barrie left off. I've been visiting the

site on a twice-weekly basis but still get the typical `page not found' .... we shall continue on.

If anyone gets a heads up on the re-opening then could they post an obvious message to this newsgroup please.

Thanks.

Dave.

I understood from other groups and discussions that a 5 pole version existed. It seemed logical that this would be the X05 and indeed it was BUT it was not a replacement . It proved to be a continuation for the Single wheel models. The X04 has survived 50 years and it would have been logical to have expected an upgrade as there are literally thousands of this old timers about - most of which appear to be runners! I dropped out of the hobby for a good while and then had to build my house so the last few years have made a change. I still like to provoke some of my oldies into action - I may one day obtain a 2 rail version of my 1949 Duchess of Atholl!

The last time I spoke to Barry he reckoned that business might start in July but probably August but he has gone very quiet. I believe he has made some firm commitment to keep his head down until the other guy gets moving.

Regards

The singles used the XT60, which was the best of Triang's excellent motors. I think the TT models also used it.

It had a lower profile, the upper piece that held the brushes continued forward beyond the worm to support a thrust bearing. The lover piece terminated pole piece.

The result was that it could be squeezed where the lower part of the frame got in the way, but the added thrust bearing made it a remarkably good motor.

Yes , that is the one I referred to. In the data I found it stated X05/ X60 but I have never actually seen one, the photo was pretty good though.

Regards

Thanks - overall dimension of this 'mashima' are about the same as an X04 so that would make it an almost drop in replacement.

Cheers, Simon

Thanks, getting more interesting, so who is (was) MW. ? Donnt want to google MW unless have to ?

Anyway to differentiate between the 5 pole X04 lookalikes ?

Cheers, Simon

Suprising if there isnt a mashima that cant replace the X04. Try Branchlines. No doubt Andrew Mullins would have told you straight away what to do. If the new owner doesnt know then hopefully he can find out for you.

Cheers, Simon