Traction tyres Hornby

[trainmania100]

Hi
Once again I find myself replacing a bunch of traction tyres on old Hornby Hst (ring field motor). Over time, oil from lubrication seeps from the gears on to either track and into the tyres or directly onto the tyres themselves.

Making slip and lack of traction.

Come to think of it the tyres in removing aren't exactly wet or oily nor are the wheels themselves, but the rubber is no longer adhering to the metal.

Another £6 spent on tyres, is there any way to restore these back to their usable state? Or is it single use thing? I'm not familiar but the tyres itself looks ok just needs shrinking so it is more tighter

I've tried soaking in silicone lubricant for a few minutes, and also heating them up on the stove.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I'd be replacing the driving wheels with non-tyred ones, and adding a few extra weights if necessary. Unless you've got some comically unrealistic gradients or one of those fancy spiral helix things, the tyres aren't really necessary.

 

[trainmania100]

I'd be replacing the driving wheels with non-tyred ones, and adding a few extra weights if necessary. Unless you've got some comically unrealistic gradients or one of those fancy spiral helix things, the tyres aren't really necessary.

Trouble is I've replaced the ring field with the CD drive motor from eBay so the wheels slip real bad with loads 4+. As it's a very fast motor. Can't get any traction at all on one of my power cars the wheels slip too bad.

You recon adding more weight to the driver power car should overcome this?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Trouble is I've replaced the ring field with the CD drive motor from eBay so the wheels slip real bad with loads 4+. As it's a very fast motor. Can't get any traction at all on one of my power cars the wheels slip too bad.

You recon adding more weight to the driver power car should overcome this?

Adding weight should definitely help, as long as the extra weight is carried by the driving wheels (which if memory serves is the rear/non-cab end bogie on the Hornby power cars of that era). Removing the traction tyres will also improve power pick-up, assuming those wheels are fitted with pick-ups.

 

[trainmania100]

Adding weight should definitely help, as long as the extra weight is carried by the driving wheels (which if memory serves is the rear bogie on the Hornby power cars of that era). Removing the traction tyres will also improve power pick-up, assuming those wheels are fitted with pick-ups.

Weight is distributed by the middle of the power car there's already a weight fitted but I guess doubling it with some lead will help

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Weight is distributed by the middle of the power car there's already a weight fitted but I guess doubling it with some lead will help

Presumably your replacement motor is a fair bit lighter than the original ringfield one? So the loco will already be a bit lighter on its feet than it was originally. Over the years I've had a variety of HSTs from both Hornby and Lima, and the designs of both did change over the years. I'm guessing that the example you have is one with a big metal block between the bogies? Adding additional weight to that should increase traction regardless of whether you remove the rubber tyres. I have a "no rubber tyres" policy myself but your mileage may vary!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Jun 2025 ==

Another thought that's occured to me thanks to your post in the Latest Acquisitions thread, I'm guessing you run on DC as you're using older power cars, one solution to the lack of pulling power is to use two motored power cars rather than having a dummy. As long as they're both pretty close in terms of speed profile of course!