Pete in Lincs Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 I picked up a Hornby Battery train set from the car boot sale today. Twenty quid sounded good at the time. Large blue diesel, five wagons, rails and a controller. It's decades since I've done railway stuff! This is for the Grandkids. Honest guv. Got it home, to find that the controller has no insides! I have another on order from the bay. My question is, what voltage does this engine work to? Can it be run as is, on ordinary mains type HO rail? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonhoff Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 Hi Pete, 12v DC KR's IanJ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted October 2, 2022 Author Share Posted October 2, 2022 Many thanks for the quick answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonhoff Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 Hi Pete - Starting to wonder about my answer now... Is there a catalogue number on the box? Usually Rxxxx. Is there a box? Might be able to get a proper answer then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted October 2, 2022 Author Share Posted October 2, 2022 5 minutes ago, Bonhoff said: Is there a catalogue number on the box? I just did a google search. I found a picture from Dave Angell trains. What I have is in foam packaging with a plain brown cardboard sleeve box. I thought that was odd. The Dave Angell article says that these were supplied for catalogue sales in the mid seventies. One 'seller' was John Players. You saved up cigarette tokens to buy stuff. He sold one that had a Players postage sticker on it. It sold for 115 pounds! Extremely rare with such provenance. My set must be just a catalogue sale but it could be a bargain. I'll contact Mr Angell to see what he says. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psdavidson Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 Just had a look. That Hymek is definitiely 12v, so any standard UK mains controller will be fine Also, those battery controllers were also apparently 12v 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psdavidson Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 oh, and twenty quid was well worth the purchase, even without a working controller 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted October 10, 2022 Author Share Posted October 10, 2022 @Bonhoff & @psdavidson My replacement controller finally arrived. But it also has nothing inside where I thought batteries might go. There must be a separate box for batteries and some means of connecting the two? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Pete This is the type of controller I have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Circloy Posted October 10, 2022 Share Posted October 10, 2022 What connections are on the rear. I seem to recall some were designed for large 9/12 V batteries as used in amber road-work flashers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratch Posted October 10, 2022 Share Posted October 10, 2022 Get yourself (I mean the grandkids) an H&M mains controller, much better than those battery things 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonhoff Posted October 11, 2022 Share Posted October 11, 2022 Hi @Pete in Lincs, Probably need a few more photo's to work out what might fit as I'm not overly familiar with those battery controllers - As Ratch points out, a second hand H&M (Hannant and Morgan) controller off an auction site might be a better idea, just make sure it's one for 12v DC rather than a digital one and you're good to go. We've got ones that are still going after 40+ years, had to press one into service at an exhibition a couple of months back, after the modern hand held ones that were usually used decided to go on strike and refused to work. KR's IanJ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted October 11, 2022 Author Share Posted October 11, 2022 20 hours ago, Circloy said: What connections are on the rear. That's the weird thing. There don't seem to be any connections. There's the controller as seen above. Open it up and there are thin brass pathways to the dial and wires. I assume the wires must plug into a battery box. I've spoken to a railway shop bloke who says he'll have a look to see if he can find one. I know the mains controller is the way to go, but I just wanted to get the set complete. i thought it would be easy. Ha! Many thanks for the help, guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psdavidson Posted October 11, 2022 Share Posted October 11, 2022 I think the wires are for connecting to the track. It looks like the batteries should make direct contact whith the circuit board, just not sure how that works. I found a 10 year old thread on a railway forum which suggetsed they operated on 4.5v flat batteries, but that may be a different controller The controller istelf looks like a basic rotary switch rather than any type of resistor so 2 speeds in each direction 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted October 11, 2022 Author Share Posted October 11, 2022 10 minutes ago, psdavidson said: It looks like the batteries should make direct contact with the circuit board, just not sure how that works. I found a 10 year old thread on a railway forum which suggested they operated on 4.5v flat batteries, but that may be a different controller That makes more sense than a separate battery box. I doubt the 'flat' batteries are available nowadays then. I've never seen anything like that. The wires have round connectors on the end which would, I think, plug into a track connector. So now I have an idea what I need, I'll see about getting it all going. Cheers Chaps, you've been a great help. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonhoff Posted October 13, 2022 Share Posted October 13, 2022 For completeness - Been round my dad's tonight as we're getting a layout ready for this weekend's Wirksworth Model Railway Show and found one of these here controllers, I quickly took it apart and... Looking closer at the board, it would appear that there was some sort of unknown power clip attached to it, judging by these marks. This one has been modified so someone could connect wires remotely to a battery rather than use the clip. KR's IanJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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