Healthy Living Books Toys

Rating: - Great train set, but.......
Have just set up this set for my sons Christmas gift. As I dont have any background in model trains I went about following the instructions to the letter. So far so good. My son then wanted to spend his Christmas money on some of the track extension packs, so to cut a long story shart he decided to buy the pack containing the 'level crossing'. This is where the problem started. When the track is laid out, as Hornby recomends on the track mat and the train approached the level crossing from the curve (not the points) the train hits the posts on the level crossing. To make matters worse when you have the full track - as described on the box - and if you were to have stationery rolling stock on the outer curves, the 'drive' train (on the inner track) will hit the stock! This I feel could have been avoided by allowing a greater gap in the distance between the track. So in conclusion, as far as the train goes, it's a work of art - fantastic to watch. With the track layout, be carefull, I have solved the problem by buying more track and increasing the gap between the tracks, though the level crossing will take a little more effort and discussion with my 7yo son.

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Rating: - Great when it's working. Hopefully you won't have my experiance!
My six year old is totally smitten, but I'm the one who had to 'modify' the broken train and fix all the derailments!

In my particular case I think the package had had a bumpy ride; the internal weight in the motorised engine car was lose and the dummy engine car's lights have only worked occasionally. I don't know if this points to damage to the DCC chip in the engine but if the motorised engine is pointing clockwise then it inists on going at full speed and ignores all instruction from the controller. The only clue in the manual is about the UK convention of engines facing left(!?!??!!).

Carefully taping a 5p coin to the centre-most bogie on each engine car, plus a couple taped to the internal weight stopped the centre-most bogies derailing under normal circumstances.

I accept that Hornby trains are fiddly to mount on the track and that running of carpet is not ideal (better to tack the track to hardboard). However, judging this as a childs Toy rather an adult's model it's a bit too painful.

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Rating: - Nice set
I've given this train set 4 stars simply because it could have done with some extra straights of track. The model itself is a cracker and the DCC controller is a good introduction to the new DCC system. It would be a good idea to invest in some Peco track and turnouts and fix it to a decent sized board that can be stored away. The track supplied with the set when joined up is too small for such a train when trying to negotiate the curves. The train looks a bit cumbersome and oversized on the layout. However my 10 year old nephew for whom I bought it for is over the moon with it. Maybe I'm a bit too fussy :o)

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Rating: - Good stuff
This is a good starter set for anyone looking to get in to Railway modelling or convert to DCC models.

I bought this after an absence of 16 years in Model railways and loved it, the Pendolinos tilt mechanisms good, and you can really see it on 2nd and 3rd radius curves.

I'd also recommend you buy the track extension packs that go along with it if you don't plan to model your own track.

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Rating: - Hornby pendolino
I was sceptical at first but was pleasantly suprised, the detail is excellent as is the actual movement of the train as it swings round the corners at high speed, i bought this set as an addition to an already large collection of trains but just renumbered the dcc chip in the train instead of having to fit one, the dcc chip is the thing that allows you to run more than 1 train on the same track and control the lights etc. I remember when it was 1 track, 1 train but not anymore, I have had steam engines, diesel engines and electric engines all running at once! Fantastic, buy one, you wont be dissapointed