That was very interesting Sam, and clearly shows that despite the wonderful detail achieved in today's models, without powerful and reliable motors, then it all a waste of money...Bob

Me: Anything can be a smoke machine if you operate it wrong enough. Sam with that motor: *S t o n k s*

5:57 smoke from the cab windows, you say you sure it broke down? driver and fireman might just be on a overly long smoke break, it'd explain the smell ;)

How to burn down your model railway: 'they had is in the first half, not gonna lie' Good video Sam!

No one: Not a single soul: Sam: *HOW TO BURN DOWN YOUR MODEL RAILWAY*

The 14XX was just trying to go thermonuclear like Godzilla 😂 This was both fun to watch and interesting, keep that railway safe my friend ^^

As somebody who's been inspired to potentially start my own model railway collection some day, your channel definitely is useful for things like what models to avoid and maintaining the ones I do get, given they require a lot more maintenance than I would have initially thought. Excellent work!

Me at the end there: this seems really stupid and dumb Sam: "let's leave the rag there and see it it sets 🔥" Me: oh wow Sam has gone mental

I thought I was going blind because I couldn't see any smoke. But then I realised my brightness was low so I turned it up. Very interesting and handy video Sam thanks

Sam is the only one that can keep me entertained while he fixes a train

Me: *looks at the thumbnail* Also me: NOOO! OLIVERRRR!

Loved the video, thanks for uploading I’ll be careful in future - Ollie

One of my Bachmann 2-8-0s was running and it stopped on a curve and I saw smoke coming from underneath the drivers and turned it off right away luckily I was able to replace the motor and get it working again but then a week later the side rods got messed up while it was running and I’m not sure how to fix it so I was thinking about sending it over to see if you could fix it. Great video by the way. Thanks, Rails Of The East Coast

Great video Sam I have had a couple of motors break on me

Great video Sam 👍 I like the investigation into why it happened And of course the fact you’re not frightened to have ago Or try things out Keep it up👍😊

When Sam says meltdown you know it’s good to pay attention to him

Thanks Sam! I was dying for a tutorial how to burn down my railway. This helped! Lol 😂

Very enjoyable.....I had a similar experience with my first train set.....dad was not pleased...haha

Great video Sam! I just found your channel and subscribed. Very nice instructional video. Love your train collection, it's awesome! 👍

Should have titled this “how to tell Hornby to use good motors “ lol :) love your vids Good video

SAM - Great experiment ! interesting results. You should do a video on how to add a mini fan and heat dissipation fins ! Keep up the great videos, you do more for us than just review the new products !

Spectacular stuff Sam, could almost smell that 'cooking' from here! Great video, many thanks.

Liked that, nice to learn why these are always failing. Great video Sam 👍

Sam. Great video. Don’t know how I missed it before. Anyway, very interesting. Can’t believe half an amp could do that. Keep up these great videos. Even if a few/most don’t cause sparks.

Sam great video as usual I have only one problems with your videos they are to short I wish they were longer a lot longer . They are so entertaining and I learn a lot about my favorite hobby it is nice to see others so interested in this hobby. Keep up the great videos.

The closest I had was decoder burnout due to poor wiring and soldering from Hornby. Was surprised that your experience has seen bachmann with more motor issues. Very interesting to watch and most enjoyable. Most of all hobby safe Sam. Clint

Sam you are so helpful. My dad has died now but my earliest memory is sitting up in the attic with my dad as he cleaned and ran his huge 00 gauge. My mother making and painting buildings. I love all sorts of railways real and model. Love your videos and have subscribed.....Jayne😊🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂🚂

Me: Just casually taking my Class 350 for a spin and sees this video. Me: Class 43, you're gonna have to become the man of the rails.

Thanks for the video sam didnt know too much about the open motors learned a lot

Excellent video Sam,my Hornby Q1 caught fire because the link rod below the smokebox detached itself from the motion and caused a short circuit.This was spectacular as there were flames and smoke in seconds which melted the locomotive body on that side. I removed the locomotive and put the fire out,luckily the mechanism and sound chip were ok.This was a brand new locomotive so this should not have happened, I fitted a new body to the locomotive and did not refit the link rod as the earlier models did not have it.

As I've just bought a second hand class 58 I found that VERY interesting! Thanks Sam top job.

Hi Sam. Good video as always. I've had a lot of problems over the years with hornby motors hence now all my locomotives are bachmann. I do however have a good tip. When oiling the motors I use a sewing needle to dip in the oil when lubricating the end bearing. That way its almost impossible to over lubricate and no risk to the commutator. My oldest locomotives are sixteen years old and still on original motors including the brushes. Keep up the good work. Chris.

I didn't have any motor fails on my railway and I had it for 7 years.🚂 Nice video.

Me: **reads the title** Also me: What kind of dangerous yet creative antics is our Sam up to now? 😂 Nice vid Sam, time for me to binge watch all of your crazy experiment videos 🤣

my hornby triang mallard started smoking today! It was terrifying but luckily I could turn everything off before stuff got serious.

1:06 I spy a classic which was the one that got me to buy MY Triang 3F and subscribe to your channel ;) Really glad to see that the fail didn't originate from one of those, I know they get a bit of a rep for 'looking' dangerous with the Back-to-the-future arcing on the wheels when running sometimes. Great video, Sam!

Goodness gracious me. I've actually got several loco's with that motor luckily I've never experienced such events. Very interesting and informative :D

Yeah even my Bachmann FT once smoked then 3 years later the gears cracked. I decided to junk it, I kept the chassis for a future metal casting project.

I like your new intro! It must have been a hell of a job animating that!

You know what they say Sam... once you let the smoke out it never works the same again! Interesting video though. Good job.

I'm 35,000 miles away and eight months in the future and yet I can still smell the motor burning... Oh wait that's just my dremel

Another great video, Sam. Thank you.

I love the X03 X04 motors. They are so Easy to maintain. Even I know how to Fix that motor..!! Dad taught me..! Good video. Oldie but a Goodie..!😎

I'm not there yet. however i did " visit" a loco hobby shop. i learn a lot watching your video. your very easy to listen to. i connect to your style of explanation.. it works for me anyway.... 👍

I once over-sped a pannier and it blew up. Thing is it was a really old and unclean Mainline engine. Luckily I could salvage the engine and now it’s a motorless shell on a display shelf.

Oddly enough, the exact same thing happened to my 14xx earlier on this afternoon, probably for the same reason. Not totally burnt out though, it still runs but intermittently. I've sent off for a replacement motor and I will check out the old one to see if it's repairable. Nice video. 🙂👍

Weirdly enough I actually my Triang class 37 had the same issue with what look liked blimmin thermite. I had sent you an email about it but this answers my question very nicely!

Hi Sam I am relieved to see you didn't hurt yourself. You are very brave!

My Bachman Thomas has a similar open frame motor, and when I went to service it, it had this green gunk in it! Even stranger, the loco had been running fine with it there for who’s knew how long, and after I removed most of the goo, it still ran perfectly!

Very interesting Sam, Thanks.

AHHH it seems my problem with my Hornby B12 is solved. This same motor was factory fitted to my B12 when I purchased it well over 10 years ago. It ran well for nearly a year then due to life getting in the way it was packed away in the original box in a plastic storage tub with the rest of my loco's. A while back I decided to build a layout for my Grandson and, lo and behold when the B12 was placed on the track and power applied it would not run and instead it sat there and emitted an acrid smell and smoke. So not being that confident to strip the loco and motor down and, only this week after watching and getting inspired by your videos I pulled the loco down and dismantled the motor. I thoroughly cleaned everything and what did I find the brushes gone as with your motor but not as bad. In fact I could find no evidence that there ever were any brushes. The only contact with the commutator were the brass fingers that would have held the brushes. All I can deduce from this is that the materials used to make the brushes was so sub standard as to be absolutely useless for the purpose or a very poor quality control issue allowed this model to slip through. I had previously purchased a new motor ( Poweline P1232A ( mk3) from E Bay which was not cheap and will now fit that. I did manage to get the original motor to run again but without the brushes it is totally useless as a spare. What I can't figure out is why did Hornby put these pathetic substandard motors into the B12 and not something more robust such as an XO3 or similar??? At least I can buy XO3's in bulk quite cheaply. So unless I can find a mount to take an XO3 or similar I will be stuck with paying $18.95 or 9.47 English pounds each so quite an expensive exercise. This will now ensure this loco does not get much running time as it will end up being to expensive to maintain. I will contact Hornby to see what they can do but am not hopeful of any sort of positive outcome other than a note saying they received my E Mail.

Yours must be the only model railway channel that needs Smelly Telly to fully appreciate it. Loved it when you said "it's tatered" (not sure how you spell that). Not heard anyone say that since was a kid!

I have five locomotives that had motor burnouts. Two happened during normal operation, one happened when the plastic drive shafts jammed, and two were from just trying to get the engine to move again (like you did, but these locos haven't burned out previously). All of them were used models except for one Bachmann diesel I got new back in 2011 Most of my motor burnouts happened with "pancake" motors from various manufacturers and various ages.

As of your question of if there was any smoke when the motor failed, there wasn't but there was sparks! (Locos was Tri-ang Jinty from garage sale before being oiled)

I bought the Airfix version of the 14xx recently, exclusively for a replica "Titfield Thunderbolt" train, and because it didn't cost too much - The motor seems alright, though the mechanism squeals quite badly in reverse. The motor failure on your more modern one is, er, definitely something spectacular.

Hey Sam - I thought your suppose to see smoke come from that kind of Loco - after all - it is a Steam Engine!!! ;) lol

Your videos are brilliant and you should see and smell what happens to a full size diesel- electric loco after a traction motor or the resistor failer it goes Bang in a Big way ! Lol I was in a class 73 electro- diesels engine room when we had this happen once , keep up the good work .

Interesting video! I once had a dcc blanking plate melt on my Hornby K1 had to send it back for repairs smelt awful lots of smoke!

I don't own a single model train but i watch your videos and I love it

I can’t wait for the next How to Burn Down Your Model railway episode! I wonder what’s next, perhaps it will be by having a very faulty engine’s engine explode?

Good news is, my only loco I now have with one of these is my pacer and that only has its second coach to pull :)

Hi Sam, Nice review , Thanks for the demo , Will keep it in mind not to overload things , Would it happen on DCC ????, All the Best Brian 🤗

My nephew managed to set fire to my Hornby First Great Western barbie HST when he was 2. The powercar roof melted, then immediately burst into flames.

Takes me back to "tuning" slot car motors back in the 60's, many similar problems albeit subjected to much heavier abuse !!!

It's a shame the smoke wasn't coming out of the chimney 😅

I've always wanted a motor that would fail with passion. Now I'll actually have fun seeing the motor fail.

Hi Sam, For the price we all pay for Hornby or other locos they should never burn out ,should run perfect for years and years, these problems should have been ironed out years ago by Hornby etc , Cheers Sam

Hi Sam. Great video once again! What soldering iron do you use? - 9.50 min. GWR

In fact, my grand-uncle, my uncle and me Burnt down locomotives over decades, all from Märklin. Now I have no model railway today, but remember burnt times on the carpet :-) One time in my childhood a friend asked:" Does have your diesel a smoke generator?". My answer:" No its not digital!". The little diesel cooled down and was running again soon.

1:06 I see my drawing! :D

This was an interesting video good one Sam Floof

14xx's are one of my favourite steam locos... Shame nobody does a great off the shelf version 🤔

It’s amazing that is all it took to cook that motor, a short stall. Will that kill bigger ones that are not open frame? Maybe even brushless types of motor?

Can ya smell the type of dinosaur is made from the coal of that loco? The bouquet? Lol you are great to watch.

Hi Sam, Those tiny motors remind me of the Faller AMS racing cars from the 60's.. Way too small for a loco.

Thanks for the help

I like that these motors have to be maintain it gives more "realism" since the real things did need actual maintenance. I hope the kids watching had payed attention and had learned a thing or two

I have an old 70's 00 gauge Kays kit in white metal for the Bayer Garret with the rotary coal bunker. What is the best motor for it and where from please ? Also the drive wheels are plastic. I need some metal replacement ones but where from ?

It'd be interesting to see a video on the few of us that get burned out on model railroading. I packed my locos and layout up awhile back and I just haven't had the drive to restart. It seems to be a common problem anymore, or it is here stateside.

Bachman failures? as in 'Have you sent it bachman?" Mine went 'pop!

As always a nice and good video.

6:03 “Yes there is smoke coming out of the cab windows!” Sounds like the driver and fireman are smoking on the job...

Excellent video Sam. It does seem, in general....that the smaller the engine....the smaller the motor....but you would think they'd be a little bit more powerful and durable than that. Interesting failure....and yep, there's an old saying...it's not the voltage that kills you...it's the current. It's almost as if they should place "recommended" pull--loads in the manual (i.e. 5 cars, 8 cars, no more than 10 cars for any long duration...etc.). What is interesting is that on your layout, you don't have any major inclines for the locos to go up....so truth be told, your locos have a pretty decent "lifestyle"....especially compared to some of the other big layouts with hills , etc. I've seen on KZfaq.

I recently bought a 30 year-old Hornby Black 5 from Ebay. When I was first trying it out, the loco started to smoke quite heavily. However, after a few minutes, and the smoke had disipated, I tried it again, and found that it actually ran BETTER - much more responsive to my controller, and much faster.

Nice video Sam, I would never want that to happen to my model railway, hey I have a question, I have a model railway that is only hornby locos it’s supposed to be my British railway layout, but I’m thinking of making a new layout that is only Bachman locos and that is gonna be only locos from America, mainly diesels, but I was just wondering if ur able to put a Bachman loco on a hornby track and be able to run it with a normal controller cause if so then I’m using hornby tracks for mine.

Hi Sam love your videos

Hi Sam One of the reason can be your pulse power supply. Those motors were not designed for the power what you supply can deliver ( PWM or just a thyristor chopped 50 Hz). Most of the pulse power packs always deliver in pulse with modulation (PWM) the maximum power to the motor. This method overheats the commutator and the coils ( the commutator has to interrupt and turn on always the maximum voltage from the power supply. ). This method is even more dangerous for coreless motors because of lower heat dissipation capacity.) In old fashion filtered DC power packs the maximum voltage is present only at maximum power ( when you run your trains at maximum speed - how often is this the case? ).. One of the possible solutions is to reduce the voltage what goes into your power packs. ( in DCC for eg to 10-12 V). In your GM power pack it is more complex issue. Just an example. The commutator on a 6000 RPM 3 pole motor interrupts the power 200 times per second (200 Hz) only on highest speed. Every interruption creates a spark and heat. When you use a pulse power supply from GM it adds another 50 or 100 interruption independently from the motor speed, on top of that always with the highest possible voltage ( power). This overheats the commutator and the coils, and finally kills those simple motors.

This was only recently but I was running in a spare Hornby Thomas chassis, it made it round the curve for the 10th time and as soon as it hit the points it just snap crackle popped and spat smoke everywhere in a comedic fashion! Doesn't seem to run but tries to, I think a fault was one of the brushes was bent wrong

Hi sam, i recently got some motors from amazon, they’re made by acompany called utax, they’re small enough to fit inside a locomotive, they run at 24000 RPMs, will they work for my projects? They only came with a plastic mounting bracket, how do i put them in a locomotive? Do i have to do any soddering to make it work?,i’m trying to avoid using a sodering gun because i can’t see, so the risk of being burned is very hi for me, is there a way to make the motors run without using heat?

Sam. If you had a digital gun type thermometer you could aim it at the motor and know just how hot it gets. I bet it would be surprising! 🌡

I got opposite experiences with little DC motors in model railways (scale H0) or construction kits. In case of a blockade they consume always their maximum of current, but did not exceed 0,7 A. Common and intended use leads to not more than 0,3 up to 0,4 A in maximum. The small motor type you tested in your video I rather found in N scale models. When voltage applied gets too high and the motor runs freely without any load especially the smaller types begin to make a squeaking noise after a short time and have to get replaced. It is a very bad idea to get "plenty of oil in the bearings" of a motor. E.g. brass bearings have an internal structure allowing them to keep lubrication for a long time due to capillar effects, these types of bearings work a bit like a sponge. If you apply too much oil the lubrication just flies away quickly and make the bearings running dry. The manufacturer of my model locos (H0) (and many others) advises his customers to apply not more (!) than just one small drop of recommended oil on each bearing, for the newer motors they do not want to have any lubrication at all. If the oil reaches the brushes the (always present) arcing converts it into a mixture of coal and tar. Coal conducts electricity and can short the commutator, tar isolates and can prevent the motor from any movement electrically or mechanically.

That’s was interesting sam great video and educational 👍👌😎

H Sam. If you don’t mind me asking, how did you create your awesome intro.

When motors over heat, the insulation on the wires that make up the windings in the motor softens or melts an electrical short usually develops, sometimes with an exciting show.

I have an old Triang 0-6-0 saddle tank engine and after I bought it I noticed a smell, but I put it down to not being ran for ages, then I saw smoke coming out the cab, I investigated and its a part of the commutator is where the smoke is coming from, I didn't run it, so it wouldn't ruin the motor, I'm hoping to get it checked out at my model railway club :)

None of my locos have ever done this, but I do have a 'pocket rocket' style 0-4-0 that sparks like anything on my second hand track, no matter how much track rubbering I do. I am always a bit nervous of using it!

I know I you feel Sam. I’m from America and I have a dock switcher made from a company called Lionel I got it on Christmas Day I believe it was 2017. I was running it around my Christmas tree, it was only pulling about like 2 cars. But then I realized it was slowing down. I shut it off and it smelled really bad. Turns out that the motor and the reversing unit was burned out. My dad tried to find new parts but he could not find the motor. It hasn’t ran since. 😔

About a year ago, I bought a loco from the 1980’s from a train fair, and it was in good physical shape, but at higher speeds its wheels would spark like crazy. I stored it somewhere and I haven’t run it since.

I remember the first time a loco's motor burned out on me. It was an HO engine, not sure exactly what type but it was American and was mostly black with yellow on both ends. I remember saying "Wow, I didn't think this one smoked!" Problem was... it was a diesel.

I have the exact same 14xx and the same thing happened to mine. It was fairly new as well.