O and K JHA hoppers from Dapol

[steadfast]

Dapol had a train of these running on their display layout at TINGS on both days. I wonder how much they fettled their wagons to get them to run without any issues, or if they had a pre-production batch that didn't have this problem?

Bob

Attacking the chassis with a Dremel or fitting a spacer sounds beyond some Saturday morning fettling on their stand  I wonder if what they ran was the limit for the loco?

Anyway, sitting here wibbling isn't getting decals drawn. Tea break over!

Jo

[bluedepot]

to be fair my 8 ran ok on test - just the noise gave away the drag issue. also if you try a push along test you soon realise how badly they roll.

no derailment though on my test run and i found the couplers ok.

anyway i think the shim adding 0.25 mm shown in the pic looked fine. i will try 0.1 or 0.2mm first and see what works.


cheers


tim

[bluedepot]

some 0.2mm m4 shim washers arrived in the post.

outer diameter is 6mm.

i'll try them later on.  i need to cut out a small wedge for the coupling spring.

i have accidentally broken a tie down hook off a wagon.


tim

[portsmouth06]

Still waiting for my shims to arrive in post, hopefully this will work as don't really want to start grinding the floor of the wagon.
I also have managed to knock off a couple of the lashing hooks and that will be tricky to fix back, will need to think about the best way to do that as so far they have gone flying while holding with tweezers !
JW

[Trainfish]

I spent a bit of time with these yesterday as I have 16 of them and think that they are worth tinkering with just a little. Ok so 3 are going back due to broken couplers but a rake of 13 would be a good start.
Firstly the issues with the wheels. I tried a back to back gauge and found that if I set them correctly the wheels would rub on the bogie frames and would struggle to turn. So as mentioned in a previous post of mine I squeezed either side of the bogie at the end of the axle and this made them free. I'm sure some of you remember having to do this with Peco wagons.
Next was the issue of the wheels rubbing against the bottom of the wagon. I was going to try some plasticard but being a lazy sod I thought maybe small thin washers would work. I looked through everything I have both in the garage and the van and the smallest I could find were 4mm which is ok but the outside diameter was far too big. I looked on Screwfix for 3mm washers and they had 2 types. One of them says it is 7mm outside diameter and 0.5mm thick. Worth a try I thought at the grand cost of £1.34 (- my 5% discount) for 100, enough to do 50 wagons    So, off I went and came back home with a pack of these. I measured 1 and it was actually 0.62mm thick but what's 0.12mm between friends? Ah yes, almost 18mm in the big world before someone tells me so.
Anyway, I tried one and it fitted perfectly as below:


So, I tried another one and compared the ride height to a wagon which hadn't had the washers fitted with the result below. In theory and in real life the wagon body has been raised a total of almost 92mm or 3.622047 inches in old measurements. Now tell me, if you saw 1 of these wagons in real life and the body had been raised by 4 inches would you actually notice without measuring it? I know I wouldn't. Anyway, here's how it compares:



I then tried a 'push test' to see if a wagon would roll freely. Here's the result:

Ok it looks like a big difference when this close up but again, if the whole rake has been lifted are you going to notice if you don't put it alongside another? Needless to say I only have 74 of these washers left as 13 wagons are fitted with them now.

Moving on to the inter wagon couplers. I really don't like those which have been supplied and they can be very fiddly at times. I had to turn a couple of them upside down to engage them properly and I do worry that in the long term that either the coupler or the NEM socket could become loose or even worse, break 
So. As I have a few dozen Hunt magnetic couplers I thought I would try those. This is how they compare:



These are the 'close coupling' lengths but I'm afraid they're not close enough. I do like the closeness of the originals and it would be nice to replicate this with magnetic couplers. Maybe an email will be sent to West Hill Wagon Works to se if they can make something shorter. Here's a view from above:



Although not pictured I have replaced the coupler on 1 of the end wagons with a magnetic coupler to couple to the loco due to the random uncoupling experienced a few days ago. These seem ok.

Ok, onto haulage and a few videos. Firstly here's a Dapol class 56 hauling 9 of the Yeoman wagons at about 25% on a Morley Vortrak controller:

Not a problem so let's try 13 wagons:

Again not a problem and all running smoothly.

How about a new Dapol 58:

Again no problem.

I'm sure someone somewhere said that a Dapol class 66 couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding so let's try the 66. Unfortunately I didn't have any rice pudding to hand so just the 13 wagons again:

I didn't see a problem there, did you?

Now for a big test for a little loco, the smallest loco I have, a Farish 03:

Ok so that 1 failed but remember, these wagons are heavy!

So, all in all I'm happy with the ride height, not so happy with the fiddlyness of the couplings and I'm very happy with the way they all now freewheel easily. I look forward to having the other 3 replaced so I can run a rake of 16 but then again, I do like the number 20....................... 

Here's a video from a distance where you can see the whole rake of 13 at the same time. It's just a shame that the delayed class 50 with a rake of Mk2s got in the way at 1 point 

Feel free to comment/criticise on all of the above as everyone has different standards, rivets to count etc but overall I'm very happy with these. I now have to think about adding a load to them................

[steadfast]

Now tell me, if you saw 1 of these wagons in real life and the body had been raised by 4 inches would you actually notice without measuring it? I know I wouldn't.

I probably would, but then I'm a driver and more importantly for wagons an ex shunter, so sort of what I'm trained in.  oh, and I'm a sarky so and so 

Hopefully West Hill can do a coupling that looks a bit like a pair of buckeyes when they're together, like they've done in 4mm.

Jo

[Brian-1c]

Thanks for the very informative and entertaining post Trainfish. Would you please tell me what part of the couplings have broken, as mentioned in your post ? Is it part of the kinetic mech on the wagon side, or is it the removable NEM compatible part that has broken ? Perhaps you even have a picture of a broken one ?

[bluedepot]

excellent post trainfish and very useful!

ive been too tired to do anything this evening. it seems like everyone is on the same path with shim washers anyway.

i might be tempted with magnetic close couplers. would definitely buy a trial packet anyway.

cheers


tim

[woodbury22uk]

Thanks for the very informative and entertaining post Trainfish. Would you please tell me what part of the couplings have broken, as mentioned in your post ? Is it part of the kinetic mech on the wagon side, or is it the removable NEM compatible part that has broken ? Perhaps you even have a picture of a broken one ?

On the broken ones I have seen, the piece that breaks off is the coupler pocket and adjoining vertical link from it to the kinematic mechanism. It is not obvious to me how it can be repaired.

Edit: Just found a photo in the NGF Facebook group in a topic started on 26 October by Simon Gregory. There is a post by John Wilcock which shows the exact same breakage as on one of my wagons.

[portsmouth06]

Excellent work Trainfish, hoping I can do similar when the bits arrive in the post

JW

[Brian-1c]

Thanks for the very informative and entertaining post Trainfish. Would you please tell me what part of the couplings have broken, as mentioned in your post ? Is it part of the kinetic mech on the wagon side, or is it the removable NEM compatible part that has broken ? Perhaps you even have a picture of a broken one ?

On the broken ones I have seen, the piece that breaks off is the coupler pocket and adjoining vertical link from it to the kinematic mechanism. It is not obvious to me how it can be repaired.

OK thanks for that info. That is a definite return, which would be a problem for me, as there is no functioning post office in my vicinity, so would entail the high cost of couriers, both for the return and receipt again.

[Trainfish]

Now tell me, if you saw 1 of these wagons in real life and the body had been raised by 4 inches would you actually notice without measuring it? I know I wouldn't.

I probably would, but then I'm a driver and more importantly for wagons an ex shunter, so sort of what I'm trained in.  oh, and I'm a sarky so and so 

Hopefully West Hill can do a coupling that looks a bit like a pair of buckeyes when they're together, like they've done in 4mm.

Jo

Yep, I knew there would be one 

Thanks for the very informative and entertaining post Trainfish. Would you please tell me what part of the couplings have broken, as mentioned in your post ? Is it part of the kinetic mech on the wagon side, or is it the removable NEM compatible part that has broken ? Perhaps you even have a picture of a broken one ?

Here you go, it's this part

On the broken ones I have seen, the piece that breaks off is the coupler pocket and adjoining vertical link from it to the kinematic mechanism. It is not obvious to me how it can be repaired.

Edit: Just found a photo in the NGF Facebook group in a topic started on 26 October by Simon Gregory. There is a post by John Wilcock which shows the exact same breakage as on one of my wagons.

Spot on, exactly as you say on the Facebook post. That John Wilcock chap seems to be a helpful soul doesn't he?

In fact going on his posts I've ordered 4 more. A rake of 20 should look quite realistic. I just hope that the Revolution class 59s are going to be up to the job as I have 2 Yeomans and an ARC on order. I'm sure they will manage 20 of these.............

[Graham]

I sooo want a rake of these, but as @Brian-1c says the thought of having to send some back is worrying. I have a Yeoman 59 on order from Revolution which would look good on the front of these. Maybe will see if some are around next year as I can then take them back to the UK with me for return.

[Trainfish]

Or you could get them sent to someone in the UK who could check them over, return any faulty ones and send on to you when all are ok?

[Graham]

but then I would pay 20% VAT on them, by getting them sent here I lose the VAT, which typically pays for the shipping.