Suggestions please for repair or replacement chassis - GraFar 4 wheel coaches

[thebrighton]

Another alternative are these from Newman Miniatures: https://www.shapeways.com/product/L6YTWGWGE/n-gauge-6-wheel-chassis?optionId=198191994&li=shops

[mark ellis]

@mark ellis  yeah looking at recent completed listing some boxed ones go high, some sold by best offer (I wonder how much?) some re-list as they're priced too high, but I still see some singles and pairs sold for £10-£13-ish each including postage.  eg. in May 3x original Grafar red boxed in great condition sold for £24.99 +£5 p&p.

As I say, if you manage to get to shows or swapmeets they can be found for £10 ish - always make an offer  

...

I've seen the S&DJR coaches go for £100 before now

[emjaybee]

The old 1970s "U-bend" coupling version I see The plastic's probably starting to get a little brittle.

These old coaches are usually quite cheap on second hand stalls at shows.

What do you class as cheap? I'm amazed that one seller is still trying "Buy it now" for £45

If its a SDJR one, he'll probably get it.

LMS generally sell for £30 each, GWR £25 each. These are VERY sought after coaches which, even in these financially difficult times, go for strong money.

[Southerngooner]

Have you tried putting new Farish wheelsets (I.e. from latest Chinese production) in the axle boxes? I've done this on a number of different chassis (Parkside, Chivers, etc) and they work well due to the pinpoint end to the axle, much more sharp than other wheelsets. If you've got any new Farish stuff try popping one out and putting it in the old chassis.

Dave

[PLD]

What do you class as cheap? I'm amazed that one seller is still trying "Buy it now" for £45

If its a SDJR one, he'll probably get it.

LMS generally sell for £30 each, GWR £25 each. These are VERY sought after coaches which, even in these financially difficult times, go for strong money.

The real rarety is the Caledonian white/crimson livery. I'm not sure how few were produced, but I've never seen the Brake version in the flesh, and at least one made 3-figures on e-bay.
Teak seems the most common - always seem to be plenty at around the £10 mark.

[PGN]

FORGET the Dapol Stove R chassis ... I always mount these on the Fleischmann 6-wheel chassis.

Looks FAR better and has EXCELLENT running qualities.

[PGN]

The real rarety is the Caledonian white/crimson livery. I'm not sure how few were produced, but I've never seen the Brake version in the flesh, and at least one made 3-figures on e-bay.
Teak seems the most common - always seem to be plenty at around the £10 mark.
[/quote]

Do you want a brake?

I've got a spare one floating around (grey roof not white ... but it can easily be switched out for a white one from a different coach.

I can also spare about 4 of the composites.

Tell me what you want to pay, and if it's sensible they're yours.

[tunneroner61]

FORGET the Dapol Stove R chassis ... I always mount these on the Fleischmann 6-wheel chassis.

Looks FAR better and has EXCELLENT running qualities.

Thats rather sweeping. I have no experience of the Fleischmann chassis, I have no issues withe the Dapol chassis but can you please explain whats the problem with it? Is the Fleischmann chassis readily available and how does it compare pricewise?

PS Theres no need to shout!!!

[PGN]

As it happens I've always interpreted the placing of three exclamation marks after such a reprimand as far more aggressive and shouty than putting single words in capital letters for emphasis ... a habit I developed in the days of dial-up connections when message board software was far more rudimentary. But let's not argue about peripheral issues.

The Fleischmann chassis is readily available on Ebay and elsewhere. It comes with a green continental coach body which is easily released using the fixing screws under the outer two axles (you need to remove the outer wheelsets to access them) and can generally be had for about half the price of a complete Stove R.

It doesn't have an enormous great battery box sticking down (most 6-wheel coaches, having been built in the days or oil and gas lamps, didn't tend to have them) and it does have footboards. The footboards are, however, held in place by a large plastic tab which slides up between the chassis and the coach side, and stay in place because frictional resistance overcomes gravitational attraction. Once you discard the Fleischmann bodies, you cannot use this method, so if your coach needs footboards the best way to mount them is to cut off the tabs and glue the vertical hanger brackets direct to the solebar. Care is needed here. The plastic of the solebar doesn't respond to liquid poly so you need to use cyano, and you must use it very sparingly as cyano will discolout the solebar if any leaks out beyond the hangers.

Mounting the body is a matter of smoothing the top of the chassis (there's a little locating "pip" in the centre which needs to be filed down) and gluing in place. Care needs to be taken to set it absolutely square because there are no locating aids and again, if using cyano you need to be aware that any surplus glue that gets onto the lower coach sides will discolour them.

[emjaybee]

Just to counter here. The Stove R chassis can be purchased, brand new, for £7.20 + postage for N Gauge Society members. So you don't need to buy second hand at all.


P.s. I didn't think he was shouting at all. I merely thought he was emphasising a couple of points. If it had all been in capitals, then, yes, that would have been shouting.

[Platy767]

A previous post with some similar discussion.

https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=45820.0

Mark

[Hiawatha]

I assume that the Fleischmann coaches PGN has in mind are the Prrussian coaches 8092–8095. (There are other numbers from later production runs with better printing that would be more expensive.)

Like this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/195243263685


But £7.20 for the Stove R chassis sounds like a good option.

[PGN]

Absolutely, Hiawotha ... that's the one.

I tend to buy them whenever I see them for a fiver ... which happens from time to time. I wouldn't pay £15.

£7.20 for a Stove R chassis is good ... certainly narrows the gap but I still don't like the battery box. I do have a rake of Farish 4 wheelers which I put on them for comparison purposes, and I prefer the running qualities of the Fleischmann chassis.

[tunneroner61]

The 3 exclamation marks thing is a new one to me but then I'm not a prolific message boarder. I apologise for the reprimand.

Why not just cut the battery box off the Stove  R chassis?

[PGN]

I apologise for the reprimand.

None needed ... it's just different perspectives. Those of us who grew up with manual typewriters, where capitals were the only way of adding emphasis, got used to using them in that way and old habits die hard.

There was no 1 key, either ... you needed to use a lower-case L to get a decent 1 (and those who were self-taught tended not to know this and used a capital I instead, which looked faintly ridiculous).

As for an exclamation mark ... you had to use an apostrophe, then backspace and put a full stop under it. You certainly didn't want to do that more than once at a time!