O and K JHA hoppers from Dapol

[SGregory]

Just as an update to my situation....

I received my final set of replacements a few days ago, all fittings and couplings present and correct.  After much fettling, like pushing the bogies together, adjusting wheel sets and brake shoes etc (with the inevitable loss of one or two since they're quite brittle), my wagons are now finally running to an acceptable standard.

That being said, one or two of them still squeal/squeak loudly on corners, but I'm confident I can sort those out with a little time.  Interestingly I haven't bothered with the shims on mine as they didn't seem to make a huge difference.

So I now have 18 running, haulage wise I've tried them with a couple of different Dapol 56's, which struggled a little despite being a hefty model and I've also tried them with one of my 60's - which as expected romps along with no issues whatsoever.  I am guessing that Farish just use stronger motors?

Anyway, now I just need one of the five Rev 59's I've pre-ordered to pull them......

Think I might need to work some more overtime!

Would be useful to have some shorter magnetic couplings, the Elite's are good but the gap between wagons is exaggerated because of the lack of buffers - nobody's fault of course, but I look forward to some closer couplings!

Simon

[Trainfish]

My final 5 (we'll see) have now been delivered but as I'm away from home I won't get to try them until the weekend. I have been playing with some loads for them but am not completely happy with those just yet. Has anyone got/found any pictures of them fully loaded? Preferably looking down into them.

[njee20]

So I now have 18 running, haulage wise I've tried them with a couple of different Dapol 56's, which struggled a little despite being a hefty model and I've also tried them with one of my 60's - which as expected romps along with no issues whatsoever.  I am guessing that Farish just use stronger motors?

It's more about weight. The 60 is heavy. The 56 less so. A Dapol 66 weighs about 8g so doesn't stand a chance.

[Trainfish]

Dapol 66 with 13 wagons on around 25% power from a Vortrak. I'll try with 15+ (20 if my replacements are ok) this weekend and don't envisage there being a problem 

[Graham]

It's more about weight. The 60 is heavy. The 56 less so. A Dapol 66 weighs about 8g so doesn't stand a chance.

Good luck with the new 60's they are about 15g lighter than the old ones, and motor does not seem as powerful.

[steadfast]

. Has anyone got/found any pictures of them fully loaded? Preferably looking down into them.

A quick Flickr search brings up these. This first one is to the coarser end of what gets loaded, you'll get anything between this and dust (basically sand).
https://flic.kr/p/2n85V4i
Further away but shows the load profile
https://flic.kr/p/2ntJRnD
Quite a typical load.
https://flic.kr/p/9VFJTJ
They can be rather well loaded, this one is quite extreme!
https://flic.kr/p/2jBBo3r
The stone loaded at Merehead into these wagons can often have an orange / pinky tint, and is a distinctive part of the wagon weathering colour.

Jo

[Skyline2uk]

With these additions I will have a growing fleet of hoppers, none of which are loaded atm.

I am always in two minds. If I load some then I will want to represent unloaded traffic going the other way, which obviously gets expensive!

This is why I am pondering how to make any loads removable.

If somebody has a good method to achieve this on these or any other wagons, I would be interested.

Skyline2uk

[njee20]

Dapol 66 with 13 wagons on around 25% power from a Vortrak. I'll try with 15+ (20 if my replacements are ok) this weekend and don't envisage there being a problem 

I should add context then. There have broadly been 3 generations of Dapol 66; the non-DCC ready ones, 6-pin fitted ones and Next-18 ones. There's been various arrangements of PCB and lighting within the 2nd gen. Each one has got successively lighter, due to more and more plastic in the chassis. The newest ones weigh (IIRC) 68g, and haulage is very poor. Not helped by only being driven on the outer axles of the bogies. No idea if that's a gen-1 (which were noisy, but had good haulage) or a gen-2. It's not a 3, because they've not done a standard Freightliner livery one. I didn't put all of that because it's entirely tangential to the discussion. But I'd easily summarised as "the haulage on Dapol 66s is poor". I did a video years ago testing 5 of each of Farish and Dapol 66s, and unequivocally the Dapol ones were worse, slipping to a halt with 36 PCAs, whilst the Farish ones all managed fine. As long as it works for you then great, but for anyone with a choice, if they value haulage power I'd get the Farish one all day long.

It's more about weight. The 60 is heavy. The 56 less so. A Dapol 66 weighs about 8g so doesn't stand a chance.

Good luck with the new 60's they are about 15g lighter than the old ones, and motor does not seem as powerful.

I'd noticed how much of the chassis has been removed to fit in the new PCB and speaker, I'm waiting on a sound fitted one. That's a shame.

[Trainfish]

My final 5 (we'll see) have now been delivered but as I'm away from home I won't get to try them until the weekend. I have been playing with some loads for them but am not completely happy with those just yet. Has anyone got/found any pictures of them fully loaded? Preferably looking down into them.

Ok so even after receiving an email from my supplier which said "Dear John, I have checked them all over myself personally, I can confirm that all of them are intact and there is no damage too them at all. Regards, XXXX" guess what? 1 is clearly damaged without even taking it out of the box. The other 4 look ok but I will add the washers at the weekend and see how they look and perform in a rake of 19 for now. Meanwhile I've sent him the link to the Specsavers website so he can book an appointment.

This was before opening the box


Even the inter-wagon coupling for the other end is broken. I'm not convinced that some returned wagons aren't being sent out again to be honest.

[Trainfish]

. Has anyone got/found any pictures of them fully loaded? Preferably looking down into them.

A quick Flickr search brings up these. This first one is to the coarser end of what gets loaded, you'll get anything between this and dust (basically sand).
https://flic.kr/p/2n85V4i
Further away but shows the load profile
https://flic.kr/p/2ntJRnD
Quite a typical load.
https://flic.kr/p/9VFJTJ
They can be rather well loaded, this one is quite extreme!
https://flic.kr/p/2jBBo3r
The stone loaded at Merehead into these wagons can often have an orange / pinky tint, and is a distinctive part of the wagon weathering colour.

Jo

Thanks Jo @steadfast I have no idea why I didn't find those myself. I don't think I'll be going for a load as in the last picture but possibly the others. Currently I have made a few level loads and will try them in the wagons at the weekend to see how they look. If I don't like them then I have a plan for some 'unlevel' loads and may even get around to making those at the weekend too. Thanks again for the pictures 

With these additions I will have a growing fleet of hoppers, none of which are loaded atm.

I am always in two minds. If I load some then I will want to represent unloaded traffic going the other way, which obviously gets expensive!

This is why I am pondering how to make any loads removable.

If somebody has a good method to achieve this on these or any other wagons, I would be interested.

Skyline2uk

Go for it Adam, it's not as if you've got a young family and a mortgage to pay out for each month is it? Oh 

I'll get back to you regarding removable loads when I've tried mine. What makes them slightly awkward is the shape of the sides of the wagons at the top but I'm hopeful I can achieve it. Yes, they will be removeable but whether I actually do remove the loads at any point is another matter.

Note: I would probably have thought twice about buying these had I had either a young family or a mortgage. Thankfully I've never had the former and I don't have the latter these days either having paid it off about this time last year 

[Western Exile]

In light of the comments I've read about these wagons here and elsewhere, I've cancelled my (trunked) order for twenty completely. I'll be spending the money on a rake of Revolution PTAs instead. I have quite a lot of nice Dapol stock but these just seem far too much trouble. Thanks to everyone for posting their honest comments about these wagons.

[Skyline2uk]

Go for it Adam, it's not as if you've got a young family and a mortgage to pay out for each month is it? Oh 

I'll get back to you regarding removable loads when I've tried mine. What makes them slightly awkward is the shape of the sides of the wagons at the top but I'm hopeful I can achieve it. Yes, they will be removeable but whether I actually do remove the loads at any point is another matter.

Note: I would probably have thought twice about buying these had I had either a young family or a mortgage. Thankfully I've never had the former and I don't have the latter these days either having paid it off about this time last year 

Smug much 

Should state that these wagons are a Christmas present from multiple members of said young (and in case of some of them, not so young) family.

I am allowed to test for the defects listed only and then they go "under the tree".

Skyline2uk

[woodbury22uk]

I am going to a wedding next week and I have checked that the venue allows confetti. Won't have to buy any, just vacuum up the bits falling off my 10 X JHAs, and that will provide plenty.

[Bob G]

Hattons are now selling the Dapol Yeoman hopper inners with the almost unrepairable pre-broken couplings and missing detail in their pre-owned section for between £24 - £30 a wagon.
They have very good boxes! Hattons brand new price is £36.68

Bob 

[Pete @ EGLM]

What is more disturbing, is that if they are selling the returned wagons, it would suggest that they can't send them back to Dapol for replacement!