Coupling problems

D

davecar

Registered
Hi,

I have a Ragleth steam loco and I have managed to obtain an Accucraft W & L brake van and open wagon, which go very nicely with the loco. (W & L seem to be hard to come by).

I had problems with the Accucraft couplings as they kept becoming detached round certain tight bends etc. I removed the chopper element from the couplings and used chains on the hooks. There is a certain amount of play between the wagons but not too much I would have thought. Anyway on certain bends I still have problems as the buffers appear to lock causing a derailment.

I have looked at the website "Back to Bay 6" and they have a coupling adaptor for Accucraft chopper couplings priced at £2 each. Unfortunately there is no photo so I can't imagine what it would be.

Would this adaptor improve the coupling of wagons when using chains?

Kind regards,

Dave
 
What is the radius of the curves where you are having this problem and do you have any reverse curves ? ( A right and an immediate turn to the left and vise versa especially with a tight radius ) Does this happen both moving forward and reversing ?

Could be too tight a radius coupled with a reverse curve. Even with wagons that have a short wheelbase but are a bit long in the overhang dept' this can be a problem.

Is your track level too ?

All the above could cause both your chopper uncoupling problem and your centre buffers locking
when loose coupling.
Max
 
The back to bay 6 adaptors are a white metal insert that replaces the chopper head. They have a bigger surface the buffer head and are shorter- both may help your issues. If Internet is working I'll post some pics later if you like?
 
I only use std Accu. choppers, and have no problems, but then I don't have any tight curves. 4ft min radius.
 
Yes I have trouble coupling too.... Dr assures me it's an age thing....
 
A possible solution is to dismantled the couplers and remove the internal spring, or cut a bit off and then extend it to make it weaker. I tried this on a few of my wagons but I discovered a problem when propelling the wagons during shunting, so I abandoned the idea. But as I say, it could be a solution for you Dave.
Good luck!
Steve
 
The chopper couplers work fine if you have reasonable radius curves, when you look at real lines there are not many industrial tracks with tight bends who used choppers and they tended to use link and pin couplers with more play. The S & K has choppers but most have mounts that give a greater swing to the head than other lines. Having said that I sure that the Accucraft design could be improved.
 
Running 16mm on 32mm gauge with 2'6" curves, I found the choppers were not suitable.
Most steam locos have a fairly long rear overhang, which makes a wide swing on tight curves.
I even have trouble with the usual "Grondana" buffer and chain.
Have now gone over to IP Eng's Darj type dumb buffers & chain.

Have you tried running bunker first? Front overhang is less, and may diagnose the problem.
 
I think one problem is that Accucraft freelance locos are quite over-scale for 16mm 2' gauge prototypes. It would be interesting to know if the WD Baldwin has the same problem as this is the only 2' gauge loco that they have made in true 16mm scale where the prototype was used on tight radius curves. There is no point comparing Lyn as the L&B curves were mostly quite generous for 2' gauge and the S & K and W & L locos are much bigger 2'6" prototypes.
 
Hi,
Many thanks for all contributions - especially to Hornbeam in taking the time and trouble to photo Back to bay 6 coupling adaptors. It is interesting to note that a picture of the couplings now appears on their website. I ordered a pack of these couplings and received them very quickly (good customer service from Back to bay 6). I fitted them today and ran my steam train and it was a much improved perfromance with no derailments at all.

I still havent got the chain connectors right and they still bang and bash a bit because the gap between the buffers is still a bit wide. What is the ideal gap between the buffers when using chain connectors?
Also I have put the Back to bay 6 buffers on as received, ie in the white metal and they look OK. Is it usual to paint them black or is the white metal considered to be OK?

Thanks again for all your helpful comments.

Kind regards,

Dave
 
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