New Railway Modellers Forums

Hi,

Wonder if you could help.

My late Father bought several special edition Dapol OO wagons featuring companies in and around his home in Ottery St. Mary. As they brought him immense pleasure watching them go round his layout I would like to incorporate them into the layout I am currently constructing.

I remember the frequency at which they would re-rail and felt that the wagons needed more weight added .I have seen the Dapol weights you can buy but these will not work in some of the wagons.

My question is can anyone suggest a suitable way to make these heavier? I have considered adding plasticine, but wondered if you have any better suggestions than this.

Many thanks in advance.

I was actually doing this yesterday to a small loco.
I use pieces of lead sheet cut up. The same stuff used for roofing. It's easy to cut with tin snips and you can make the "weight" as large or as small as you want.
In my Dapol wagons I have a peice covering the whole inner floor of the wagon. This seems to be ample in a wagon. I usually weigh down ALL my rolling stock.
Hope it helps
Thanks
End2end

As well as adding some weight, check the back to back dimension of the wheels, It should be 14.5mm, too small they will de-rail going through points, too great they will have a tendency to climb out on tighter curves. You can get a "back to back" setting tool or check them with calipers.

Check the wheelset form as well. Dapol have history in using an unsuitable wagon wheel profile, Instantly recognisable by the taper on the back of the flange and a 'knife edge' on the flange circumference.

Further the Bigmet's reply, I always replace all Dapol wheels with Hornby spoked wheelsets, and to Bufferstops, yes get yourself a back to back gauge.
It's INVALUABLE!
And always check the back to backs of ANY new wheelset. Even from the factory they can be out of gauge.
Thanks
End2end

what is the best manual b2b gauge and which size for a mixture of Hornby and Peco points and track

I use this one https://www.dccconcepts.com/product/bac ... rd-14-5mm/
DCG-BB145 Back to back gauge for RTR (ready to run) NOT the 14.85 version.
Solid brass and no messing about.
Thanks
End2end

Thanks for the link, but I will have to wait as it is out of stock !!

Armed with the product code you should be able to find it elsewhere and maybe cheaper too.
Thanks
End2end

When adding weight to trucks try to add the same to each

I always replace all Dapol wheels with Hornby spoked wheelsets

To be fair, they don't ALL need replacing! I have a Dapol 6-wheel milk tank and a Fruit D, both of which came with 3-hole disc wheels to RP-25 specification and neither of which gives any derailment problems.

The one tenth of a mm question.

In a different context/forum a contributor claimed "the correct back-to-back dimension for Hornby and all recent RTR wheels is 14.4mm, not 14.5mm -- see: http://www.doubleogauge.com/standards/c ... wheels.htm

And went on to add that a "14.5mm back-to-back gauge is for use with the thinner BRMSB and RP25/88 kit wheels, such as Markits, Alan Gibson, etc."

Are we nit-picking here or is this, in fact, an important point?

George
North Carolina

Sounds like rivet counting to me.
Thanks
End2end

George Stein wrote:The one tenth of a mm question.

In a different context/forum a contributor claimed "the correct back-to-back dimension for Hornby and all recent RTR wheels is 14.4mm, not 14.5mm -- see: http://www.doubleogauge.com/standards/c ... wheels.htm

And went on to add that a "14.5mm back-to-back gauge is for use with the thinner BRMSB and RP25/88 kit wheels, such as Markits, Alan Gibson, etc."

Are we nit-picking here or is this, in fact, an important point?

It is important. What is not often realised is that 'back to back' is a quick and dirty substitution measurement for the functional measurement which is from wheelback one side to flange root the other side. Good description inthe NRMA's RP25 among other places. Different flange thicknessess allter the required back to back measurement. (Frankly I am totally pragmatic, just adjust the wheelsets to 'what works'.)

I missed this one until today.
Bigmet is spot on, you use what works, and 14.5 on a back-to-back gauge may not give the best measurement between the outer
side of a flange and the tyre which is actually the important measurement.
I run nigh on 100 Dapol wagons and the few problems I've had are usually fixed by replacing the Dapol wheel-set with Hornby, Why ?
The flange depth on the Hornby was, last time I bothered to measure, some 40% deeper and as Bigmet says an better profile for
good running.
There should be little reason to add much weight if you have a square chassis wagon, acceptable bearing fits, good track and even
more important good couplings. So many de-railing problems stem from miss matched and defective couplings.

Adding weight only increases the work any locomotive has to draw along, with even more dire consequences when reversing. The
Dapol coupling sags badly on most wagons as bought and need adjustment so the buffing bar is as near to exactly the same height
as any adjoining wagon. If that is done well you should be able to reverse trains in excess of 20 wagons through 1st radius curves
and well laid set-track points.

Geoff T.