Oxford Rail OR76GEGV003 10 ton GER covered van in BR grey - E612630

[kebang]

I've just purchased 2 'Dapol' covered vans, very inexpensive at around 10.50GBP. Unfortunately they kept falling off the track and, following very good advice from Bigmet, I replaced the axles with Hornby axles. They now run fine. However this makes them the same price as the new Oxford Rail vans due to be released. Oxford Rail OR76GEGV003 10 ton GER covered van in BR grey - E612630.
Anything known about Oxford Rail rolling stock and their wheels?

[End2end]

You might find adding some weight to the vans helps too.
I replace all my wagon wheels with Hornby wheels and ALWAYS check the back to backs as even fresh out of the packet they can be out of gauge.

I only bought 1 Oxford wagon and it had the same flaccid couplings like Dapol's. I sold it on soon afterwards so don't remember what the wheels were like.
Thanks
End2end

[Bigmet]

I have several, including a couple of the GER vans, and so far no problems, such that I haven't really looked at the wheelsets because they simply 'worked' even with the wagons at the head of a sixty wagon train. ( I have no recollection of any volume of complaints online, but that may mean I haven't read 'everything'!)

But my layout is relatively undemanding, 30" minimum radius for freight stock on the running lines, all points are nominally 36" radius or greater, operating speeds max out at scale for 45mph since the models I have are all of unfitted vehicles. I will take a look at the wheels tomorrow, rather tied down today.

[Bigmet]

Famous last words! Appointment abruptly cancelled, so I have been 'FREED!' (sadly this particular tediously boring event will come around again for my participation, but never mind...).

Now, I have a 'discovery' to reveal. The Oxford Rail wheelsets in the LNER design 6 plank open and GER design ventilated van are potentially incompatible with the standard Hornby point. (I have to wait a short while before I can test the wheelsets in the Pilchard.) The wheel form is subtly different from Hornby's and the result is that these wagons can derail on the sample points I have, because the check rails do not suficiently restrict the wheelset from mounting the crossing when travelling in the facing direction.

I cannot really offer any more useful information: for a start, these sample points (and other set track pieces) are well used Hornby track taken from a late friend's layout when it was altered probably a dozen or more years ago, to enable me to test his purchases for compatability, and is in good condition but well used: so there's the first problem, is it fully representative of current set track from Hornby, and also Peco and Bachmann?

And then the second problem, until now I have never tested any Oxford product on set track, as there was no longer a requirement; and for my own purposes the Oxford items I own have been fine on a layout that is a mix of three flavours of Peco Streamline and various 'kit' OO points and SMP track.
I don't recall anything in the way of problem reports from use on set track, but then I haven't been looking out for these...

...I only bought 1 Oxford wagon and it had the same flaccid couplings like Dapol's...

I have replaced all the couplings on Oxford product to either Bachmann tension lock or Kadee as appropriate, using my 'own standard' positioning. But this is nothing 'out of course'; every single vehicle on the layout the coupler positioning has been altered, simply to ensure that whatever brand* - or kitbuilt - they are all truly compatible in operation within coupler type. It's a chore, but RTR OO is a jungle in this respect, and even the NEM coupler pocket which had the potential to resolve this doesn't, although it does bring the benefit of quick and easy adjustment - most of the time...

* List of currently operating RTR OO brands so adjusted to date, Accurascale, Bachmann, Dapol, Hattons, Heljan, Hornby, Oxford, Rapido, Sonic. Any current RTR OO brand not mentioned is because they haven't made anything I can use, thus far...

[End2end]

but RTR OO is a jungle in this respect

Agreed.
I've so far settled on 2 standards. The Brian Kirby method and magnet on a stick for uncoupling for the 2 types of couplings I have.
The latter mainly being dapol limited edition wagons.
Thanks
End2end

[kebang]

I know they were/are ugly but the big 'D' couplers on the old Hornby Railroad rolling stock were pretty idiot proof!
Next time my trunk is getting full at Hattons I add an Oxford Rail van out of curiosity, just to satisfy myself.

[Bigmet]

I know they were/are ugly but the big 'D' couplers on the old Hornby Railroad rolling stock were pretty idiot proof!...

As produced by Triang from steel pressings, they had the good features of robustness and uniformity in design and positioning on the unpowered vehicles, so you could couple any to any with no resulting problems. Matters were not quite as well sorted when this coupler was on a loco bogie or pony truck, because this introduced a lot of slop in positioning, especially when propelling. But combined with the limited train lengths possible with the 'no-roll' wheels, fairly reliable operation was possible.

But there's much better in RTR autocouplers now, though still not perfect. Even the miniature tension lock can reliably handle a full length rigid chassis vehicle freight train, if a single pattern is used (for a start, do not mix the Bachmann and Hornby product) and care is taken with unifomity of positioning. But that's about as far as the 'tension lock' coupler stretches; better alternatives are now available to deal with the likes of camming coupler mountings, on which the tension lock design fails miserably.

...Next time my trunk is getting full at Hattons I add an Oxford Rail van out of curiosity, just to satisfy myself.

If the grey version is out of stock, the same vehicle is also used to represent a group of these wagons which were fitted out for banana traffic. In either form it's a neat model, and for my late BR steam modelling, a genuine survival of a pre-group design remaining in traffic into the 1960s.

[Bigmet]

One other thing with Oxford Rail wagons. For reasons best known to the designer, the wheelsets (at least those on the 6 plank LNER GM open and GE van) are on 27.4mm length pinpoint axles. So regular 26mm axle pinpoint wheelsets won't fit, and if replacement wheelsets are ever required, no Oxford Rail wheelset spares have been made available. So it would be necessary either to replace the running gear, or line up the axleboxes and add brass bearing inserts to accept regular 26mm replacements.

Weird but there it is. I don't feel it is likely that Hornby ownership will change matters, as previous 'acquired tooling' wagons from the 1970s old Airfix GMR range, have continued to be produced to present day unchanged...

[Bigmet]

The 27.5mm pinpoint axle length found in the LNER open and GER van isn't standardised on Oxford Rail product. Having just got hands on with their BR(ER) 'Pilchard' bogie engineer's wagon, that has pinpoint axle wheelsets of the normal axle length, 26mm.

[kebang]

It's a Minefield!
One good thing to come out of this is that I replaced the plastic wheels on an old Hornby twin bogied carriage with the wheels salvaged from the dapol vans. To my surprise it ran perfectly, left it lapping the oval for over an hour, pushing and pulling, with no derailments. The Hornby wheels I had purchased were to replace the plastic wheels anyway.

[Bigmet]

It's a Minefield!.... The Hornby wheels I had purchased were to replace the plastic wheels anyway.

With the present cost pressure in RTR OO, I have been pleasantly surprised that thus far there has been no reversion to plastic wheels. Unless someone knows differently...