Auto coupling for wagons

[Railwaymaniac]

All;

Now here's a question for the WT group mind to consider ...

Has anyone any experience that they could share on here about using auto couplings for UK outline wagons and vans, please?
I'm thinking Winterley, Dingham, etc. NOT Kaydee couplings, they look too far out of kilter for UK outline stock - Sorry, Jordan...

Oh, and I'm talking 7mm scale wagons and vans - I couldn't see that as an option for the prefix on here?

Ian

 

[Dog Star]

Hi Ian,

Peter and I have operated a 7mm NG layout where the wagons were fitted with Kaydees... sometimes a boon and sometimes a pain in the ****. When Kaydees on adjacent wagons were in line then the wagons would couple easily and effectively... when the Kaydees had moved off-centre then there was a good chance that buffing up would not result in any coupling between wagons.

The same layout used Alex Jackson couplings for the 7mm standard gauge stock and those couplings worked 100% with one proviso - each piece of stock needed to be checked against a height gauge before use. This was not such a pain because the layout was used primarily at exhibitions and hence each item of stock needed to be placed on the layout at the start of the show, so easy to check against the gauge.

If I ever need to consider auto-couplings for wagons - where buckeyes are not de-rigeur - then I shall give AJs a serious consideration.

 

[SimonT]

Ian,
We tried Dinghams on a couple of my layouts. They get damaged easily in transit and the effect is cumulative as the etch becomes more wavy with each attempt to straighten it out. They also couldn't cope with the deliberately bad track on Brokenborough (think Vic Berry's scrap yard) and so we reverted to three links. We also tried them on Aberbeeg but found that they just couldn't cope with shunting on the 1 in 80 (not a common problem). Kirmond and I have a DCC operated autocoupler on back burner.
Simon

 

[Railwaymaniac]

What interesting replies! - Thanks, guys ...

Reason I'm asking is that I am possibly vaguely maybe considering a shunting layout, and I think that using 3-link couplings (or instanter couplings or screw couplings) on a shunting only layout is guaranteed to make the audience evaporate when I need to (slowly, carefully, fumblingly) couple/uncouple something after every move...

Simon/Graham
It sounds as though you were coming up against, or preventing problems from, the same difficulty - damage during transit.
Could you let me know *how* you were transporting the rolling stock, please? - I know that Parkwood do a wooden stock box that should keep everything bolted down ...

Ian

 

[Dog Star]

Graham,
It sounds as though you were coming up against, or preventing problems from, ... damage during transit.
Could you let me know *how* you were transporting the rolling stock, please?

Ian,

The layout was not mine, Peter and I assisted the owner with about six or seven shows over three or four years so we had a reasonable view of how the layout "behaved" at exhibitions. Stock was transported in an upright position, in wooden trays of "one-wagon" width, with foam between the buffers of adjacent wagons. When packed properly the AJ couplings were protected from damage, the checking of wagon couplings during set-up was a precaution; sometimes the AJ couplings did get knocked about with rough shunting / handling.

I recollect that the Manchester Model Railway Society has some web content on the coupling. A few years ago there was a booklet published on making and using AJ couplings, might have been the Manchester MRS, might have been the S4 Soc.. Probably worth tracking down to see "how to".

regards, Graham

 

[Locomodels]

Ian,

If memory serves me correctly Alex Jackson was a member of the Manchester Model Railway Society, so you may find information there.
Also there is a book available from here www.scalefour.org/eshop/

 

[SimonT]

Ian,
I had a similar method of transporting stock. On the small layouts an aluminium case was fitted with mdf trays with foam board dividers between rows of wagons and bits of foam at the end to take up the slack. Aberbeeg has a system of pull out drawers under the fiddle yards that have a similar set up.
Simon