Thursday, November 22, 2012

GCR coach bogies

GCR Coach bogiesConstruction of the Groudle coach kicks off with the bogies. These are simple enough components - just remove the parts from the sheet (I suppose "fret" is still appropriate even though it's laser cut) , insert the bearings and glue together with PVA.

The nylon bearings are friction fitted although I ran some superglue around them just to be on the safe side. Being a tight fit in the holes, they need a good firm shove. I used parallel jaw pliers as normal ones would tend to impart a wonky angle. A small vice would have worked just as well.

The wheels & axles must be trapped as part of construction which at least means they won't fall out!

One point - the wheel sets are uninsulated so you can't run them with 2-rail electric stock or there will be an almighty band when the power goes on. Steam and battery electric will be fine though.

Detail on the sideframes is minimal. I'll have to find a decent photo and make something up in plastic I think. Although they aren't that visible under the coach, I'll know. Needless to say, all my photos are unclear in this area.

2 comments:

James Finister said...

My attempt to leave an earlier comment might have failed through browser problems.

As far as I'm aware the Doddington coaches ran on standard Alan Keef bogies, and an 8mm scale drawing of one of those appears in Alan's autobiography "A Tale of Many Railways"

Phil Parker said...

Hmmm. Another book for the collection and one I've been looking for an excuse to buy...