In OO9 gauge the consensus seems to be to use couplings designed by The Greenwich and District Narrow Gauge Railway Society and, unsurprisingly, referred to as Greenwich Couplings. Unlike all the couplings I've used in the past, in both OO and N gauge, Greenwich couplings arrive as a kit of parts and need assembling. I have to say that the instructions aren't the easiest to follow, but this video makes assembly nice and straightforward. So far I've made up just a single coupling and before I make up any more, or attach any to the things I've built so far I have a couple of questions. Hopefully someone reading this will have used these couplings before and have some suggestions.
Firstly, the fret of parts has been chemically blackened which seemed like a great idea until I started to make one up, whereupon the black coating just flaked off wherever I bent the part. Am I doing something stupid or am I going to have to prime/paint/varnish the coupling?
Secondly, I'm unsure if I always need to add the loop to the coupling. I've noticed that in quite a few pictures of OO9 layouts the locomotives often don't have the loop on either end, and the rolling stock often only has it at one end. I'm assuming using a loop at only one end means that the waggons etc. always have to be run in the same orientation to one another, which I suppose is okay, and that one loop is enough to form a reliable coupling. I'm certainly tempted to forgo the loop on the locomotives as just the hook looks much better, but I'm tempted to keep the loops on both ends of the rolling stock to give me more flexibility. Can anyone see any problems with that arrangement?
No hard and fast rules here, either loops at one end of everything or loops on both ends of wagons and no loops on locos work fine. I personally don't use loops on locos, it looks better and means that a variety of cast couplings can be used, RT Models make some Penrhyn types that are rather nice.
ReplyDeleteAs for the finish just touch up with a dab of black paint.
Excellent. I hadn't thought about using cast couplings, but I did think the locos would look much better without the loops. Touching them up with black paint will be easy I was just surprised that so much of the blackening flaked off.
DeleteIf you only have a loop at one end of each wagon, you will need a loop on the corresponding end of the loco. or when running round you end up with two hooks together. If you use set rakes, then you would only need a loop on the each end of the rake to avoid this. However this won't work if you want to do a lot of shunting with individual items of stock. Then you need a loop on the loco. Many people use the loop only on one end so that with a 'pin' slightly above the hook on the wagon (not on an end with the loop) you can have delayed uncoupling. You stop over the magnet so the loop rises, reverse the loco slightly, go forward again slowly so the loop rests on the 'pin', then push the wagon(s) to where you want to leave them. I think the blacking coming off is just on the most recent batches. Possibly due to using a more enviromentally friendly, but not as effective, chemical.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bill, that was a really helpful description. I do like the idea of the delayed uncoupling so I'll have to have a think about that. I think for now I'll go with loops on both ends of the rolling stock, but none on the locos, mostly as that will look better but leave me the flexibility. I can always remove/add loops later if necessary.
DeleteThe reason for loops at one end only is for reliability for hands off operation. It is possible for loop to meet loop when coupling so they don't couple up, whereas with one loop this obviously can't happen.
ReplyDeleteAh, that makes perfect sense. Maybe I'll have to rethink the couplings on the wagons as I'd quite like to be able to do some hands off operation, although I think that is more likely to just be leaving a rake of wagons in a siding so only (un)coupling from a loco which will only have the hook.
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