Eskalon update

The coupling issues seem to have been finally sorted (touch wood) and some good running has been done over the last few weeks. The new engine D13 needs to be run in as well as D16 and noticeably struggles sometimes when propelling the push-pull coaches. Perhaps the weight of the coaches is rising the loco's wheels slightly resulting in an impaired electrical contact? D16 doesn't seem to suffer from this so it might just be a case of getting the engine run in.

A dream train

The discovery of the Hornby Guide website and the class 77 model has made me a daydream a bit of the kind of trains i could have run in the early 70s (if i was an adult of course and not a baby as i was). Maybe it would have been a bit like this?

A Hornby treasure trove

This is a lovely website i came across today, the Hornby Railways Collector Guide features all Hornby and Triang rolling stock from the year dot. There are some fascinating models in here, i never knew Hornby did a Class 77 model but indeed they did! It was discontinued in the year i was born which probably explains why i've never seen it before.

The Class 81 model looks very interesting too (see right). It also was discontinued in 1971 (obviously a bad year for electric modellers).

One electric loco i did know about (and once owned) was Hornby's Class 86 model. I remember the fiasco the first time my excited teenage self got the new loco running, i forgot the pantograph was raised and took out my layout's bridge!

More coupling "fun"

The experiment with Kadee couplers as detailed in an earlier post had to be terminated as the hook of the coupler kept catching on the points on the site causing derailments of the wagons when being propelled. Back to the drawing board then, but i think i have found a solution. The problem with the default hook couplers is that they decouple from the loco when going on bumpy parts of the layout, this is because the coupler in one part of the train momentarily rises higher than the preceding part of the train causing the hoop to lose the hook. By bending the hoop a bit i've found this problem has been solved. At least its promising...

Plymouth No. 17 has no problems though even though its coupling to its wagon train is very simple. Sometimes simple is best!

Adding a load

One thing which is noticeable about Eskalon is that nothing is actually being carried at the moment, the passenger coaches are empty as are the trucks! I've rectified the latter with respect to my open wagon adding a coal load. A technique i've tried is to glue the "coal" onto cardboard and then insert this into the wagon instead of having the load loose (a disaster waiting to happen) or gluing it to the wagon itself. In theory this should mean removing the load easier if i need to do it in future. I think it looks pretty good so will try this on some of the industrial wagons too.

The issue of coupling

One problem i have with Eskalon is keeping the stock coupled together! The problem is a design flaw with the otherwise excellent Liliput diesel locomotives of which i now have 2. The NEM socket is a fraction too far back so a NEM coupling with a hook (NEM 360 is it?) can't be used as the hook cannot lift high enough to allow for the other stock to couple properly. Its just a matter of a millimetre  or so alas!

That means i have had to use the non-hooked coupler that comes with the locomotive. Thats fine to an extent, and that extent is when the track isn't level or a bit bumpy as Eskalon is at parts of its main loop. The stock becomes uncoupled from the locomotive. If both loco and stock could loop each other's hook then we'd be fine but as above thats impossible.

I'm now trying Kadee couplings (which came with the loco) and these seem to work. One problem i have though is that my new equipment van has a non-interchangable coupling so its stuck with the loop and hook method. My open wagon is thus acting as a match wagon with a different coupler at each end.

As for the passenger train well the only way i managed to get that to work in push mode was to use the flat semi-permanent coupler. This reduces flexibility of course as the only way to uncouple the loco from the train is to physically lift it from the track but with 2 mainline locomotives now thats not so much of an issue.

We'll try the Kadees for now, i probably need another wagon with interchangeable NEM sockets so i can top and tail any stock like the van which cannot use the Kadees.

Vine video

I made a Vine video of Eskalon in action, take a look!