169 Couplings, Weight & Wheels at Leopard Street Model Railway #modelrailroad #modelrailway

Añadido: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]Welcome my friends. Welcome once more to Leopard Street. Welcome back to the seller.

[00:00:05]It's working again.

[00:00:07]Right. [clears throat] That aside, and there's a few other bits and pieces that I'm not going to go into them today. What we're going to try and do today is a video with a little bit more focus, thanks to some of the feedback I've had.

[00:00:18]Hornby railroad wagons.

[00:00:21]Let's look at upgrading some of them.

[00:00:24]Specifically, I'll just uh move one here because obviously I didn't have it ready in time.

[00:00:32]These ones. You may have seen these.

[00:00:33]I've got a rake of nine of them.

[00:00:37]Previous video, I painted them, weathered them.

[00:00:41]If I remember, I'll put a link somewhere near the top where it appears to the video for the painting.

[00:00:49]That's not what we're doing today.

[00:00:51]Uh if you saw my last video, and if you didn't, I just how did you not see it? I mean, it's it's Yeah, I can do that.

[00:01:02]What I've done, first off, so the first thing we're going to look at, I've taken that, I'll put my hand behind it a bit easier to see, the the big D coupler they come with, and I've fitted a KD coupler. So, we're going to have a look at that.

[00:01:18]Going to look at how I did that. It's fairly straightforward to do. Um I'm not going to go massive into why I'm using KD couplers in this video. That's for another one. This is going to be how to upgrade the wagons. So, there's four things I I want to do. First one is paint them. Now, I've already done that.

[00:01:36]Brilliant. True Blue Peter style. Here's one I did earlier.

[00:01:40]What we're going to do is we're going to increase the weight.

[00:01:43]I'm going to change the wheels.

[00:01:46]And we're going to fit the couplers.

[00:01:48]So, without further ado, let's get to the desk.

[00:01:55]This is Leopard Street.

[00:01:58]Okay, here we are at the desk. Um I brought two of the little beasties over. I've got a completely unmodified one here.

[00:02:07]And its wheels spin. It's not massively free rolling.

[00:02:12]It goes. They're all right, they're cheap.

[00:02:15]First thing I'm going to do is look at the weight.

[00:02:17]Bring in my scales.

[00:02:21]Now yeah, about 30 g.

[00:02:24]Ideally, that wants to be closer to 50.

[00:02:26]So, the first thing I'm going to do is change the wheels because that will add a little bit of weight to it.

[00:02:33]Now, the wheels these come with are plastic on metal axles.

[00:02:39]Which is pretty good.

[00:02:41]But we can do better. So, I'll take these out.

[00:02:45]These have actually been slightly weathered as well already. So, yeah, anyway, never mind.

[00:02:50]Um the white dot on the bottom incidentally is because I've had trouble with this particular wagon derailing.

[00:02:57]So, I'm putting some new wheels in.

[00:02:59]I've got these.

[00:03:00]Um E model Yeah, these these these are from AliExpress. So, they're they're fairly cheap ones, but they work. Um if I can get into it.

[00:03:11]I've fitted some of these on some Dapol wagons that I had a few I had had a few problems with.

[00:03:17]And they worked nicely. So, these are metal wheels on metal axles. They've got the insulating bushes.

[00:03:22]Um technically, they need painting.

[00:03:25]But, there we go. Now.

[00:03:27]I I haven't adjusted the back-to-backs on these yet, but they're pretty good. So, I'm just going to put these in and I can do that later.

[00:03:37]Just make sure that this is actually in the axle bearing.

[00:03:41]That one in there.

[00:03:43]And these are much much more free rolling.

[00:03:45]Um now, that may in part be due to me getting paint in the things, but that rolls a lot better now.

[00:03:54]But, it is slightly heavier. So, let's have a little look.

[00:04:01]Very slightly. So, yeah, it's made a few grams difference.

[00:04:05]Want to get that up to 50. Now, my weapon of choice for this is 2p coins. So, let's see how many of these we need to put on to get it up to nearly 50.

[00:04:21]Have a look. Three of them. It's a little bit over, but that'll do. So, that tells me I want three coins into each of these.

[00:04:30]So, to do that, what I need to do is uh take the body off.

[00:04:36]Uh these cheaper Hornby ones, the bodies are just clipped on. And at the ends here, there's a the lighting's easier. Uh four little clips, so what I tend to do is just press it a little bit and pull up.

[00:04:49]Releases one end.

[00:04:52]Press.

[00:04:54]Up we come, and off comes the base. And it's that simple. Um they're different colors. Wasn't expecting that.

[00:05:01]Guess it's whatever Hornby mold them in.

[00:05:03]And inside, uh we've got a metal weight.

[00:05:08]And what I'm going to do is I'm going to glue a couple of coins on here. Now, you got to be careful because you've got to keep where the uh the bodywork is going to go clear.

[00:05:22]And you also need to work out roughly where the coins need to go uh on here.

[00:05:29]So, it's about there, and it's it's actually glued I mean, one of them's glued onto the metal, one of them's glued slightly onto the uh the sides of the wagon. No, fair enough. So, I'm going to put some superglue on, and we'll hope this will work.

[00:05:45]And let's put some of that on here, like so.

[00:05:50]Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do First coin on.

[00:05:57]And that's that one.

[00:06:00]I I got I mean it it it was a few years ago now. Some glue on this side. I'm also going to put some glue on these edges for this one.

[00:06:09]I went into a bank and went into I think it was HSBC in Meadowhall.

[00:06:15]And I confused the hell out of the poor people there.

[00:06:19]Uh by making a withdrawal that consisted entirely of coins.

[00:06:25]It was not stuck on properly yet, either. But, we'll see.

[00:06:28]Uh yeah, entirely of coins.

[00:06:30]And all I wanted was uh 1p and 2p coins.

[00:06:37]I came away with a big bag of them. And it worked quite nicely. And And they won't what on earth you want them for is It's not purely this. Um it is largely this. It's not purely this, but uh I use them for um model um wargaming figures as well. Now, I'm going to see if that sticks.

[00:06:58]That may stick, it may not.

[00:07:01]However, I'm going to do this other one at the same time. And what I'm going to do with this one is a different glue, cuz I'm going to see which of the glues works best.

[00:07:10]And clean the coins a bit better. So, this one is going to get uh Bostik, which I've used before for doing this sort of thing with.

[00:07:17]So, again, I'm just going to check they do fit on.

[00:07:24]Uh Bostik takes a bit longer to dry, but he's more of a a blobby glue, if that makes sense.

[00:07:33]So, it should stick on nicely. I'm just going to give that coin a little bit of a wipe.

[00:07:38]And stick it there.

[00:07:41]And same with this one. A little bit of a wipe and there.

[00:07:50]It is sticking, but that's going to need more.

[00:07:54]I don't want it threading too much.

[00:07:57]Again, cuz the weight is just a little bit inside the uh area of the coach. Sorry, there.

[00:08:06]Ah, it's it's recessing down slightly into it. Now, there's loads of different ways you can weight these things up.

[00:08:12]Previously, I've used lead fishing weights.

[00:08:15]Um You can get lead shot. There's a various products. I think liquid lead, I think it's referred to as. It's not a liquid.

[00:08:22]Um it behaves like a liquid, but it isn't.

[00:08:26]What it is is very fine lead shot.

[00:08:29]And if you drop that on the carpet, good luck.

[00:08:36]So, yeah. Right.

[00:08:38]That's those weighted. This one here is it has stuck. That's good.

[00:08:44]So, I'm going to put that one over to dry cuz Bostik takes a little bit of time.

[00:08:47]So, this is now dried.

[00:08:51]So, in theory, I can put the bodywork back on. Uh before I do that, I'm going to look at the next upgrade, which is the uh wheel sets. Now, I'm going to for that, I'm actually going to get another wagon.

[00:09:02]Uh reason being, I want to make sure this glue has a proper chance to dry.

[00:09:07]So, get another one.

[00:09:10]As I say, I've got I've got nine of the things, and I am going to be doing most of Um I can't do this to all of them. I haven't got enough wheels. Uh I've got I've got enough wheels to do six, I think it is. So, I'll do the wheels on this one again quickly.

[00:09:24]Well, I won't. Haha. There's a There's another way of doing this. Get that off.

[00:09:32]Now, see this This one's had a a honking great lump of hot glue used to stick it's it's weight on.

[00:09:39]Not going to come off.

[00:09:44]It's going to make adding more weight to it a bit awkward if it doesn't.

[00:09:48]Have to to see if that's going to lift off. It should do.

[00:09:53]That's the advantage of hot glue. It's sort of sticks, but it it can be removed. Anyway, right, wheels off.

[00:10:01]Cuz the next bit to look at is the couplings.

[00:10:07]Now, let's get these wheels out. See there you go.

[00:10:13]Uh wheels are in the way. Basically why these these need to be removed.

[00:10:16]So, I want to put these I want to give this thing KD couplings. So, what I need is my box of KD couplings, >> [snorts] >> which are here. Now, and again, these are uh these are actually Chinese clones again of KDs, but there we go.

[00:10:32]Uh there we have one.

[00:10:35]Now, I'm going to need two cuz obviously I need to do both ends. Uh I'm going to open a bag.

[00:10:45]And a little bag these things come in, so 8119 HO metal couplers, part 12 pieces.

[00:10:55]And that can come into here if I can get them to come out of the bag.

[00:11:01]Oh, come out of the bag, please. Please come out of the bag. Be nice.

[00:11:05]Anyway, there's two of them. I'll deal with the rest later.

[00:11:11]Now, these these wagons don't have NEM pockets on them.

[00:11:16]They do have pockets, but it's not NEM pockets, so these need to be removed.

[00:11:25]And they've got clips, and the clips Where are the pair of tweezers? The clips are a little of a pain to get off.

[00:11:33]They're not They're not too bad, but they are a little bit of a pain cuz you've got to get under uh that side and lever it up a bit.

[00:11:47]Now in theory, there we go. That's that one. In theory, the method I'm using here should work on any Hornby wagon that's got this style of coupling.

[00:11:55]So you've got is this little box and I'm going to have to remove that.

[00:12:01]Uh see, I'm just going to take this other one off.

[00:12:05]There we go. This clip comes off.

[00:12:10]Coupling comes out and don't need those anymore. Just put those over to one side.

[00:12:18]Got to remove these.

[00:12:20]Before I remove them, we'll look at what I need to do. So I've got to get over to my 3D printer.

[00:12:28]I've got these which I can just peel off here.

[00:12:32]Hopefully they'll come off nicely and they do.

[00:12:35]Uh printed yesterday.

[00:12:37]Um this is still a little bit experimental.

[00:12:39]The file for this will end up on um my Thingiverse page.

[00:12:44]But what I've done, break one of these off.

[00:12:48]I'm going to need two of them, so I'll break two of them off.

[00:12:52]Uh this is a little NEM pocket.

[00:12:56]Yeah.

[00:12:58]They need cleaning up. They're they're not ready to use immediately. Um basically the hole needs blasting out.

[00:13:04]But that is designed to sit It's awkward to see cuz it's in black.

[00:13:09]It's designed to sit there, but it it's designed to sit flush with the wagon base.

[00:13:14]Um it's got a bit that protrudes out the front, which is designed to fit flush against the buffer beam.

[00:13:20]That holds the NEM pocket at the right height.

[00:13:25]So in order to do that, the first thing I've got to do is remove this and for this a sharp knife is a good bet.

[00:13:40]To start with followed by a pair of cutters.

[00:13:46]Uh I use the sharp knife first cuz that typically will tell the the plastic it's all like it programs it a little bit as to where I where I would like it to the break.

[00:13:57]So, again, I'm going to do this side here. It's just scoring that.

[00:14:01]Right into the end. That is a sharp blade as well. You you do need a sharp blade for this.

[00:14:06]So, that can then get Yes, anyway, that's just pinged off into the distance. That's one of them out.

[00:14:14]I'm now going to do the other end.

[00:14:17]So, I may as well do both ends at once.

[00:14:24]So, what why am I bothering with all this? Um well I mean these wagons they run. I I've had them run.

[00:14:32]I've had some issues with them.

[00:14:35]Um specifically they do run, but they like to derail. Now part of that is the um the fact they're not very heavy.

[00:14:47]But a big part of it is the couplings.

[00:14:51]So, if I hold these if I if I bring uh I'll bring a bit of white paper in here to make it seem a little bit easier.

[00:15:00]So, these things I mean you've seen all seen tension lock couplings. They sort of lock together like that and they're locked. Under tension I mean they are pretty strong.

[00:15:09]And under compression the rub the you know the curved beam hits each other. Where you go? No problems.

[00:15:16]My track isn't very good. So, instead of it being like that I I have this sort of movement.

[00:15:23]And occasionally I've got differences in height as they go over joints. And I found what happens is, sometimes, not often, but sometimes, one will ride up on top of the other.

[00:15:33]And when it does, it lifts the wagon behind's wheels off.

[00:15:38]And then it goes around a corner and one wagon goes sideways, it derails, and then the whole thing comes off next time it hits a set of points.

[00:15:46]Not ideal, to say the least.

[00:15:49]But yeah, it's a Yeah.

[00:15:52]Kadee's don't really have that problem.

[00:15:54]Or at least I I've not found them to have that problem. I'm going to keep that bit to the side.

[00:16:00]Get in here with it.

[00:16:06]So, I'm changing the couplings. Um I fitted some Oxford Rail wagons with these, and when I first got some Kadee's, get on the end of that. Squeeze it on on this side. Ha.

[00:16:17]What I had.

[00:16:18]I'll go all the way through. Apparently not.

[00:16:21]And those Kadee's on the Oxford Rail wagons have been no trouble at all.

[00:16:30]I have not had a single coupling-related derailment on those wagons, which I'm quite impressed with. Right, what I now need to do is cut all this off. So, I'm going to shave this a little bit.

[00:16:45]And again, sharp knife. Um sharp knife away from fingers, away from paws.

[00:16:52]Uh if you're not confident using a knife, um yeah.

[00:16:59]I mean, yeah, you could file this, you could use this. Um I'm keeping my fingers back here, so if the blade does slip, it isn't going to hit me, it'll hit something else first.

[00:17:10]So, take some of that off.

[00:17:13]Uh yeah, if you're not confident with a knife, you can do this with clippers, you can do it with a file, you could do it with a rotary tool. Um, I'm not using a rotary tool because the one I've got vibrates like crazy and doesn't cut very accurately as a result.

[00:17:28]So, that's smooth. What I'm now going to do is take a file to that.

[00:17:33]And this is this is flush, which is what I want. So, I'm going to take a file and I'm just going to run it over this.

[00:17:43]Cuz this area needs to be flat.

[00:17:47]There's a little bit of ridge there.

[00:17:51]That That's the whole camera wobbling cuz my arms are on the thing.

[00:17:56]Right.

[00:17:57]If I just I lift up, maybe it won't wobble quite so much. Right, that's smooth.

[00:18:02]I've got to say I've got to clean this out, but that is going to sit on there like that in the center at that set distance. So, if I clean this out, but basically there's a hole through the middle.

[00:18:14]And because of the nature of 3D printers, it's a bit clogged.

[00:18:20]Um, if you have a resin printer, you can get much better quality prints.

[00:18:26]Uh, there are companies that supply these things. You you you can buy these ready-made uh, for different sorts of wagons, different sorts of couplings.

[00:18:35]I thought for these ones it looked so simple I was going to have a go at making some, so I did.

[00:18:40]Uh, and it is literally I mean the piece um, I'll I'll show you the 3D model.

[00:18:48]Uh, the piece of this is essentially a box or what's that? Cuboid structure with another one uh, pushed through the middle of it to make a hole uh, that matches the NEM pocket dimensions, which I found on the double O gauge society website. Uh, they've got a nice little graphic that shows uh, all the dimensions.

[00:19:14]And you end up with that and then this bit uh fits in or it should fit in. I'll just do a little bit of a test see if it goes in.

[00:19:23]Yeah, that'll go in.

[00:19:26]That's that one.

[00:19:28]I don't know if you can see the hole through there. Mhm, don't know. Probably not.

[00:19:33]But that's that. So, I'm going to do two of these. It's not a massive job to convert them to this. And and these couplings they do have a number of advantages.

[00:19:43]I've got them I'd say partly for the reliability issue and also I want to be able to do uh delayed uncoupling which is sort of KD's party trick so to speak.

[00:19:56]Uh if you've seen the videos I did on the remote uncoupling things they need these KD couplings. So, all my freight stock is getting this.

[00:20:05]Uh as eventually will all of the passenger stock.

[00:20:09]Now, I've got to work out how to do this to bogies. So, I'm going to do that at some point.

[00:20:14]Right, that's that one as well. So, these can go on. I've just got to clip this side down.

[00:20:23]So, again I'll come in here with the knif and remove what's on here.

[00:20:33]Just nice and steady. Now, as I said there's no real I mean you could quite happily if you decide you want to I I'm I like tension lock couplings I'm going to stick with them.

[00:20:43]Yeah, you can just um do that. There's no no harm in them.

[00:20:47]They work.

[00:20:49]Uh it comes down to how you want to uncouple things.

[00:20:53]KD conversion does get a little bit more interesting with locomotives cuz a lot of them don't have the space for this sort of thing.

[00:21:01]I'm just going to chip some more of this off. So, yeah that that can be slightly more of a challenge. Um the locomotive I'm going to be using for these is a a Bachmann K3 a K3 class Mogul and it has got a NEM pocket on the back of it.

[00:21:18]So, life gets very, very simple because I just use that.

[00:21:22]Again, file that. Um, this does serve another purpose. It roughs the plastic up a bit, which helps the glue stick. So, we'll do that there, do that there.

[00:21:32]I've also got to file the backs of these.

[00:21:35]Um, it's 3D printed plastic. Sometimes it's not completely flat.

[00:21:40]Whereas for this, it has to be to get the glue to work.

[00:21:45]Um, if you've got little ridges at the sides, you end up with those little ridges at the sides are the only bits where the the glue will stick.

[00:21:55]So, that's those done. What I'm now going to do, like I say, is I'm going to stick these on.

[00:22:00]Uh, they're going to go on. They're going to be centered, square, and superglue.

[00:22:07]So, we shall do that. A little bit of a superglue.

[00:22:12]Uh, I've seen some people suggest using Araldite when sticking to this sort of plastic.

[00:22:17]Um, I'm using superglue for now.

[00:22:21]If I end up with a problem, I'll go back to Araldite and I'll try that.

[00:22:26]So, this needs to come on.

[00:22:28]Uh, it's got to be centered, and it's got to be square.

[00:22:32]So, that's very nearly centered, not quite. Let's move slightly.

[00:22:42]And again, as I've said, this little ridge goes right up to the edge of the buffer beam, and that sets the distance backwards uh, correctly.

[00:22:52]Did that for these exact ones. It's the coupler pocket doesn't want to be flush on here. It has to come down a little bit.

[00:22:59]So, I made a little plate.

[00:23:02]Um, it's angled slightly at the front, so it it it works.

[00:23:06]It covers over this hole, which [clears throat] also helps.

[00:23:11]And it holds the coupler height the right distance, so it it's the correct height overall. Now, let's do the other end.

[00:23:21]Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do It does ooze out the side slightly, but I'm not actually that bothered by that.

[00:23:30]So, that one then can go on there.

[00:23:34]And again, it's got to be centered.

[00:23:37]There is a little bit of leeway you can put on it, but ideally you want it in the center.

[00:23:45]Uh, if it's not uh, couplers might not be lined up properly. If they don't line up properly, they'll they'll engage, but you might have some reliability issues.

[00:23:56]And since the whole part of this is to avoid reliability problems, there we go.

[00:24:01]And that that's the whole new wagon with the uh, uncouplers. So, what I now need to do is try and get this this massive glue that's on here off, if I can.

[00:24:15]I'm a bit shattered. Um, this is so I can put the coins on.

[00:24:18]Again, just to add the weight. Um, the way things are at the moment, I can't necessarily do that. There we go, that's coming off.

[00:24:26]And if I can get enough of that off, I can get a couple of 2p coins on here.

[00:24:30]Well, a triplet of 2p coins, I'll be happy. So, I've got to take a little bit more of that.

[00:24:37]So, I'm just going to carry on with this.

[00:24:39]Do do do do do do do do Cut this out. There we go, that's that side.

[00:24:45]A bit of this side here.

[00:24:48]Um, and incidentally, if this means the weight comes off, I'm not actually that bothered, um, because I'm about to put a load of glue on here anyway, which should uh solve the problem. If that turns out still be a a problem, that bit and then this one.

[00:25:08]I did did did did did did comes down here like this.

[00:25:13]Comes out.

[00:25:15]Now, if you see in the other ones, I can't actually put the coins right into the middle anyway. So, that might do. I'm just going to put a little more there.

[00:25:24]You can tell I didn't really script this and set it up. Anyway, that's that. So, that one's going to go there. And as long as it clears these end holes, that's the key bit. Got to clear the end holes.

[00:25:37]Three coins in this one.

[00:25:42]Let's clean the coins off a little bit.

[00:25:44]Remove some dust.

[00:25:48]Now, they're going to go on there like that.

[00:25:52]Uh but before they do, what I'm going to do, because I I'm going to sit them down to a stand, I'm going to put the new wheels in.

[00:26:01]Which are obviously these these nice little metal ones. So, they can go into there.

[00:26:06]And fall straight out again.

[00:26:09]Actually, these wheels probably easier to put in now, cuz the the new coupler pocket is a lot smaller than the the one I've taken out. So, actually, I can just slide them in that way.

[00:26:19]Didn't Didn't think of that.

[00:26:21]There we go.

[00:26:22]That one in there.

[00:26:24]So, again, very very free rolling now.

[00:26:28]And metal wheels I found work a lot better than plastic ones. Uh the plastic wheels, these These ones aren't too bad. They do tend to pick up quite a bit of dirt, but that's that. So, that is now going to get some uh Bostik on it. And the Bostik in some ways is better for this. Um it's not perfect, but it is better because it is slightly rubbery.

[00:26:56]Uh and as such, it's a little bit better at dealing with vibration.

[00:27:02]Obviously, if you know anything about model railways, you know things vibrate or rattle, as it's also known.

[00:27:08]So, yeah. Put that on there, and that on there.

[00:27:13]That.

[00:27:15]Put a load more on the top.

[00:27:22]Getting over the middle cuz, frankly, why not? Might as well drop down into that gap in the middle.

[00:27:27]Deal with the stringy bit.

[00:27:30]Clean that. Put that on there.

[00:27:35]So, what I'm going to do now, I'm going to do some more of these. I'm going to let this glue dry.

[00:27:41]Then we're going to come back, we're going to fit the couplings, and we'll have a little look, and we'll see how that works. So, I'll catch you in a minute.

[00:27:47]Okay. Right. I've now done uh three of these.

[00:27:53]So, they've got the the coupling boxes fitted on. That one had one already. I fitted another on this end. So, what we do is we take the KD coupling.

[00:28:02]And well, I'll say KD coupling, you can do anything with this. It's now got a magnet pocket on it.

[00:28:09]Uh that slides in there like so.

[00:28:16]That's that one.

[00:28:18]So, I'll put the lid back on.

[00:28:22]And it just clips back on.

[00:28:24]These are fairly simple wagons.

[00:28:30]Wagon with a KD coupling, extra weight, and some um better wheels. So, do this one as well, which is same thing, except obviously this one needs couplings going in both ends cuz it didn't already have one.

[00:28:47]That goes in there.

[00:28:50]And one of the other benefits of this this this will give them slightly closer coupling.

[00:28:54]Um not vastly. We'll have a look in a minute cuz I've done Uh see that's that one.

[00:29:00]I've done the full works here on three of these.

[00:29:03]Uh I've done a partial conversion on one.

[00:29:09]And the reason I've done a partial conversion that's this one.

[00:29:13]Um it's got a KD at one end and a conventional coupler at the other.

[00:29:17]I haven't done the whole rake.

[00:29:19]I have done the K3 loco. That's got a KD now on its tender.

[00:29:25]So I'll be able to hook these uh these three directly to it.

[00:29:31]Um I can then put the converter wagon uh to the back uh which can then hook to the rest of the rake.

[00:29:40]Uh one of the reasons I'm going to do it that way around is I haven't done all the rake and I haven't done the uh the brake van.

[00:29:48]Uh the brake van is a Bachmann vehicle and will need to be done differently.

[00:29:54]So that's that. That can go on to there as well.

[00:30:00]And as you see these these just clip back together.

[00:30:03]Now I've got quite a few Hornby wagons with this style of underframe. So this should I'm saying it will but it should work on all of them.

[00:30:13]Which is going to be interesting. So I'm going to try that. So I'm going to put this onto here.

[00:30:21]Get in there. Here we go.

[00:30:25]And these aren't quite as smooth as a proper NEM tension lock coupling pocket would be but there we go.

[00:30:33]So the next step is the most important step in anything to do with model railway is testing them. So to the layout.

[00:30:43]Okay, back on the track.

[00:30:45]Um Got a barrier wagon down here and I've got the three I've played with here.

[00:30:51]Uh I'm going to move them a little bit closer together.

[00:30:55]They're not coupled.

[00:30:57]This end I've got a K3 which I'm going to bring in.

[00:31:00]Uh power on into reverse.

[00:31:04]Bring him back slowly.

[00:31:07]Here he comes and he's got a Just slightly here. He's got a KD on the back.

[00:31:15]So, he's going to come in and should couple up. Now, he may just start pushing them at first, but we'll see.

[00:31:23]That's coupled.

[00:31:24]That's pushing. That's pushing and coupled, coupled, coupled. Right.

[00:31:32]So, uh the test now, I'm going to pull them forward. Now, as we come forward, pay attention to the gap between them.

[00:31:41]Um you'll see these are slightly more closely coupled than the others.

[00:31:45]And we shall see how we go. So, off we go.

[00:31:50]Rolling out nicely.

[00:31:53]Uh and from here backwards uh The way I come backwards is the old style wheels.

[00:32:00]So, let's bring her back.

[00:32:05]There's much less slop in these couplers as well. It's not completely sort of slop free, but there's a lot less.

[00:32:15]So, that seems to work.

[00:32:20]The next test is obviously to go out for a trip around the layout. And uh we'll be around one and just do a loop or two and we shall see how we go. So, I'm going to set up for that. I'll catch you in a moment.

[00:32:36]So, here we go. Off we go at Would help if I put it in forward.

[00:32:43]Anyway, never mind.

[00:32:46]Here we go, and we're going to watch as she rumbles over the point work.

[00:32:51]And over we go.

[00:32:56]And come down here.

[00:33:00]Over the double slip. All the wagons is wobbling a little bit on the new wheels, which I suspect means the back-to-backs will need adjusting.

[00:33:13]But, we shall see. So, I shall carry on with this.

[00:34:46]>> Okay. So, here we are back at the station.

[00:34:50]Now, the more observant of you would have noticed during that that this disappeared.

[00:34:57]Um This It's a Bachmann breakdown. The couplings on it are slightly different to the Hornby ones.

[00:35:06]It couples much tighter.

[00:35:09]So, it basically keeps the the plastic beams in contact pretty much all the time.

[00:35:15]Um it doesn't like some points. I've got I've This one is another one I'm going to have to it's fittings are different. I'm going to have to come up with a different way of putting a KD on that.

[00:35:24]But, I'm going to have to do it.

[00:35:26]Now, running, you just seen some of the extra um it wasn't entirely smooth.

[00:35:35]But, the first three wagons, which are the ones I've upgraded, these are Remember, these have got extra weight.

[00:35:43]These have got metal wheels, and these have now got KD couplings.

[00:35:46]Flawless.

[00:35:49]Not a problem at all.

[00:35:51]The problem is the rear ones.

[00:35:53]Um came off several times.

[00:35:56]Um I suspect most the issue is weight. They're just basically too light. They hit a slightly uneven bit of track. They wobble, they rattle.

[00:36:06]Just running the new upgraded ones, the train's actually quieter cuz it's not rattling quite so much.

[00:36:12]So, I need to get the rest of these done.

[00:36:15]Um at the very least the KD couplings and the weights, even if I can't do the wheels on all of them. I I need to get the rest of that done.

[00:36:23]But, I'm quite happy with that as a little experiment. So, that um hopefully a shorter video than usual. I Hopefully a little bit more focused.

[00:36:30]Hopefully a little bit more interesting.

[00:36:33]Cheap Hornby wagons upgraded.

[00:36:37]Hm, I'm happy with that.

[00:36:39]I'll just get the rest of them done.

[00:36:42]Catch you on the next one.

[00:36:43]Likes, comments, shares, etc. are more than welcome.

[00:36:46]Anybody else upgraded your couplings or just even just added some weights?

[00:36:51]What do you think?

[00:36:53]See you around. Enjoy your weekend.

[00:36:56]This has been Leopard Street.