Mounting coach bogies

Not your imagination, almost certainly the reason, reduces chance of buffer locking on small diameter curves.

Ken.

That was quick! :-) Thank you - yes, obvious when thought about, but does raise a further question - why is mounting the bogies in that manner not standard, particularly for 'toy trains', where sharp curves prevail. Perhaps there is a not so obvious disadvantage?

IIRC, some Rivarossii North American passenger cars have the pivot point over the second axle on two axle trucks (bogies) and over the third on three axle.

-- Cheers Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

Because non-locking non-prototype couplings were preferred, easier to remotely uncouple. And today's prototypes are non-locking of course. But I recall seeing it on cheap tinplate stuff as a child, it was old then, probably early post- or pre- WW1. And I'm sure I've seen it more recently on a remotely-steered road vehicle, will run straight without input.

Ken.

By reducing the end throw in this way and hence reducing the likelihood of buffer locking, you increase the centre throw so the coach would need more clearance for example from a platform on the inside of a curve.