Rewheeling Hornby Dublo Coaches

In message , Kevin Martin writes

Replace them with Bachmann Mark Is?

"Kevin Martin" wrote

Waste of time in my opinion - there are far better coaches on the market these days, and all you will do is destroy the value of the Dublo coaches.

John.

Agreed but this is what the owner wants :-)

Kevin Martin

Then let him bugger it up. If you get it wrong, he'll have a go at you.

At one time Peco produced replacement wheel that were intended for this very task, not having bothered to look at a Peco catalogue for many years I'm not sure if they still list the wheels - other than that you will need special bearings machined to fit into the axle boxes whilst the bearing surface conforms to modern axle standards. How many bearings are you going to need, depending on the number it might be worth contacting someone like Alan Gibson to see if he can produce the said bearings and what information / dimensions he would need.

If care was taken it should be possible to make non permanent changes to the Dublo bogies that would allow the original axle sets to be refitted if the need arose.

":::Jerry::::" wrote

From memory the Dublo wheelsets (plain end axles/no pin-points) are held in place by holes in tin strips on each side of the bogie and do not use bearings in the bogie castings.

If Kevin can get hold of any modern wheelsets with similar axle ends (not come across any in years) he could simply use them as replacements for the original wheels. The problem is that to remove/replace the existing wheelsets requires at least one of the tin-strips to be un-tabbed with the risk of breakage when it is bent back to secure it in place. It would be very unlikely for this action to be repeatable (to replace the original wheelsets) due to bending fatigue these strips.

John.

changes

ends (not

existing

original

Well, when the Dublo coaches (3 rail) that we converted (many more moons than I care to remember...) were done I seem to remember that 'tin-plate keeper' you mention *clipped* into place, there is no need to bend any metal at all!

If you put metal wheels with insulated axles into H-D diecast bogies, wouldn't that short them out (assuming they are to be used on 2-rail)?

It would be preferable to put in wheelsets with both wheels insulated, otherwise you need to have the all wheelsets with the insulation on the same side AND plastic couplers because axles, bogies, chassis, body and couplers will all be at rail potential.

Greg.P.

Hmmm, yes. I guess I was thinking of Bachmann-type wheelsets in which the centre of the axle is plastic but the wheels are not insulated from the pin-point ends.

Incidentally, you have to do the same as above with the EFE Underground trains if you want to motorise them and keep the original wheels, as only one wheel is insulated from the axle, which is held in place by a metal spring strip that is electrically connected to the diecast chassis. I replaced the non-powered wheels on mine with 9mm Romfords.

Not a good idea with HD. The old Romford/Jackson wheels should work. (not that I've tried them in that situation)

Here is an update of these HD coaches.

That would be good

These particular HD coaches have a metal top frame for the bogies with plastic sideframes. The wheels are also all plastic, so I would assume that these are from the last production of these vehicles and are 2-Rail.

The plastic wheels are a pinpoint design, or at least they should be. They give the distinct impression of having been broken off a sprue by HD rather than having been filed later. As a consequence the existing wheels are a very sloppy fit in the bogie. Even so a 26mm axle is still fairly loose, so needs some bearings. The pin points bearings I have (being an EM modeller I know about these) are all no good as they don't allow the axle to go in the recess at all. I hope that bit makes sense.

Just thought, didn't Peco make some bearings for this purpose? I might have some, just a simple matter of locating them ;-)

These might be them, PR15. Do you have any in stock John?

From a Collectors point of view, forget them. Some have been permanently "modified" by fitting Kadee couplers to one end.

Regards

Kevin Martin

Many years ago I rewheeled some of my Hornby-Dublo coaches; the wheels/axles were by Jackson (I'm pretty sure - but could be wrong). If the bogie side frames were gently eased apart the plastic wheelset could be removed and replaced with the metal set. Unfortunately the replacement wheelsets were marginally longer than the original Dublo sets, so it was necessary to remove them, file a little off each end of the axle while maintaining some form of pointed end, and then pop them back in. When both axles spun reasonably freely the job was considered to be complete - all a bit "agricultural" by today's modelling standard but, nonethlees, it worked. The ends of the Dublo axles were rounded rather than pointed, so were not "pin-point" by any stretch of the imagination. Was it worth it? Yes - the metal wheels didn't pick up anything like the amount of muck the plastic (or were they nylon) did; the sound of the wheels on rail joints was enhanced and I still had what was then - and still is - a jolly good quality coach, albeit about an inch under scale length. By the way, the Dublo coaches cost all of 16/9d each (88p for those who can't recall proper money). Hope this helps, David Costigan

Kevin Martin wrote in news:43c47230$0$18228$ snipped-for-privacy@news.optusnet.com.au:

...

As you go on to say that from the collectors pov these coaches are non starters might it not be possible to fill the old bearings with milliput then drill out to fit "modern" brass pinpoint barings suitable for "modern" wheels? Just a thought.

The last time that I looked at H-D wheels on Peco code 100 track, the wheels didn't hit the chairs.

David

Susan and David Leaver 10 Goodparla St, Hawker, ACT 2614 Australia

David Costigan wrote: [...] By the way, the Dublo coaches cost

And what was a decent wage back then?

I suspect he meant those old horrible steamroller wheels with no coning and huge flanges.

Peco used to do drop-in wheels to convert from 3-rail to 2-rail.

£10 per week was considered 'very handsome'. IIRC the Hornby Dublo Barnstaple costing something like £5-19-6 Brian

----- Original Message ----- From: "David Costigan" Newsgroups: uk.rec.models.rail Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 8:20 PM Subject: Re: Rewheeling Hornby Dublo Coaches

16/9 = 83.75 new pence. I can remember.

Vernon in Middlewich.