[Edwin]

Any idea of the length of train and gradient that the 66 can haul? My Farish 66s do fine with 28 4-wheel wagons on 1:40ish but struggle with 12 of the new Freightliner hoppers, which seem much heavier and have more rolling resistance. The Farish chassis casting fills most of the body, but I think I'm right in saying the Dapol has more air inside and therefore possibly scope to add lead.

 

[Edwin]

QUOTE (Nthusiast @ 7 Jul 2008, 08:35) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Edwin: No room at all in the Dapol to add lead (any apparent gap is in fact filled in the shell by the excellent light cluster. Have not tried long trains as my layout does not permit but the Dapol will not haul my CMX cleaning machine (arguably a pretty heavy cleaner to haul). The Farish 66 has all wheel drive i understand and is a little bit heavier so will probably haul more than the Dapol

Thanks. Back to graphiting the wheels of the hopper wagons and looking at whether I can re-design the layout to reduce gradient!

 

[Edwin]

QUOTE (upnick @ 7 Jul 2008, 23:56) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi Edwin,

Do i gather you are graphiting the wheels on the hoppers to gain a smoother running wagon ? a product i have found is 'grease em' from 'kadee' no 231. a dry graphite powder sold in tubes, (£1.90)

A word of caution though do the hoppers over a sheet of paper and not near the layout as it is sparkly and would look out of place if transferred to the layout

.... any excess i place in a screw top bottle for later use.

Thanks for this useful hint - I think there is some of this in my unopened trial pack of Mictrotrains couplers so I'll give it a go when I obtain that essential tool the round tuit. It's not so much making them smoother, more that some of the wheels don't turn very freely.

 

[Edwin]

QUOTE (upnick @ 8 Jul 2008, 19:40) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>More info please on 'that essential tool the round tuit'

I'll let you know when I find one.