Hornby NEM pocket couplers now available

The only problem with this is that Hornby rolling stock does not have the sockets to plug these into. Most Continental rolling stock have a socket which you can just plug these into.

QUOTE (Dennis David @ 7 Jul 2006, 09:01) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Yeah, the Hornby couplers look like Fleischmann close couplers.
Thats because thats what they are. Good to see they are catching up in other areas other than detail.

it all looks very complicated to me !!! I, and probrably many of you may have too, stock dating back to the 60s, will there be a conversion kit so as these couplers can fit older stock, if not, how will old stock couple to new stock if these couplers become the standard? never having experienced these couplings i probraly sound negative towards them, i'm not, and can see why improvements are required, think i may try to get hold of these, then i might have a better idea of what they are about.

I suppose fitting NEM's to all the older rolling stock would be a mammoth undertaking and perhaps not economically viable.
On a related subject I also notice they are bringing out 12mm coaching stock wheels. The discs they are currently producing, are they 14mm and which goes where?

What about uncoupling ? I assume that there is a system with these to uncouple automatically? Sorry if that's a daft question, but if you've never used them you don't know!

QUOTE (neil_s_wood @ 7 Jul 2006, 01:14) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Thats because thats what they are. Good to see they are catching up in other areas other than detail.

Er - no they are not Fleischmann - I've just compared a Roco close coupling to the pics & they look identical to them.

To possibly confuse matters Roco superceeded the coupling type shown with the "claw" type shown in the centre picture - this is similar to the Marklin close coupling. However, when Roco had financial problems one of the outgoing people left & took the patents for the "claw" type coupling with them (as well as the one for the "Rocoline" track with roadbed !).

Roco make two types of NEM coupling conversion pockets & they work very well.

The Roco/Hornby coupling is a good coupling but can be damaged by very rough coupling up (better the coupling than the rolling stock though). It can become uncoupled due to lumpy track and/or harsh gradiant transitions but it does have the advantage (as does the Fleischmann Profi Coupling) that you can remove an item of rolling stock vertically without having to use an uncoupling ramp/uncoupler.

Hope that this imformation is useful.

regards
Brian

Hi to all,

I was delighted to hear that Hornby were offering a new close coupling. And equally delighted that it is a copy of the the Roco 40270.

I pretty much agree with everything that steve jones has said on the subject in his Thirty Year Gap article.

However, I had to think back to a couple of years ago when i did some tests on the Roco products.

I liked the standard Roco loop type 40243 and thought that I could have these on locos and the 40271 close coupler on my Bachman MK1s.

As I recall, however, neither Roco coupler is long enough to couple from loco to coach NEM socket or from MK 1 coach to coach NEM pocket!!

Thus I still use the Vac pipes and the Bachman tension coupler on locos!!!

Of course this could all be a horrid dream, but if the Hornby cc is Roco part 40270 then it is not long enough for MK 1s.

Could someone else have a look; as I haven't got the Roco bits to try again.. Hope I'm completely plain wrong on this foolish memory test.

TVBG

I have received a sample of these couplings. To confirm, the Hornby NEM Close coupling - R8219 is not the same as the Roco close coupling, it is just the old small tension lock coupling. The photo at Hattons was not good enough to see this. I have updated the first post to hopefully make this more clear.

The R8220 NEM Hornby Coupling is the new one, Similar or the same as the Roco one. It says on the packet that is "Designed and imported by Hornby Hobbies Ltd...", but I suppose that that is just standard for all their packaging.

Here are some initial experiments with the couplings:

The old (standard) R8219 NEM small tension-lock couplings on a pair of Northumbrian coaches.


New R8220 NEM Hornby couplings fitted to the same Northumbrian coaches.


Detail of the couplings just before a Peco uncoupling ramp.


On the uncoupling ramp - nothing happens... I suppose due to the tension of the coaches and the insufficient force of the ramp.


One on, one off. This is what is meant to happen. The loops on the bottom drive a wedge between the coupling hooks and the couplings come apart. When there is no tension between coaches, the mechanism works fine.


The trouble is that the Peco ramps are not suitable for this job. I tried raising the ramp to get more pressure, but this just uncoupled the coaches as they rode over the ramp normally.

I think the solution would have to be an electric solenoid actuated ramp under the couplings that operates at the push of a button.

QUOTE Er - no they are not Fleischmann - I've just compared a Roco close coupling to the pics & they look identical to them.

So there we go then they're not Roco or Fleischmann.

Roco Pocket coupling


Hornby R8220 NEM coupling


They are very similar to Roco. Based on Roco, but they are slightly different.

QUOTE (Doug @ 16 Jul 2006, 12:49) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Roco Pocket coupling


Hornby R8220 NEM coupling


They are very similar to Roco. Based on Roco, but they are slightly different.

Thanks for the pics Doug - looks likes they are just different enough to avoid patent issues !

BTW - do they operate together ?

Brian