Derailments with Hornby Pullmans has been a frequent topic elsewhere. A popular solution is to replace the couplings. I run two of these in a rake of 6 Ian Kirk Pullmans.
The latter gave lots of problems due to Ian's bogies (sorry Ian) and I have replaced mine with Bachman bogies designed for their Thompson coaches. The whole rake now runs with Kadee couplings, which also include a type for fitting in NEM pockets. Kadee Couplings
The big advantage is that they are buck eye couplings and therefore closely represent the LNER type fitted to Gresleys, Thompsons and BR Mk1 stock. I am pleased to say that the rake of 8 carriages now performs almost faultlessly, reversing over double slips and facing points is no longer a problem.
With tension lock couplings of unequal hook length, the point of coupling is often off the centre line of the bogie. I suggest that the improvement with Kadees is due to the fact that the point where each carriage is attached to the next is always on the centre line of the bogies and so there is no tendency to pull the bogie crabwise, which gives the leading flanges the opportunity to climb over the rail at any out of line track joint or point blade that it meets and so cause a derailment.
Colombo
The latter gave lots of problems due to Ian's bogies (sorry Ian) and I have replaced mine with Bachman bogies designed for their Thompson coaches. The whole rake now runs with Kadee couplings, which also include a type for fitting in NEM pockets. Kadee Couplings
The big advantage is that they are buck eye couplings and therefore closely represent the LNER type fitted to Gresleys, Thompsons and BR Mk1 stock. I am pleased to say that the rake of 8 carriages now performs almost faultlessly, reversing over double slips and facing points is no longer a problem.
With tension lock couplings of unequal hook length, the point of coupling is often off the centre line of the bogie. I suggest that the improvement with Kadees is due to the fact that the point where each carriage is attached to the next is always on the centre line of the bogies and so there is no tendency to pull the bogie crabwise, which gives the leading flanges the opportunity to climb over the rail at any out of line track joint or point blade that it meets and so cause a derailment.
Colombo
