I have been on and on about the failings of Hornby's bogies/pony trucks for as long as I've had locos. Somehow Bachmann escaped, but for how much longer?

Anyway, there follow some pictures showing Hornby's bogie as supplied and a temporarily assembled whitemetal replacement.

There are clearly some jobs that Honrby's bogie has to do that I will not be needing, such as holding a front coupling, and I may well find why the side lumpy sticky out bits (I should know their name and function, but I have to confess I don't).

So now I have to learn to assemble whitemetal and find out how to do bearings. Maybe I have some. I don't know. I will cross that bridge when I come to it, and I may find out why Hornby chose the shape of bogie they did.