Hornby Black 5 Coupling

[Kaput]

Picked up the new Black 5 from the 1:1 Collection - how on earth do you fit the front coupling short of gluing it in place?

Its not a NEM socket and it seems to just have a screw to hold it in place however theres nothing for the screw to actually grip.

 

Alternatively how to fit a Kadee?

[The Johnster]

Parkside Models do a NEM 'fishtail' mounting block which of course can be used with any NEM coupler including Kaydee.  This will allow you to use a NEM pocket retaining the 'waggler' that allows flexibility and lateral play in the coupler.  You will need to glue this to the bogie frame after trimming it to give the correct height above the rail and distance from the buffer beam.  Alternatively, glue the pocket in a suitable position (probably on top of the bogie frame), but you will lose the use of the waggler, which may be needed if your layout has sharp curves.

 

Bachmann make 4 different fittings of NEM couplers, long and short cranked (downwards) and straight, to assist positioning.  I don't know what Kaydees are available but there will be a suitable one from their range no range.

[ejstubbs]

If I am understanding Kaput's problem correctly, the front coupling is supposed to fit to the leading pony truck.  I doubt it would be feasible to fit a Parkside mounting block to that without fairly major, and risky, surgery involving cutting away quite a lot of metal.

 

I fitted a Kadee #141 whisker coupler in a #262 gear box to the pony truck on my Hornby Black Five by drilling and tapping a 2-56 hole about 3.5mm in front of the existing coupler mounting screw hole.  I may have a photo somewhere...

 

Yep, here they are:

 

 

Edited December 15, 2019 by ejstubbs
Added photos

[brossard]

My opinion is that a Class 5 loco will not be carrying out shunting duties nor hauling trains tender first.  Therefore it does not require a front coupling.  I would install a cosmetic screw coupling.

 

John

[Kaput]

Thanks both - given me some ideas and things to go on.

Have ordered a spare bogie so I can experiment and still be able to restore the loco back to original state.

[Kaput]

2 minutes ago, brossard said:

My opinion is that a Class 5 loco will not be carrying out shunting duties nor hauling trains tender first.  Therefore it does not require a front coupling.  I would install a cosmetic screw coupling.

 

John

 

Since its a model of a preserved loco theres every chance it could be running heritage line duties tender first

[brossard]

Your choice, I only said what I would do.

 

John

[DCB]

17 hours ago, brossard said:

My opinion is that a Class 5 loco will not be carrying out shunting duties nor hauling trains tender first.  Therefore it does not require a front coupling.  I would install a cosmetic screw coupling.

 

John

In the death steam era, post 62, plenty of tender engines were used for shunting as shunting locos were withdrawn, Royal Scots on the Pick up goods to the quarries around Shap, tender first home.   Castles were filmed on ECS duties out of Paddington.   The bigger problem is a coupling on the bogie frame will derail the bogie if you pull or push with the coupling.  I extend the bogie mounting bar towards the buffer beam and mount the coupling on that. The bogie can then drop away from the bar on a longer than standard screw and the buffer beam holds the coupling down.  That way you can push  or pull 10 coaches quite comfortably.  Looks to be a suitable way to mount a Kadee

[brossard]

You are undoubtedly right and I reiterate that it is the choice of the modeller.

 

As for the mechanics of mounting the kadee on the bogie, I heartily agree that it will probably derail when pulling or pushing stock.  The ideal is to mount the coupling on the body somehow as you described.

 

Happily I switched to O gauge 3 years ago so i'm using prototype couplings now -

 

John

 

[ejstubbs]

I've no doubt it could be persuaded to derail with the sort of loads that David mentions, but mine will quite happily pull five coaches tender-first using the coupling mounted as per my photos, and will propel the same load at shunting-type speeds with no problems.  (I suspect that mounting it on the buffer beam would be problematic on layouts with trainset curves, like mine.  The end throw of a Black Five's front end is going to be a fair bit more than that of a 57ft coach, for example.)