> Adding a working tail lamp to a Lima BR Mk1 BSK Coach (Part 1)

[Art Dent]

I thought I'd posted this on RMWeb - but apparently not!

 

Hi everyone.

Encouraged by my success at adding a working tail lamp to a Bachmann 20t brake van (see this thread), I engaged on my next project - adding a working tail lamp to a BR Mk1 Brake Corridor Second coach.

As with the Bachmann brake van project, I set out to photo-document the whole process from start to finish to again encourage others to attempt this (relatively) simple procedure and highlight any problems I encountered on the way.

First, a picture of the coach in question...

 

 

Easing the roof off is a relatively simple matter. Located in the end corridors are two plastic clips, one each end which are easily released using a flat-blade screwdriver ...

 

 

The roof and glazing then simply lift out ...

 

 

Picture showing the main coach body, the interior moulding and the roof/glazing moulding ...

 

 

View of the end of the coach showing the slot that accepts the roof/glazing clip. Below this is a 'porthole' window (which I plan to fit a push-switch behind so that the
lighting can be easily turned off for daylight running). This picture also shows the position of the two lamp irons above each buffer. I chose to fit the lamp above
the right hand buffer ...

 

 

The bogies are retained by a simple split plastic clip which passes through the floor of the coach body ...

 

 

Looking at the bogie my initial idea was to fit the pickups (DCC Concepts DCF-WP12) on the underside of the bogie like this ...

 

 

... however when I turned the bogie over there was an ideal recess in the upper part which is where I chose to locate the pickup ...

 

 

I cut a couple of short lengths - about 3 inches/8cm - of the enamelled wire from the loco light (DCC Concepts DCP 002) as it is very fine and very flexible. This was to
be used to connect the wiper to the coach passing upwards through the floor of the coach. These two lengths of wire were soldered onto the pickup wiper pcb ...

 

 

A small 'blob' of Araldite epoxy was placed onto the bogie between the frames ...

 

 

... and the pickup pcb glued into place ...

 

 

The feed wires were also epoxied to the bogie to prevent chafing ...

 

 

Part 2 continues by looking at the coach body.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2020 by Art Dent