Hornby MGR Wagons (R249) - Are Pivoting Axles Necessary?

[ISW]

The old Hornby R249 MGR wagons have an 'unusual' axle arrangement whereby the single axles actually pivot (presumably to permit navigation of very tight curves). Would I be right in thinking this is the only wagon model with such an arrangement?

 

Now, this pivoting is causing me all kinds of headaches as I have retrofitted my R249s with Kadee couplings. The pivoting causes lateral misalignment of the couplings when coupling up, and gets all out-of-alignment when propelling a rake of said wagons. The pivoting also causes some up/down movement of the coupler head due to the 'slackness' in the pivot, which is not good with Kadees. In addition, I've noticed it can cause some wagons to 'jump' when passing through turnout crossings, as the wheel flange collides with the crossing nose and/or the end of the checkrails, because the axle is not perpendicular to the track due to the pivot.

 

Is is considered de-rigor (err, common practice) amongst modellers to simply 'glue up' the pivot to totally prevent this pivoting? If so, how is this generally achieved? I don't have any particularly tight radii, and so don't feel as if I 'need' this pivot nonsense.

 

Ian

[LNERGE]

When I did this year's ago there was nowhere to ask advice like there is now. I decided to lock the pivots with plasticene as a non committal experiment. Once I proved the idea worked I went ahead and superglued them in place. 

[DCB]

There is no need for the pivoting unless you run 1st radius and not much need for it then.  Bits of plastic sprue fixed with Pipe weld or gel superglue are pretty useful for jamming the swivelling trucks.

[SRman]

57 minutes ago, LNERGE said:

When I did this year's ago there was nowhere to ask advice like there is now. I decided to lock the pivots with plasticene as a non committal experiment. Once I proved the idea worked I went ahead and superglued them in place. 

 

I did something very similar with most stock that had pivoting axlebox carriers, using Blu-tack, which retains a small amount of resilience to cope with uneven track but prevents them pivoting. I have never gone to the more permanent solution with glue, but if I did, I would try to use a glue with a little bit of 'give' once dry.

[Dagworth]

For a long time I was more in favour of keeping the swivel arrangement but have more recently come to the conclusion that gluing them solid is more reliable for running after all (and I have a *lot* of experience of Hornby HAAs  )

 

Various other Hornby wagons of similar vintage also had the same arrangement, the VDA van and the OBA and the four wheel steel wagon as well as the somewhat older ferrywagon. 

 

Andi

 

 

Edited October 26, 2021 by Dagworth
More info

[dave55uk]

As others have said, I too glued mine.

[Il Grifone]

The twisting axles are 1. unnecessary and 2. done incorrectly anyway. Coupled with Hornby's inheritance from Tri-ang of an excess in buffer height  of 2mm* this calls for some rebuilding. This also removes the unsightly gaps in the solebars.

 

Legacy curves go down to 13½" radius, which is probably the reason for the 'bogies'. However, while four and six wheel bogies are self guiding, two wheel bogies will go every which way, especially when pushed. I first encountered this problem with some 'Kleinbahn' wagons I purchased many years ago. These also had this twisting axle arrangement, but no form of alignment beyond a rigidly mounted Continental loop coupling. This was reasonable under traction, but was very prone to skewing and derailment when propelled. The solution was found in the Corgi Thunderbird missile trailer and consisted of a wire link diagonally between the two 'bogies' so that turning one turned the other in the opposite direction. It can just be seen here:

https://www.carmodel.com/corgi/350/1-43/trailer/with-thunderbird-missile/3014

 

For gentler curves, glue would probably be a better solution! The ferry van is particularly long, so may need some special treatment.

Official diagrams give 2 chains minimum radius (approx. 3rd radius) for a 'GLW' and 2½ chains for the Ferry van.

 

* Buffer height is normally 3' 5½" empty (for some wagons a bit lower). Standard allowance is 2½" for loading and the same for tyre wear (presumably on diameter?), so roughly 13/14mm. Replacing Hornby's 12.6mm diameter wheels with 12mm ones may assist. (Definitely so if the originals are plastic!)

 

 

[sulzer27jd]

When I had Balbeggie Sidings I was running 24-30 wagon trains and had locked up the pivots. They ran perfectly well.

 

As has been said previously, unless you are going down to silly curves, they will run successfully (in fact they run better) with the pivot fixed.

 

John

[ISW]

Gents,

 

Many thanks indeed for the informative and, for once, consistent responses. I can see an overwhelming 'thumbs up' to removal of the pivoting axles.

 

I've investigate a little further after I've removed the pivoting axles, again, and see which course of action I'll be taking to 'fix' the issue, in both senses of the word.

 

Ian

[ISW]

I 'fixed' the pivoting axles by the simple expedient of some superglue. With the wagon upside down, I first put a small amount of SuperFix grey 'Reinforcing Filling powder' (I believe you can also use baking powder) around one side of the pivot before adding a drop of thin superglue. I held the pivoting part downwards (to ensure a flat/full contact) and eyed the alignment using the inboard end of the pivoting section. The glue sets in seconds. Simples.

 

The alignment, both vertically and laterally, of the Kadee couplings has vastly improved.

 

Thanks again for the advice.

 

Ian

[Dave-5-5-7]

my Hornby HAA's have benefited from metal wheels and one end glued. I've also added 30g weight to each of them. 

It's my eventual plan to replace them with Accurascale variants over the next couple of years.