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Disc braked Mk2s


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Hello all.

 

I've repainted a Bachmann Mk2 TSO into Scotrail livery and I am going to number it up as 5152, which was one of the carriages modified for the Edinburgh - Glasgow top and tailed air braked trains.  I believe these carriages were converted from standard vacuum brakes to air operated disc brakes and had through wiring to allow the two Class 27 locos to work in multiple. My question is, does anyone have any photos of the underframes/bogies on these carriages and what differences were there?  I assume the air brake cylinders were mounted on the bogies, so there would be no air cylinders or brake rigging on the underframe.  Was there any other additional underframe equipment like air regulators etc? Modelling wise I guess etched discs could be added to the wheels and the brake shoes could be removed from the Bachmann bogies, plus the brake cylinders and rigging removed from the underframe.  This photo http://80srail.zenfolio.com/p46631637/ef830592 is of one of the modified Mk2s, but it's hard to see what's going on downstairs.  It looks like there's some additional air pipes on the side of the bogie.

 

Finally, here's a picture of my repainted coach (the number needs changing).

post-1855-0-57232400-1422489548_thumb.jpg

 

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

Rick

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The photo you've linked shows the air brake distributor next to the nearest bogie. I used spare ones from a scrap Airfix air-cons when we modelled our three Mk2z TSO coaches for Kirkhill. As we had some spare Bachmann air-brake gear we removed the vacuum brake cylinders and piping and substituted it with air brake gear instead.

 

The photo below shows a distributor on a Bachmann Mk2a, this isn't present on the Bachmann Mk2z as it is a vacuum braked coach.

 

post-7112-0-46737500-1422490252_thumb.jpg

 

 

Plus a photo of one of our repaints is below with the distributor to the left of the rh bogie.

 

post-7112-0-13279800-1422490455.jpg

 

 

For completeness here is a photo of the differences in the underframe rigging between air braked (top) and vacuum braked (bottom).

 

post-7112-0-85308600-1422490809_thumb.jpg

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Thanks for the reply Flood. I have various Mk2z and Mk2a models and I've compared the underframes. I've got a long job ahead of me changing brake gear, gangways and numbers to turn various models into the coaches I need for my layout! I can see what you mean by being a coachaholic, the more I get into it the more I want to do. Coaches are addictive and I've ended up collecting Platform 5 books for the period 1988-1993 too.

 

With regard to my specific question about the Mk2Zs converted to air disc brakes, surely the brake cylinders would be on the bogies not the underframe? The same as on units like 158s. Are any of these carriages preserved? I'd like a chance to look under one.

 

Cheers,

 

Rick

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Thanks for the reply Flood. I have various Mk2z and Mk2a models and I've compared the underframes. I've got a long job ahead of me changing brake gear, gangways and numbers to turn various models into the coaches I need for my layout! I can see what you mean by being a coachaholic, the more I get into it the more I want to do. Coaches are addictive and I've ended up collecting Platform 5 books for the period 1988-1993 too.

 

With regard to my specific question about the Mk2Zs converted to air disc brakes, surely the brake cylinders would be on the bogies not the underframe? The same as on units like 158s. Are any of these carriages preserved? I'd like a chance to look under one.

 

Cheers,

 

Rick

The brake actuators are on the bogie. Also mounted on the bogie is the Girling WSP system, comprising an axle end mounted control unit and a blowdown valve mounted above it on the bogie frame.

 

If you are doing a BSO even they had no brake rigging as they had a hydraulic unit to apply the "handbrake".

 

Al Taylor

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Thanks for the reply Al, you've confirmed my suspicions!  I've been digging deeper online this evening and managed to find 9400 preserved at Whitrope Heritage Centre.  It's a BSO, but has had the same air operated disc brake conversion as the TSO I'm looking to recreate.  There are a few good photos of the bogies here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/peteredin/sets/72157624595894790/ .  The extra pipework you mentioned for the WSP, and the discs are clearly visible too.  This photo is also useful: 3288427796_d423e6bf4a_b.jpgCoaches at Whitrope Summit by cessna152towser, on Flickr

 

I hope this is useful to anyone considering modelling one of these carriages.

 

Rick

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