GWC1

Yes Les, that is me.

I tried to copy what I thought the Dapol Mk1s have, but as I have not got any yet, I had to make some assumptions. What I did was to make the gangway as one item, with the floor extended beyond the ends and drilled to go over a bolt in the floor of each coach. This provides the coupling and means the gangway has no gap. However, it has to project into each coach end far enough so that, when rotated, the end does not come into view looking from the side of the coach. I included a false coach end about 10mm back from the real end. This was OK on the 195 as the real unit has an aperture for the exhaust pipes here. On the Blue Pullman you don't have this space though. However, your coaches are shorter and, depending on what your curve radius is (and crucially reverse curve dimensions), you might get away with a smaller recess.

I don't know where you are, but if near Nottingham, you can examine the real unit at our club show this coming weekend.

Otherwise I will be at Kettering as a visitor, but not with the unit with me.

Hi Graham

Thanks for the detailed reply. Having first tried some unsuccessful rubber versions, I too have adapted the Dapol rigid component approach.

My present design has the gangways vertically pivoted within a combined unit of air  seal and interior gangway wings , itself being a vertical loose sliding fit in the coach end . This all places the 'gangway coupling' pivot centres around 2mm outside the coach ends.

While all this seems to work in the CAD drawings, I will not know how things actually perform until some proper track testing later this year.

Much as I'd like to see yours in operation I am some distance away in Tyne & Wear.

Regards

Les