Close coupling elderly Underground coaches: the Hunt Elite Coupling Experience.

[teeinox]

Ever eager to try something different for close coupling, I wandered over to the “West Hill Wagon Works” stand at a model railway exhibition to investigate their Hunt Elite Coupling product.  Most of their offering is, understandably, designed for use with NEM sockets, so has the “swallow tail” fitting.  I could replace my existing Roco/Hornby combinations with these, but I didn’t see an overwhelming case for this.  So I cast my thoughts elsewhere to some still treasured Underground stock I scratch built out of cardboard about 50 years ago!  At the time the only R-T-R bogies available were Trix Commonwealth bogies: ludicrously inappropriate for these coaches (Hammersmith and City M stock of 1936) but outstandingly light and free-running, and within my pocket money budget at the time!

 

These bogies came equipped with the Trix version of the Peco Simplex coupling; and a very good version it is too.  I still use it today on some vehicles I want to convert to Simplex couplings.  However, like all such couplings, it has slop which prevents the close coupling that this type of train requires, detracting from its look.

 

So, on explaining my problem to the West Hill Wagon Works representative, emphasising that these coaches were built, and the couplings made, before he was born, he suggested their “Couplings for Clip Socket” as a solution.  These are designed for vehicles built with a clip to hold the tension lock coupling.  The clip holds the coupling in place with a spigot which goes through a hole in the coupling.  So, I could put a screw through this hole instead to hold the coupling in place; handy since the Trix coupling was held in place by just such a handy screw.  The clip socket couplings only come in one length, but I thought it worth a punt at £14.95 for 20!

 

There is no close-coupling unit involved, so it was a question of how close a coupling I could get with a simple bogie mounting.  Not so difficult where no buffers are involved as on this stock, and conversion of the bogies was a doddle.  A bit of plastic on the bogie had to be removed, and the coupling trimmed a tad to provide clearance for enough lateral swing.  10 minutes a bogie, and on the left is the unmodified bogie with the Trix Simplex coupling in place and on the right the modified version with Hunt coupling installed.  In the centre is the Hunt coupling before tweaking:

 

 

As for the result, here is a sideways view of the train.  The coaches are almost prototypically close, with the chosen gap adequate for 2nd radius curves.  The coupling looks nice, neat and unobtrusive.

 

 

And the end view is neat, too.  On the right is the Hunt Elite coupling.  On the left is a dummy representation of a District Railway “Ward” mechanical coupler with which this stock was equipped.  The appearance of the Hunt coupling is not unlike it and could with a little bit of work, be even more so.  Even so, as it stands it is not a bad representation, as afficionados of Underground stock might appreciate, suitable for an Eastbound Driving Motor destined for Barking!

 

 

I appreciate that this is a rather esoteric application not relevant to most, but using Hunt Elite couplings here has really improved these coaches in appearance and running.  Oh, and one worry I had about magnetic couplings was that since my rolling stock spends most of its time packed in boxes, uncoupled, the magnets would have no keeper and thus lose power.  Not so, our man from West Hill Wagon Works explained; they have a layer of graphite incorporated to deal with this problem.  Clever, huh?  A great product!

[Guest Jack Benson]

Hi,

 

I fully agree with your conclusions, all coaching stock on Beaminster Road uses Hunt couplings except the Bachmann Bulleids as these have me stumped. The couplings seem to prevent ‘shake’ and are very discrete.

 

StaySafe

 

 

 

 

 

[teeinox]

Glad the site is back, but sorry the photos I previously posted are lost.  But here comes a replacement photo which gives you some idea of the previous ones!

 

Since my last post, I have completed the conversion of two further Underground sets.  The first was an 8-car set of District line R stock.  This set is powered by 2 Black-Beetle motor bogies, one at each end of the set.  Inevitably, such motor bogies differ in power and speed for the same supply and so there is “fighting” between them.  I wanted to see if the Hunt coupling could cope with this.  The Hunt couplings held the train together perfectly, though the Black-Beetle moto bogies are not the most powerful things in the world!

 

The second was an 8-car train of Q stock.  This raised issues.  The unpowered coaches in the train run on Trix Commonwealth bogies.  The motor coach contains 2 Tenshodo motors to provide the power, and its coupling arrangements are different.  In particular, its attachment point is about 1.5mm higher than on the other coaches.  With Simplex couplings, this did not matter.  A different type of coupling with different fixing arrangements lined up adequately with the other couplings, and Simplex couplings have a reasonable degree of tolerance of minor differences in height.

 

Not so the Hunt couplings.  The magnets couple exactly.  My first approach was to allow a degree of vertical movement on the motor coach’s coupling.  This did not work: the strength of the magnetism meant that the coupling bar was solid and true, with the lighter coach’s wheels consequently being lifted from the rails!

 

So I decided to cut the motor coach coupling and re-assemble it cranked.  Cutting these couplings is a curious experience.  The shank is ostensibly tough and resistant to the blade, but unlike nylon or Delrin couplings, when it is cut, it is more like a crack forming than a clean cut.  It is as if the material, while very rigid, has an almost granular texture that shatters under a knife.  Gluing the bits together was successful, and here is the result:

 

 

On the left is the Q23 motor containing the Tenshodo motors and equipped with the cranked coupling.  On the right is a Q38 trailer with the standard coupling arrangement.  The Q23 is a Radley Models resin casting, heavily reworked to bring it up to a decent standard.  As for the Q38, I scratch-built it in 1962.  So it’s in its 60th year!  And prototypically, this bizarre combination was authentic, part of the charm of the District Line of yesteryear.

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

I've been experimenting with these on some push pull stock and they seem very  good so far. I have put the screw on type on my old Ivatt tank and the clip socket type on Airfix bogies. 2nd radius in my fiddle yard seems no problem and I think with a bit of trial and error I can get down to the buffers almost touching using the shorter types.

[Lord of Narnia]

Looks good. I usually use a simple bar to couple my underground stock although they don’t uncouple in service. 
 

The Q stock looks great. Despite being a Met modeller I do like the Q stock! 

[teeinox]

On 10/05/2022 at 20:36, Lord of Narnia said:

Looks good. I usually use a simple bar to couple my underground stock although they don’t uncouple in service. 
 

The Q stock looks great. Despite being a Met modeller I do like the Q stock! 

As a schoolboy I travelled on the Uxbridge branch: F, P (Metadyne equipped - an extraordinary noise as it wound up and down!) and later A stock.  I still have some half built F stock.  Scratch built, but the problems, like the complicated roof, are just too daunting.  I've settled for the Heljan locomotive.  A lovely thing to look at, but a noisy transmission on my example.  What it needs is a Metropolitan milk van: I scratch built one of those many years ago: an early plasticard experiment!