sub39h Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Ok so I found a Hornby KFA for a reasonable price recently, and purchase it. Ultimately I will run it with a full 5 car FFA/FGA from Bachmann when they are released, but in the mean time I had some questions: 1. Aside from MOD trains, were single or a pair of KFAs ever seen in Speedlink trains? Or were they only ever in block trains? 2. Mine has the P&O and NOL containers. Are these correct for the late 80s/early 90s? 3. Do C=Rail containers work with Hornby's KFA, and if so which of their current offerings would be correct for the above era? Many thanks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
45059 Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 I run mine as a rake of 4, often with VGAs or else just as part of a Speedlink service. It sounds like our intentions (running them with the Bachmann FFA/FGA) and era are the same. I've swapped some of my 20' boxes for the C=Rail ones, I went for the Bell and Hapag-Lloyd versions. You do have to adapt the corner castings to fit on the mounting lugs of the KFA, and I only use them on the outer positions as the centre of the middle box will sit on the centre lugs of the wagon- if you look at Hornby's 20' boxes you'll see that they have a recess in the centre to fit over these. (I'm sure that these are also adaptable on the C=Rail boxes, but I had a bout of lazyitus!) I've worked as a docker for the past 10 years and have seen more containers than Yoda had hot dinners! So sometimes I struggle to remember which livery was exactly correct for a given era, so I largely follow Rule #1, just avoiding the liveries that are overtly 'modern'. HTH. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sub39h Posted September 7, 2014 Author Share Posted September 7, 2014 Thank you very much for your help and suggestions. Just out of interest, on a a recent review of the KFA I read that whilst the wagon itself is very good, the boxes don't look right. Given your experience, would you agree with this assessment? Thanks again Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 In the mid-1980s/ early 1990s, there used to be a regular traffic of resin/glue from CIBA- Geigy at Duxford to Stranraer, for onward carriage to Northern Ireland. The stuff was transported initially in 20' curtain-sided containers (with a 17-tonne 'bag' inside), and then, after one of these split its curtains, in 20' tank-tainers. The photos in David Ratcliffe's 'Freight Train Formations' show a RLS PFA (RLS 92546) on curtain-siders and a Greater Manchester Council one (GMC 92530) with a pair of 20' tanks. . Whilst neither is actually a Tiphook wagon, they look very similar... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 1. Aside from MOD trains, were single or a pair of KFAs ever seen in Speedlink trains? Or were they only ever in block trains? Here's a single KFA and a block train! http://ukrailwaypics.smugmug.com/UKRailRollingstock/K-Tops-codes/KFA-Intermodal-flats#!/i-48Zg4TS/A 2. Mine has the P&O and NOL containers. Are these correct for the late 80s/early 90s? Personally, I think Hornby's attempts at the 20' and 40' dry box are both rather poor (a shame when the wagon is so good!) - though I'm happy to accept that i'm probably in a minority who's bothered by it, and i'd suggest you need to make up your own mind really. I'd suggest comparing the sides to a real one, the Hornby boxes have not enough ribs and to the wrong shape to be the modern box they purport to be - the ends are quite nice though!. Might make suitable conversion fodder for other variants maybe. The liveries you have should be fine for your era. 3. Do C=Rail containers work with Hornby's KFA, and if so which of their current offerings would be correct for the above era? Yes they should work, as above you might need to slightly modify the holes, but it is minimal work. Which boxes? Ignore ALL High Cubes (40' high cube or 40' reefer) as they could not be carried on KFA (or any standard height flat) in your era. Ignoring specific details like numbers/codes and concentrating on basic livery, P&O should be okay (though from memory if you have lots of P&O you should try and model some still marked up for predecessor OCL) - as should the "early" silver Maersk, and the Bell, Hapag Lloyd probably okay, most of the others i'd avoid. Worth mentioning that your options for suitable boxes could well get better in the near future. C-Rail are working on an older style (square ribs, with optional logo panel) 20' box which, when they get it to market should be very useful for your era - probably more useful than the modern full corrugated design. We've also yet to see what Bachmann are planning to load on their FFA/FGA, i'll be interested to see what they plan to offer, whether it will be more useful to period modellers than their existing 20'. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
45059 Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Sorry for the late reply, if you place a C=Rail box next to a Hornby one, the fidelity of the C=Rail one IMHO is much better. The locking bars of the Hornby box need painting (I personally mainly have the doors facing inwards which often happens- I believe as a security measure,) and as Glorious NSE mentioned the ribs are of the earlier 'box section' type regardless of livery/era depicted. I'm looking forward to C=Rail releasing older style boxes, as there seems to have been a bias towards modern containers thus far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sub39h Posted September 10, 2014 Author Share Posted September 10, 2014 Ok great thanks so much everyone for your in depth advice. It's been very helpful indeed! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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