Coupling Rods

[Scott Rixon]

On page 6 of this month's magazine there is a nice job of adding outside frames. But what are the coupling rods made of?

[garrywhiting]

On page 6 of this month's magazine there is a nice job of adding outside frames. But what are the coupling rods made of?

I am sure Ted will confirm that he has employed the original metal coupling rods from the originating N gauge donor chassis.

[B.Meldon]

Ted

[tedp]

The coupling rods of the Lawley are the original Roco 0-6-0 diesel rods with a plastic overlay. The connecting rod is an original 1968 Minitrains Baldwin coupling rod which had the right length, and the piston rod is off a Minitrix dock tank. The cylinders are Minitrix as well, but clad in styrene tube.

The loco was built in 1992 and construction was described in the January 1993 Continental Modeller.

The other loco in the article is a Langley Darjeeling 'B'. In this case I made up the rods using single core telephone wire.

I stripped the insulation from a length, then rolled the wire under a flat file to straighten it out. Then the wire was folded round a pin, forming a loop and bringing the two parts together again using tweezers. The parallel wires were soldered together, with a fork remaining at the end.

This produces a nice thin rod with a hole at one end and a fork at the other. The fork is needed to prevent binding on the (roughly) quartered cranks. As I explained in the article, it is a 'belt and braces' approach, nothing like serious model engineering...  ;)

If you want any more info drop me a line.

[Scott Rixon]

Thanks. That makes more sense now! They do look quite good.

[tedp]

Glad to reply.   ;)