Brigadelok

[Tigger]

Last Friday we trialled Bernard's Brigadelok on the L&TR. A superb runner in all respects, smooth, quiet and easy to control. We were also impressed that without hesitation it was able to traverse the two 6" radius curves in Llanmynach yard.

[Hugh Norwood]

My Brigadelok (set) arrived on Saturday - very fast and efficient service from the Sales team - thanks, chaps!

It is a lovely loco.

[B.Meldon]

I have had my set for over a week now and I am very pleased with it. As appears to be common to all the loco runs very well indeed.

I have had to adjust the height of the couplings on the loco though. I use the small Roco wagons as a height guide as these are impossible to change and appear to be the same as the Egger couplings and most (but not all)  of the Liliput H0e couplings as well.

The problem with the Brigadelok was that the angled part of the coupling was too high so the loop of the next vehicle hit the vertical part and did not go up and over the pin.
It was an easy job to loosen the glued on coupling and then re-glue it a couple of mm lower. I set it so the top of the pin was the same height as the top of the pin on the Roco wagon and this now works just fine.

I also found that the coupling on the bogie coaches and wagons in the Mintrains set also needed some work. The wire hoop had been bent so that instead of sitting with the loop horizontal it sloped down towards the outer end making it too low. Again it was an easy fix by just carefully removing the wire loop and adjusting the bends in the wire slightly. I also found one wire coupling loop was misshaped and leaning to one side so I corrected this at the same time as well.

Both the loco and wagons now work fine will all my other rolling stock.

This may be a problem of my own making, but then the wagons and coaches in the set would not couple to the loco as delivered without lifting the coupling loop in some way so I have no doubt others have found the same problem.

Brian Meldon

[Hochwald]

Hello Brian and the sales team

Many thanks for the superb service the Brigadelok arrived on time (sorry for the delay in responding, I've been away again) It runs very well although I note some owners have had problems. It likes the Minitrains controller and runs at a scale walking pace even with a heavy train. Modern technology, I'm convinced of it!Goodnight H&M you've reached retirement age!,

Alan Hamer
No 6015

[Allscales]

I would go further and say it is the nicest/best 009/Hoe loco to date. Eagerly looking forward to the next Minitrains loco release.

Rod

I would beg to disagree, to me the Roco Mh class loco's rank as best ever. I just wish they didn't drain the resources quite so much!

[Hochwald]

A new operating experience with the BRIGADLOK.  After a bit of tracklaying the brigadlok was disapatched on a test run, all went well until near the end of the new bit of track when it stopped suddenly, wouldn't move forward and would only be coaxed in reverse. Turning the flywheel by hand freed up the mechanism as a tiny piece of ballast dropped out from the the gear train. Heart rate dropped!! To avoid this happening again I stuck a piece of black insulating tape along the bottom of the chassis to cover the gears. No further problems occured so it might be worth doing this as general mod to protect the gears from FOD damage.
Alan

[Stan Williams]

Try hoovering up the spare ballast or other matter, before operating !

It does make operating easier.

The above should go hand in hand with track cleaning.

Stan.

[Tigger]

A bit of thread drift but whilst we're at it, the American loco I bought in January is a superb runner. Near-silent, smooth, controllable and very capable for its size, it can just handle a 5-car train of Minitrains American coaches. The one I picked up at ExpoNG isn't quite so good as it's a bit hesitant but I'm expecting it'll run in. Meanwhile, a simple mod to the tender couplings to fit a wire loop and they make a splendid sight double-heading my American train (now up to six cars!) non-stop up the line! The coaches are excellent runners and it says something that I can reverse all that lot the entire length of my layout with confidence!