Making Peco OO9 slate wagons go around really tight curves

 

My railway under a cake cover goes down very well at shows. The only whinge is that the Peco tippers are a bit of a fiddle to couple up, as they all have Bemo couplings, and keeping them on the track whilst shoving them hard enough to couple up isn't easy. 

Salvation should have come in the form of the same company's slate wagons. These are designed to be used in rakes. There is a simple loop and pin between each wagon, and you can replace this with a supplied Bemo at the end if you want. 

So, I put them, on the track, and set the loco moving. They fell off. Again, and again. Fortunately, the hoppers ran all weekend perfectly.

Now, the problem with the cake cover railway is that the curves are very tight. I used Peco flexi track, as the set track isn't tight enough to fit. And I bent it around my knee to produce something that would fit. 

Back home, I investigated. Moving the wagons around, it seems my curves are just a little severe for the hook and look couplings. They seem to bind at the extremes. 

So, with nothing to lose, I thinned down the outside of the loop with a fine abrasive. Not a lot, just enough for the coupling to work more loosely. At the same time, I gently carved out a little material from the inside of the loop with a sharp knife. The amount removed was tiny, I'd guess less than 0.1mm, but it seemed to do the job. The hook ran much more smoothly around in the loop. 

The results were good, but not perfect. But, these are very light wagons, so I cut some bits of lead flashing so they fitted in the bottom, and allowed the plastic slate load to fit over the top. 

Result - wagons that would now follow bit the diesel and Hunslet around the model reliably for five minutes. 

Final job, hack away the box insert so the wagons can go in with the Bemo fitted. Really Peco, you might have done that bit...