Sorting out the underpinnings

Bogie
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker

A couple of weeks ago I expressed some reservations on the design of the Coal Tank locomotive's back end. The bogie seemed to offer far too much movement for the axle which flopped back and forth rather more than it should have done, not to the detriment of the track holding though.

Apparently this was all down to a packing error and I should have received an extra set of axle bearings. With these now fitted the wheels stay where they are supposed to. The bogie, while pretending to be a radial truck, will still move from side to side and up and down so I still expect the wheels to stay in contact with the track. The keen eyed will notice that I fitted the "top hats" pointing out rather than it - this should allow me to limit the side play by filing them down as required. I want to stop the flanges touching the frames if possible. We don't want to wear the paint or cause any possible short circuits.

At the front some fake frames are attached to the body. This is because there is a hole in front of the smokebox which is wider than the working frames. These stop behind the cylinder fronts, the curvy bit sticking down in the photo. Perhaps if I was building in S7 this wouldn't be a problem but then the kits not designed for that (Note: The Coal Tank kit now comes with a different chassis than the one I'm building so things may all be different). I wasn't happy with the shape of these so re-made them from some scrap etch. My version also fits rather better to my mind too. It looks just as good too. At least the body now sits down properly.

And yes there are guard irons to go on but if I do them now I'll spend the next few days sticking them in my fingers or beding them every time I put the body down on the bench.