RB51 Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 After running the locomotive in I decided to attach the coaches. Initially I was perplexed as to why Cecilia would not couple up to either the tender for any of the other coaches. Upon closer inspection I noticed that the couplers both ends are lower than any of the others in the set. They appear to be in the NEM pocket the same distance as the good ones they just lean down a bit. Loath to apply too much pressure in case I break it - currently in touch with customer services. R- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TT-Man Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 Hard to be sure from the angle of the photo, but it looks as though even if Cecilia's coupling were perfectly horizontal, it would still be at a lower height than the one on the loco. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB51 Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 You are correct TT-Man, closer but still not the same height. Apologies for the camera angle quite difficult getting the camera lens low enough to capture anything useful. Anyway you get the idea. R- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TT-Man Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 Disappointing that on a new range of product Hornby can't apply the NEM 359 standards consistently. The middle of the coupler shaft when viewed from the side should be 4mm above the rail head. If the couplers are at a consistent height they can tolerate a small amount of drooping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB51 Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 Have to confess I haven’t seen or heard a similar issue reported elsewhere - yet. R- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howzatt Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 It looks like the swivel mechanism for the coupling has become detached from the coach body, either that or the spring is detached/missing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellocoloco Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 How does the coupling on Cecilia compare to the other two coaches. It almost looks like the coupler has been attached to the lower side of the bogie rather than the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB51 Posted December 19, 2022 Author Share Posted December 19, 2022 i think the swivel mechanism is ok. I’ll have a look for the spring etc. tomorrow. Need the table for evening meal 😀. R- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntpntpntp Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 Difficult to see from the photo but I agree with @howzatt, it does look as though the KK self-centering mechanism isn't located properly? The pocket looks way too low. I see this sometimes with N gauge models which have taken a knock, they need a bit of fiddling to re-position the mechanism and ensure the centering spring is in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rallymatt Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 Hopefully that’s so far out it should be a bit easier to see where the fault is. Looks like it’s come unclipped from the track the KK arm runs in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RB51 Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 Solved! Not being sure what the KK arm was I undertook a much magnified and brightly lit examination of the coupler in question. It took a while to find but there was a tiny lug sitting outside and below the channel that it should have been following. Gentle persuasion got it back and now all three coaches couple up in any configuration. Thanks for all the pointers. R- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howzatt Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 Great news that you got it sorted, that’s one to be aware of.😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D9020 Nimbus Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 That type of problem can occur with the NEM362 mounts in HO/OO, too, where this type of arrangement is used. Glad you got it sorted. (Sometimes in these circumstances the locating pin is broken.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britishcolum Posted December 21, 2022 Share Posted December 21, 2022 I haven't seen the couplers close up on the Hornby models yet, but on most Tillig and Kuehn models I have, the coupler is located on a pin, along which it can be finely adjusted up or down as needed. They almost always need adjustment on first removal from the box, to whatever position I have mine all set to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TT-Man Posted December 21, 2022 Share Posted December 21, 2022 I haven't seen the couplers close up on the Hornby models yet, but on most Tillig and Kuehn models I have, the coupler is located on a pin, along which it can be finely adjusted up or down as needed. They almost always need adjustment on first removal from the box, to whatever position I have mine all set to. That's interesting. I wonder the ones you have are an older design. I have recent Tillig and Arnold models as well as a supply of spare Tillig couplers. I can't see any means of adjusting them. The coupler arm is a single plastic moulding. As for the NEM pockets they also have no discernible means of adjustment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britishcolum Posted December 24, 2022 Share Posted December 24, 2022 I haven't seen the couplers close up on the Hornby models yet, but on most Tillig and Kuehn models I have, the coupler is located on a pin, along which it can be finely adjusted up or down as needed. They almost always need adjustment on first removal from the box, to whatever position I have mine all set to.That's interesting. I wonder the ones you have are an older design. I have recent Tillig and Arnold models as well as a supply of spare Tillig couplers. I can't see any means of adjusting them. The coupler arm is a single plastic moulding. As for the NEM pockets they also have no discernible means of adjustment. Even on the very latest pieces (of non-powered rolling stock - admittedly 95% of that is passenger stock) I have, the coupler can be adjusted vertically along its pin - the entire box containing the NEM pocket is on this pin. Since correctly adjusted height is important, it would be boneheaded for Tillig to have removed that feature... Older designs that date back to BTTB designs were completely non-adjustible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TT-Man Posted December 24, 2022 Share Posted December 24, 2022 From what you said it looks like there is a difference between coaches and wagons. All my models currently are wagons and locos. None are adjustable. All bought in the past two months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rallymatt Posted December 24, 2022 Share Posted December 24, 2022 Just checked my Piko loco and Arnold wagons, no adjustment on these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britishcolum Posted December 25, 2022 Share Posted December 25, 2022 Now you got me curious...All of my wagons (Tillig #17152, MÁV Gbgs and Tillig set #01702 ÖBB DDm car transporters) are adjustable.None of my Euro outline locos (two Piko, two Tillig) are adjustable.Kuehn coaches don't look adjustable...TT-Model St Petersburg coaches are adjustableLS-Models coaches are not adjustableTillig (new design) UIC Y/OSShD B coaches are adjustableTillig UIC Z coaches are not (or don't look to easily be)Tillig Halberstadt coaches are notTillig UIC X coaches are notThe majority of my coaches are the Y/B type... I'm a bit surprised, thought all were adjustable, but then again never thought to look closely at how the couplers are mounted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TT-Man Posted December 25, 2022 Share Posted December 25, 2022 That’s very interesting. Thanks for checking. Rallymatt and I each only have a small number of TT models just to get us started while we wait for the Hornby stuff to start arriving. So I wasn’t sure how representative they were.It could certainly be helpful if all models had vertically adjustable couplings. Although with the few models I have, so far I haven’t had any issues that would have required it. My only occasional problem has been with the Arnold couplings which are sometimes too tight a fit and don't want to go together or separate easily. But I solved that by changing them for Tillig ones and Rallymatt has done the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rallymatt Posted December 25, 2022 Share Posted December 25, 2022 The Coupling Nerds 🤓 strikeagain! It’s interesting that Tillig seem to have gone for adjustability but not across the board. The NEM pockets (and so couplings) on my Piko and Arnold wagons seem to line up perfectly so hopefully it’s a standard that is being observed in TT120 unlike in OO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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