Dublo A4 front coupling

[John East]

Having purchased two of the superb Dublo A4s, I notice that the “bag of bits” contains a front coupling which appears to replace the plain plate across the front of the bogie. It has a nem coupling but looking at the top if the bogie it is not obvious how to swap the two parts.

There is no mention in the instruction leaflet but I am cautious about diving in without some advice.

Any help appreciated as I run a “preservation” layout so tender first running is quite appropriate.

[What About The Bee]

Hello John

I do not have a Hornby Dublo A4. Nor will I ever. That said, your question needs answering, as certainly, you are not the only person to ever purchase a Dublo A4.

Yet I cannot find a corresponding Service Sheet. Perhaps Going Spare has a reference, but my search yields nothing.

Would you care to post an image of the inside section of the part to be fitted? It is likely to show the attachment points. From this, perhaps we can reason where they are on the bogie. From that, how to detach the unwanted part.

On the continued possibility that you are the first, ever, to attach the desired part; having a record of what you did will help others.

My apologies for not being of more help.

Perhaps bringing your post back on top will encourage another to bravely post!

Bee

[LTSR_NSE]

I’m perfectly prepared to be corrected, but I’m unaware of Hornby ever producing an A4 front bogie capable of having a coupling fitted (without fairly significant modification/surgery or replacement with an alternative by the owner!)

Please post photos of bogie and coupling, so it can be determined whether I’m incorrect & they can be joined - or not.

Edit - excellent I now have been corrected that modern A1/A3/A4 bogies do contain a NEM pocket & a suitable front coupling is included as an accessory!

[John East]

Thankyou Bee. I will try ton get a pic. I think we are simply dealing with a modified nem coupling. Looking down on the bogie you can just see the ends of the insert but there is hardly any room to get a tool in there to compress the tabs to allow the coupling to be pulled out.

i will try to get a pic or two

[LTSR_NSE]

Possibly detaching/unscrewing the bogie from the chassis (ensuring that small screws/springs/washers etc. don’t escape!) would allow the necessary access?

[Going Spare]

@bee - Regret, unable to help as this is another case of no documentation yet issued so it needs someone with one of the loco's, or Hornby Customer Services, to come up with a definitive answer. Perhaps photographs will give us a clue.

[John East]

sorry that the quality is not good but these show the part from the bag of bits and the best I can get of the bogie of Scotsman. You can just see the two little knobs at the end of the nem coupling. The problem seems to be getting at them to compress and remove for replacement.

[Going Spare]

You initially said you had purchased two H-D A4s but the latest post and photograph relate to an A1 or A3 "Scotsman". If the coupling attachment is for an A4, the A1/A3 bogie may not have been designed to accept it. Having said that, the bogie block does appear to have what looks like a NEM pocket in the raised central section to take the tails of the coupling head. The tails do not need to be compressed for removal, a good pull is all that is normally needed.

[5Dublo2]

I have just managed to remove the coupling blanking plug fitted to the front of my A4 - not an easy thing to photograph but I'll try to submit some images later (which will then have to be approved before anyone can see them anyway)

The removable plug on the front bogie is in effect the same as the coupling part that is supplied in the accessory bag (pictured by John earlier), except the narrow tensionlock segment/hoop and hook are missing so it becomes just a thin piece of plastic (with the side irons) and NEM tails on the back (which are inserted into a standard size NEM pocket which seems to be part of the metal truck/bogie.)

The plug can be removed without detaching the truck/bogie from the loco but you will need some thin bladed jewellers screwdrivers to do it.

I first tried to remove it by using the screwdriver from the underside and levering in the centre - but very quickly realised the plastic of the removable part is so thin at the front that it would probably break the plug, meaning you can't refit it

I then found that it was possible to lever from the side and manage to get it out safely - you want to insert the screwdriver blade between the front edge of the NEM pocket and the back edge of the removable plug and you can then pop it out relatively easily.

Note: although not required I'd recommend detaching the tender so that you don't have to support both loco and tender while working on the coupling mount

[5Dublo2]

As mentioned images that try to explain the coupling plug/cover removal on the A4s:

1: I could not get a good shot of the location where you can slide in a jewellers screwdriver without partially removing the plug. In this image the locations indicated by the green and blue arrows will be touching each other when you first get the loco. This is where you need to gently lever to release the NEM tail from the pocket and the image shows the plug levered out by 2-3mm (so shows the edge of the NEM tails in between the two arrows)

2: This image shows the plug/cover your are trying to remove, the red arrow indicates the surface you are trying to get a screwdriver blade behind when trying to release it from the NEM pocket 

3: Slightly different angle of the plug/cover - again the blue arrow indicates where you want to get a screwdriver into (although note that it will actually be inserted underneath the piece of plastic that is immediately next to the point of the arrow)

4: This is what the front of the truck/bogie looks like when the plug/cover is removed. The red arrows indicate the front edges of the pocket that you are trying to get the screwdriver blade in front of (when trying to release the plug/cover. I did not need to lever from both sides, however it doesn't matter which side you choose

[Brew Man]

@JE

I'm surprised you'd want to fit a coupling to the front of an express steam loco anyway. It would very rarely happen in the real world that such a loco would couple to coaches or wagons from the front end. That was usually the domain of shunters. The only exception I can think of is in the case of double heading or banking.

[5Dublo2]

I'm surprised you'd want to fit a coupling to the front of an express steam loco anyway. It would very rarely happen in the real world that such a loco would couple to coaches or wagons from the front end. That was usually the domain of shunters. The only exception I can think of is in the case of double heading or banking.

 

 

It happens on Heritage railway lines a lot, as most of them don't have turntables or triangles. However I do agree, back in the heyday of steam it was rare to see

[John East]

Thankyou everyone for your suggestions. I have solved the problem in another way. I trued the screwdriver suggestion without success so I used a pairbof snip nosed pliers to grip the front of the “dummy” coupling top and bottom, and pulled gently. It cane free with no problem! Replacement fitted easily of course. I did this with my others and they worked fine also.

the heritage line can now start operations with a small fleet of Gresley’s finest.

incidentally, has anybody noticed that the Duchess in the same range has a nem socket already, unlike the others in this class? However the socket is too small to take the coupling supplied, or any other for that matter! I note to Hornby failed to elicit any response!