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Lion Coupling Alternatives


gilbo2

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People on other forums have simply removed the chain & magnet from NEM plug & added an additional link that is large enough to fit over Lion’s coupling post.

Alternatively for those with the ‘other’ Lion either above or carving the NEM plug into the dovetail shape are possible options.

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3 minutes ago, LTSR_NSE said:

..... removed the chain & magnet from NEM plug & added an additional link that is large enough to fit over Lion’s coupling post.

Umm, that part sounds a bit too fiddly for my fingers. I was hoping the chain rings would be large enough, but obviously not.

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Hi Gilbo

When I wrote to Hornby Head of Development regarding Locomotion No.1's coupling type he responded

Moulded chain type coupling – suitable for Hornby era 1 rolling stock.

A metal chain type coupling with magnet – to mate with Accurascale Chaldrons.

A metal chain with a moulded NEM plug – That can be connected to any piece of rolling stock that has an NEM pocket.

How does this relate to Hornby's Lion?

From point 1 "moulded chain type coupling" we know Locomotion will have the finescale chain peg, just as Lion does, "suitable for Hornby era 1 rolling stock"

From point two "metal chain with magnet", we can directly infer that this will fit Locomotion No.1's peg, and thus Lion's peg. I am hopeful that this coupling will be available separately, as I would purchase 2 for every piece of era 1 rolling stock I own.  Toss the plastic molded chains, use real chains.

Point 3 is essentially the image you show.

Bee

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I hope you are correct Bee & the chain will fit the peg… but as that isn’t the only way Hornby could attach a chain to Locomotion - I’d be cautious about assuming anything until we see some proof!  

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Thanks @What About The Bee for the info, I agree, options 2 & 3 are the couplings in my first photo with the NEM plugs and ties up with the Accurascale Chaldrons. So option 1 would be what is needed for the Hornby Lion, pictures below shows the tiny hook on the back of that era rolling stock and the link coupling, but I've not seen a magnetic coupling that would hook onto this.

 

IMG_3151.jpg

IMG_3152.jpg

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6 minutes ago, What About The Bee said:

I made one Gilbo.  I used 0.8mm diameter wire and epoxied on magnets.  Suitably colored in with permanent black marker.

The 0.8mm wire needed some fettling, so may I suggest 0.6 mm diameter wire?

Could you post a photo please, that would be really helpful?

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A company called smiths make 3 link couplings for OO rolling stock and Cambrian used to though not seen these for a while. Although it looks like these links are larger than the ones on the magnetic coupling, they are preformed and just need squeezing together to close the gap when threaded through the next link. This should take most of the hard work out. Also being larger you would probably have to loose a couple of links on the magnetic coupling so that they close coupled.

Hooking these up however will be a bit fiddly. Sadly I no longer have any examples of the 3 link coupling to show you what I mean but I did loop one of their screw link couplings over the Hook of an LMR 3rd class coach (sadly the buffers are too long to allow the two vehicles to run together so I cannot test how secure the combination would be, but hope this is of some help.

DSCF8144.JPG

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2 hours ago, gilbo2 said:

Thank you for the information @81F. Its the fiddly hooking part I was trying to move away from with the magnetic couplings. The ones in the photos do look very realistic though.

I was also trying to ilustrate that if you got a link from the 3 link version you could cut the NEM shaft off the magnetic ones and thread the link through the end of the chain then hook that over the hook.

Having said that I have actually fixed NEM pockets to my LMR coaches using the mounting blocks as supplied by Parkside models.

Edited by 81F
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