No. 178 Top Lights, Top Marks, Dapol Mainline City Coaches

Good fortune or a lucky chance meant that I have acquired a pair of Dapol’s new ex GWR Mainline City Toplight coaches.



All second ex GWR Toplight in BR livery

The advertising literature tells me that these coaches were all withdrawn by 1957 although two or three lived on, on the South Wales Mineral Railway for carrying miners to work.  I love the squat appearance and I can imagine that prior to withdrawal these coaches would have been cascaded down and used on some quiet remote branch line.  My brake second and all second will form an extra early morning working in place of the routine daily ‘B’ Set.

An early start

When I first unboxed the coaches I was immediately struck by their heavy weight.  The Dapol Toplights weigh in at 175gm compared to 125gm for one of Hornby’s suburban Collett coaches.  Even Bachmann MkI coaches only weigh 165gm and they are nearly 50mm longer!  It was only later that I realised that Dapol have provided a proper metal chassis, similar to the arrangement used by Bachmann for their DMU power cars.  Rereading the advertising literature I see that the bogie side frames are also cast metal.  I would say that the result is the most free running coaches that I have seen.  They make a lovely clunky sound over turnouts but I might be bothered if I had the full rake of six coaches to lift up one of my inclines.

On their way


Everything was nearly very good until I changed the direction of travel and then suddenly one of my coaches would derail; very strange, not a particularly tight curve and not a location with a history of derailments.  If I turned the coach around the problem disappeared.  However a search of RMweb would suggest that other folk have coaches that derail and that there is an issue with the clearance between the bogies and the truss ‘rods’ beneath the coach.  RMweb has a lot of advice on how to resolve the issue.

I have two coaches, four bogies and eight truss rods.  All eight truss rods show a bit of daylight where the plastic angle iron is not tight up against the metal cross member beneath the coach.  Only for one bogie and then only when travelling in one direction was there a problem.

Spot the daylight between the truss rod and the underframe

Spot the daylight between the truss rod and the underframe

Mr Dapol should be able to explain the issue.  I would simply say that there is a mismatch between the dimensions of the plastic truss rod and its fixing holes in the metal chassis.

There are some more pictures below where I have attempted to show the ‘peg’ on the end of the truss rod and the locating hole in the chassis



Spot the locating hole

Spot the peg on the end of the truss rod

On my coaches the truss rod that was causing the bogie to derail had a noticeably bigger daylight gap where the rod (actually an angle iron) crossed the chassis member.

Remediation turned out to be quick and simple.  In order to glue the plastic truss to the metal underframe Dapol have used a soft adhesive and the truss can be quickly separated from the back of the chassis with a few careful cuts of a craft knife.  The plastic truss rod is very flexible, almost like polythene. As a result it can be bent out from beneath the coach, positioned on some protective packing, and the peg and the end of the truss pared away so that it sits better beneath the chassis.  Without the peg the truss still seems to want to sit proud of the chassis which makes me wonder which actual dimension is faulty.  If there are still concerns about the alignment then a dab of super glue can be used to hold the truss in place.

Thick cardboard packing to protect the coach side whilst cutting

Some views of my coaches:
 

Early morning

Ready for the away

Dapol have cunningly provided an illuminated tail lamp to the rear of their brake coach which on analogue illuminates when power is supplied to the engine.  Going forwards it illuminates red, in reverse it isn’t illuminated.  My personal view is that the lamp is too big and heavy – and as said in a previous Blog, I think the lamp handle is a distraction.  To the rear of my all second coach I have added a Kenline light which has a red jewel which twinkles all the time whether the carriage is moving or not.

Rear Lamps, Dapol left, Kenline right

Another innovation from Dapol is the provision of coupling bars in place of individual couplings.  Sadly they don’t work for my 3ft radius / Peco Medium radius points.  I am surprised as Dapol’s longest bar appears to be the same length as Bachmann’s Class 150 drawbar which I use on all my multiple units.  I guess it comes down to how far the buffer heads stick out beyond the coupling pocket.  The coaches have NMRA coupling pockets and in place of the Dapol coupling bar I have used a pair of Roco 40270 couplings.  I find these are more rigid than the more common hook and bar type couplings.  At the ends of the rake I have fitted Bachmann short straight couplings which are shorter than the provided Dapol straight couplings.
 

Roco 40270 top, Dapol long and short, middle and bottom respectively


In addition to the illuminated tail lamp the coaches come with complete internal lighting which on analogue illuminates when power is supplied to the engine.  I have to say that under normal daylight viewing conditions I cannot see any illumination.
 
I am well pleased with my two coaches and there is a short video on YouTube where the middle section is recorded first in daylight and then in darkness!