Silver Sidelines

In recent posts I have detailed corridor connectors for Bachmann Collett coaches and I have touched on the Hornby Hawksworth Full Brake. Hornby Hawksworth Coaches as bought (left) and as modified (right) When Hornby introduced their Hawksworth coaches back in 2010 I was most impressed with the coach detail but not so happy with Hornby’s corridor connectors. I wanted the coaches to be more closely coupled and it took me a lot of courage to remove Hornby’s moulded black plastic connectors. Closer coupling is quickly achieved by paring away some of the plastic from the Hornby R8220 coupling to enable it to push back further into the coupling pocket.   For the Hawksworth coaches I adopted a ‘belt and braces’ approach and drilled through both the pocket and coupling enabling the coupling to be pinned in place. Subsequently I have discovered that there is often sufficient friction between the coupling and the pocket such that pinning may not be nece...

There has not been a lot of progress with the layout so instead some ideas on close coupling and corridor connectors for Bachmann Collett coaches. Coach Couplings as bought   As with so many Ready to Run models there can be quite a gap between coaches.   Can the gap be closed up?   Is it cheap to do and will it significantly reduce the value of the original coach? Coach Couplings as modified I can remember the introduction of the first Collett coaches by Mainline (Bachmann).   At the time these coaches seemed to me to mark a step change in the increased degree of detail on offer.     I purchased my first Collett coaches back in July 1984 from the then Cheltenham Model Centre, they came with rubber corridor connectors and wire water fillers. Moving the Couplings Inwards The latest Bachmann Collett coaches are fitted with Bachmann Short Mini Couplings.   The gap between the coaches can be closed up considerably b...