Garden Railway Forum

I am basing the coupler height on all my scratch build stuff on the chopper coupler height of an Accucraft L&B wagon as a standard.

Is this a good practice to follow?  I am not overly fussed about being true to scale.  I run on 32mm track.

Cheers,

Tom

I was advised 25mm sometime ago... and occasionally I get this right.

Barry
www.5inchrail.com

Thanks Barry.

How are you measuring the height of your couplers? I put a ruler against the base of one of the wheels of the L&B wagon to one of the mounting holes on chopper coupler and it's just over 25mm.

Cheers,

Tom

I prefer this height though which is what I have been doing:



I am measuring from the base of the chopper coupling bracket to the base of the wheel.

What do others do please?

Cheers,

Tom

I measure from the top of the rail to the mid-point of the coupling.... don't know if thats the correct thing to do though...???

Barry
www.5inchrail.com

The measurement from coupling centre to rail top is how its measured.I think most loco builders in 16mm use 25mm as a standard.I think the L&B standard is the same.

Having a look around on the net it seems 25mm is the standard and an old 16mm veteran I know also uses this rule.

I will adjust my loco couplers and then match my rolling stock couplers with them which should be a 'fun' job destroy most of my work!

Thanks for the help chaps.

Tom

All my rolling stock buffers are at the same height as my elderly Lady Ann except the little Binnie skips and similar tiny wagons. One day I m going to want to put these behind Lady Ann. I wonder if there was something actualy usedas a multi height buffer?

Compare a Roundhouse Lady Anne's buffer height (circa 2007) to a Roundhouse Cricieth Castle buffer height. Mine are way off, Lady Anne's one almost slides under the diesels one.

You could use a bent bar with elongated holes in the ends for coupling stock of different heights together.

The easiest way to get a constant buffer height is to make a jig which will couple with a piece of rolling stock with the "standard" buffer height you wish to adopt - either with the stock on the track or on the bench top (don't forget to allow for the flanges if you're on the bench).

Quarry gauge seems to have standardized on 25mm.  As somewhere around 18" is the commonest buffer height on 2' to 30" gauge railways.

The 45mm crew have a great diversity of buffer heights as we always have the temptation of going for 'scale height' on our particular railway.  For those of us of a Manx or Irish persuasion 34mm is pretty common and 15mm scale for the IMR, West Clare, T&DLR, as well as being close enough for Cavan and Leitrim and Clogher Valley.  If I were a betting man I would say that 34mm will eventually become the commonest height for 15/45 simply because 2'2" and 2'3" centres was the commonest height for 3' gauge equipment in Ireland, and is also the IMR's standard height.

As I am more of the 76cm/2'6" breed these days my locos and stock are currently set at 25mm, which means that without the hook they will be low enough for a standard gauge axle to pass over the coupler when loading the transporter wagons. When I get a really big shipment of roundtuits I shall check that my buffer heights are all the same.

Peter in AZ

The right height for any item of stock is whatever it was when you brought it unless it won't couple with the rest of your stock. Most mis matches can be sorted with a slightly longer chain or rod.

I wonder why the buffers are so low on Roundhouse steam engines. The buffers on all my IP wagons are higher than the ones on the locomotive. They work, but are not centered.

I.P. couplings seem to be to high but easily sorted.