Thought you may appreciate this little review of the new Accucraft L&B Diamond Frame Bogies, describing the changes I needed to make.
On Thursday evening I ordered some Accucraft parts from TrackShack, it will not surprise you therefore that these parts arrived this morning, the service provided is truly exceptional. Amongst the parts for another wagon were a pair of the new Accucraft L&B bogie frames and the other required parts, 2 pairs of 25mm L&B wheels (32mm gauge) & a pair of round head chopper couplings, all finished to the usual high standard. The journals on the frames are fitted with brass bearings, which is an improvement on the raw metal seen in the rest of their L&B axle boxes.
The first job task in assembling these bogies is to undo the three machine screws that are down one side of the stretcher, the two either side of the centre one came out with ease but the latter was a real pain and the head got quite badly munched. I was expecting the wheels to just drop in and then all I’d have to do is put the screws back, this is far from the case. It is required that you remove 6.5mm off the ends of each axle, no instructions are included so I will offer this tip TrackShack for their website, this isn’t an awkward job but always nice to know. The drawbar fitted to the bogies should be very handy when running with 3-link couplings as it will help reduce buffer lock, sadly the holes provided to bolt on your couplings are not in the right place for attaching the round head choppers as supplied, so what I did was enlarge the holes on the draw bar to 6BA clearance size then drill two tapping sized holes in the back of the coupling box, before putting a 6BA tap through them(you could always use a nut), a dab of Araldite was applied for assurance and the screws were done up. Bear in mind I have remove the springs from my Accucraft choppers to make sure they go around my curves, I’m not sure if my method works with the springs retained). Providing a spring and screw for attaching the bogies to the under frame is a nice idea, it’s a shame they haven’t provided a bolt to match, I had thought maybe the hole in stretcher would be threaded but clearly not.
Final Verdict
Well overall I’m extremely satisfied, I’ve never purchased bogies before because I’ve never felt the need for them on my railway, I also thought them to be quite expensive. But when I saw the Accucraft ones which you can get (with chopper couplings included) for £19.94 (excl. P&P), I knew I was going to get good solid bogies, a bargain when you compare them to the £25 pair which I.P Engineering will sell you (no couplings), and they’re about the cheapest metal ones I can think of look at some of the others. The jobs that need undertaking to get everything to match up are only very small in consideration, of course the best part is I don’t have to paint them
!The parts I chose are:
Pair of Round Head Chopper Couplings
2 Pairs of L&B 25mm Dia. Wheel Sets
Pair of L&B Diamond Frame Bogies
All available from TrackShack (www.track-shack.com) or possibly your Accucraft dealer.
Chrome Bling!!!
What coach are they going under? You'll just have to wait and see
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