Saturday Morning I arrived at Amberley to set up Thakeham Tiles, and what is right opposite? A handy prototype!
I'm glad to say I got the brake levers correct; the instructions are a bit ambiguous in this area but a picture speaks a thousand words they say...
The complication is that there are levers on both sides, which both go to the right when facing the van, and both operate the brakes on both sides. This means that the linkages to the brake blocks are the opposite way round on either side, linked via a shaft across the wagon, and one of the levers needs it's rotation reversing. As you can see in the picture below the lever this side operates the shaft with a cam arrangement, and the left-hand brake linkage is at the top of the shaft.
Not so easy to view because of an adjacent wagon, but on the other side the lever acts directly on the shaft, and the right-hand brake linkage is at the top of the shaft.
While I was at it I got a shot of the end detail, with steps and handrails.
Meanwhile outside, a demonstration train was running with more ex-RNAD stock, including open wagons with ends, and a brake/passenger vehicle.
More on the actual model when I get time to progress it!
What gets me is that so many of the kit and RTR makers get brake gear wrong on their wagons. Even if they have the levers in the right place almost none of them correctly model the clutch or connecting rod. I did a blog post about this a while back when I was trying to figure it out for some 3D models I was designing. It's amazing just how many combinations there are, nearly all of which are wrong!
ReplyDeleteI've been planning to do a small layout inspired by Chilmark, so this post and the photos are of interest. Thanks for posting, and great modelling on your other posts :-)
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