Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Austrains FS and BS Arrive

There was an interesting package waiting for me when I got home from work tonight, yes they seem to be here although no announcement has been made as yet. I must be one of the lucky first mailings.
I have taken a few quick photos, not the best but I think they will show the detail, etc.
One thing to note is that if the lights flicker then the power pick up springs on the bogies (see pic below) might be squashed or bent. These springs are made from soft wire so care will be needed to re-shape them. I think they might be able to be replaced with Kadee knucle coupler jaw springs, I will have to check.
I like the actual light colour and lack of intensity, just as I remember. The real carriage lighting could be a challenge to read by.
The colour rendition of the interior walls in the photo is not correct.
It was also difficult to get a good night time shot.
The slight curvature of the carriages in the photos is not the model, just the photo.

9 comments:

Ian Phemister said...

Hi Ray,
I had an appointment with the bank this morning and I missed the postie. I have a pickup slip that will most probably be mine set. Looks like I will have to wait till tomorrow. Could the pickup springs be replace by hard wiring i.e decoder wire? They look great but.
Will wait with anticipation for a video of them on Bylong......
Cheers
Ian

B. Kooistra said...

I'll look forward to seeing my cars in another couple of weeks (assuming Austrains recieved my order).

Is there an on-off switch for the lighting under the cars somewhere?

Brendan said...

Blair, there is a small slide switch near the brake cylinder for the lights.

Also, the lighting PCB has extra solder pads for surface mount LED's and dropping resistors, should anyone want to increase the brightness.

Cheers,
Brendan

Ray P said...

Ian
If I replaced the spring pickups I would try using Kadee knuckle springs as they seem to be about the right size.
I wouldn't hard wire because of the potential drag when the bogie turns and of course if removing the bogies.

Blair

Sorry, Brendan beat me to your answer. you will need your glasses though and a pointed toothpick or jewellers screw driver.
Keep up the good work on your layout.

Ray

wango said...

Ray,
I recieved mine in the mail on Monday and have been running them on my Gulgong layout since. I have already had to replace the bogie springs with kadee springs which work really well on one of my carriages as the originals had broken in half.
The only downside to these carriages is I will have to modify all my others now to match the lighting and detail.
Cheers Chris Wangmann

B. Kooistra said...

What is the weight of these carriages? Hoping they're not extremely heavy like the WHX's--I don't mind the weight on wheat wagons, but don't want to have to assign 2 locos to get a five-car passenger train up my hill!

Ray P said...

Blair

Diesels will be fine, steam however?

Austrains C36 up a 1:40 grade on Bylong could only haul the 3 FS BS and a MHO Powerline.

Ray P

Ian Phemister said...

Mine have all what seem to be a little drag on the carriage. I had a quick look at one and found the end of the bogies and the brake shoes were rubbiing on the wheels. After relieving this the one car I was working on still was a bid slow to roll. Have not got back to them yet. My one Austrains 36 would not pull all six cars on the flat!. Looks like another challenge.
Ian

Ross said...

All six of my carriages drag and squeal.They have far too much slop in the axle boxes which allows the wheels to rub on the brake shoes.I have bent the axle boxes in slightly to remove the slop and have filed the outside brake shoes back as well. Also replaced all contact springs with Kadee coupler springs and they work well.I have replaced the OEM couplers with genuine Kadees as they uncouple on curved track with the slightest slack. Shouldn't have to do all of this this on $100.00 carriages!