Model Railway Forum

I am looking for a few recommendations and comments on the best buffer stops for a goods yard please. Thank you.

In my experience the usual type of buffer stops in goods yards tended to be of the 'rail built' type. These were fabricated from bull head rail and were bolted to the track. The buffer plank (the bit that goes across which is at the same height as the wagon buffers) is often made from three lengths of rail one above the other.

For OO gauge I use the Peco buffer stop kit (SL-40) which comes in three parts and simply plugs together. It is a clip fit to the rails. They also do a similar kit for O gauge and N.

This is an example of the real thing.

I always use the Peco version as suggested by LC.

Many years ago I made some in gauge O from code 124 rail bent to shape and soldered, I still have them somewhere. I used plans published in that fine old publication "Model Railway Constructor" sadly no longer published. Because they are a solid metal structure I had to join them to the layout using insulated rail joiners. Wrenn made something similar for OO, The Hornby ones I don't think are particularly realistic. The buffer plank is far too bulky.

Peco also make a sleeper built buffer stops which simply slots on to the end of the siding. These are less common on the real railway nowadays, although they were more common in bygone times.

Each company had their own designs and it can be an interesting exercise to try and find examples of them.

I recently changed all my ‘old style’ Peco buffers to their new bullhead version - SL-1140.
Looks much better.

They are for bullhead rail but will probably fit flat bottom rail.

Walkingthedog wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2020 10:45 am They are for bullhead rail but will probably fit flat bottom rail.

They do.

I've always used the Peco rail type buffers too.

I have used both the Peco railbuilt buffers and the sleeper built ones and both are simple to fit to the tracks.

Brilliant, thank you all for your comments and suggestions - just the job.