Model Railway Forum

Decided to treat myself to a new Dapol 8 blank wagon
Looks astonishing (although its slightly too big for the terrier xD)
The problem I’m having is the coupling is not loos and the links do not reach far enough to couple

Do i just bend the link or is there something i can do that will not damage the wagon in any way

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Zeno

The coupling hook on the back of the Terrier is sprung loaded and pulls out approx 5mm so may solve your problem.........HB

The coupling hooks on the wagons are also sprung so the coupling should be easy......

I have the Terrier and several Dapol wagons, all couple OK. Pull the hooks forward on their springs. Are you coupling on straight or curved track? The wagon isn’t too big for the Terrier, the Terrier is just a small loco.

Make sure the link fixed to the hook is free to move. Glueing the two loose links together helps. Make one of these, makes coupling easier.

Thanks for the feedback guys
I’ll just stick to using the locomotive and other wagon couplings
That coupling rig you go is phenomenal
Been needing something like that, gonna get around to doing my own one like that
Thank you very much

Quick question
Does your terrier run slower backwards by a significant amount than it does forward ?

No same both ways. Needs to be run in, medium speed both directions 30 minutes.

Coupling on a curve isn’t as easy as on a straight. All three links need to be horizontal. Some times the link fixed to the hook is tight.

Incidentally what type of coupling is it. Does it have 3 ordinary links or something different?

Is the middle link like this.

3 ordinary links
The link connected to the hook is just very tight not allowing for movement, hopefully overtime it’ll loosen up

The terrier has about 2 hours minimum of run time
I’ll set up a track though and let it run by itself for half an hour see if anything else changes

You need to move the link up and down to loosen it.

A rolling road is useful for running in.