Model Railway Forum

I have a set of 3 Hornby Pullman coaches that I want to replace the couplings on.

Picture of underside of bogie attached

Firstly I need to remove the bogies so that I can work on them easier, they are a clip in type, that is two prongs with barbs pushed into a hole. How do I remove these bogies without damaging anything?

Secondly the couplings that I want to replace are wide tension lock ones that are riveted to the bogie. I want to replace them with Hunt couplings, which I have purchased. If I clamp the bogie down I should be able to drill out the rivet, any views on what is best, to just take the top rim off or to remove the whole rivet?

Thirdly I will need to fix the new Hunt coupling on with a screw into the hole where the rivet was or part of it still is; where is the best place to get very small screws for railway modelling, the size of which I won't know until I do the job? Thank you

To remove the bogies try applying a little upward pressure on the bogie while pushing in the prongs with a small flat bladed screwdriver. Be careful that the plastic has not become brittle with age.
If you are going to use a screw or machine bolt to hold the new coupling, you will need to remove the whole rivet.
If you are lucky just drilling off the head will allow the remainder of the rivet can be pushed out, if not the whole thing will need drilling. Again be careful that the heat generated by the drill doesn’t melt the plastic.
Finally, the drill size you need will determine the size of the screw but you will need a slightly larger screw than the drill to give the thread something to bite into.
I suspect the bolt size will be around an M2 (2mm) so you would need a drill of about 1.8mm but as you say you won’t know for certain until you do the first one.
As for suppliers, search eBay or amazon once you know the size.

thanks Steve M I will have a look at doing that tomorrow.

Have a bit of cooking to do today, I'm Kitchen Lead at a Salvation Army Outreach Centre today.

Have used a very small screwdriver to go between the bogie and the main body, pushed sideways and up and off popped the bogie easier than feared. Have drilled the open end of the rivet out using an Archimedes drill, once the splayed metal had been removed the rest of the rivet slid out. The hole in the bogie is bigger than 2mm but less than 3mm, I cannot say if it is 2.3 or 2.5mm as I have no way to measure it. I searched for micro screws black pan head and self tapping and found it very frustrating, all the items found searching Ebay were coming from China with delivery in June. Have had to order a set of various sizes and lengths that includes both 2.3mm and 2.5mm screws from Amazon, delivery tomorrow.

Bit of a problem, the Hunt Couplings are somewhat brittle and broke when I tried to screw in the screw. Now waiting for some M2 nuts and bolts to be delivered.