Hi Sam, I had the same issues with Dapol wagons on the tight curves on my trackmat layout. I found the flanges on the Dapol wheels are really small and if you stick some Bachmann/Hornby wheels in there they should be fine. The couplings are a pain though. I guess when you add up the cost of replacement wheels and couplings they don’t work out quite as cheap however!
Sorry to hear that mate - I'll definitely look into that, I didn't think it was the wheels at the time, but may well have been! Thanks for watching - Sam :)
They still have the same old problem then? Why don't they learn from their mistakes? I gave up on Dapol after they began using RP25 wheel profiles - they are fine on American stock, with short wheelbase bogies or similar British stock, or indeed with compensated wheel sets, but not under a rigid framed 9 or 10 foot wheelbase wagon - and most certainly not under the milk tanks; they're guaranteed to derail on the slightest irregularity. The wagons aren't cheap to begin with. Replace the wheels, and apparently couplings, and you have an increasingly expensive model. No thanks.
Yeah not ideal - they really should update their wheels. To be fair though on my main layout their mineral wagons and box vans run a treat straight out the box and I’ve got plenty of irregular track work (but admittedly no tight curves) - as you say, I’ve heard the milk vans can be a nightmare though!
I have used a lot of Dapol "Kitmaster" wheels to replace plastic wheels on old Airfix, Mainline, Dapol and Hornby wagons. About 1 in 10 wheelsets were eccentric, but non have ever derailed. However, the couplings (all sizes) were rigid, not sloppy like your Dapol NEMs seem to be. I also have some bad tracklaying and tight curves, but I also have gentler transitions into the curves. I therefore think we are looking at a combination of reasons. A bit of weight inside the van bodies, say 2x2p in each, may help.
@@johndavies9270 I have found the same - milk tanks derail when they see a bend, other chassis of this brand have an assortment of problems. Other brands I have, with or without NEM pockets, seem to be okay. So far as the tanks are concerned, I've taken out the centre wheels, making them four-wheelers, and that SEEMS to have done the trick. Now to try to improve the others!!!
I got a fit of the giggles when the vans started to come off the rails and then de-coupled completely at one point. And after all that money you, ah, shelled out.
🎵Trucks are waiting in the yard, tackling them with easle, 'show the world what I can do' gaily boasts the diesel. In and out he creeps about, like a big black weasel, when he pulls the wrong trucks out pop goes the diesel!🎵
I really enjoyed the locos pulling their trains in in reverse! That is something I was hoping to see sometime. I know it was a lot more common for tank engines to do it, but seeing a tender engine pulling a train tender first was very delightful. Thanks, Sam!
The brake rigging is different between between the GW and the Dapol. Dapol bought the old Airfix/Mainline moulds and then fitted NEM couplings. The van is based on the LMS standard van with sliding doors. Dapol did start making new wagons in their own right, so the tar wagon and the ex GW fruit (converted from cattle wagon). Your experience with couplings is what I have found. I also found this with the replacement chassis provided by Dapol with the coupling level slightly different from Hornby & Bachmann. The hook has a tendency to drop off and get lost.
Definitely one of my favorite rolling stock reviews you did Sam I love weathering and what is great is even though the cars are identical no 2 are the same
As you were saying that the airfix wagon looks identical to the dapol one actually in the 1980s airfix was brought out and they didn't want ant of the tooling for the railway range so dapol brought the tooling for every railway range model.
This review reminds me of the troubles I've been having with some N scale coaches I purchased. If the track work is anything less than perfect, off the rails they go! Turns out part of the problem is the manufacturer put weights in the roofs, making them too top heavy! I hope Dapol haven't done the same thing to these vans.
I remember when airfix wagons came out They were so finely detailed that they were a cut above the rest This is an example of one of them and as you can see it has really stood the test of time Although bearing in mind its age it doesn’t match up to the latest high detail models I have many airfix, GMR (palitoy)and dapol models that all are based on the same old mouldings All look really good even today There are plenty of them still being sold through dapol and on eBay I enjoyed this video 😊
I think I would try locking the coupling up (side-to-side) with a bit of superglue. Do one end of one wagon to start with. The Bachmann ones work fine like this and these look similar in size. Also, I weigh my wagons, find the heaviest, then bring the others up to the same weight (usually around 1oz). A small metal washer glued to the underbody often does the trick !
I had thought about that Dave - but I'm sure they need to move in order to manage 2nd radius curves - I'll give it a try at some point though! :D Happy New Year, Sam :)
Hi Sam. I've also had this problem with dapol wagons. I have fitted bachmann wheels to the wagons and they run perfectly. Dapol wagon wheels are generally cheap and nasty. Great video as usual and I'm glad to see you using the better gaugemaster contoller. Chris
Sorry to hear that Chris - yes the wheels do seem to be very wobbly on mine - I think the answer is just to avoid Dapol wagons... they're not good value if you have to buy wheels too! Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Love these types of vent goods vans. Very nice to look at in my opinion. Often saw them in fields as horse stables, or makeshift sheds during my youth. But at least they haven’t completely gone to waste.
Lol guess your eggspress got a bit scrambled there, well thanks for cracking the shell on these items but I'm not going to poach any for myself, they do look nice however... #Puns
Add a little weight to unit and refit the wheels the couplings seam to hang low a little adjustment or change to a different type will sort it out. Great channel SAMS TRAINS. thank you
Reminds me of a couple of pieces of rolling stock I have that don't want to stay on the track. One's a box car that likes to wobble and derail a lot, while the other's a flat car with the couplers a bit too low and as such tends to derail on every switch it goes over due to a piece that sticks out from the bottom of the coupler, certainly quite "fun" to deal with... Did manage to get the latter to stay on the track once for several laps but then it started derailing again and I don't believe I've managed to get it to run right since.
My advice. Glue the couplings so they cannot turn. This will be fine as bachmann and hornby short wheel base wagons couplings don’t pivot. Also, place each van on a small mirror or pane of glass. This will be perfectly flat, so if there is any rocking of the wagon, the wheels are not true which will cause derailments .
Do you know what sort of effect it's likely to have? The kids category should only mean that targetted advertisements can't be used - they should still be monetised shouldn't they??
Hi Sam! I don't know much about Dapol wagons, but I found the quality control on these to be somewhat consistent with my own experience. I'm a bit of an inexperienced railway modeller, admittedly, and my range of wagons isn't that large. However, I do own one Dapol wagon: Its a plain dark grey 7 plank wagon, and like these it looks decent for what it is. I got it relatively cheap on Amazon. (I'm from the US so shipping can be expensive occasionally) Problems began to arise soon after I got it, with the wagon body popping off the chasis. This didn't bother me too much at first because I just popped it back on. But not only did it become frequent enough to warrant me using super glue to keep the damn thing in place, but because the top came off so much I lost the metal weight placed between the body and chasis. It doesn't end there though, both coupling hooks came off and were lost. (They weren't even NEM couplers either, they were the mid-sized "Bachmann Thomas"-esque ones.) So now I have a lightweight wagon that relies on other wagons to be part of trains. The one advantage it has is that it helps to bridge the gap between the wide Hornby RailRoad wagon couplings and the tiny NEM couplers on my Bachmann wagons. It also stays on the rails usually, but whenever there is a derailment, its often caused by that wagon.
Sam, you are a generous man - these trucks would drive anyone nuts! 2 out of 5 performance marks for trucks that won't couple and constantly derail? 3 out of 5 for quality when there's a serious and uncorrectable design flaw? 5 out of 5 for value when a basic truck costs 12 quid and 2 our of 3 of it's main functions don't work properly? And 7 out of 10 overall - how bad would they have to be to get a low score? My advice would be to send them back for a refund, with a stiffly worded letter starting "you cannot be serious..."
Great review Sam! Wow, those were some very interesting Egg Vans! I do like the weathering on them, but I don’t think I would get them because of those couplers. I have a lot of turns on my HO/OO Scale layout, and I don’t think the markets liked getting broken eggs! Although, 6:23 really “cracked” me up! ;) ( get it? ) As always, you did an amazing job reviewing these, and I can’t wait for the next one!
A really great review Sam. Never heard before about existing egg vans. So many derailments and in the follow many broken eggs and hard work to cleaning the vans. I'm very amused about all the funny and eggcellent comments.
I was eating my breakfast while watching this video since I got the notification this morning around 7 AM! And I have no school today because of Veterans day! :) I was eating sausages and rice for breakfast BTW! :P
Ahh that's excellent - at least some people get Veterans day off! Glad you weren't eating eggs - these rubbish wagons ruined them all! Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I figured the issue with the egg vans as I have a similar wagons, it turns out its a mix of the thin flanges, and the uneven track, these have some of the thinner flanges which cause derailments, but I'd say that's a good thing
I only have 4 dapol 00 gauge small wheelbase wagons. The 16T wagon kept derailing so has been relegated to my depot. The banana van kept derailing so I fiddled with it until it started working well. The 2 6-wheel milk tankers I had to regauge the wheels, but now they run pretty well. As a rule, I avoid dapol's small wheelbase 00 wagons now. My 5 EWS MCA wagons and Network Rail JNA Falcon all run well.
I had the same problem with almost every dapol wagon I have. Replacing the wheels with Hornby wagon wheels fixes the derailing. The flanges on the dapol wheels are very small and aren't consistent all the way around the wheel. My dapol wagons also have problems with the nem couplings hanging down too low or to the side. had problems coupling up with other brands of wagons because of this. Replaced mine with permanent couplings in a fixed rake. As much as I like bargians and cheap rolling stock these require quite a bit of work and extra money to get them running reliably which always makes me think twice about picking any more up.
Recently the Chinese man who bought the Sandra Kan wheel machine passed away. That machine produced most of the wheels and axles for most of the model trains industry in China, running 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I don't know who has bought this machine presently as the factory has closed. Knockoffs will most likely not have the same quality of this one machine...
Just from the comparison with the older hornby model, you can tell the wheel flanges are a lot smaller on these dapol wagons... that with the dodgy couplings is probably what's causing the problem. I would say you can swap in some older wheels with bigger flanges to cure these wagons and then recycle the dapol wheels into some rolling stock which have bogies, the pivot of the bogie and the extra wheel sets on the bogies should provide enough give for the smaller flanges to be more effective on them
Yeah absolutely - though I've got some other finescale wheels that don't cause any problems at all - still, no doubt they are partly to blame!! Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Used to see the Blue Circle vans down at their place in Northfleet, usually carrying the cement in sacks, usually moved on to Hither Green or Rochester for disposal in other freights if memory serves me right. Can just see in my minds eye an ol' Crompton chuckling out its load onto the main line.
Yes it's Hornby! I can see those 3 locos you showed for a spilt second! And those 3 locos are the Class 156 DMU, the S&DJR 2P, and the Fowler 4F. And those locos were made by Hornby and they were put in the Railways range but yet once you took them out of the box they look so cheap and they obviously look like railroad locomotives.
Great review Sam, for that price I wouldn’t mind picking a couple up, but wouldn’t want too many if it means I’d have to modify the couplings, proper troublesome trucks.
I have quite a few dapol wagons and have found that putting a thin piece of card between the body of the wagon and the place the coupling screws in reduces the droop and helps with coupling and derailment issues. It's a pain that you need to make this modification but only takes a few seconds and costs nothing to improve the performance.
Great video. It's nice to see an honest review and someone taking their own money to produce an independent review. Other RUclipsrs in the UK could learn from this. Dapol also have a fairly inconsistent nem pocket height on their wagons which is a real pain. Keep up the good work...
@@MDHGames Yeah exactly. One of the reasons RUclips reviews are great is that unlike magazine reviews, someone has gone out and picked something, bought it and taken the time to review it. Its always interesting to see what people decide to buy, their rationale and their honest opinion of it. That is taken away when you are handed whatever the marketing department of a manufacturer wants you to peddle that month. Unfortunately it seems a lot of the RUclipsrs are cashing in and not focusing on what put their channels there in the first place.
haha thanks a lot mate - I find it deeply amusing that some people take offence to my candid attitude - rest assured I won't let it stop me!! Sometimes I do get given things from manufacturers - but I'll still always be honest about it! Thanks for watching - Sam :)
We had similar problems with Dapol’s unpainted high side wagons which look like they share a chassis with these. Run them a while and the wheels will start falling out when you pick them up too.
Hi Sam, Great video. I too have had problems with Dapol wagons. I purchased six milk wagons and noticed that the nem couplings were not at a constant height. I also had to replace all the wheels with Hornby because of constant derailments. Now I do not purchase any more Dapol products due to their quality issues.
The reason these wagons are so plop is a few reason since I have a BR vent van (the same as these egg vans, same weathering too) and LSWR gunpowder van. The couplings are not rounded enough around the loop part so the hook cannot smoothly couple, plus them fidgeting and swinging about. Simply change them out for better couplers. Another reason I think what may contribute to derailing is the very low rounded flanges, they're nicer on the fingers when cleaning the wheels after them getting dirty and don't feel like you're cutting your fingers open with all the other wagons ever, but they're a load of poo on the track. I've not used my vans in a while as I did change the couplers for a bar over the buffers for a shorter coupler.
Sam, I'd be tempted to swap the wheels over for current Bachmann or Hornby sets. I would also increase the weight of each van so it totals 40grams. They should remain on the track nicely then. Slithers of roofing lead, or 2p coins (inside vans) are very good for adding weight to a vehicle. Kind regards, Nick.
I bought 3 of these about a year ago in the gunpowder wagon livery. The main reason was because they were cheap and I like dapol's weathering. However, the constant derailing and eventual ceasing up of the wheels made it a regrettable purchase. Ah well, at least I had an excuse to by even more wagons.
great video as always Sam, just my opinion but id say with the coupling issues £3 is the max id pay per wagon, just an idea for you, either glue the coupling in the central position or remove the couplings and make a row or withdrawn wagons for a siding. cheers
haha yeah me too - I wouldn't have bought them at all if I'd known! I probably will end up trying to glue them - but I'm worried that the couplings may need that pivoting in order to get around curves! Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Given the size of your stock-list, I'd suggest maybe buying an inexpensive airbrush and doing your own weathering. Then you can take the couplings and wheels off before spraying the wagons. That way the couplings stay clean - and actually, I find that keeping them black seems to make them much less obtrusive anyway. Eggcellent review, too - we could do with more of them on freight and passenger stock.
Hi Sam, this is classic Dapol rolling stock issues. I have a number of vans that look lovely and to be fair have all the detail of the real thing which were after all a bit simple. But the wheels are always wobbly which is eggasperating! and the coupling are eggstrealy loose and droopy and therefore an absolute yoke! I think Dapol need to sort all this out or they will end up with egg on their face! People can't be expected to shell out for this lack of quality! Lets hope they hatch a new plot and fix all this.
Nice video as always Sam! (Hey remember me from the other videos comment section? Lol) Do you think you could do a tutorial on how to make it so there are no "dead zones" or "slow zones" in a DC layout?
Thanks a lot mate, yeah I remember! You just need to make sure all the fishplates are tight, and you have a few different power connection points on the track! :D Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Fantastic review Sam! Sorry to hear about your problems with them, all my dapol stock runs extremely well so i think this product is a 1 off, addmitedly yes my intermodal wagons do derail on 2nd radius curves but that is due to their length. I have 3 different types of dapol wagon and have had no problems. If you check out theyre more modern stock and modern image wagons i am sure you will find them to be fantastic! My intermodal has the same odd couplings springs but it worked fantastic nonetheless! I hope to see some modern image reviews of locos and rolling stock soon, as always. Thanks, Iwan.
@@SamsTrains All i said was theyre more modern wagons are much better and have worked fine for me! A friend of mine has some dapol wagons similar to these, he doesnt have a permanent layout and his track is quicte bumpy but he has had no issues.
Very nice looking (and also if you keep the small flanges on them an excuse for slower goods trains stopping every so often or shunting yard setups your choice of course)
I'm sure that would work, depending on whether they need the spring in order to negotiate curves - either way, not a nice thing to have to do with brand new wagons! :O Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I realized another theme to this, all the locos are pulling the trains backwards. That's different, I'm not usually a fan of bunker/tender first hauling but its a nice change
Hi Sam I really bay Dapol's items because of there coupling issues and dealing half of the time and the couplings break or detach i have found ways to avoid this is to glue the couplings and to ovid derailment i add a little wait inside of the freight carriages and there is less derailment on them afterwards.
Can you add some weight to the cars? I've found that a great deal of OO Gauge rolling stock hasn't any weight to hold them down, & I've had to add sticky weights to the inside of them to help them track better.
Even with their issues I've just put in an order for two of Dapols unpainted wagons to try them out. With a bit of playing around I bet they will work fine :)
Hi Sam, Had the same problem with Dapol wagons in my case the following: Six wheeled tankers they loved to derail. Hopper wagons they joined the derail club. Plank wagons you guessed it they derailed seems to be a common theme but to be fair too Dapol Bachmann coaches hate bends. Yet my vintage stock seldom derails were the old style couplings better?
Hi Peter, sorry to hear that - I'm not surprised Dapol were unable to perfect anything six-wheeled - definitely sounds like a recipe for disaster! Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Interesting to hear about that. I bought one a few years ago at a bargain price from Kernow. The layout I use it on has 30" minimum curves, and I use Kadees. It has been fine for me, but if I ever have to use it on a layout with tight curves I will expect possible trouble.
Excellent review of these set of Dapol Egg van wagons Sam 👍 It is disappointing that these van couplings made them come off the rails, however it must be due to that they are sprim and the Midland 1F tank has a couplings that don't sprim and that must be the reason why it keep on coming off the rails. I got some van wagons from Dapol and they run ok around the layout and you can some them in action on mix freight with my Bachmann LMS 3F video. I'm glad the LMS Mogul is running fine on this video and it is still a nice model to see in action. I know it a bit late for me to say, but I like GCR J11 class loco and that was again good review of the model. If by luck, are you going to think of buying a HO USA S160 2-8-0 in the near future? I have mention about that when I was in the gauge master shop earlier this year, but I thought it would be nice to have in your collection.
It might be Joe - but they derailed whether or not they were coupled to the 1f, particularly in reverse! Oh yeah the J11 is superb - really love those! I might well look into that - they do sound lovely! :D Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Sam, as for the couplers, I have no advice. But as for the vans, I'd add more weight to each one, right over the trucks. Don't those shells just pop off?
I’ve had similar problems with Dapol vans. Quite right, I began to lose my mind. Eventually got some satisfaction by heavily weighting them. Even then lateral forces will periodically derail them. Hope Dapol is paying attention. Won’t be fooled twice, especially as international shipping is very expensive.
Sam'sTrains well, the self assembly kits are ex-kitmaster, then ex-Airfix, so they are all designed to have plastic two-part wheels and old Dublo couplers. Tension lock couplers are included as an after thought, but as they get glued straight onto the kit the wagons lock up on corners and knock each other off
I think if you put some weight in the cars, they might stay on the tracks. When they are to light, they get pulled out of the rails. Certainly if couplers don't move around smoothly. I remember this with some '70s and early '80tis Lima cars. When some weight was added, the problem was over.
I wish I'd have seen those on the Dapol site. I've been buying a few unpainted LMS vent vans to rebrand and these would have done nicely. I'm not worried about the couplers as I plan on switching them to kadee's anyway. I'd better keep a closer eye on that specials page. Thanks Sam
Seeing how with different wheels and couples seem to work properly by the other commenters' experiences, I guess they only are a good deal if you have the patience and already have the spare parts to tinker with them. Or maybe as static decoration in a big trainyard.
Hi Sam.I mainly am an N scale man but recently acquired a heap of oo scale stuff for a song(deceased estate).Your vid revealed to me the problems with couplers.I have some work to do.Thx.
Sam'sTrains No I didn't lose a relative .It was a sale from an ad on a local internet site(Gumtree).The lady's father had passed two years ago and she was finally getting around to moving it on.The layout had been dismantled but there was absolutely heaps of Hornby,Marklin,Peco,Airfix,Bachman,etc boxes everywhere.The stuff I got was loose and in two boxes and all come off the layout so I presume all 11 locos are working fine.(7 Steam Hornby,1 Flieschman 2 Lima diesels 1Hornby Thomas).The rolling stock is mostly Hornby/triang with about forty carriages and dozens of tankers,coal,car carriers,brake,etc.I have set up a simple oval test track I tested 3 locos with various rolling stock and noticed various problems with coupling thanks to your vid.What did I pay for all this.$50 aus with a half assembled Walthers motorised turntable thrown in.I did say to the lady to do her research because what she sold me was too cheap.
I love looking at all the egg yokes... it’s all based of an eggcellent Idea. And some of them are truly scrambling. Also I want to get a bunch of these. For £7, I’ll buy 5 or 6.
hi Sam, great looking wagons, but i've had quite a few probs with the Dapol wagon couplings and I dont even have a track to run on. it seems the coupling centering spring clips are mega fragile and are often broken before taking out of the box. and if they arent broken, the couplings seem to droop quite a lot!
Hi Sam got some of these vans had same problems with them derailing on curves fitted wire and loop to them now they seem to work hope this is some help many thanks Dan 😁😀
Sam, check out The Beatles’ song about these vans. It’s called “I am the walrus”, and it contains the line “We are the Egg Vans, coo-coo-ca-choo”(-choo)!
Hi! never commented to you before. I noticed that several of the couplers were at different heights. The engine coupler was way high to the wagon you were about hook to. That could cause problems also.
I think I know what you can do to stop them from derailing Sam, just replace the wheels with Hornby ones, they may be derailing due to the wheel design
Sam: “I’ve bought seven of them.” Also Sam: “Now I’ve just checked the website and they don’t have any more in stock.” Jk never forget why people love you Sam.
Dapol wagons are very prone to derailment, also the couplings are poor. I had a few and they were just trouble. I sold them all on eBay and replaced them with Wrenn ones, they are excellent
honestly i think the height PLUS the lateral movement of the coupler is the issue. have the same issue with some of my kleinbahn rolling stock, their (continental) standard couplers are a bit too low and when you hang them up on the next car that has the coupler at the right height, it lifts the faulty car a bit and the smallest nudge from the track will send it off. Also the decoupling pin may be too low or too long (sometimes even if it's MARKETED as a standard coupler it's everything BUT standard) and catching the track. Hey, keep up the good work. I really enjoy your British rolling stock, Sam ;)
![Gunna - HIM ALL ALONG [Official Visualizer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HiCxoDeo0hc/mqdefault.jpg)
Dapol egg vans sale: *Exists*
Sam: *"I'll take your entire stock."*
haha - I wish I hadn't! ;D
Merry Christmas,
Sam :)
Did you manage to fix those in the meantime?
@@ShazenVideos no. he didn't.
The egg vans were a "cracking" crew...
until they derailed.
haha you're not wrong ;)
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Nah, they were cracking *because* they derailed.
@ABluebellEngine true and hurrah for that devilish pun!
The Perfect Pairing: Tango and the Egg Train
Uh oh - I hope nobody requests I do that!! :O
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Cursed comment
I request that.
Please do that please.
Name a more iconic duo, I’ll wait
@@TidmouthSheds 1361 and the egg vans
Hi Sam, I had the same issues with Dapol wagons on the tight curves on my trackmat layout. I found the flanges on the Dapol wheels are really small and if you stick some Bachmann/Hornby wheels in there they should be fine. The couplings are a pain though. I guess when you add up the cost of replacement wheels and couplings they don’t work out quite as cheap however!
Sorry to hear that mate - I'll definitely look into that, I didn't think it was the wheels at the time, but may well have been!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
They still have the same old problem then? Why don't they learn from their mistakes? I gave up on Dapol after they began using RP25 wheel profiles - they are fine on American stock, with short wheelbase bogies or similar British stock, or indeed with compensated wheel sets, but not under a rigid framed 9 or 10 foot wheelbase wagon - and most certainly not under the milk tanks; they're guaranteed to derail on the slightest irregularity. The wagons aren't cheap to begin with. Replace the wheels, and apparently couplings, and you have an increasingly expensive model. No thanks.
Yeah not ideal - they really should update their wheels. To be fair though on my main layout their mineral wagons and box vans run a treat straight out the box and I’ve got plenty of irregular track work (but admittedly no tight curves) - as you say, I’ve heard the milk vans can be a nightmare though!
I have used a lot of Dapol "Kitmaster" wheels to replace plastic wheels on old Airfix, Mainline, Dapol and Hornby wagons. About 1 in 10 wheelsets were eccentric, but non have ever derailed. However, the couplings (all sizes) were rigid, not sloppy like your Dapol NEMs seem to be. I also have some bad tracklaying and tight curves, but I also have gentler transitions into the curves. I therefore think we are looking at a combination of reasons. A bit of weight inside the van bodies, say 2x2p in each, may help.
@@johndavies9270 I have found the same - milk tanks derail when they see a bend, other chassis of this brand have an assortment of problems. Other brands I have, with or without NEM pockets, seem to be okay. So far as the tanks are concerned, I've taken out the centre wheels, making them four-wheelers, and that SEEMS to have done the trick. Now to try to improve the others!!!
Egg vans: *derails*
Other pieces of rolling stock: *don't derail*
Eggs: Am I a joke to you?
haha exactly - Dapol have a good sense of humour! ;D
@Ahmet Ozokcular Nice
@@SamsTrains - should that not be "egg-zactly"?
I got a fit of the giggles when the vans started to come off the rails and then de-coupled completely at one point.
And after all that money you, ah, shelled out.
haha!! I didn't know whether to laugh or grab the hammer! ;D
🎵Trucks are waiting in the yard, tackling them with easle, 'show the world what I can do' gaily boasts the diesel. In and out he creeps about, like a big black weasel, when he pulls the wrong trucks out pop goes the diesel!🎵
I really enjoyed the locos pulling their trains in in reverse! That is something I was hoping to see sometime. I know it was a lot more common for tank engines to do it, but seeing a tender engine pulling a train tender first was very delightful. Thanks, Sam!
Glad you liked that Tom - many people liked that too, I'll do it more often! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Famous last words... then it derails!
Great review! :)
haha I know!! Thanks a lot mate!
Cheers,
Sam :)
Sam: this will be an EGGcellent review
Egg Wagons: we are gonna derail your nerves
Sam: I’m about to derail those high ratings of yours 😉
haha thanks Keith - I got the last laugh! ;D
@@SamsTrainsindeed you did Sam
The brake rigging is different between between the GW and the Dapol. Dapol bought the old Airfix/Mainline moulds and then fitted NEM couplings. The van is based on the LMS standard van with sliding doors. Dapol did start making new wagons in their own right, so the tar wagon and the ex GW fruit (converted from cattle wagon). Your experience with couplings is what I have found. I also found this with the replacement chassis provided by Dapol with the coupling level slightly different from Hornby & Bachmann. The hook has a tendency to drop off and get lost.
Duly noted Don - that makes a lot of sense - thanks for the info!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Definitely one of my favorite rolling stock reviews you did Sam I love weathering and what is great is even though the cars are identical no 2 are the same
haha glad to hear that - appreciate it mate! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
As you were saying that the airfix wagon looks identical to the dapol one actually in the 1980s airfix was brought out and they didn't want ant of the tooling for the railway range so dapol brought the tooling for every railway range model.
That makes a lot of sense Ali - thanks for the confirmations!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
This review reminds me of the troubles I've been having with some N scale coaches I purchased. If the track work is anything less than perfect, off the rails they go! Turns out part of the problem is the manufacturer put weights in the roofs, making them too top heavy! I hope Dapol haven't done the same thing to these vans.
Ahh that doesn't sound good - what a pain!!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I remember when airfix wagons came out
They were so finely detailed that they were a cut above the rest
This is an example of one of them and as you can see it has really stood the test of time
Although bearing in mind its age it doesn’t match up to the latest high detail models
I have many airfix, GMR (palitoy)and dapol models that all are based on the same old mouldings
All look really good even today
There are plenty of them still being sold through dapol and on eBay
I enjoyed this video 😊
Even today they're actually quite impressive for their time - you're right!! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Nice one Sam them waggons sure are interesting. I do like them. I reckon you could fix the couplings somehow. Great video Sam 👍
Thanks George - yeah I'm sure they can be fixed - got a bit fed up with messing them for now though ;)
Cheers mate,
Sam :)
Hey Sam, CRACKING review, went to the great central railway today and bought a new parcels wagon, decided to watch you before getting it out!
Thanks a lot mate - that's fantastic, is it good?! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Looks like this review went off the rails.
Imma go now
haha! Get away from here with those jokes xD
You ougta be EGGED for that joke.
I'll get my coat.
@@patrickwebb7311 This is just the yolk of the problem
@@shootingstarproductions2530 eggxactly.
@@patrickwebb7311 This seems really cracked up!
I think I would try locking the coupling up (side-to-side) with a bit of superglue. Do one end of one wagon to start with. The Bachmann ones work fine like this and these look similar in size. Also, I weigh my wagons, find the heaviest, then bring the others up to the same weight (usually around 1oz). A small metal washer glued to the underbody often does the trick !
I had thought about that Dave - but I'm sure they need to move in order to manage 2nd radius curves - I'll give it a try at some point though! :D
Happy New Year,
Sam :)
Now *that's* what I call a Troublesome Truck.
4:55 Also, CMC stands for Cutie Mark Crusaders
haha yep! Are you sure?! ;D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
So I wasn't the only one who thought that.
If you have those egg van chassis for coal wagons you could have another set of troublesome trucks!!!!!
Hi Sam. I've also had this problem with dapol wagons. I have fitted bachmann wheels to the wagons and they run perfectly. Dapol wagon wheels are generally cheap and nasty. Great video as usual and I'm glad to see you using the better gaugemaster contoller. Chris
Sorry to hear that Chris - yes the wheels do seem to be very wobbly on mine - I think the answer is just to avoid Dapol wagons... they're not good value if you have to buy wheels too!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Me: **reads title**
Also me: oh dear i have a yolky feeling about this
Oh boo hiss
Blimey, that one was rough Jon, lol! ;D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Sam'sTrains yep puns are my thing cant get better then that
Love these types of vent goods vans. Very nice to look at in my opinion. Often saw them in fields as horse stables, or makeshift sheds during my youth. But at least they haven’t completely gone to waste.
Thanks Tomas, yeah I do too - I've seen these as horse shelters too! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Lol guess your eggspress got a bit scrambled there, well thanks for cracking the shell on these items but I'm not going to poach any for myself, they do look nice however...
#Puns
haha it certainly did Tom xD
They do look nice, but I think Dapol have ended up with egg on their face for these!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Add a little weight to unit and refit the wheels the couplings seam to hang low a little adjustment or change to a different type will sort it out.
Great channel SAMS TRAINS.
thank you
Yes no doubt that would help, my pleasure mate, thank you for the tips!
Happy New Year,
Sam :)
You can just replace the couplings
True, but it's the NEM pockets that are at fault, which are much harder to replace!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Reminds me of a couple of pieces of rolling stock I have that don't want to stay on the track. One's a box car that likes to wobble and derail a lot, while the other's a flat car with the couplers a bit too low and as such tends to derail on every switch it goes over due to a piece that sticks out from the bottom of the coupler, certainly quite "fun" to deal with... Did manage to get the latter to stay on the track once for several laps but then it started derailing again and I don't believe I've managed to get it to run right since.
Ahh sorry to hear that mate - it is very frustrating :/
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Dapol:This is what you get for€6.500: 7 derailing egg vans
Sam: why Dapol I hate these couplings🤬
haha absolutely right!! ;D
My advice. Glue the couplings so they cannot turn. This will be fine as bachmann and hornby short wheel base wagons couplings don’t pivot. Also, place each van on a small mirror or pane of glass. This will be perfectly flat, so if there is any rocking of the wagon, the wheels are not true which will cause derailments .
That does sound smart Dan - I might give that a try!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Are your videos getting flagged today as “for kids” automatically by RUclips?
Train Tsar Fun hey trains tsar first to comment
A few of my Thomas ones have - luckily most of the stuff I cover is for adult collectors, which seems to be fine! :)
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Do you know what sort of effect it's likely to have? The kids category should only mean that targetted advertisements can't be used - they should still be monetised shouldn't they??
Hi Sam! I don't know much about Dapol wagons, but I found the quality control on these to be somewhat consistent with my own experience.
I'm a bit of an inexperienced railway modeller, admittedly, and my range of wagons isn't that large.
However, I do own one Dapol wagon:
Its a plain dark grey 7 plank wagon, and like these it looks decent for what it is. I got it relatively cheap on Amazon. (I'm from the US so shipping can be expensive occasionally)
Problems began to arise soon after I got it, with the wagon body popping off the chasis. This didn't bother me too much at first because I just popped it back on. But not only did it become frequent enough to warrant me using super glue to keep the damn thing in place, but because the top came off so much I lost the metal weight placed between the body and chasis.
It doesn't end there though, both coupling hooks came off and were lost.
(They weren't even NEM couplers either, they were the mid-sized "Bachmann Thomas"-esque ones.)
So now I have a lightweight wagon that relies on other wagons to be part of trains.
The one advantage it has is that it helps to bridge the gap between the wide Hornby RailRoad wagon couplings and the tiny NEM couplers on my Bachmann wagons.
It also stays on the rails usually, but whenever there is a derailment, its often caused by that wagon.
Sorry to hear that - yeah that really does sound shoddy - I'm definitely not happy with mine!! :/
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
if sam hearts me I will be blessed
Then blessed you are ;)
@@SamsTrains :D
Sam, you are a generous man - these trucks would drive anyone nuts!
2 out of 5 performance marks for trucks that won't couple and constantly derail?
3 out of 5 for quality when there's a serious and uncorrectable design flaw?
5 out of 5 for value when a basic truck costs 12 quid and 2 our of 3 of it's main functions don't work properly?
And 7 out of 10 overall - how bad would they have to be to get a low score?
My advice would be to send them back for a refund, with a stiffly worded letter starting "you cannot be serious..."
haha I guess you're right - they had a lot of great points though, but maybe I was too generous! ;D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Troublesome trucks
haha absolutely! ;D
Blue Circle cement springs to mind on your airfix wagon. My lad loves your vids Sam 👍
haha absolutely! Great to hear that - tell him I said hello! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Great review Sam! Wow, those were some very interesting Egg Vans! I do like the weathering on them, but I don’t think I would get them because of those couplers. I have a lot of turns on my HO/OO Scale layout, and I don’t think the markets liked getting broken eggs! Although, 6:23 really “cracked” me up! ;) ( get it? ) As always, you did an amazing job reviewing these, and I can’t wait for the next one!
Thanks very much mate - yeah I agree, the couplers are a deal breaker!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
A really great review Sam. Never heard before about existing egg vans. So many derailments and in the follow many broken eggs and hard work to cleaning the vans. I'm very amused about all the funny and eggcellent comments.
haha thanks Norbert, absolutely - they were indeed very amusing! ;D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I was eating my breakfast while watching this video since I got the notification this morning around 7 AM! And I have no school today because of Veterans day! :)
I was eating sausages and rice for breakfast BTW! :P
Ahh that's excellent - at least some people get Veterans day off! Glad you weren't eating eggs - these rubbish wagons ruined them all!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I figured the issue with the egg vans as I have a similar wagons, it turns out its a mix of the thin flanges, and the uneven track, these have some of the thinner flanges which cause derailments, but I'd say that's a good thing
I love the tints of brown on the bottom gave it more feel. Love your channel;)
Thanks mate, yeah I agree! Thanks a lot mate, you're very kind! :D
Cheers,
Sam :)
I only have 4 dapol 00 gauge small wheelbase wagons. The 16T wagon kept derailing so has been relegated to my depot. The banana van kept derailing so I fiddled with it until it started working well. The 2 6-wheel milk tankers I had to regauge the wheels, but now they run pretty well.
As a rule, I avoid dapol's small wheelbase 00 wagons now.
My 5 EWS MCA wagons and Network Rail JNA Falcon all run well.
Sorry to hear you had trouble too - I'm certainly going to avoid them also!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I had the same problem with almost every dapol wagon I have. Replacing the wheels with Hornby wagon wheels fixes the derailing. The flanges on the dapol wheels are very small and aren't consistent all the way around the wheel. My dapol wagons also have problems with the nem couplings hanging down too low or to the side. had problems coupling up with other brands of wagons because of this. Replaced mine with permanent couplings in a fixed rake.
As much as I like bargians and cheap rolling stock these require quite a bit of work and extra money to get them running reliably which always makes me think twice about picking any more up.
Recently the Chinese man who bought the Sandra Kan wheel machine passed away. That machine produced most of the wheels and axles for most of the model trains industry in China, running 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I don't know who has bought this machine presently as the factory has closed. Knockoffs will most likely not have the same quality of this one machine...
haha, it that true Ron? Sounds like an idea for a sit-com! 'Who's got the wheel making machine?'. Well, it isn't Dapol!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I don't think I thats true. I have dapol wagons from 2013 which also have this problem. So its not a recent thing
Just from the comparison with the older hornby model, you can tell the wheel flanges are a lot smaller on these dapol wagons... that with the dodgy couplings is probably what's causing the problem. I would say you can swap in some older wheels with bigger flanges to cure these wagons and then recycle the dapol wheels into some rolling stock which have bogies, the pivot of the bogie and the extra wheel sets on the bogies should provide enough give for the smaller flanges to be more effective on them
Yeah absolutely - though I've got some other finescale wheels that don't cause any problems at all - still, no doubt they are partly to blame!!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Used to see the Blue Circle vans down at their place in Northfleet, usually carrying the cement in sacks, usually moved on to Hither Green or Rochester for disposal in other freights if memory serves me right. Can just see in my minds eye an ol' Crompton chuckling out its load onto the main line.
Ahh very interesting - glad to hear such a thing really existed! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Yes it's Hornby! I can see those 3 locos you showed for a spilt second! And those 3 locos are the Class 156 DMU, the S&DJR 2P, and the Fowler 4F. And those locos were made by Hornby and they were put in the Railways range but yet once you took them out of the box they look so cheap and they obviously look like railroad locomotives.
haha very well spotted mate, they were indeed! Still love Hornby though - just a joke!! ;D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Great review Sam, for that price I wouldn’t mind picking a couple up, but wouldn’t want too many if it means I’d have to modify the couplings, proper troublesome trucks.
Thanks a lot Callum - if you don't mind a bit of work, and a lot of frustration, they're not too bad! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I have quite a few dapol wagons and have found that putting a thin piece of card between the body of the wagon and the place the coupling screws in reduces the droop and helps with coupling and derailment issues. It's a pain that you need to make this modification but only takes a few seconds and costs nothing to improve the performance.
haha thanks for the suggestion - just can't believe these things are necessary with new wagons, crazy times!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Great video. It's nice to see an honest review and someone taking their own money to produce an independent review. Other RUclipsrs in the UK could learn from this. Dapol also have a fairly inconsistent nem pocket height on their wagons which is a real pain. Keep up the good work...
@@MDHGames Yeah exactly. One of the reasons RUclips reviews are great is that unlike magazine reviews, someone has gone out and picked something, bought it and taken the time to review it. Its always interesting to see what people decide to buy, their rationale and their honest opinion of it. That is taken away when you are handed whatever the marketing department of a manufacturer wants you to peddle that month. Unfortunately it seems a lot of the RUclipsrs are cashing in and not focusing on what put their channels there in the first place.
haha thanks a lot mate - I find it deeply amusing that some people take offence to my candid attitude - rest assured I won't let it stop me!! Sometimes I do get given things from manufacturers - but I'll still always be honest about it!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
We had similar problems with Dapol’s unpainted high side wagons which look like they share a chassis with these. Run them a while and the wheels will start falling out when you pick them up too.
Oh god that sounds ridiculous - why can't they get basic things right?! :O
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Hi Sam,
Great video. I too have had problems with Dapol wagons. I purchased six milk wagons and noticed that the nem couplings were not at a constant height. I also had to replace all the wheels with Hornby because of constant derailments. Now I do not purchase any more Dapol products due to their quality issues.
Thanks Brian - blimey, it sounds like an incredibly common problem - how ridiculous! I won't be buying any more either!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
The reason these wagons are so plop is a few reason since I have a BR vent van (the same as these egg vans, same weathering too) and LSWR gunpowder van. The couplings are not rounded enough around the loop part so the hook cannot smoothly couple, plus them fidgeting and swinging about. Simply change them out for better couplers. Another reason I think what may contribute to derailing is the very low rounded flanges, they're nicer on the fingers when cleaning the wheels after them getting dirty and don't feel like you're cutting your fingers open with all the other wagons ever, but they're a load of poo on the track. I've not used my vans in a while as I did change the couplers for a bar over the buffers for a shorter coupler.
Thanks very much for this - sounds like some pretty elementary design errors there then!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Sam, I'd be tempted to swap the wheels over for current Bachmann or Hornby sets. I would also increase the weight of each van so it totals 40grams. They should remain on the track nicely then. Slithers of roofing lead, or 2p coins (inside vans) are very good for adding weight to a vehicle.
Kind regards,
Nick.
I could do that Nick - but I'll have to save up first, lol! ;D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Try oiling the pivot points on the wheals and tightening the pivot on the couplings also try adding some solder to the springs for the couplings
Yes I've worked on improving these - not entirely successful, but they're definitely better!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I bought 3 of these about a year ago in the gunpowder wagon livery. The main reason was because they were cheap and I like dapol's weathering. However, the constant derailing and eventual ceasing up of the wheels made it a regrettable purchase. Ah well, at least I had an excuse to by even more wagons.
Yeah me too mate - I also regret purchasing - incredibly frustrating aren't they?
Happy New Year,
Sam :)
great video as always Sam, just my opinion but id say with the coupling issues £3 is the max id pay per wagon, just an idea for you, either glue the coupling in the central position or remove the couplings and make a row or withdrawn wagons for a siding. cheers
haha yeah me too - I wouldn't have bought them at all if I'd known! I probably will end up trying to glue them - but I'm worried that the couplings may need that pivoting in order to get around curves!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
@@SamsTrains yeah they may well need to, well if that fails they might make some good siding fodder!
Given the size of your stock-list, I'd suggest maybe buying an inexpensive airbrush and doing your own weathering. Then you can take the couplings and wheels off before spraying the wagons. That way the couplings stay clean - and actually, I find that keeping them black seems to make them much less obtrusive anyway. Eggcellent review, too - we could do with more of them on freight and passenger stock.
That's a good idea David, I would love to give that a try some time!
Thanks for watching, Sam :)
Great little van at a cracking price. Nothing wrong with using older tooling when it still looks good.
I agree Paddy - for the right price, it's acceptable practice!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Even though they derail they would make good siding decoration
Hi Sam, this is classic Dapol rolling stock issues. I have a number of vans that look lovely and to be fair have all the detail of the real thing which were after all a bit simple. But the wheels are always wobbly which is eggasperating! and the coupling are eggstrealy loose and droopy and therefore an absolute yoke! I think Dapol need to sort all this out or they will end up with egg on their face! People can't be expected to shell out for this lack of quality! Lets hope they hatch a new plot and fix all this.
@@MDHGames lol you will have to eggcuse me, I can get a bit over eggcited, but then I was being egged on
haha that's brilliant Mike - that was a cracking comment!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Nice video as always Sam! (Hey remember me from the other videos comment section? Lol) Do you think you could do a tutorial on how to make it so there are no "dead zones" or "slow zones" in a DC layout?
Thanks a lot mate, yeah I remember! You just need to make sure all the fishplates are tight, and you have a few different power connection points on the track! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
@@SamsTrains thanks Sam this will be very helpful!
Great video Sam can't wait too watch your live stream cause I can actually watch it
Bless you mate, hope you enjoy it! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Fantastic review Sam! Sorry to hear about your problems with them, all my dapol stock runs extremely well so i think this product is a 1 off, addmitedly yes my intermodal wagons do derail on 2nd radius curves but that is due to their length. I have 3 different types of dapol wagon and have had no problems. If you check out theyre more modern stock and modern image wagons i am sure you will find them to be fantastic! My intermodal has the same odd couplings springs but it worked fantastic nonetheless! I hope to see some modern image reviews of locos and rolling stock soon, as always. Thanks, Iwan.
Thanks very much mate - sounds like yours is the one off - everyone in the comments has similar problems, lol! ;D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
@@SamsTrains All i said was theyre more modern wagons are much better and have worked fine for me! A friend of mine has some dapol wagons similar to these, he doesnt have a permanent layout and his track is quicte bumpy but he has had no issues.
Sam why u could make a train with the hornby teaks and run them on points and the engine your collection that derails the most
That's a great idea, haha! ;D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Miles: what's with all the EGG-citement? HAHAHAHAHA!
Aaay!! ;D
Yep! I'm funny!
Very nice looking (and also if you keep the small flanges on them an excuse for slower goods trains stopping every so often or shunting yard setups your choice of course)
Thanks a lot Fred - and that's very true!!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Im happy because my dad ordered me a O gauge polar express yesterday and its coming tomorrow! Enjoyed the vid- JackStudios
That's amazing Jack - really hope you enjoy it! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Why are model trains so satisfying
haha wish I knew! ;D
Isn't there a way to make the couplings "less flimsy"...? Like glue them in 1 place, so they just become rigid couplers....? Might that work?
I'm sure that would work, depending on whether they need the spring in order to negotiate curves - either way, not a nice thing to have to do with brand new wagons! :O
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I realized another theme to this, all the locos are pulling the trains backwards. That's different, I'm not usually a fan of bunker/tender first hauling but its a nice change
haha well spotted - thought it'd make a nice change! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Hi Sam I really bay Dapol's items because of there coupling issues and dealing half of the time and the couplings break or detach i have found ways to avoid this is to glue the couplings and to ovid derailment i add a little wait inside of the freight carriages and there is less derailment on them afterwards.
I can't blame you for that mate - I won't be buying any more of their wagons either!!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
You are the Sam's trains, they are the egg vans, I am the Walrus, choo choo ch'choo.
Can you add some weight to the cars? I've found that a great deal of OO Gauge rolling stock hasn't any weight to hold them down, & I've had to add sticky weights to the inside of them to help them track better.
Yeah that would no doubt help - I'll fix them up at some point! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Sam'sTrains did you ever get some weights in these?
Even with their issues I've just put in an order for two of Dapols unpainted wagons to try them out. With a bit of playing around I bet they will work fine :)
Ooh nice - good luck to you! haha!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Hi Sam,
Had the same problem with Dapol wagons in my case the following:
Six wheeled tankers they loved to derail.
Hopper wagons they joined the derail club.
Plank wagons you guessed it they derailed seems to be a common theme but to be fair too Dapol Bachmann coaches hate bends. Yet my vintage stock seldom derails were the old style couplings better?
Hi Peter, sorry to hear that - I'm not surprised Dapol were unable to perfect anything six-wheeled - definitely sounds like a recipe for disaster!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I had a similar issue with a Dapol rectangular tank wagon and found that it ran fine if I swapped the wheels for something with larger flanges
That's interesting - I'll give that a go with mine, thanks for the suggestion! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Interesting to hear about that. I bought one a few years ago at a bargain price from Kernow. The layout I use it on has 30" minimum curves, and I use Kadees. It has been fine for me, but if I ever have to use it on a layout with tight curves I will expect possible trouble.
Excellent review of these set of Dapol Egg van wagons Sam 👍
It is disappointing that these van couplings made them come off the rails, however it must be due to that they are sprim and the Midland 1F tank has a couplings that don't sprim and that must be the reason why it keep on coming off the rails.
I got some van wagons from Dapol and they run ok around the layout and you can some them in action on mix freight with my Bachmann LMS 3F video.
I'm glad the LMS Mogul is running fine on this video and it is still a nice model to see in action. I know it a bit late for me to say, but I like GCR J11 class loco and that was again good review of the model.
If by luck, are you going to think of buying a HO USA S160 2-8-0 in the near future? I have mention about that when I was in the gauge master shop earlier this year, but I thought it would be nice to have in your collection.
It might be Joe - but they derailed whether or not they were coupled to the 1f, particularly in reverse! Oh yeah the J11 is superb - really love those! I might well look into that - they do sound lovely! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Sam, as for the couplers, I have no advice. But as for the vans, I'd add more weight to each one, right over the trucks. Don't those shells just pop off?
Dapols egg vans are certainly a cracking addition to the fleet! By that I mean cracking open!
haha you're absolutely right ;)
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I’ve had similar problems with Dapol vans. Quite right, I began to lose my mind. Eventually got some satisfaction by heavily weighting them. Even then lateral forces will periodically derail them. Hope Dapol is paying attention. Won’t be fooled twice, especially as international shipping is very expensive.
Sorry to hear that Jeffrey, they definitely get better with more weight - I found this too!
Merry Christmas - Sam :)
Some of the Dapol stock may even be the original Hornby Dublo purchased from Wrenn which means that they mouldings may go back to the 1960s.
Blimey, I didn't know they had some as old as that! :O
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Hi Sam, did you ever get to fix these? They look awesome but so many issues..
Their self assembly wagon kits suffer from this exact same problem with the couplers
Really? I can't understand why they weren't improved before they were produced on so many models?!?
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Sam'sTrains well, the self assembly kits are ex-kitmaster, then ex-Airfix, so they are all designed to have plastic two-part wheels and old Dublo couplers. Tension lock couplers are included as an after thought, but as they get glued straight onto the kit the wagons lock up on corners and knock each other off
I think if you put some weight in the cars, they might stay on the tracks. When they are to light, they get pulled out of the rails. Certainly if couplers don't move around smoothly. I remember this with some '70s and early '80tis Lima cars. When some weight was added, the problem was over.
Yes that's very true - that may really help!
Happy New Year,
Sam :)
I wish I'd have seen those on the Dapol site. I've been buying a few unpainted LMS vent vans to rebrand and these would have done nicely. I'm not worried about the couplers as I plan on switching them to kadee's anyway.
I'd better keep a closer eye on that specials page.
Thanks Sam
Thanks Gerry - you might have been lucky to have missed them, even their wheels are dreadful!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Omelets for breakfast, dinner, tea, supper. Sam "hmm next time I am buying a Cadburys Van".
haha, you're absolutely right! ;D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Seeing how with different wheels and couples seem to work properly by the other commenters' experiences, I guess they only are a good deal if you have the patience and already have the spare parts to tinker with them. Or maybe as static decoration in a big trainyard.
Yeah absolutely - and of course they're no longer worth the money if you have to fork out for new wheels and couplings!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Hi Sam.I mainly am an N scale man but recently acquired a heap of oo scale stuff for a song(deceased estate).Your vid revealed to me the problems with couplers.I have some work to do.Thx.
Sorry to hear if you've had a loss Alan - but good luck with the repairs! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Sam'sTrains No I didn't lose a relative .It was a sale from an ad on a local internet site(Gumtree).The lady's father had passed two years ago and she was finally getting around to moving it on.The layout had been dismantled but there was absolutely heaps of Hornby,Marklin,Peco,Airfix,Bachman,etc boxes everywhere.The stuff I got was loose and in two boxes and all come off the layout so I presume all 11 locos are working fine.(7 Steam Hornby,1 Flieschman 2 Lima diesels 1Hornby Thomas).The rolling stock is mostly Hornby/triang with about forty carriages and dozens of tankers,coal,car carriers,brake,etc.I have set up a simple oval test track I tested 3 locos with various rolling stock and noticed various problems with coupling thanks to your vid.What did I pay for all this.$50 aus with a half assembled Walthers motorised turntable thrown in.I did say to the lady to do her research because what she sold me was too cheap.
Have you tried changing the couplers and/or wheels? Might be worth removing the couplers and stripping the weathering off...
I haven't tried that, but no doubt it'd improve things!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I love looking at all the egg yokes... it’s all based of an eggcellent Idea. And some of them are truly scrambling.
Also I want to get a bunch of these. For £7, I’ll buy 5 or 6.
haha thanks Mikey - I can't recommend it mate, they're useless on the track! xD
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
hi Sam, great looking wagons, but i've had quite a few probs with the Dapol wagon couplings and I dont even have a track to run on. it seems the coupling centering spring clips are mega fragile and are often broken before taking out of the box. and if they arent broken, the couplings seem to droop quite a lot!
Thanks Adrian - I got exactly the same impression - very dodgy couplings indeed!!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
This looks familiar, I have a few problems like that with similar rolling stock and I think is the dappled, now to check
I bet it will be Nigel - everyone's saying the same thing!!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Hi Sam got some of these vans had same problems with them derailing on curves fitted wire and loop to them now they seem to work hope this is some help many thanks Dan 😁😀
Sorry to hear that Dan - sounds like your fix was a good one though!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Looks like the yellow wagon just has a really thick coat of paint that kind of covers up the details?
haha yeah it does look a bit like that actually, lol! ;D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Sam, check out The Beatles’ song about these vans. It’s called “I am the walrus”, and it contains the line “We are the Egg Vans, coo-coo-ca-choo”(-choo)!
haha!! Brilliant Jim! ;D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Hi! never commented to you before. I noticed that several of the couplers were at different heights. The engine coupler was way high to the wagon you were about hook to. That could cause problems also.
Yeah you're right Joe - ridiculous really!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I think I know what you can do to stop them from derailing Sam, just replace the wheels with Hornby ones, they may be derailing due to the wheel design
Sam: “I’ve bought seven of them.”
Also Sam: “Now I’ve just checked the website and they don’t have any more in stock.”
Jk never forget why people love you Sam.
Another great upload Sam!
Thanks very much Joe! :D
Dapol wagons are very prone to derailment, also the couplings are poor. I had a few and they were just trouble. I sold them all on eBay and replaced them with Wrenn ones, they are excellent
honestly i think the height PLUS the lateral movement of the coupler is the issue. have the same issue with some of my kleinbahn rolling stock, their (continental) standard couplers are a bit too low and when you hang them up on the next car that has the coupler at the right height, it lifts the faulty car a bit and the smallest nudge from the track will send it off. Also the decoupling pin may be too low or too long (sometimes even if it's MARKETED as a standard coupler it's everything BUT standard) and catching the track.
Hey, keep up the good work. I really enjoy your British rolling stock, Sam ;)
Yeah you're probably right there - it's very annoying either way! Sorry to hear you've had similar problems!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Dapol do indeed use old Airfix moulds and are still producing some of the model kits Airfix made. Hope the folk on your railway like scrambled eggs 😉.
haha luckily they do Rob- they don't like scrubbing them off the railbed mind you!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)