Building a London Road J69: Advice sought

[Horsetan]

OT, but the "SwingLink" cradle reminds me of the Rivarossi S-Drive mechanism of the 1980s, which used a similar principle to have a drivetrain that would disengage from the final drive and allow the model to coast along if power was shut off. The S-Drive only ever made it into one model, so probably wasn't all that successful!

Illustration attached. The bumf (duly translated) reads:

"Haven't you always wanted a realistic drive?

S-Drive offers automatic engagement and disengagement of the gearbox

- Continuous acceleration
- Traction-dependent sliding travel
- Individual determination of the braking distance through additional traction current pulses
- Realistic, mass-dependent coasting to a standstill
- Full braking by counter-control on the driving console
- Possibility of towing another locomotive with S-Drive in case of separate traction current supply (overhead contact line / underhead contact line) or individual control with electronic multi-train systems

The Br.18 will be the first locomotive to be equipped with S-Drive by Rivarossi. It is planned to equip further locomotives with this new drive concept in the course of the model update.

Should one or the other brake sections of existing layouts not be sufficient for Rivarossi S-Drive - too bad! But then this modern drive concept can be switched over to the conventional type of drive at any time"

[mick b]

Is this a OO gearbox on a EM or P4 chassis, hence the gaps ?? If yes, it needs shims added.

[Jim de Griz]

Sorry for the slow response, been rather busy and not had a chance to do any work of my J69

To answer a few questions

The motor seems to be fitted rotated about the shaft centre line. The LRM etches have the motor mount screws "vertically". Does the motor have offset screws? it looks a Mashima but could be a Taff Vale 1227. The etches were designed around Mashima motors but the TV motor has the same boss diameter and 10.0mm screw holes according to their website, so should line up properly.

It is a Taff Vale 1227!

The kit is designed for a Mashima 1224 which would fit between the frames using a motor mount. As I was unable to acquire a 1224, I picked up the Taff Vale 1227 as it has similar dimensions.

Unfortunately the screw holes on a 1227 are diagonal so while the motor will fit between the frames with a bit of a squeeze, it won't when screwed into the motor mount with its vertical screw holes. There isn't room on the mount to drill new screw holes so I either need to use the swing link to lift the motor clear of the frame, or superglue the motor to the mount and pray that holds...

The other alternative would be to try and fabricate my own motor mount, which is well outside my comfort zone.

Taff Vale also do a 1015 that has vertical screw holes and would fit between the frames, but it has a drive shaft diameter of 1mm and London Road's worm gears are for 1.5 or 2mm. (Doh)

Did you not solder them in? That's taking a risk, especially if (as seems to be the case) they're a slack fit. Use some sort of jig and secure them. I can't see hornblocks, so I'm assuming this is a rigid chassis.

I secured them with a blob of superglue, which to be fair worked, but secured them in the wrong position! The next attempt will be with solder.

It is a rigid chassis, I decided trying for anything else on a first attempt was asking for trouble.

At risk of being drummed out of this discussion a CDC 3D printed J69 on a Dapol Terrier chassis is far quicker.

I considered this and decided against it. In short, I wanted a project that would push/develop my modelling skills. I also wanted at least one locomotive running that I could say was 100% my own work. (Well ok a kit that someone else produced and a motor someone else made, but I would have assembled the parts damn it )

Your not wrong, I have picked the harder road with no guarantee of success at the end. But, that was kind of the point. Other peoples experiences may vary.

Is this a OO gearbox on a EM or P4 chassis, hence the gaps ?? If yes, it needs shims added.

OO gearbox on OO chassis, if I'm reading the instructions correctly it is intended that washers are used to secure the motor mount/swing link in place.

Thank you everyone for your help and advise on this project. I am still working on it, but I've been a touch short of time lately! I'll report back once I have some progress to report.

Jim de Griz

[mick b]

Have you checked you have the right spacers on the chassis .

There appears to be zero sideplay on the wheels, hence my thinking it was not a OO gauge chassis .

Another solution is to buy a High Level Gearbox for comparison/use instead. They are the best I have ever used in kits.

[Jim de Griz]

I'm pretty sure I've got the right ones. There was a second set provided that were wider, they looked more appropriate for EM or P4.

I'm going to perceiver with the London Road Swing Link for the time being. With a little more work I think I'll get it working.

But, I'll bear High Level in mind if I get properly stuck!

Jim de Griz

[mick b]

Normally three sets OO EM and P4 . If you have only two sets they could be EM.

[Jim de Griz]

The clearances are tight, but she does (did) run on OO gauge track so hopefully I picked the right spacers (Fingers Crossed)

I’m not looking forward to trying to squeeze the pick ups into the available space

Jim de Griz

[Jim de Griz]

Can’t fault London Road for customer service, I asked if I could buy the part I broke separately and they instead offered to post it to me for free

They then posted a second spare to me when the first was lost in the post.



On occasion I’ve joked with mates that I should call my layout, ‘experience’, because whilst building it that is what I have consistently gained 20 seconds after I needed it.

This build has been no different.

Fresh observations,

The gears in the swing link need to be as aligned as possible or they will not mesh reliably. This does not look like it should be so, but it is

The grub screw cannot be trusted to hold the gears in place alone. Washers seem to be vital in keeping the gears in the right horizontal alignment and the horrible to file flat in the axle is far more important than it looks.

I’m probably 80% of the way to having a working drive train at this point. The worm drive keeps slipping (see point above) so that needs some work. Once thats done I’ll start work fitting pick ups to the wheels.

Thank you again for all the advice

Jim de Griz