My DMU has been running with P4'd North West Shortline PDT units, I have not been
entirely happy with these, the lack of equalisation made the roadholding a bit suspect and
the two units were not matched closely enough to run together as a 3 car set whilst a
single bogie needed excessive weight to handle 3 cars on its own. The 3 car set is thus in
the shops for a rebuild. In the meantime aquisition of a Cravens Parcels car brought a
need for another power unit and Scalefour North provided the opportunity to try the
LoRider4 from High Level.
This is now running trials as a ballasted chassis and looks good so far, smooth and quiet
with a good slow running speed.
The kit comes with excellent instructions which I followed closely except for a couple of variations, so here I will just give a photo sequence with brief notes on my method. Larger versions of the pictures can be seen by clicking on the one shown.
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Followed the instructions here, used the standard iron and rosin cored solder, didn't seem worth getting the RSU out. |
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No reamer big enough for the hole that fits the motor boss, so used a half round file and took it gently till I got a tight push fit. |
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Before fixing the side mounting bracket in the frame I tried it in the bogie frame, this showed that the "Hornby" version came out a touch wide and bowed the bogie sideframes, so I used the narrower "Lima" version and fitted plasticard packing pieces afterwards. |
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After that I checked the end plates for fit and found that they needed trimming to fit between the brake shoes on the bogie moulding. |
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The side and end plates added to the frame, the instructions mention fitting the end plates upside down if you retain Hornby couplings, but do not tell you which way up to start from, I tried them in the bogie before soldering and chose that which looked best. |
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As initially soldered the frame was a touch long but this was just the tips of the positioning lugs protruding through the end plates, cured when filed off flush and the ends of the plates bent back slightly to match the curve in the Hornby frame. |
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I used a pair of spare axles to align the two frames while fixing holes were drilled through the plastic and nickel silver frames. I didn't fancy having to fit 14ba nuts on the inside each time I took it apart, so made the initial holes 0.8mm and tapped the nickel silver frame, drilling 1mm clearance holes in the plastic portion. |
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Fitting gearshafts and axles went as per the instructions and I used Branchlines wheels insulated oneside only to allow pick up from the two bogie frames without needing any wipers. One point to watch, the intermediate double gears can fit either left or right handed, do it the wrong way and the axle gear fouls an angle stiffener on one side frame, I found it easier to snip off the stiffener rather than remove the gearshafts and start again! |
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I connected wires to the two motor brushes and to the frame for the right hand rail pick up, the left hand rail coming via the trailing bogie. The wires have a plug to allow easy removal of the bogie. |
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Final assembly with the six 14ba screws |
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and a clip fit in the chassis, this one just for trial running while I get the parcel car built. |
| And it actually runs! |  |
Copyright Keith Norgrove.
Last revised: August 27, 2003