Grovenor Sidings, Railway Modelling Pages by Keith Norgrove
Home Page, Class 37, Warship, Layout, DMUs, Turntable,  Garratts

Wagon Suspensions.

Discussion of suspension systems for 4 wheel wagons has led to ideas for using narrow packings under each W-iron. This is a return to some of the earliest recommended methods for P4. So for the benefit of the relative newcomers here are some relevant extracts from the Protofour Manual and "Prototype"

Extract from P4 Manual section 4.12 The original recommendations on wagon suspension are in this manual, find it at the Scalefour website, history pages, protofour manual.

Extract from Prototype 17, September 1977 - An alternative suspension by Keith Norgrove

Extract from Prototype 31, April 1982 - A jig for assembling W-irons by Bill Johnson.

Here is a photo sequence showing the assembly of a van suspension using some of these ideas. The jig I made is rather simpler than Bill's, using a 10mm brass strip soldered to a pair of W-irons to give the lateral position.

Susp-1th.jpg (1390 bytes) 1. Brass strip drilled with 4 guide holes for fixing bolts.
Susp-2th.jpg (1370 bytes) 2. Brass strip cut to length.
Susp-3th.jpg (2051 bytes) 3. Completed Jig.
Susp-4th.jpg (2895 bytes) 4. Jig in place on floor for drilling.
Susp-5th.jpg (3209 bytes) 5. Drilling with Pin chuck.
Susp-6th.jpg (1989 bytes) 6. Rubber packing strips and W-irons prepared.
Susp-7th.jpg (2619 bytes) 7. Rubber packing strips in place.
Susp-8th.jpg (2487 bytes) 8. First W-iron in place
Susp-9th.jpg (2660 bytes) 9. Completed suspension ready for cosmetic detailing.

Return to homepage

Copyright Keith Norgrove.
Last revised: August 27, 2003