LGB Railcar - lateral body movement

Airbuspilot

Airbuspilot

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We have two LGB Railcars, bought at separate times, one looks like new the other either old or well used. The “new” one runs well with no problems, the other has problems with curves. The body of the “new” car sits firmly on its bogies with minimal lateral movement while the older one has lots of lateral movement. It seems that when this railcar tries to run around a curve the bogies interfere with the underside of the body and cause derailment.

I haven’t taken the railcar apart yet so I’m not certain how the bogies mate to the body, before I start looking for solutions can any one recommend a fix for excess lateral movement and possibly raising the body slightly?

Robin
 
Are these LGB 20390 RhB ABe 4/4 I railcars? If so this is a well known problem with the earliest version of the 20390.

There is fortunately a solution which involved purchasing replacement top covers for the motor blocks (Champex Linden has them) and constructing a suitable rubbing plate on the railcar body. It can even be done without having to remove/refit the body and the underframe (which is a somewhat fiddly/frustrating process).

I will shortly have to refit the bogies on my 20390 so I will take a series of photos to explain the process (much easier than trying to describe it in words).

In the meantime you can find some information in German here which was the source that I used when I started out on my journey on rectifying the problem with my early 20390.
 
Thanks for the information, I guessed someone would have had this problem. This is not a priority so I would like to see your pictures when you get round to making your re-fit.

The German page makes sense. I will look for the parts.

Robin
 
Here are a few photos from my initial work last year on a newly-acquired, second-hand 20930 that had various truck wear issues.

This one shows an original 20390 motor block cover on the left and a revised one on the right.

F19158FF-5FEC-4D12-BB15-FBA543F05535.jpeg

This shows the rubbing plate that you will need to install. I made this one from a two layers cut from an old hotel "door key" card.

BTW, you can see here that the truck bearing plate is secured to the car floor by two screws (with the truck itself being attached to the bearing plate by one screw from above). By taking the motor block apart while it is attached to the car, you can get at those bearing plate mounting screws, and remove them, then the truck frame can be removed from the car without having to remove the carbody.

There is also a 4 pin plug which engages with pins on the top of the motor block, which needs to be unplugged.

6E9C0693-66C2-429E-9946-A714261601E8.jpeg

Finally, this is what it should look like when it's reassembled.

D254E8DB-359C-4BA3-9CA4-80AA63B495F5.jpeg
 
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Thanks for the pictures, looks like a straightforward fix. I have found the Champex Linden site and will try to find the motor block cover.

My initial thoughts on a fix would have been unnecessarily complicated so you have saved me a lot of trouble.

Robin
 
Airbuspilot said:
Found it, thanks very much
Click to expand...
If you are able to buy it from Champex-Linden, do let us know.

According to their website, they have a minimum order (from the UK) of 100EUR . . .

1652966494085.png

. . . and a postal charge (to the UK) of 27.99EUR

1652966553004.png

If you are able to persuade them to accept a smaller order, and charge less postage, it'll encourage me to try something similar with them!

Fingers crossed

David
 
Hi David

I live in Cyprus and buying from or sending to the UK is painful and expensive which possibly explains their position. I will look at the site over the next few days and see what they say, my guess is that purchase is not a problem but delivery will be. I don’t bother to check Amazon UK any more, Amazon Germany is OK but delivery is by courier and usually not worth the effort Unless it is an expensive single item.

I will let you know how i get on.

Robin
 
For shipment to Cyprus they want min order of 50 Euros and shipment of 20 Euros.

Not urgent for us at the moment so I think we will have to wait.

Robin
 
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