Hi everyone.

I am having some difficulty with y passenger trains. My layout has a double track using C-Track R1 and R2 curves.

I bought some Piko Expert push pull coaches that are way too long.

Then I bought some Piko Hobby 57609-1 and -2.



They are both fine on the standard curves but both have trouble around the S-bend on the layout.


I have a few of the Roco SBB coaches as here -



The Piko Hobby are 26cm long whilst the SBB coaches are 23cm. The SBB coaches have no problems going round the track at any speed, including round the S-Bend.

The loco allocated to the train that I want to run is a BR141 as here:



(The SBB coaches are normally pulled by a Krok but I am using them as a test for the BR141.)

My Question

Can any one propose some suitable coaches of a similar length to the SBB at 23cm for use with my red E141. I have looked through the latest Marklin catalogue but am confused as I can't tell the coach lengths. Roco and PIko have huge ranges and I can't get to grips with them so someone might know them better. I have a local Piko and Roco supplier but have no trouble getting Marklin from ML.

Any help please?

I think the Silberlinge 4042/4043/4046 series at 240mm (~9½") also work with BR141. The 4158/4159 series Silberlinge are 264mm (~10-5/8") might also work, but the newer 303mm ("scale length") not so sure - others will help on that. But again as Ray has posited, an ebay item, or a shop might have some "Previously Loved" items

Jimmy

Well, I have sorted out my problem. I was hoping that someone could point me at some current models in the Marklin, Roco or Piko catalogues as I had bought the nice SBB coaches from the local dealer. However, that didn't happen. As I didn't see a solution in new coaches, I had to go back to what I had. Firstly, I took the slider and pickups out of the red and cream coach and tried them again. Not much changed. However, I noticed that the coach only came off at one point.

Step back a bit. My railway is built on top of an electric desk. I was given this as part of the Open University disability aid. The desk can be raised and lowered using an electric motor. However, the bit where the coach was coming off was on the removable part of the layout which is supported by legs. My wife noticed that there was a slight slope to the removable board so I checked it out. I used the electric control to drop the main layout about 10mm which brought everything back into line and the coaches now go round without derailing!

Not sure how or why the desk top was raised that little bit but everything now runs fine so I no longer need to replace the coaches. Thanks to everyone who tried to help.

I have found that, generally, when I have a problem, it is a general problem and not specific to me. Hence, nearly always, I don't really get any help. This applies as much to the computer forums as this one. I am not meaning to belittle anyone as everyone tries their best but sometimes there isn't an easy answer, as in this case, so the problem goes unresolved.

A couple of years ago, I was finishing an Open University degree with a computer project that involved a "key-value" database (if you know what that is), a cloud server and an Android app. The idea was to create a routing program for US outline model freight cars. Although I have been involved in US model railroading for most of my life, there were questions that I needed answering. Funnily enough, no one else seemed to know either so I got lots of irrelevant answers and lots of mild abuse!

Hence my switch to Marklin and a much friendlier forum!