Graham Farish class 08 sticky couplings

[TheUnpredictableETO]

My Graham Farish class 08 (371-009) has two "sticky" (Rapido style) couplings. They don't couple easily to rolling stock and when coupled don't easily let go. This happens with all brands of rolling stock, Dapol/Graham Farish/Peco. When I try the same rolling stock on any of my Fleischmann or Arnold locos the problem does not occur. When I try any of the continental brands of rolling stock on the class 08 the same problem occurs. The cause really seems to be the couplings on this little loco..

Has anybody seen this before? And more importantly - how can I fix this?

[ntpntpntp]

The only time I've encountered sticky couplings is second-hand equipment where someone's applies a little Copydex or Tackywax  to prevent uncoupling.

Are you saying the couplings don't lift as freely as they should?  I think the 08 you have is the old tooling model, I know the earliest 08s didn't have sprung couplings but not sure about yours as it's a later Chinese produced model?

[Bealman]

Thinking of asking the same questions.

[Newportnobby]

Yup. 371-009 is the old tooling without outside frames in BR green.
I have to admit to never having heard of 'sticky' couplings (it's usually the opposite) so suggest you give them a good clean. Do they feel sticky to the touch?

Oh, and welcome to the forum Can we ask how you found us, please?

[Bealman]

Ah, the little Poole critter! One of my favourite locos. My test loco.

Welcome to the forum!

Not sure what you mean by sticky couplings.

Sticky to lift, or sticky on the coupling itself?

If it's the latter, it just might need gunk cleaning off it.

Welcome to the NGF! 

[TheUnpredictableETO]

Hello all,

Many thanks for the replies!

I received the class 08 as a gift many moons ago. It was brand new at the time and this is now the first time of me actually using it. Just ran it in properly and it seems a nice runner. The issue with the couplings looks more like a size issue and not that they are actually sticky. I will give them a clean (isopropanol?) just to make sure. When I couple a wagon to the loco and then carefully lift the loco the wagon will come up with it. Other locos I can just lift off the track and the wagons stay behind.

The fitting of the couplings look the same as on my Graham Farish wagons. There is a difference though, since I can lift each of the wagons off the track without taking the others with it. I'm wondering if I should take the couplings of one of the wagons an try it on the loco.. Or is that unlikely to work?

@Newportnobby; I did a Google search a while back and bookmarked this forum.

[Newportnobby]

It's not the easiest job* to put pics up but, in this case, it might help 'The Collective' spot any issues

*Practise makes perfect

[Steven B]

Have a close look at the couplings on the 08. There may be a bit of flash that needs filing off.

It's also worth a closer look when it's coupled to your wagons & compare to another loco - the actual coupling head could be bigger than it should be. If this is the case a couple of strokes with a file should fix it but you need to identify where & what needs filing.


Steven B

[TheUnpredictableETO]

Thank you both - I'll see if I can make some pics and upload them. It may well help me find out where to file down the couplings a bit.

[TheUnpredictableETO]

As promised I took some pictures last night. And then on the last picture I took I noticed a (possibly) important difference between the coupling on the Graham Farish class 08 and the Graham Farish wagon:

The wagon has a straight edge on the inside bit of the claw, where the loco has like a fish-tail edge. To me it looks like this could be where it catches when I'm trying to decouple the loco. I think that filing this edge so that it is straight could fix the problem - but I've not done so yet since I wanted to know what you all think about this?

[ntpntpntp]

It's possible I suppose but that difference in design isn't usually a problem, so be very sure before modifying.  Study what's happening very carefully and close-up

I don't recall anyone else ever mentioning this particular problem.

[Bealman]

Me neither, though that coupler shaft does look a bit thick, ie, no up and down give.

[TheUnpredictableETO]

Just like to thank everybody for their replies - I took the plunge (metaphorically speaking) and carefully filed the fish-tail shape so it is now just about straight. Couplings now work like a charm - very happy with the result.

[Newportnobby]

Glad you got it sorted

[Bealman]

Well done!