Wheels, wieghts and wobbles…..

I’m pleased to say I only have my station section and fiddle yard (piddle yard, as it’s become known due to it taking over the old ensuite! ) track to complete. To save driving myself mad and my fingers from bleeding everyday, I have decided to take a break from track and tackle a long overdue project on getting some of my longer wagon rakes running better.
The track I do have down would be challenging to even new stock with two double inclines, endless sets of points, diamond crossings, double slips and three ways all dispersed around the 24 ft X 14ft layout on two levels.
I pride myself on good track work but even with my best efforts some track is sent to challenge us!
My particular nemesis seems to be diamond crossings, yes my double slips need everything right but on two junctions, four line routes rely on two diamonds followed by a double slip to navigate!
Having finally narrowed it down to these being the remaining challenge I found newer stock and some Lima stock, even 30 unit rakes, run fine. However, my Hornby stock is a different story.
I have a nice rake of 10 bogie bolsters and 30 MGR hoppers, plus varing rakes of brown rail frieght, frieghtliner and of course many many coaches.
All of my Bachmann, Lima, Dapol, kit made and even Joufe stock runs great.
Having read many good comments on our group site and Facebook I decided the logical approach for me is A) Couplings
B) Wheel gauging
C) Wagon weight
D) Bogie movement
So with the aid of a few photos, here we go…..