When it comes to constructing the baseboard for a model railway layout, there are a few materials that are commonly...
Cart 0 Product Products (empty)
No products
Free shipping! Shipping
£ 0.00 Total
Product successfully added to your shopping cart
Quantity
Total
There are 0 items in your cart. There is 1 item in your cart.
Total products (tax incl.)
Total shipping (tax excl.) Free shipping!
Total (tax incl.)
Search Tips
Tips categories
Latest Tips
-
What are the best materials to use to construct the baseboard for my first layout ?Read more -
What are 'desktop' model aircraft?Read moreDesktop model aircraft are ornamental models usually constructed to 1:72 scale, made from diecast and often take...
-
What is a bow pen?Read moreA bow pen also known as a ruling pen was designed in the early 1900’s for draftsmen for drawing straight lines of...
-
What adhesives should I use to assemble a kit with white metal parts ?Read moreWhen assembling a kit with white metal parts, it is important to choose the right adhesive to ensure a strong and...
-
Should I use my old model railway layout or buy a new one?Read moreSo the kids have all grown up and moved away, you finally have a little space, a bit of extra cash maybe, and a...
What are fixed buffer stops?
Although there are many different types of buffer stops, they can be primarily separated into two types, fixed or friction.
Fixed buffer stops are a type of permanently fixed railway buffer that won't move or absorb energy when a train makes contact with it. The most common type of fixed buffer stop has a framework built from sections of shaped rail and a contact plate placed at the same height as a train's buffers to serve as the initial point of contact. Other types include wooden framed buffer stops constructed to a similar shape, concrete blocks and wooden boxes filled with sand or coal.
Fixed buffer stops have been used almost since the dawn of the railways. They are a crude and primitive solution to stopping trains running off the ends of sidings or crashing into terminus platforms. Because they do not absorb kinetic energy, heavy damage can be sustained to rolling stock that comes into contact with them. As a result, friction buffer stops that can absorb limited amounts of energy from a slow-speed impact started to emerge towards the end of the steam era and are now commonplace at most terminus stations.
Despite their flaws, a large number of fixed buffer stops are still in use today but are more commonly found in low-risk locations such as sidings. A few are still used at stations but are likely to be proceeded by a sand-trap or other device for slowing a train before contact is made.
Click here to receive the tips weekly in your mailbox. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Related products
Related posts
-
How to clean model railways track?There is of course the old tried and tested method, the track rubber which does the job, no railway modeller should... - What scale is Hornby?Hornby model railways are OO Scale or 1/76th that is 4 millimetres to the foot (12 inches). It runs on a track with...
- Is Peco track and Hornby track compatible?Peco Setrack and Peco Streamline are compatible with Hornby track as they all share the same gauge width of 16.5mm....
- How to weight my model so it does not tip?For wargaming figures, a small coin or washer glued to the under side of the base will usually to do the job. This...
- How often should I clean my track?This a hard question to answer. There are no hard and fast rules about how often you should clean the track. Bear in...