The 009 Society Sales team had a Minitrains Koppel loco in stock and I brought it to use for this project. (Many thanks to Brian Guilmant for the helpful service).

It needed a few modifications. When you remove the body from the Koppel the plastic cylinder assembly and the front buffer are loose. I found this inconvenient and I glued them in place.

The piston rod / guides / crosshead assemblies on either side of the loco are designed to screw into the underside of the Koppel chassis. I couldn’t fit the screws into the Rheneus body so I cut off the screw mountings and glued the assemblies into the plastic bracket that holds the cylinders. You can just see the glue in the photo below.

The original loco body is attached to the chassis using a bolt hidden in the smoke stack. This drops down through the body and screws into the chassis. I want to use the Rheneus chimney so I needed a way of securing the body to the chassis from below the loco.

The solution is simple, a 2mm (80 thou) diameter blot will go up through the chassis to meet a nut glued into the smoke box of the loco body. The original hole was slightly too small for the 2mm bolt, but it was easy to enlarge it with a hand drill.

The loco needs a little more weight at the front to counter balance the weight of the motor. I took the opportunity to add a couple of pieces of lead to the chassis.

The final modification was to devise a way of supporting the rear of the new loco body. I glued a small brass bracket to the rear of the chassis and attached an inverted U shaped piece of plastic inside the loco body. The ‘U’ will sit on top of the bracket to locate and support the rear of the loco.

At least that’s the plan 🙂