Hydraulic buffers

Buffers are there to stop locos and rolling stock coming off the end of the track. Hydraulic buffers give a degree of extra protection by absorbing some of the energy of the collision.



They are fairly rare, but I came across a pair on Crewe station on the bay platforms on the north side.



A photo of the same buffers from 1975 can be seen here.

I do not know how hydraulic buffers work, but I guess...

The red cylinders are hydraulic pistons full of oil. On impact, slides into the piston, forcing the oil into the reservoir - the blue tank - via an orifice. The orifice restricts the flow, arresting the speed of the impact.

How effective they are I do not know. Hard to see how a 100 te train travelling at 40 mph is going to be stopped.

As far as I can tell, there is no hydraulic buffer available in N gauge.


I did a single buffer, then mirrored it in ChiTuBox. If I print out more, I would do the buffers and sliders separate so they can be readily replaced if the snap.




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