Improving the Jouef
Res flat wagon (1)

Page created on 13/03/2025; updated on 27/03/2025.

Very disappointed by the 2021 Res by HJ, which are not French wagons, I bought two Jouef Champagnole Res wagons ref. 6750 on ebay. I’ve already upgraded my 1970s unit; now I’m going to go one step further with these newcomers. The most important improvements will be to the bogies, buffers and steps.

An interesting source of information for these improvements is the article published by the Docrail website.

Looking for spare parts

I need Y25 bogies, if possible cast (Y25 Cm), as the Res R9s were fitted with them at least at the beginning of their career, and stanchions, as those on the Jouef wagon are fragile and will probably need replacing.

Bogies

I found some bogies:

• from China, not good (shape, shifted brake blocks) on ebay at €14.39 a pair;
• from REE, XB-104-A-01 (grey), welded type, at Easy-miniatures at €16.90 a pair;
• from REE, XB-104-A-03 (brown), welded type, second-hand on ebay at €14.00 + €6.80, or from Easy-miniatures.
• from Klein Modellbahn, cast type, at Trainkille on ebay, €7.50 + €5.50;
• from Roco ref. 138850, cast type, or ref. 130650, welded type, at Modelbahnmarkt24, €5.94 each. Note: on these bogies, the configuration of the pivot is reversed; it is a male part, not a hole, so it will be more complicated to use.

Please note: this search dates back to 2022; at present (2025), I haven’t found anything, apart from the Roco bogies.

In the end, I ordered three pairs of Klein bogies. The pair cost me €9.33 including shipping, which is half the price of the REEs; but I also bought two pairs of welded Y25s from REE. That’ll be a small reserve.

Unpleasant surprise: the insulated wheels on the Klein bogies are a little to very warped; their diameter is 10.9 mm, which is too much for real 920s. There are a number of possible replacements, which will add to the cost:

• Limousin Modélisme Train ;
• Micro-modele.

However, I’ve got all I need in my reserves.

Small comparison of commercial Y25 bogies

Browse the photo for a closer look at the bogies. From left to right: Y25 Cm Klein, Y25 Cs REE, Y25 Cs LSM, Y25 Cm and Y25 Cs Roco.

Brand	REE	Klein	LSM	Roco	HJ
Crossbar height 1	9.2 2	8.8	8.5	8.7	8.3 3
Pivot	⌀ 3.5 hole	⌀ 4.25 hole	⌀ 3.5 hole	⌀ 3.0 male	⌀ 4.0 hole
Springs 4	Round	1⁄2 flat	1⁄2 flat	1⁄2 flat	Round
Values of the horizontal part in relation to the rail, with wheels ⌀ 10.5 ± 0.2. Excluding hollow ball joint. Variable according to wagon type, and stepped. 1⁄2 flat = in high relief, flat on the inside.

Stanchions

Parts for the Roco Rs wagon no. 66457 (130422), are available from Roco (€7) and from modellbahnmarkt24.de.

I ordered 2 bags. They contain 16 stanchions, two end panels, four marking plates (for Rs of course) and two brake wheels. I thought too late to look for a reference for their Res, as they came out with a German one a few years ago. Example.

Other parts

The buffers, buffer handles, marking plates, steps, braking equipment (reservoir, cylinder) will be homemade, as will the elongating drawbars.

Dismantling and “cleaning” the wagons

Dismantling

The original bogies are removed, as are the buffers and brake wheels, which are unfortunately glued to the edges of the wagon (not to the central frame reinforcement as before): this leaves traces of glue.

Cutting out accessories

Note: before any work is carried out, place a block of wood or extruded polystyrene in the wagon to the exact dimensions of the floor, and higher than the stanchions. This will protect these fragile parts and make handling easier.

The accessories to be removed are mainly the buffer bushels and the steps. Tow hooks are likely to break, so it’s best to cut them out beforehand. Only broken stanchions will be replaced.

The marking plates should be modified as follows, along the dashed lines. Misplaced plates (label holders, inscriptions) are removed (grooved with X-Acto then broken). The number plate is reduced by the same process ①, except on one side where there is a clip to hold the “fish bone”. Here we need to use a milling cutter (ø 1.2 for me) and finish with a square file ②.

Result.

Underbody reliefs

Finishing consists of levelling the cuts around the underbody and erasing the rest of the lettering. In ③, the location of the brake wheel, which we’ll talk about later.

In preparation for gluing the elongating drawbars, between the buffer beams and the pivots, the raised markings must be levelled as well as the step base.

Adding mechanical parts

Reinforcing the buffer beams

• in the thinned area behind the buffers, 3 × 2.5 mm pieces, 0.5 mm thick:

Click on the photo for a closer view.

• 3 × 6 mm pieces, thickness 0.75 mm, over the previous, and extending to the chassis corners. Gluing in progress here.

Click on the photo for a closer view.

Bogie pivots

REE bogies have a spherical bearing forming a ball joint. Provided we can find a suitable male part, we’ll see that the same ball-and-socket principle can also be applied to Klein, LS Models and other bogies. The only difference will be the height of the pivot.

These hollow beads are made of copper-plated brass. The outside diameter is 5 mm, and the hole diameter is 1.6 mm. It would be possible to use a whole bead as a ball joint, but I preferred to use only half of it. Of course, it’s not very easy to hold in place during sawing. Here are the suitable dimensions (to be checked on a case-by-case basis), for the bogies I used.

	A	B	C	D	E
Klein	7.6	6.0	3.8	1.5	3.1
REE	6.8	5.2	3.0	1.8	3.4

I’ve shown the two-point support on the same drawing: the wedges are glued on the ballast under the chassis, not on the bogie, as the ballast protrudes slightly from the surface and would interfere with rotation. The ⌀ 1.6 rod section avoids rounding off the top of the wedge, which is often random. As for the pivot, it’s the same as at the other end, but without the half-bead.

Here is the practical implementation of this diagram, for the use of Klein bogies.

• Centre one-point support:

To calculate how much we need to reduce the original pivot height, start by not shortening it (dimension C). Blank-fit the various parts: the Evergreen tube axle, the half-pearl with its hole increased to 2.4. Place the wagon on its bogie and check the height obtained. Deduce the value to be subtracted. However, we have to be careful not to remove the whole thing in one go. That’s what I did, and you can see that I then had to add some polystyrene washers to correct!

Note: on the other wagon, I proceeded differently, cutting the bead to less than half its original size and fine-tuning the height by grinding it progressively:

• Two-point side support:

The tube height must be such that it allows the fixing screw to be tightened while leaving the necessary clearance for travel.

Here are some dimensions of the Jouef wagon with its original bogies, followed by those obtained with the Klein and REE bogies on the modified pivots.

Value	actual	1:87	Jouef	Klein	REE
Floor height from track	1230	14.14	17.3	15.0	14.9
Side height from track	1630	18.74	21.4	19.0	18.7

Here is a Klein bogie mounted on its new pivot, which has been painted in the meantime.