Some pull better than others.

The Dapol M7 is normally considered good if it will pull 2 or 3 coaches. I have 3 of them and would agree they can be temperamental, however with a bit of attention they can be improved; there are two main problems, the bogie springing  and lack of adhesion weight.

The bogie springing causes the rear end to lift sufficiently to take weight from the rear drivers so may need to be weakened, the pick ups should also be checked as they can also cause erratic running problems.

I have modified 2 of mine to represent the push pull version, this involves extending the front end by 2.5mm (15" scaled)

Cut at white line


Piece of metal glued under cut off piece (I used some thin lead) note it extends beyond the cut off piece by 2.5mm, also cut a piece the full width of the footplate by 2.5mm


Extended front refitted


Gap filled with the 2.5mm piece of metal and model putty



Westinghouse pump, piping and air tanks fitted, ready for paint and renumber


Comparison of lengthened and original front end


That adds weight to front end, the air tanks and pipework also metal, cut from brass rod and/or large nails. also add weight on cab floor, too much weight in the cab however could weigh the back end too much and tend to lift the front wheels.

These vids show what can be achieved, running on my test and running in 4'x2' oval, with Kato track.

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=D9C0CA7DA70FB58A!147&authkey=!ABXchf1c7Y-cva8&ithint=folder%2cmp4

Instead of 2 or 3 coaches, Yes pulling 9 Dapol Maunsell coaches and 2 Farish bogie brakes. The moguls vid is a pair of Farish ones, fitted with smoke deflectors (the SR liveried one comes without deflectors) and one hacked to an N1 class, the 3 cylinder version of the N, although not all that obvious in the vid.

Viewing on line may be a bit jerky, better if you right click on the thumbnail and download then open in Win Media player, but beware the files are big, between 160 and 320Mb, so maybe not for dial up connections!