Triang Transcontinental Coaches

[RedgateModels]

Quick question, #2 son has seen some of these going cheap and wants to spend his money. I wont be with him so can't examine them - will the wheel flanges permit running on code 100 track?

[Dava]

Plain code 100 rail should be ok but the flanges may be too coarse to pass through Peco or equivalnet points smoothly. they were originally from Triang's 1950's  'steamroller' wheels era. Later ones were a bit finer, you may be able to tell from photos. If you can see the round ends of axles in the bogie frame, avoid! 

 

Dava

[stewartingram]

Plain code 100 rail should be ok but the flanges may be too coarse to pass through Peco or equivalnet points smoothly. they were originally from Triang's 1950's  'steamroller' wheels era. Later ones were a bit finer, you may be able to tell from photos. If you can see the round ends of axles in the bogie frame, avoid! 

 

Dava

 

If rounded axle, they should be plastic wheels which can be adjusted for B2B very easily. Or split wheels which are fee on the axles anyway. Personally I've never found a problem with Triang wheels and code 100, except for B2B.

 

Stewart

[Il Grifone]

Tti-ang wheels are definitely in the 'steamroller' category, but should be OK on code 100 though they will probably bounce on the pointwork. The wheels are quite easy to replace however. The axles push out and pinpoint wheelsets can then be fitted using brass bearings in the axleholes. There is a video on Youtube somewhere showing how it's done.

 

I assume these are the first series since the price is reasonable. The second series have pinpoint wheelsets of finer profile and sell for rather more.

 

Both are rather on the short side, but I have a fair number of the first series as, apart from this, they aren't too bad a model of U.S. stainless steel stock, if rather generic. (A scale 70' coach takes sharp curves rather better than an 85' one.)

 

Edited July 23, 2018 by Il Grifone

[DCB]

An old friend gave me some Transcon for my son nearly 20 years ago. It was great fun and ran on code 100 Hornby system six on his layout, Super 4 on the floor and Peco Streamline on my layout.  We ran single ended diesels topping and tailing 4 coaches HST style at a scale 200 MPH,  double enders and Bo-Bo Switchers, Dock shunters, and 4-6-0 Princess/Davy Crockett hynrid and cut down 4-4-0 Davy Crockett,  All with directional lights added. great fun

 

To get the old open axlebox, Mazak bogie versions to run smoothly through Peco code 100 (and Super 4 for that matter,) you need to widen the B to B.  In theory the wheels slide to adjust the B to B automatically but in practice they close up on every curve and bang into every subsequent point frog.  A B to B of 14.25 to 14.5 mm sliding fit works for me  as long as the wheels run concentrically I add a small washer just large enough to fit the axle, 8BA(?)  between the wheel halves which gives my 14.25 tp 14.5mm.. Unfortunately this means you have to push or pull the axle out as per the video above.   One wheel half is splined to the axle, the other runs free so make sure you support the side frame carefully with the splined side of the axle down and tap the axle out downwards. If you don't support the side frame it snaps off.Guaranteed. 

 

As per UK outline Triang   the flanges are too deep for crap trak like GT and the like but apart from very early 1950s stuff which have all gone wobble wheel  they are OK on Peco as the rail fastenings are different.   

 

Someone did pin point bearing conversions for the open axlebox stock, Peco probably.  The axle goes in and then the pinpoint sleeve and you bend over a tag inside the frame to hold the bearing in. No need for the super glue and blue tack in the video

 

I don't have much experience of the plastic side frame version, most of mine have snapped off, but you can fit replacement pin point wheel sets if the plastic is up to it, but I don't have any luck with them .

 

See Pics for washers in split wheels in Transcon Bogies (from my 4-6-0 tender) also the cut down 4-4-0 Davy Crockett and Princess chassis 4-6-0 Davy Crockett taken from retirement in the loft and posed on the garden line this evening especially for the photos.  

Edited July 23, 2018 by DavidCBroad

[SRman]

At one time, Peco did replacement, much finer split wheel sets, but I haven't seen those around for a good many years now (decades, even).

Otherwise, I would go with the pin point axles and brass bearings suggested above, assuming the TC coaches have the split sets, which they probably would if produced before the early 1960s. After that, it should be much easier to replace the wheels and axles with modern 'drop-in' sets of the right diameter.

 

The washers in David's post above are a good idea, and, being plastic, the wheels themselves can actually be spun in a drill and have their flanges filed down a bit. In fact, the flanges can be reduced without being spun, because it doesn't matter if they are a little out of concentric or out of round - the coach doesn't run on the flanges. In the dim, distant past, I have used short sections of plastic wire insulation, with a slit along the length, inserted over the axle as a spacer, then glued lightly to prevent it working its way off the axle again.

Edited July 24, 2018 by SRman

[Il Grifone]

At one time, Peco did replacement, much finer split wheel sets, but I haven't seen those around for a good many years now (decades, even).

 

Otherwise, I would go with the pin point axles and brass bearings suggested above, assuming the TC coaches have the split sets, which they probably would if produced before the early 1960s. After that, it should be much easier to replace the wheels and axles with modern 'drop-in' sets of the right diameter.

 

The washers in David's post above are a good idea, and, being plastic, the wheels themselves can actually be spun in a drill and have their flanges filed down a bit. In fact, the flanges can be reduced without being spun, because it doesn't matter if they are a little out of concentric or out of round - the coach doesn't run on the flanges. In the dim, distant past, I have used short sections of plastic wire insulation, with a slit along the length, inserted over the axle as a spacer, then glued lightly to prevent it working its way off the axle again.

 

I didn't mention the Peco wheels as they are very hard to find today, but , apart from being nylon, were a simple (but expensive) way of converting Tri-ang stock. The Tri-ang back to back is about 13.8mm (I've never seen an official  figure quoted, unlike Dublo which is 14.2mm, or rather its imperial equivalent), which is a bit tight for modern track. (The original Peco streamline was designed to allow running of everything from BRMSB/NMRA to Tri-ang, but they tightened the tolerances (eighties?) and it might have problems today. Metal wheels are by far the best solution, so I prefer the conversion to pin-point bearings, but most of my Tri-ang still has its original wheels. It will run on 3 rail Dublo track without problems beyond a slight bump on pointwork*, which is all I ask of it.

 

* Here the stock does run on its flanges, as the flangeways have a solid infill at the right depth for Dublo flanges. (Some other makes of track e.g.  have this undesirable feature.)

 

(Tri-ang-) Hornby wheels from about 1970, when the Dublo standards were adopted,  run well on Dublo and Streamline track.

Edited July 24, 2018 by Il Grifone