Tri ang locomotives

[melmerby]

On 24/10/2022 at 05:43, MrWolf said:

As for hacking Triang locos about, I always wanted to convert a Jinty into GWR number 23, so acquired a tatty example. No sooner had I done so than I found a much later Hornby one with the boiler mounted motor in a junk shop for £9. The problems with the wheels and motor in cab were instantly solved.

Having had lengthy discussions with one of my conspirators on here, we ended up with two examples, both with printed bodies and metal details, nothing was farmed out bar the metal tank fillers etc. Mine is still Hornby chassised and powered, the other uses Bachmann Pannier parts on a printed chassis block. I think that the moral is, don't throw anything away.

 

This is it, awaiting the signwriter and some light weathering.

 

 

Running trials, minus chassis details.

 

Early on, showing the cut down Jinty chassis, the rear wheels were swapped to the centre.

 

 

I'd encourage anyone to have a go, especially when you remind yourself  the subject for improvement is basically a broken old toy.

 

Very nice.

I like tank engines, i've got plenty of them.

Apart from a few Oddities like Hornby's P2 & W1, I stick to relatively small locos.

 

The big green engines so beloved of Hornby were very much a minority on the real railway.

[cypherman]

5 hours ago, Firecrest said:

 I love this thread... I'm also happiest working with knackered Triang and Mainline engines and (hopefully) improving them as best I can...

 

I've also recently discovered Crownline kits and managed to get hold of a few - two victims are currently on the workbench, a Triang Britannia and the original 57xx Pannier (both with smoke generators). Both were well, er, used shall we say and it's been thoroughly enjoyable working on them to see what emerges.

 

I did the same last year with a knackered Triang Hall and was VERY pleased with the result, which essentially consisted of stripping the body down and grafting parts from a Hornby County body... Came from Topps Trains in Stafford for £5. Images here... as you can see it was a sad specimen, with rusted motion and thoroughly dirty body. Seemed to clean up nicely I think, and those who know the location well will appreciate the renaming... however, I cheated with the Hall and used the County handrail. For the 57xx I have to bend it from scratch, and it's the confounded one piece GWR style. Any tips to get this right in making sure everything lines up square?

 

The tender wasn't the original btw, it came from KS Models in Stevenage and was a Hogwarts painted specimen... I also used Fox decals, nameplates and numbers and Alan Gibson brass boiler bands. Plus various brass components such as the safety valve, smokebox dart, steps, brackets, cab window surrounds, whistles and chimney (which is too far back I know...)

 

Best, Chris

 

 

Hi Chris,

This is the last Triang Hall I worked during lockdown. Plus a picture of what it looked like before I savagely attacked it...... :)

[cypherman]

On 23/10/2022 at 23:32, melmerby said:

 

You do know that 44932 is actually a Black 5?🙂

 

Hi Melmerby,

Thanks for the info. I did not know that. I bought a transfer kit for a 3mt and this was the engine number that came with it. Will have to renumber it now.

[Steamport Southport]

I remember when it was green!

 

https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/44932-lms-4932-br-44932/

 

 

 

Jason

[DCB]

13 hours ago, melmerby said:

Very nice.

I like tank engines, i've got plenty of them.

Apart from a few Oddities like Hornby's P2 & W1, I stick to relatively small locos.

 

The big green engines so beloved of Hornby were very much a minority on the real railway.

It's a strange thing but though tank engines outnumbered express engines dramatically you had a much better chance of seeing 20 big green locos in a day in many many locations than you did 20 tank engines.  Some places and times of day you could see 60 big green engines and no tank engines, Dawlish, Summer Saturdays circa 1957,  other places the same few big locos kept turning up like bad pennies,  Waverly route being one.  And goods engines, few people stayed up to watch the 11pm off Acton yard thunder through Tyseley, or maybe Westbury.   Or enjoyed a glass of lemonade on the seafront as the 10.30PM off Tavistock Junction passed through Teignmouth.  They saw the locos on OOC or Laira depots.  And if you don't model OOC or LA.....

[kevinlms]

9 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

I remember when it was green!

 

https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/44932-lms-4932-br-44932/

 

 

 

Jason

Looks so much better in black!

 

Any LMS loco should be Maroon or Black, none of this green nonsense!

[melmerby]

5 hours ago, DCB said:

It's a strange thing but though tank engines outnumbered express engines dramatically you had a much better chance of seeing 20 big green locos in a day in many many locations than you did 20 tank engines.  Some places and times of day you could see 60 big green engines and no tank engines, Dawlish, Summer Saturdays circa 1957,  other places the same few big locos kept turning up like bad pennies,  Waverly route being one.  And goods engines, few people stayed up to watch the 11pm off Acton yard thunder through Tyseley, or maybe Westbury.   Or enjoyed a glass of lemonade on the seafront as the 10.30PM off Tavistock Junction passed through Teignmouth.  They saw the locos on OOC or Laira depots.  And if you don't model OOC or LA.....

At the aforementioned Tyseley, you would definitely have seen plenty of tank engines. (pre modernisation)

Big Prairies on regular local services (occasionally a pannier) panniers also on local goods workings. There was always one shunting the Up yard.

Also plenty of goods trains coming off the North Warwickshire onto the goods lines.

Very varied selection. The big shed meant locos were always coming & going.

 

Same at Saltley/Washwood Heath area, very mixed selection of trains on the Derby lines

Another big shed, which catered mainly for goods trains, hence the majority type was the 0-6-0 tender loco.

[kevinlms]

7 hours ago, DCB said:

It's a strange thing but though tank engines outnumbered express engines dramatically you had a much better chance of seeing 20 big green locos in a day in many many locations than you did 20 tank engines.  Some places and times of day you could see 60 big green engines and no tank engines, Dawlish, Summer Saturdays circa 1957,  other places the same few big locos kept turning up like bad pennies,  Waverly route being one.  And goods engines, few people stayed up to watch the 11pm off Acton yard thunder through Tyseley, or maybe Westbury.   Or enjoyed a glass of lemonade on the seafront as the 10.30PM off Tavistock Junction passed through Teignmouth.  They saw the locos on OOC or Laira depots.  And if you don't model OOC or LA.....

Depends on location. Anywhere on the old LT&SR line, you were unlikely to see anything but tank engines.

[33C]

3 hours ago, kevinlms said:

Depends on location. Anywhere on the old LT&SR line, you were unlikely to see anything but tank engines.

What about the "Ottomans", 4F's, 9F's etc...

[1466]

On 24/10/2022 at 05:43, MrWolf said:

The first locomotive that I ever had, somewhere around 1978 was an early Lord of the Isles. It would be the ideal thing to upgrade, busted smoke generator, cracked retaining lug / cab floor so extra washers on the body screw, trailing wheel springs missing etc, but I loved it. 

In a fit of nostalgia, I bought another one from eBay, one of the last Triangs, it turned out to be mint and barely used, so I accept it for what it is and it gets the occasional outing on my layout. (It has been dubbed the shiniest loco on RMWeb by my thread readers) I am sorely tempted to buy another battered one and upgrade it to 1915 condition or thereabouts.

 

 

As for hacking Triang locos about, I always wanted to convert a Jinty into GWR number 23, so acquired a tatty example. No sooner had I done so than I found a much later Hornby one with the boiler mounted motor in a junk shop for £9. The problems with the wheels and motor in cab were instantly solved.

Having had lengthy discussions with one of my conspirators on here, we ended up with two examples, both with printed bodies and metal details, nothing was farmed out bar the metal tank fillers etc. Mine is still Hornby chassised and powered, the other uses Bachmann Pannier parts on a printed chassis block. I think that the moral is, don't throw anything away.

 

This is it, awaiting the signwriter and some light weathering.

 

 

Running trials, minus chassis details.

 

Early on, showing the cut down Jinty chassis, the rear wheels were swapped to the centre.

 

 

Another loco I wanted to own as a boy was a Mainline 2251, I finally got one a few months ago but it didn't stay standard for long, the first thing I did was swap to a smaller tender as per 2291 and work is still ongoing to put it into 1938 condition.

 

 

 

I'd encourage anyone to have a go, especially when you remind yourself  the subject for improvement is basically a broken old toy.

 

 

 

 

That number 23 is lovely Mr Wolf ! Is the printed body available commercially, please ? And the metal parts ?

Thanks .

[MrWolf]

2 hours ago, 1466 said:

That number 23 is lovely Mr Wolf ! Is the printed body available commercially, please ? And the metal parts ?

Thanks .

 

Thank you, it was a joint effort between myself and Chris @chuffinghell on his thread and mine, although the development was done in secret in case we made a horses a*se of the job.

 

 

 

The link isn't behaving, you need to skip to page 287 and read on.

 

I'll edit with a link to my thread shortly, we managed to blow up his printer with another GWR project, but it's now been replaced, drop him a PM and have a discussion about the body. We have also kept a list of the bits of ironwork bought in and even the number 23 plate is available thanks to the original Tri-ang conversion.

 

It's hard to tell if this is behaving on the phone properly...

 

A new arrival in the yard at Aston on Clun.

 

 

 

 Steam trials have been conducted despite all the missing parts!

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/159785-aston-on-clun-a-forgotten-great-western-outpost/?do=findComment&comment=4844572

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by MrWolf

[RJS1977]

On 29/09/2022 at 07:19, RosiesBoss said:

Projects using Dean Single chassis:

GNR No.1 (Motorised Kitmaster):

 

 

I'd be interested in knowing how you did this - I've had at least one Kitmaster Single and at least one Triang Dean Single squirreled away for some years with an intention of doing that but wasn't quite sure how to go about it!

[chuffinghell]

3 hours ago, 1466 said:

That number 23 is lovely Mr Wolf ! Is the printed body available commercially, please ? And the metal parts ?

Thanks .

[MrWolf]

 

 

 

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by MrWolf

[33C]

41 minutes ago, RJS1977 said:

 

I'd be interested in knowing how you did this - I've had at least one Kitmaster Single and at least one Triang Dean Single squirreled away for some years with an intention of doing that but wasn't quite sure how to go about it!

The major consideration i had was the inside of the Kitmaster body had to be shaved/ground down to a milimetre thickness using a grind stone in a Dremel, and then to round off the corners at the top of the Dean chassis block. A nice snug fit is then achieved. The drivers are drilled and a Triang crankpin boss is superglued in to take the rods, again Triang. Triang slidebars are pushed into pre drilled holes in the cylinders and that's the hard stuff done. (see below.)

[MrWolf]

2 minutes ago, 33C said:

The major consideration i had was the inside of the Kitmaster body had to be shaved/ground down to a milimetre thickness using a grind stone in a Dremel, and then to round off the corners at the top of the Dean chassis block. A nice snug fit is then achieved. The drivers are drilled and a Triang crankpin boss is superglued in to take the rods, again Triang. Triang slidebars are pushed into pre drilled holes in the cylinders and that's the hard stuff done. (see below.)

 

That's an absolutely brilliant bit of work. 

I like anything that is built simply because you can.

[33C]

2 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

That's an absolutely brilliant bit of work. 

I like anything that is built simply because you can.

The Dean also makes a nice Midland Spinner!

[RJS1977]

11 minutes ago, 33C said:

The major consideration i had was the inside of the Kitmaster body had to be shaved/ground down to a milimetre thickness using a grind stone in a Dremel, and then to round off the corners at the top of the Dean chassis block. A nice snug fit is then achieved. The drivers are drilled and a Triang crankpin boss is superglued in to take the rods, again Triang. Triang slidebars are pushed into pre drilled holes in the cylinders and that's the hard stuff done. (see below.)

 

So is the driving wheel the one from the Triang loco, or the one from the kit?

[MrWolf]

1 minute ago, 33C said:

The Dean also makes a nice Midland Spinner!

 Very nice, I have always liked the look of single drivers, regardless of how much good they were in reality, it would be nice to have examples of them all.

Any build photos?

[33C]

10 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 Very nice, I have always liked the look of single drivers, regardless of how much good they were in reality, it would be nice to have examples of them all.

Any build photos?

No build photo's unfortunately as these were done pre mobile phone! And the drivers/chassis are all Triang, so loco powered. I did remove the "Magnedhesion" magnet as this stops the rear wheels turning properly and leaves a much more free running chassis.

Edited October 27, 2022 by 33C
add letter

[RosiesBoss]

G'day all,

 

RJS1977 asked how I motorised the Stirling Single. I published my work here in Jan 2013, but all of the images are now lost. Fortunately, I kept the draft text and have attached it as a pdf.Motorising a Kitmaster Sterling Single.pdf

 

I hope this is of some interest.

 

Regards,

 

Rob

 

[1466]

9 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

 

 

 

That’s stunning! I’m on holiday just now but will come backwith PM  . Intrigued .

[Il Grifone]

I was going to use a tender drive in my singles, but it's one of those projects on hold....

Lord of the Isles' is undergoing surgery to correct the 2mm excess height, also involving Romford gears to cure 'bat out of hell' effect.

 

The idea was to have 'City of Truro', LOI*, CR No.123,  GNR No. 1*, Rocket etc. on a line behind the coal stage on one of the 'open days' they used to hold back in the fifties. (I even managed a cab visit of 'City of Truro'.)

 

* Brought back to steam in my alternate universe!

 

[RosiesBoss]

Thanks for the suggestion, Il Grifone.

 

Carmarthen Junction MPD has just had an open day as you have described.

 

Here are No.1 (Kitmaster/Tri-ang), LoI (Tri-ang), City of Truro (Kitmaster/Tri-ang) on shed, with a demonstration train hauled by CR 123 (GBL/Tri-ang) passing:

 

 

Later in the day, another demonstration train passed, hauled by Rocket (GBL/Athern):

 

What fun!

 

Regards,

 

Rob

[Steamport Southport]

You need the bright green T9 to go with the Caley Single. 😀

 

I'm the opposite, got the T9 but need 123. About time someone did a new version...

 

 

 

Sorry, can't find the copyright but seems familiar. Will credit it if I find it.

 

 

 

Jason