Captain Slough Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 These models were quite annoying to anyone who like me who was tempted to try to model Southern electrics in the 80s or 90s, as they were the only model EMU that had been made commercially available in relatively recent times that was still affordable to my knowledge 4 different RTR EMUs had been made by this time: Trix Twin Portsmouth EMU - prewar, tinplate, very poor accuracy, wouldnt run on Code 100 2-rail track and already a collectoprs item by then Hornby-Dublo Southern EMU - actually a model of a Class 501 so wasnt a Southern EMU at all but was numbered as one. Very expensive by late 1980s and vanishingly rare. Most (not all) were 2-rail and would run on Code 100 rail very happily Wrenn Brighton Belle - ran well, still available at the time, very expensive and the real thing was only used on one route.... Triang R156 - this one Produced from about 1956 to the early 1960s, was non-prototypical as was a scale 57ft but all EMUs that had this cab design didnt have fully-suburban layout, but could be converted to a passable 2BIL by linking windows into larger ones. Most wouldnt run on Code 100, but the motor bogie design is shared with the DMU and Blue Pullman, both of which survived into the late 70s, so wheel swaps are possible. the standard Triang suburban carriage is used as a centre car to make longer units, and these at least were cheaply available. My ones consists of 2 trailers bought at separate times and a motor-trailer pair that had very coarse wheels and I've de-motorised it by putting Hornby coach wheels in and removing the power pickup, so it rolls freely on code 100 when pushed or pulled by something else. Given the size of the motor bogie aperture and the way the whole flor removes at either end to fit one, they would at least be easy to remotor with something modern. Trailing bogies have the same mounting hole diameter as later triang-Hornby Mk1s making it relatively easy to replace with something modern-profile As with most of my retro stuff these are looking for a new home where they can be run again 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Hroth Posted March 8, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2023 (edited) I've one set, which I got from a scout jumble sale more years ago than I care to remember! Its the early type with the half-open couplings. The motor car is ok, apart from those grotty knurled wheels*, but the previous owner decided to make the unpowered car look "bi-modal" with an AL1 pantograph stuck on a bit of silver-painted balsa inset into the roof. I could do with a spare roof to restore the "originality" of the set, or spend my time haunting ebay for a relatively cheap unpowered car... * Just tested it, despite not turning a wheel in anger for years, it still runs! Edited March 8, 2023 by Hroth Update 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted March 8, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2023 I've just started acquiring a few of these for a scrap train, I've got the reqiusite 2BIL/HAL bogies, I'm working towards extending the bodies so spares are required, if you don't mind a few being chopped I can give them a good home. Mike. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Slough Posted March 8, 2023 Author Share Posted March 8, 2023 I'll message you both :-) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Slough Posted March 8, 2023 Author Share Posted March 8, 2023 (edited) All units now reallocated to new home depots Edited March 10, 2023 by Captain Slough Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium daryll Posted March 8, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 8, 2023 I have a few R156 power units and the trailing car ,apart from the power bogie , I took the old Triang bogies off , and replaced them with Bachmann Product Number: 36-005A.. I love these old but good Triang units , not as good as the new 2BIL etc , however would you hack a new 2BIL Daryll 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Slough Posted March 8, 2023 Author Share Posted March 8, 2023 (edited) theres a lot to be said for models that look right at a scale 60mph and bring joy. I had forgotten when I wrote the opening message in this thread, that there is just something cheerful about Triang sets like these and the Metro-Cammell DMUs - where the spirit of what they represent compensates more than adequately for the scale deficiencies. My homebrew Brighton Belle had the same qualities when I turned a blind eye to the class 73 pushing it. I was born in the late 70s but reasons of childhood poverty meant my layout was almost entirely stocked with 50s and 60s-made models, paid for by washing cars in the neighbourhood and bought at swapmeets, car boot sales and from newspaper adverts. It was just occasionally - or when stopped at stations, that criticisms tended to creep in Edited March 8, 2023 by Captain Slough 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Il Grifone Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 (edited) I was going to post but got distracted by the wine ad "Wine pairs with wellness" (the comely lass caught my attention - as was intended!), but I cannot disagree with the message - if I could only convince SWMBO! Of course the best wine is Italian, especially Sardinian! Anyway as I was going to say before I was interrupted, these things were part of my childhood and, despite their limitations*, highly desirable. It only took me someting like sixty years to get my EMU! (Forty something for the DMU!). Todays youth won't have that possibility. Today's stuff won't still be around! * I won't bother listing these it would take too long! The grotty wheels make a lovely clattering noise like the real thing.... Is it just me or does the NG train in the ad have just two speeds - stop and flat out - well above what the prototype could do, leaving aside the probability falling off the rails. Distracted by the computer opening a new page to try and sell me a Lexus. What on earth would I want one of those for? Edited March 27, 2023 by Il Grifone 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Hroth Posted March 8, 2023 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2023 1 hour ago, Il Grifone said: The grotty wheels make a lovely clattering noise like the real thing.... The knurled wheels on the Dock Authority shunter (R.253) make it sound like a real diesel, no need for DCC Sound! The same goes for the wheels on the Metro Cammel Lightweight DMU (R.157), a contemporary of the EMU. Its not a Class 101, as some folk think.... 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyman7 Posted March 8, 2023 Share Posted March 8, 2023 The other wonderful thing about the Triang EMU is the sparking and the incandescent glow of the V stencil backlit by a bulb. Pure atmosphere! 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roythebus1 Posted March 10, 2023 Share Posted March 10, 2023 I'm about to acquire a 2 car set from a late friend's collection. It has plain bogies on the trailer car. Which is interesting as I have a plastic version of the motor bogie with the third rail shoes on it. Quite how I got it is lost in the mists of time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyman7 Posted March 12, 2023 Share Posted March 12, 2023 On 10/03/2023 at 00:53, roythebus1 said: I'm about to acquire a 2 car set from a late friend's collection. It has plain bogies on the trailer car. Which is interesting as I have a plastic version of the motor bogie with the third rail shoes on it. Quite how I got it is lost in the mists of time. The first issues had the same bogies throughout with the exception of the cast metal motor bogie frame. When the Mk3 coupling was introduced in 1959 a plastic trailer bogie with collector beam was tooled up for the outer end of the dummy/trailer car. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Slough Posted March 26, 2023 Author Share Posted March 26, 2023 If anyone needs both a Triang SR EMU motor bogie and a 1970-model Blue Pullman, look at this item on eBay.... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyman7 Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 7 hours ago, Captain Slough said: If anyone needs both a Triang SR EMU motor bogie and a 1970-model Blue Pullman, look at this item on eBay.... This is the final production Blue Pullman, sold only in a train set for 1973/74. As supplied it would have had the final version motor bogie with smooth wheels so I wonder if someone has swapped that out without realising that the EMU bogie frame has the shoegear cast onto it. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
roythebus1 Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 Interesting, a modern Brighton Belle? :) 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 When I was a young teenager the local toy shop owner produced a cardboard tray from under the counter with about a dozen of the Triang SR motor bogie frames with the older mark 2 couplings attached: he was asking the princely sum of 20 cents* each (Australian). I bought just one, to replace the worn out frame on my Triang Met-Cam DMU, which had worn the U-shaped axle journals to being paper thin at the tops. It worked perfectly when I swapped the works over into it, and I didn't really care that the DMU now had shoe beams, I was just happy to have it fully operational again. If I knew then what I know now, 50+ years later, I would have saved up and bought the lot. 🤣🤣 * 20 cents was my entire pocket money for the week at that time! 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Il Grifone Posted March 27, 2023 Share Posted March 27, 2023 That applies to lots of things! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Slough Posted March 27, 2023 Author Share Posted March 27, 2023 Yeah. if we'd all bought shares in Apple Computer in the 1980s we could have all the vintage EMUs we wanted. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted March 27, 2023 Share Posted March 27, 2023 27 minutes ago, Captain Slough said: Yeah. if we'd all bought shares in Apple Computer in the 1980s we could have all the vintage EMUs we wanted. Hello, Amazon? I want to buy a Tardis, please.🤣 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Il Grifone Posted March 27, 2023 Share Posted March 27, 2023 With my luck, my Tardis would start an alternative timeline where Apple failed miserably.... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted March 28, 2023 Share Posted March 28, 2023 6 hours ago, Il Grifone said: With my luck, my Tardis would start an alternative timeline where Apple failed miserably.... Ah, yes, but think of the space you'd have for a layout. 😉 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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