Golden Fleece 30

Hi Robert, I decided to try to use more scale wheels in the tender which in this case are spoked but were a pain to fit. Due to that I want to make sure all wheels sit true so the centre axle boxes need altering or a different wheel assembly is required first. Regarding what Tri-ang might have beens being made I agree with you on the locos etc. After all in those days using a common part even if it was slightly wrong was common place and we all were happy to accept a new model. It's just a pity none of it happend. I would think the XT60 may have become the standard as it does fit most locos and would then have given Tri-ang the opportunity to redo the Castle with a proper Belpaire firebox, but, its all supposition now. Garry

Here are 3 locos now repainted along with how they came after purchase. The Standard V was not bad but I wanted a cleaner version, I did try to put the red boiler bands on but the cast bands were too proud and it did not look too good so I decided to leave them off. The 2P actually needs some larger tender wheels which I thought I had in store but unfortunately no so they will need to be bought. This loco is near the end of its working life so the smokebox numberplate has been removed, actually the cast plate is not big enough for the 5 BR numbers and the paint shop has been instructed not to line it out (not the fact I have no suitable transfers lol). The satin varnish seems to be a little more glossy than usual but it will do, the base black from Railmatch is a lovely finish but the transfers do need a protective coat. Garry

I actually machine a little off the backs to allow Tri-ang wheels to go though modern universal Peco points (which are finer than the old universal types). Even the old solid wheels are happy with the new track. Pushing the wheels out was a non starter for me as I still use set track curves and the wheels would then become tight due to he flanges further apart. Garry

It has been a proven point that with Hornby Dublo the old 3-rail mazak wheeled locos pulled better than their equivalent 3-rail nickel wheeled ones, you do have to compare 8F's and Castles with like for like motors though. Also I found that old Tri-ang locos with sintered iron tyres pulls better than when it was reintroduced with plated wheels. Plated wheels were far better for electrical conductivity but not for pulling. Track wise steel always had more "grip" than nickel but obviously corrodes but again was good for electrical conductivity. I am not comparing Tri-ang's Magnadhesion on steel against nickel track as I remove the magnets due to them pulling against the wheels slightly. Garry

Here you are David, an early spoked Tri-ang 00 wheel against a TT one. Even when Tri-ang (by now Hornby) initially changed to plated wheels there size was the same. It was a long time after the demise of TT that their 00 wheels were slimmed down a little. The depth of the flange was only just a little larger in 00 but everything else was considerably smaller. Garry

If you don't want tyres Ray here is a video of one of my EMU's pulling 6 standard S/D coaches and the driving vehicle has steel wheels with no tyres fitted on its driven axle. If you want another I have a 4 car set for sale, driver, trailer and 2 x centre cars (standard suburbans), pm me if interested. Garry

Further to my last post even Romford 00 wheels were not always suitable as the crank throws were too great. On some locos you would get away with an oversized throw, but, on others like the 2P and 14xx they needed a crank pin hole drilling half way between the axle and standard position. This was for footplate clearance issues. I believe they made a different range specially for TT but not 100% sure. Garry

Tri-ang TT loco wheels are nothing like their 00 counterparts. The tread widths are narrower and the crank throws shorter. 00 (Tri-ang) wheels would therefore not be suitable to use. Also the axle bushes were different as TT used 1/8" axles and 00 9/64" axles. The crankpin screw theads were smaller with 10BA for 00 and 12BA for TT. Putting a 00 0-4-0 wheel (smallest) alongside an open spoke Britannia or Castle one looks very different. Garry

Here I am as the title says "Playing with Hornby Dublo 3-rail again". None of the work here is mine it is just I enjoyed (for the second time) operating a friends layout, this time at Skipton model railway show. More information is on the YouTube site. I apologise for the poor camera work but it was filmed on my phone, some normal in landscape mode, some in portrait mode which cut the sides off, and unfortunately one part upside down. When I corrected this it has swapped everything from left to right etc with the trains running as if on the wrong line. Garry

David, don't worry about stripping the motor to alter the magnet position just swap the brush wires over. All I do for converting Tri-ang locos was to move the insulating sleeve from one brush to the other. Garry

I doubt those coaches are very heavy, sorry but if they are plastic it is not really that impressive when my Dorchester pulled all the heavy metal and glass built Exleys, it would have pulled these with ease, and more. In 1962 a Hornby Dublo Deltic was demonstrated pulling 28 of their heavy super detailed coaches that were non pinpionted. Garry

But don't Marklin cheat on their steam locos by putting tyres on the driving wheels, as did Trix lol? Garry

This is not a true reflection in my eyes as the 9F has rubber tyres which is cheating. Here is a Dublo unmodified Dorchester with 18 coaches, most of which are heavy Exleys with real glass windows, then, a Dublo Garratt (twin 5-pole 1/2" motors) pulling 60 mainly Dublo wagons some of which are bogie and 6 wheel vans. Garry

That's right David, and, 1) You are right 2 motor bogies would be the best option, and, 2) These days you would need a second bogie to get the parts. It did seem a little ambitious as such when you also had to get the front bearings from two XT60's as well as worms, shaft (from a different source due to the length required), wheels and axles, then the spring. Garry

I have just received the MRC March 58 issue talking about his small layout using Tri-ang or as in his case Wrenn/GEM track. There are some interesting snippets in the book and for motorising the Kitmaster Royal Scot he mentions using the Tri-ang Type 2 diesel motor bogie. I don't think I will go down that route though and may use a Tri-ang Castle or M/N chassis depending on wheel spacing to fit the splashers. The M/N is fine as I have spoke overlays for the wheels. In one magazine I read there was an article about converting the Type 2 to all 8 wheel drive from the one motor bogie. I will be staying with 12mm gauge though. Garry

I have now just received this hardback book so a little bedtime reading tonight. Garry

I guessed the book was very early into Tri-ang's TT days as you say there is only the Jinty a few wagons and Suburban coaches seen although at that stage he did say the coach bogies and wagon chassis's were already available separately. I am not keen on the K's TT loco kits (no wagons to comment on) as to me they were the worst of the 3 main suppliers. I have one of the 97xx's I built recently from someone else's attempt but don't want another and the 61xx I will sell, one in good condition the other not very good condition. For the initial release of TT the layout in the book is quite good and the track must have been new on the market too. He did say that Tri-ang, GEM and Wrenn worked together on track design. Garry

I have now received this book and someone earlier mentioned it described motorising the Kitmaster Royal Scot but it doesn't. It does have drawings and photos of the authors started Parallel Scot but not with any description. What is surprising is that out of the 5 loco drawings 3 were made as whitemetal kits, Scot by GEM, 61xx by K's and 2P by BEC. It also has a drawing in of the 42' bogie parcels van which was made by BEC. It would have been nice to explain how to make and motorise these as the Britannia chassis had not been designed at the time for the Scot, and, nothing was ever made for the Crab. There is also a Nelson EMU drawing but no power source available at the time. Garry

I now have the magazine and the kit so sometime hopefully a 3mm breakdown crane will appear. What is interesting is that metal wheels are supplied with the kit, although 00 12mm, I guess I will change for 10.5mm ones. Anyone else done this conversion? Garry

My body kit is 0.4mm brass and the chassis kits 0.5mm nickel but with two pieces per side giving 1mm thick frames, one here for Tri-ang motor/wheels and one for Mashima motor. Garry

Pakaway sounds appropriate for it although as I said I cannot remember if it had a name, I was only about 10 or 11. Ortogo was featured in Railway Modeller in the 60's I believe and the photo that stood out for me was Jack Dugdale opening the curtain front revealing masses of switches and relays used to operate it. What happened to the good old days? Garry

Wim, I appreciate what you are saying but as far as I know he was not a newbie but was only really interested in Tri-ang and to be told it was no good as such, which gave him the impression the society did not respect it and tried to push it under the table, was not the way to attract a possible new member. Sorry to say but I would have given them a right mouthful if they tried to demean Tri-ang to me. I have read that "butchering" Peco points is not necessary as the loco wheels can be pushed out on their axles but that is not for me, I will "modify" a point. There are a few Tri-ang TT layouts I have seen on the Internet and one I helped operate at Shildon recently, plus my loose lay one with Type A track that all work fine so why those representatives should say it is no good is beyond me. Mine even had odd locos fitted with modern Romford/Jackson bogie wheels. Regarding your comment on comparing Tri-ang TT to Hornby Dublo I have noticed since I resurrected my TT last year that the prices have shot up to be on a par with a lot of Dublo. In fact some deals Dublo is cheaper. Obviously there are some rarities in both camps but I have seen boxed TT blue and grey coaches go for more than the Dublo rare equivalent S/D Restaurant Car. Tri-ang TT signals sell for more than the Dublo ones, I know this as I am a Dublo enthusiast and modeller too, just look at some of my videos on YouTube. Depending on your interpretation of the words "collector" or "modeller" I am a modeller. I am not into paying silly prices for items to just look at or keep in boxes hence I have no blue and grey coaches, blue diesel, signal gantries, goods shed etc. Garry PS I was recently given a few Mixed Traffic magazines and read through them with interest but did note on a few occasions how some members found it hard to put together some of the kits. But, I do appreciate there were a lot of nice looking locos completed but the difficulty of some kits, if correct, would put a few people off. I know I would not be buying any and I don't class myself as a novice. I do have a couple of kits and surprised how thin they are but it is each to their own and my preference is for thicker material for strength, look at my N7 kit.

As for being a dealer, I have no idea and have never seen him offer anything but that is not to say he does not have a different ID to do it. It is all he has told me. The other comment was repeated from what was written on a Forum page a few months ago. He never said Tri-ang was the future, (neither have I), but that was just his interest as is mine. He was quite annoyed to be told that Tri-ang TT was not the option to go with and I would feel the same as we are all individuals doing our own thing. With me I like my Tri-ang but do make kits up, have made my own etched kits for something different, will use modern Peco track for Tri-ang loco wheels etc. I am not adverse to making something newer and have a 3mm K2 and Standard 2 tank bought privately but predominantly Tri-ang like my 9F, N7 and 2P tank. Garry

I am not too sure about this as I have heard from a couple of people about certain issues/statements made. 1) One person who is in the 3mm society stated that he was not allowed to buy any spares as it was thought he was a dealer and selling them on for profit. 2) Another person stated that when at a large show (I think he said Warley) he was told by the people on the 3mm stand that Tri-ang was no good, out of scale and he should forget about it and be looking at doing the finescale side of 3mm. Without Tri-ang TT, the 3mm society I doubt would have ever existed. Garry

There are a few issues with Neo magnets and I have first hand experience of some. 1) They can be too strong and pull the armature off centre resulting in wear in the bearings, especially the magnet end. 2) Coating has been known to come off and I have seen photos of this wrapped around the armature. Photo not of my loco. 3) Magnets can have parts chip/fall off in use - personnel experience, photo of one of mine 4) Magnets can split - personnel experience, photo of one of mine 5) Can pull off adjacent stock if made from tinplate - personnel experience in 00 I do know a lot of people swear by them but on the other hand a lot of people swear about them. It is all an individual choice, but, you don't have to be in the 3mm society to obtain them. Ideally just a remag is all that is needed and old Tri-ang magnets are some of the best to start with. Garry