VESPA

I remember that short look at FS. Nice to see it again. Thanks JJ for highlighting it. A loco with so many changes I gave up collecting all variations at I think 9. Six are on display in a cabinet.

I am now pondering removing the goalpost couplings and replacing with finer ones. It may not be done initially on these coaches as it may be a mistake.

RDS, thank you I have deleted the 2nd lot as the first showed a bogie and new 14.1mm painted wheels.

Here are a few quick phone taken photos............

Hello GS, no they run fine. I am getting a treat for Christmas of the Dynomomter car, so that will have the later coupling. I may also have that in had if necessary with a mod.

Nearly finished 9 Gresley Teaks from the Raiload range. All have had 3 coats of wash Citadel Seraphim Sepia. This was applied with a soft brush of high quality. It needed time to dry thoroughly between coats (about 2 hours for a safe guess) Failure to let it dry resulted in it coming off in the second coat. Then I applied two coats of Humbrol Gloss varnish to seal it. All the lettering is still fully legible but subdued. The newer coaches ie China made gave better results but all look fine. The chassis needs to be a brown directly under the bodywork so I chose Humbrol Leather as it looked closest to me, to the latest Hornby 6 wheeler chassis. All the wheels were changed to 14.1mm Hornby disc of which I had enough old stock except for one coach. This is the most expensive part of the job as for some reason they have jumped in price from £6.99 to £20 (daylight robbery). I also had to get a set of Gresley bogies (without wheels) for one £8 and a spare chassis £5.90 for another. The 9 coaches were all 2nd hand at £70 inc p+p, paints around £17 and wheels were £20 having already stockpiled 30 at £21. Each wheel centre was painted with "leather"matt Humbrol, the same as the chassis sides. I decided to avoid whitewalling the tyres as it takes forever. New Railroad coaches are now about £23 each so would have cost £207 plus wheels £80 and paints £17 total approx. The new Gresley's if available would be nearer £70 each or 9 @ £560. Yes, I know the new coaches are superb but my wallet is not that big. Tips. If you get newer stock be carful around the windows as the stain is hard to get off when dry. On old stock (Margate UK Made) make sure that the coaches have Gresley bogies and NOT BR type. The older stock have windows that are a removable one piece part, where as China made are glued into the body. I will try to get pics loaded at some point of an individual coach. edit.... I remembered tthat one coach had black plastic ends. These were painted with the "leather" and a small dab of a darker brown until I thought it looked OK then the stain and varnish.

Anglia998, at the time you posted I was reading through my Hornby book and saw 1971 as Evening Star's introduction. At that point in time I was 19 and getting my first house mortgage and toy trains stopped. It wasn't until 73 when I was 21 that my layout was being built. Thank you for the info.

I have just had a quick Google search and see Wild Swan with corridor tender in late BR crest and non corridor tender in early crest in different photos.

The subject of tender swopping is complex. In full overhall at the works, some tenders were not always repaired at the same time as the loco. Therefore a tender that was ready would be coupled to the loco. There are several tender swops on all classes of loco and at the time Hornby have modelled that particular loco they may have actually paired it correctly with a non corridor tender. Look at the water and coal area on the two models and it is apparent that they are different to carry more water and or coal. I am, as many will know, a Britannia follower. There were many changes of tender on those with Thomas Hardy using a tender from a "Firth" in one photo I have. To satisfy your own mind, research the class in depth and you may find the answer that it is correct for that period. You can change it if you wish and it will still be correct but a slightly different time period. You may remember Hornby doing 70000 Britannia in black livery. I have no idea why as it was only run in that livery for 7 days (from memory), before getting the full green express loco livery.

My Evening Star was most definitely pre March 1973 as it was a 21st birthday present. Bought from Guy Norris as the first credit card purchase I ever made. The Clas 47 was possibly later that year (Christmas) or 74. I am not sure about others but have the Black % and also the Black 5 in green as preserved at Carnforth around that time but possibly a 1990's model. I also bought a Pullman car "Lucille" in the 70's. A long time ago now. I will have to dig out all my old Hornby catalogues. (I have nearly all from the merger of HD and Triang) Sadly all my HD catalogues have disappeared, possibly when I moved.

I don't have any BR red Silverseal coaches but recently aquired 9 LNER teaks and some from that period (Made in England) had plastic wheel centres, square central axles and metal tyres, so maybe Silver Seal. I bought the class 47 and Evening Star as Silver Seal models in 1973 as 21st Birthday Presents. Perhaps the Australian website of all Hornby may tell you. http://www.hornbyguide.com/ (Highlight copy and paste)

I am sure that they are destination boards.

Having looked at a few photos of various coaches some have vac pipes pointing upwards from the buffer beams and others downwards. I assume Hornby's rendition is of the type with pipes pointing down from the buffer beams and so would interfere with the coupling.

In the early 70's I got a new Scotsman in Morecambe for £5 and converted it to 3 rail with HD skids. It was the BR version 60103. Traded in at Rails in 96 so may still be around in a collecter box or as many broken up for parts. By the way I spent many a happy hour on Scotsman's footplate back in the 70's at Carnforth.

It is a while back since I saw this but here goes. In a well known shop a chap came in while I was there with a pile of Hornby Dublo in a box. Out it all came onto the counter with several of the set locos, track, coaches and wagons. I hung about looking if there was anything I fancied. I would have put the value at about £150 even being mean with an actual value over £300. Question asked to punter "Are they your collection?" "No it was my fathers." was the reply. "I know nothing about trains" Boom! "well the best I can offer you is £35 as they are worn" Accepted. Then in the window they were added with "City of Liverpool" at £240. That stayed there for a while later for about 6 weeks then must have been sold. The other items must have fetched well over £600. Even today I think of the £5 I got as an 11 year old for about 70 Dinky toys of which most were in excellent condition as I was a careful child with possessions. I would recommend using Ebay and dribble feed items over a few months. Remember the trader wants 40-50% or more profit and has to pay VAT at 20%when sold, so your share is vastly reduced. I am going to clear a pile of wheel sets and couplings in plastic soon, as I have hundreds collected from coach refurbs I have done.

An addition to my last post regarding the Gresley teaks. I have just completed 5. One got the full interior paint up but when assembled it is almost impossible to see the painted seats, so I decided not to paint the seats in the other 4. I have another 4 on the way now to be transformed and will show what they look like pre and post paint up. I will be able to give a few do's and dont's with these coach repaints as such. My total cost inc paints is under £100 for 9 coaches. One has to remember that these are NOT scale models but are good enough, when redone with stain and varnish to represent the actual teak coaches.

I agree with you Yelrow. Back in the 60's Dublo was far better made and realistic compared to the Triang offering but I will say Triang had some great toy innovations for children with Triang railways. There was a lot of daft play wagons that would attract youngsters such as searchlight cars, Girraffe cars etc. All modelled on fantasy but with play value. Triang was a great toy maker delving into allsorts of things with great toy play with value for money. Their trains were good but HD had more model appeal. Today's offerings are not comparable as they are scale models with a ridiculous price. I am at present detailing some Railroad LNER teaks to make them look better. That plastc look will be less and more like the £70+ versions. I have 5 to start with and have my eye on at least 2 more at a tenner each. $ arrived today and look as if they have never been run. Total cost £24

I am assuming you mean in general about steel rails. Dublo 3 rail were brass rails on a steel base. Personally I wouldn't put any oil on any tracks, especially ATF.

The nice thing about books, is that you can glean loads of info. An instance being my favourites, the Britannias. I have books with tender changes and indeed these are very relevant as one, Thomas Hardy, had a late BR tender from a Firth named loco fitted in it's latter days. Lord Rowallen was fitted with oval buffer from a Duchess in it's latter days. Many were outshopped in unlined passenger green. In later years, when nameplates were rmoved for security/sale, some had painted names applied by railwaymen, rather than let them lose the name. Owen Glendower had that name on one smoke deflector and Owain Glyndwr on the other. Some had fluted valve gear and others plain. Some a speedo fitted and others not. That is just a few details and the amount of differences over the 16 years of life, was massive. When I get a suitable Hornby model to rename and renumber I have to be very choosy to get as near as possible to the actual loco's fittings and looks.

Being another HD 3 rail user of 64 years, I am wondering if you are using a Hornby Dublo controller with 3 sets of connections in the back. On top it would have a red light (for shorts) and a 2" handle to control. Connected with the "hold" part of the handle pointing downwards should give NO VOLTS at the rails. If that is happening, and you have a reading, then you have connected into the 16V AC accessories socket which would show that 14v you have. As already stated, check non of the centre rail connections are touching the rail base when connected as that will cause a short. 3 rail is the simplest method of wiring any layout. Should you buy any points get self isolating ones, usually recognised by a square centre connector and not the rounded off type.

This post got me thinking about Teak LNER coaches. I am not prepared to pay £70+ for the new superdetailed ones so for several years thought about upgrading the old teaks from the now Railroad range. Yesterday I picked up 5 on Ebay and suitable stains and varnish. When they arrive I will do one to see how it looks. I intend painting the framework at the bottom of the coach in Humbrol wood finish and if I can get the interiors apart (I have heard some are glued together) I will paint the seats and interiors, possibly fitting passengers. The wheels will get wooden painted centres and whitewall tyres dulled down. I may just see if plasticard steps can be fitted under the doors. Total cost so far inc postage for 5 with paints and stains £62

I have literally hundreds of railway books and believe me tracking a loco down to shed allocations can be a minefield. Several better known classes, in my case Britannias and Coronation Pacifics, do have much of the information required but I doubt class 37's would have so much detailed information, purely by their shere size of class. You have to remember all the livery changes as well. I would suggest picking out your favourite class of loco and then work your way through the various book sellers and publishers. Some books will be very detailed down to scale drawings and initially can be overpowering. There are some great bookshops out there that sell books heavily discounted. I always visit on in Llandudno when I am there as he has some really good bargains, all brand new.

If you want a claen edge to the ballast, use masking tape and spread the 50/50 solution of PVA on with a 1/2" brush just onto the tape, then ballast. when dry, remove the tape for a clean edge. I would go, track, wiring, signals, platforms then scenery and other buildings with priority given to railway buildings.

Try the tip of a small soldering iron at the outside of the bearing end or dismantle and immerse that part in boing water fot a few seconds as it may release the bearing.

Surprisingly, the ring field powered locos pulled a reasonable load. I would suggest a new set of tyres on the tender as the older ones may slip in the wheel grooves and loose traction. I had several Triang Hornby locos converted to 3 Rail for my H Dublo layout and they pulled quite good loads. Bear in mind Dublo wheels had loads of friction compared to the Gresley coaches you have. Why not just buy a couple at a time and see how they go. I am sure 8 would be an easy to pull amount anyway.