Rana Temporia

I was going through a box of items to throw away/fix or sell on and came across two Tri-ang shortie coaches that had warped slightly as usual but which could possibly be recovered. The main problem seemed to be with the sides bowing in so I cut some square plastic rod to fit within the ends of the coaches and used them to force the sides out so that they were approximately parallel, first problem was that the glazing wouldn't fit so i cut the central part out, cleaned it and just put the sides in. I then used the square rod to hold the tops of the glazing in place as well as spagging the sides out, the bottom of the glazing was held by the original pegs in the bottom of the coach. I thin superglued everything in place, so far i haven't had the 'white mist'. I then filled the bottom of the rooves with superglue and G clamped everything. So far I now have two useable coaches which will look nice behind one of my Tri-ang 0-6-0 clockwork saddle tanks. I might change the wheels using pin point bearings but they are only 10mm diameter. If they break in future they will end up in the bin but for the moment it seems to have worked. I am not sure if hot water works with cellulose acetate plastic.

Waiting for the rain to stop I got a few ‘projects’ out to make a dint in them, including sorting a loco body that Royal Mail squashed, fixing some old Tri-ang shortie coaches and filling a couple of boilers with some lead I managed to acquire from someone at work. In the process I managed to burst a tube of superglue and have basically no feeling in my fingertips as they are al covered in it. luckily I didn’t get any on the models but have ruined the bit of hardboard I was using as a working space ☹️

Bee, just read my post and realised how it read. I wasn’t suggesting Hornby put any of their core models as 3D files but could release additional files for free or nominal cost as others are doing. People would still need to buy the Hornby locomotive for the chassis or other parts. There are 3D files available now, for free on the Internet that require a Hornby loco as chassis donor, and a quick check on eBay shows that People have bought or printed the locos, taken the chassis and are trying to sell the original Hornby body and in some cases the box as well. Other people are selling ready-printed bodies in various levels of quality, I have bought some of them. Hornby could make money here, for example selling a 3D print or the files for a Lambton Railway Cab for their Austerity tank. People would still need the Hornby loco, and may even buy two as one would be slightly different. This would avoid the need for Hornby to produce a completely new model and risk them being stuck in the shops as no new moulding tool would not be needed and the prints could be done on an as needed basis, the only development costs would be a few hours for a 3D CAD technician. The other big one is spares, Hornby don’t have large stocks but again, just as other people are doing, they could have 3D files for obsolete parts, Lots of options there for Hornby.

Tony, I did ask one of them you have named above and he did say it was a possibility for the future. The funnel is a spark arrestor type and the lamp fits on the front, I think it is different to the Davy Crockett one. I have posted before about Hornby missing a market here. Not just spares but they could sell/share 3D files to fit their RTR chassis. They would then as a minimum sell the chassis or even whole donor locos. Other people seem to managing quite well off Hornby chassis doing exactly this.

Tony, I know which seller you are referring to and I have had quite a bit of stuff off him too for my old tri-ang stock. The Davy Crockett front cow catcher also fits the clockwork Wild West tank. Now I just need someone to 3D print the funnels and lamps!

Threelink, I think these were more of a dead-end than a precursor to anything. I think they were a follow on from the range of models that used the fold up plastic chassis like the Swedish Diesel. The photo shows the oldest version on the left, the newest on the right. The black oldest one has a brass worm but square axles like those used in the fold up chassis. The red and green middle ones have the axles re-designed to be round where they pass through the chassis whike the green Bulldog version on the right has wholly round axles with just a short insulator in the middle. Hornby using split chassis! Apart from the wheels, rods, couplings, weight and motor the whole thing is made from a fairly rubbish plastic.

I am actually starting to make progress on my plans to downsize my collection and sad as it is I have not even looked at never mind run these little locos for years so away they go! They are four versions of the Hornby 'International Class' loco that was mainly available in sets and were probably Hornby's attempt at getting the fastest loco possible in OO. I don't think spares were ever available, these four were all kept running with various parts off donor locos from junk boxes. the design was poor, the two chassis extensions at the front break off easily and the design of the whole loco is one of cheapness and short longevity. Many of the ones available secondhand have the smokebox door missing as it isn't a great fit. For info, the green 'Bulldog' and the Red version would be much better rivalling 'Mallard' for a world speed record than moving a few wagons around, the other two would probably catch them up after a bit of running. I think there was also a grey version available that is quite rare. A photo from someone who has one would be good. A little bit of Hornby history for those who have never seen them before!

Just had a proper look at the Chesterfield model and the horrible handrails are anything but. They are very finely printed with the handrail knobs and space behind them. At first glance I’d just assumed they were solid.

Here are some more 3D printed bodies on Hornby chassis. The three on the left are all BMR on modern chassis and were ridiculously cheap. They did need quite a bit of work but I am very happy with them. The other one is a Yorkshire Engine Co model on a Modified ‘Nellie’ chassis and is a very nice print. I think the YEC one is still available, not sure about the BMR ones.

Got my Chesterfield Models mis-print and very happy with it. It needs a bit of a rub down with some wet&dry and some excess printing from beneath the footplate filing down. I am also going to replace the horrible moulded handrails and have ordered some knobs as I didn’t know I’d run out. Test fitted to the Electrotren chassis, the motor will need painting black but that is about it, there are even lugs to take the original screws. I had bought a new smoke box wheel as on the photos they looks pretty poor but the print is actually quite good.

Not been to a model railway exhibition since pre-covid. Unfortunately this one is a bit far but I hope all goes well. I think the Wigan one has gone, there may be plans to re-start the Bolton one which stopped a few years ago. I used to really enjoy the Manchester and Blackburn ones as a child, live steam locos giving rides indoors, I’d like to see the risk assessment for that nowadays.

If you simply add a PECO coupling the height will be wrong. Best solution as far as I am aware is a replacement HD rear bogie. There are usually plenty on eBay for very little. You can keep the old one as a spare then.

Does anyone know an alternative for bespoke nameplates?

I am in the same boat with my late father’s collection. You need to know what you are dealing with and that is where I suppose I am quite lucky as I do. I have sold some items to a dealer, got ripped off, agreed a price for some other items with a different dealer who then made an insulting offer thinking I would take it. I didn’t. I tried a swapmeet, dealers bought most of what I had as I had priced it to sell but the general public didn’t buy much as they wanted me to give stuff away. I have now found a dealer who is being sensible for rolling stock but I am selling the locos and high value items on eBay myself. It is a pain and taking a lot of my time but even with the eBay charges I am getting around three to four times what dealers have offered per item. I have heard some dreadful stories relating to one dealer mentioned on here and some of the auction houses. OK you are using them for their expertise and to collect and sell on your behalf but they will want to make as much as possible out of you, it’s how they keep going. Also be aware of firstly friends who tell you it’s worth a fortune, it probably isn’t, or dealers who tell you it has no value, it may have some. Look on eBay for the same items in the same condition and look what they have actually sold for, you can check this, see what the last ten sold for for a good average for what you can expect. Ignore the idiots who put stupidly high prices on items that are there for months and give a false idea of the value of items. You can always put everything on at 99p start and see what you get for them, they generally get to the right area.

Try a PWM controller, lots of info on here and elsewhere. Make one yourself with a ready made circuit from China for <£10. The best ones I have come across for these old motors.

You could copy some of the earlier manufacturers and go for some of the wheels being fully flangeless or cut/file the flange off the bottom of some wheels and fix them in place to prevent turning. OK it’s not a perfect solution but would people see them turning anyway even if you went for a fully functional wheelbase? If they are disc wheels it’s not easy to tell if they are turning or not.

I just noticed that Chesterfield models are selling slight misprints of their YEC 0-6-0 designed for the Electrotren chassis for £12. It doesn’t look like a fantastic print but for that price I thought I’d have one. They state that they may have a damaged buffer or slight misprint underneath. I have spare industrial loco buffers and filler so not a problem there.

I have a shapeways print of the G&KER loco ‘Blackpool’. The print is superb in every detail and if i hadn’t known it was a print I would have thought it was a moulding. There is none of the ‘stepping’ I have had in some other 3D prints I’ve bought. However, the plastic is extremely difficult to work with as I had to cut away quite a bit to get the chassis in. Using a razor saw it threads and jams up and using a dremmel disc it melts and jams up. It took ages and a lot of frustration to cut enough away to fit the chassis in properly. At one point I resorted to some tin snips to cut a section of melted plastic out of it. A custom built chassis may have been a better option but I don’t have the time to do that. My request for 3D prints would be loco bodies to fit proprietary chassis. There have been a few available but they seem to only have a short availability time span. There are a number for free on some of the 3D printing sites but so far I’ve not found anyone to print them for me. I did have someone who offered to print for me at £20 per loco body but he couldn’t get the scaling to work with his printer and then it broke. I now have two of the Hornby/Jouef/Electrotren 0-6-0 chassis with no body to fit to them as the ones I wanted are out of production. Ther is a Yorkshire Diesel shunter body available on eBay that fits a slightly modified ‘Nellie’ chassis and is a very good print. It really does look the part and the mods weren’t too difficult. Plus it has an infinitely repairable chassis and motor. I think Shapeways have a Hudswell Clarke tank body available to fit the Electrotren chassis, I may have a look at that although I did scratch build a very similar loco years ago.

I think the plastic Mainline coupling is a direct replacement for the Triang version. I am not sure if Dapol and/or Replica also made this one?

I think someone on here mentioned that cellulose acetate warps more easily with damp. I have some old cellulose acetate locos that have not warped much, but others that have warped and shrunk so much that the places they rest on the chassis have snapped off due to the pressures caused in the process. As well as Tri-ang and Grafar I think some of the British Trix stock used this plastic. Other plastic problems can include Bakelite which was always brittle but seems to get worse with age and which contains asbestos fibres which can be released when it shatters. Model railways are not the only items affected by mazak rot, anything made with contaminated metal will show the same deterioration.

Most Hornby Dublo locos managed with metal tenders, I know some of the later ones were plastic. Unfortunately modern motors would struggle and most modern controllers won’t provide the power needed for more powerful motors. Then there are all the metal kit and scratch built locos……..They seem fine with metal tenders built with Dublo or Tri-ang chassis. If Mazak has impurities in it the metal expands or disintegrates. It’s something that has been known about for a long time. When Grafar made OO locos many of theirs have had problems with the bodies disintegrating, Lima locos had problems with Mazak weights in the 70s and more recently Hornby have not learned from the past or failed to provide adequate quality control. Some plastics are also subject to deterioration. Tri-ang and Grafar used Cellulose Acetate which warps and disintegrates. I have noticed problems with some other Tri-ang Plastics becoming brittle more recently where I have never had problems in the past. This has included motion brackets and bogie frames as well as plastic drive cogs on some of the later locos with X03 motors.

Andrew, this book should answer most of your questions and is probably available on line for very little.

Here is a 'real' Nellie, at least the front end looks like one; https://www.flickriver.com/photos/31514768@N05/4453678207/ And here is a post with the saddle tank it was converted from; https://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/25/picture_parade_25.htm Also on this link is a picture of the real King George V as modelled by Hornby. Peckett's delivered three of these locos to the Workington Iron & Steel Company, two saddle tanks and a side tank with very unusually for the UK inside cylinders. This one was converted from a saddle to side tanks at some point in it's life. The saddle tank is a Peckett Class Y, a great opportunity for someone with a 3D printer to create a body for an RTR chassis. A drawing must exist as someone has built one on the RM Web.

Bee, a bit of fun! Here is another Nellie from my collection (central loco) with a replacement cast funnel and steps to replace missing ones from when I got it in a box of junk, next to an original version. I should have given it a different name! Only putting them together made me notice they are quite different shades of blue. On the left is something different, a green ‘27’ that I sold on eBay and the Post Office managed to smash up during delivery. I have glued the body back together, less one set of steps that are missing and done some alterations along the lines of one of the Garstang & Knott End locos to match my model of the 2-6-0 tank ‘Blackpool’ if it ever gets finished. I have based it very loosely on Knott End, the only 0-6-0 side tank the railway had. I have filed the safety valves off the dome, added a new set, removed the Peckett type flange around the smoke box and added an ejector pipe that all the G&KER locos had. I based this on that of ‘Blackpool’ only to later see that most of the other locos on the railway have a straight one that followed the boiler rather than the double bend, still as in reality they never had a ‘Nellie” it doesn’t matter. Very much a work in progress as and when I get time to work on it. The real reason for doing this body is to try the lining I will need for ‘Blackpool’ and check that it looks OK against the maroon I intend to use. The actual shade of the locos hasn’t been recorded and they probably ended up black when taken over by the LMS. Most of the locos had their name stencilled on in yellow, shaded blue but Knott End and Blackpool had name plates. There is a saddle tank loco on display outside a holiday park in the area painted in pseudo G&KER livery but it was never actually used on the line. The locos were known as ‘The Pilling Pig’ due to the high pitched whistle they had. There were plans to open a narrow gauge line from the Knott End end of the railway but I’ve not seen anything about it for some time.

I got a big tub of brass dressmakers pins for doing just this type of repair for next to nothing off eBay. Also has been said, don’t go anywhere near any plastic parts with a soldering iron, it will get very expensive.