Rana Temporia

Bee I have more than this but they are in storage! I have run three together but never more than that and as the chassis is live they all have to face the same way otherwise there is a short through the couplings. All these apart from the blue 7178 have an X04 motor and I think draw around 0.3 to 0.4 of an Amp. All twelve would therefore require something in the region of a 4A power supply. The 7178 has a can motor and may draw less current. I think the two least common ones are the yellow Connie and the No6 Polly, Polly is usually No9. I think the blue No6 Connie was only available in a set but I may be wrong on that one. The red one with the silver dome was also made with a plain red dome and occasionally a brass dome. the dome is off The Lord of the Isles and I suppose when they ran out of silver ones they used brass? The body moulding ended it’s days with a name printed on the side and a plastic push along chassis for use with the orange plastic track used in Thomas sets. My children had one and the plastic wheels didn’t last long. They do occasionally turn up with an electric chassis retro-fitted. The chassis was used for the NB Diesel, the TC OH loco and with various motors under the top tank and transcontinental steam loco bodies.

Found my blue Nellie No7 to add to the above. The blue one in the previous picture is No6 Connie.

These are the boxes I remember, unfortunately I don’t know where my wagons have got to,

Suitable coaches for cranes, I’m sure someone made them……

Threelink, I seem to remember them being cheaper than Tri-ang Hornby which is probably why I bought them. the original models were heavy cast metal wagons and self assembly heavy metal coaches. They had a range of very odd locos by today’s standards with plunger pick-ups and huge tender mounted motors which drove via a shaft to the loco driving wheels. The range included a King, an SR pacific, a prairie tank, an SR 0-6-0 loco and a NY Hudson with a huge tender. The most common from the early locos is their ‘general’ loco loosely based on a Black 5. They were all cast (in mazak) and tend to disintegrate into tiny pieces, some were 3 rail. Later on the Prairie tank had an upgraded chassis and their 94xx pannier went through various types of chassis. The later models being very good runners with scale wheels. The later plastic rolling stock was much refined and light. The early box wagons were way too high, something rectified later on. i suspect they never had more than half a dozen wagon moulds and just added different logos to them. The coaches had four types, all apparently based on LMS prototypes with a brake and a composite for suburban and mainline versions and available in BR, LMS, GWR, Southern and LNER colours, looking authentic in all even if they weren’t. They also had a range of Pullman coaches made in cellulose acetate which are usually severely distorted, especially the roofs. They were also available in blue wagon-lits livery.

I used to get my Grafar models from Boydell’s Toys in Bolton, originally the models were at the end of the shop and later were upstairs. They had a very good range of the manufacturers that were around at the time, mainly Hornby, Wrenn and Grafar.

Tony, It’s the GF Poole address as here;

I am still clearing out my late Father’s model collection and came across a Graham Farish OO wagon I’d seen before but never in a box like this. My memory of Farish or Grafar OO wagons and coaches was either a cardboard base with a clear plastic top or a clear plastic ‘tube’ with cardboard ends. This one has a box like those of most other model manufacturers and is the first one I can recall seeing. The early metal wagons were in the very 50s/60s boxes, but all the ones I bought in the 70s were in the clear boxes, I think they were slightly cheaper than Tri-ang Hornby at the time and I have a number of the coaches in both suburban and corridor types, they run so well! Does anyone know how long they made these boxes for, it can’t have been long and was probably their last shot at OO.

The rail connectors or fishplates occasionally turn up on the likes of eBay but as far as I know have not been available as copies of the originals as some other parts have. As Topcat says, there are possibly two types of track, one has a grey base raised slightly (Triang standard track) and the other has black plastic bases (Series 3) I have discounted the very early silver grey as no points were ever made for it. Both share the same geometry which is quite different to modern track, i think the free version of Anyrail layout design software has both on it and will help you to understand what you can and can’t do with it. One think to be aware of if you have the grey track is that some of the early versions of it were made with a cellulose acetate plastic base which warps and shrinks making the track useless. If yours is flat and the ends match up it will be fine. Also, you may find a voltage drop at the far end of a layout from the power supply. This is usually down to poor connections at the ends of the rails but I have had it even with NOS series 3 in the past. You have to realise that this track is very old and is likely to be problematic, having said that I used to use it all the time only fairly recently having sold it all on. Your loco is a JInty and if your green diesel is a Triang one with 6 wheels it will have the same chassis as your Jinty with a small plate at one end to fit the body in place. They are fairly indestructible and usually easily repairable.

Thanks Tony57, I think I have one of those brass bulb holders in a box of ‘junk’ I got a few years ago, that makes perfect sense. I always thought this chassis was from a MK1 version of the loco but obviously not. You learn something every day! I have one of the B units but have never thought about motorising it but it would add a bit of oomph as long as I use a proper controller. The A and B units have the 4 ‘exhausts’ at exactly the right spacing for a Tri-ang pantograph, something I mentioned on here that I noticed when running some of my Transcontinental stock and I think there was a reply that it had been a consideration before the double ended diesel was electrified. A 3 car electric unit (2 A units and a B) would make a great looking neverwazza! I don’t think a powered B unit was ever produced but there was one version of the A unit with an X04 mounted in the body to create engine noise. All the Transcontinental diesels used to be easily available in junk boxes for pennies, I used to get them for spare parts (The great thing about standardisation) and bin what I didn’t need. I also sold a box full of bogie frames, magnets, pole pieces etc. on eBay a few years ago as I have more than enough to outlast me. I suspect the change in value came with Pat Hammond’s first Rovex book with the blue diesel on the cover. I have bought a few as non-runners and the only problem has been one or both wheel sets in the wrong way round shorting out the bogie.

That’s what I was pondering Threelink! I have a spare set out of a later dock shunter but that would lose some of the mojo. I have now put it into a chassis ready to go into what I thought was an origami all MK1 version of the A unit but the light holder must have been a different design. The screw catches on the top of the X04 motor and the bottom of the holder is in the way of the screw that holds in the brass mounting for the motor. Looks like no lights. tired_face I have a cow catcher for it so will fit that as soon as I find it.

My latest fun thing. Now I can restore one of my old Transcontinental locos properly. I have the cow catcher but do I replace the wheels?????

There is a complete motor bogie with a non working motor on eBay for around £15 buy it now. There is a good picture of the wheels and axles, it might be worth a look.

Just got a Bachmann 10001 from the Bolton swapmeet that someone had attacked with silver paint on the numbers and central band. However it’s an excellent runner and seems fine on 1st radius curves. I built one of the Q Kits versions years ago that I never got to work properly, I think that one will find it’s way onto an online auction site shortly.

A few of the variants and some homedone ones.`I shaver some more somewhere;

The Dublo couplings generally hold the stock at a more realistic distance than (the older) tension locks so the rake of coaches will look better.

If someone says your loco didn’t exist look in this book and it probably did.

If it is Hornby Dublo I would suggest looking for a damaged or badly painted Wrenn Pullman. If it is Trix or Grafar you might be struggling to get something that will fit.

Tony, there was a good article a while ago in one of the mags that covered the early blue used on express locos. From what I remember it was only used on the top express locos from each region which were all Pacific’s apart from the GWR KIngs. The LMS Princesses and Coronations were definitely painted blue but I am not sure whether all members received it. Usual lining was white/black/white as used by the LNER but there were some variations and at least one ex SR loco had red lining, there were also a number of other shades of blue tried at the time. I would expect that all the blue locos would have BRITISH RAILWAYS or the early crest on their tenders, I think Wrenn produced one of the ex LMS locos in blue with the later BR crest which I would think is wrong. Someone will know this!

Elloloco, I think the Wrenn N gauge 2-6-4 was made by Lima using a continental chassis with the body blown up to fit around it and it looked nothing like the prototype. It was made and still turns up occasionally second hand. The Lima N Deltic was almost as bad, possibly closer to TT than N in height. The coaches were about the same height as the Deltic nose bonnets at either end. As for the GWR 4MT tank, I wanted one as a teenager to go with my pannier tank and Albert Hall not realising it wasn’t prototypical until I was told so. I do have a boxed version of the black LMS N2 purely because I like the look of it and the blue Castle, which again I’d wanted as a teenager. Were castles ever turned out in Blue? I know the Kings were. I think the experimental pale green castle Wrenn produced is correct? Who cares? They all look good and will last forever. Good job my controllers can deliver enough power for them.

Will the chassis from an old British Trix A3 or A4 fit the HO body? They were to a hybrid scale between HO and OO and were probably short for that. Very good motors in them.

Highly collectible fictitious stock 3, again available in other options

Highly collectible fictitious stock 2. Also done in lots of other livieries by Hornby Dublo and you can also get transfers to produce other variants including L&Y.

Highly collectible fictitious stock 1

nothing wrong with fictitious liveries. The manufacturers have been doing them for years and then you have a lot of the early Triang locos which may have been loosely based on a prototype but which were built to use existing chassis or to appeal to customers in different parts of the world. The coaches look great by the way.