Big big train

Good evening everyone.we are keen collectors of anything that came from the Hornby factory,in Margate.This includes the 0 gauge range of trains called "Big Big Trains". Our question is this,on one of the Hymeks in our collection,the motor has finally decided to call it a day,not bad considering it is over 50 years old!. It is not repairable,as far as I know,as it is a sealed unit.Is there anyone out there who supply replacement motors at all? And also,the rubber drive wheels,on the power bogies,have a tendency to crack and disintegrate,again,is there anyone out there who can supply these at all?. Thankyou.

Also,while on a day trip to swanage recently,I managed to purchase a Tri ang jinty and a battle space plane launching wagon,for £8.The jinty had a loose driving wheel on one axle,so I replaced the bush and now it's ok and the plane launching wagon is missing the plane,but for £8,I can't grumble and I also purchased a Triang Baltic tank loco,which also had a loose wheel on one axle,which I repaired.Sometime during its life,a previous owner decided to paint it Matt black,but as I only paid £10 for it,who am I to complain?

Good evening everyone,at the weekend,I managed to purchase some items that were advertised locally to me,these were: Airfix class 31 Battle space jinty Tri ang Polly Hornby Mark two coach Tri ang murgatroyds tank wagon Hornby Mark one coach Early Tri ang coach All for the bargain price of £20. Apparently they were a loft find and were filthy. I spent most of the day on Sunday cleaning them all up,changing brushes,where needed and lightly oiling where needed and now they all run as good as new. The Airfix class 31 is my first Airfix loco and I'm quite impressed with it.

Good evening everyone,my Hornby class 66" evening star" arrived this morning ,stunning model,well done to everyone at Hornby for producing an excellent model at an affordable price,it even comes with etched nameplates,well pleased.

Good evening everyone,I've just ordered a Hornby class 66" evening star",from the "bure valley railway" ,I'm sure looking forward to its arrival!

I forgot to mention the "radar tracking vehicle" as well,unboxed.It's missing the elastic band which somehow goes around the two axles and around a plastic disc,which in turn makes the Radar revolve on the top of the wagon. The flashing light unit looks complete also,but I've yet to try it out.

Good evening everyone,I paid £90 for my "Battle space"turbo car,complete with original box and instructions,but I also managed to get a "Battle space" mail coach- unboxed,a "Battle space" rocket launching wagon-unboxed and a "Battle space" POW wagon -boxed,all for £90.

Good evening everyone,we went to our local toyfair yesterday and managed to get some bargains. Boxed,with original instructions, "Battle space turbo car". Boxed "Battle space POW wagon" Unboxed battle space rocket launching wagon. Minic motorways green double decker bus(bargain at £20),very good condition. Big box of super 4 track with no signs of rust,including 12 points. Eight X04 motors,minus brushes and brush springs. Tri ang wheel cleaning brush. And various other bits and bobs. All in all,a good day.

Hi Sarah again,thanks for the information,my mission over the Christmas holidays is to see what TC pacific loco s i have and do some comparisons between them.

Hi,interesting reading.Am I correct in saying that the later versions had nickel plated tyres on the driving wheels and bogies? and some also used the flying Scotsman tenders?

Hi sarah,nice picture,I didn't realise,until I saw your picture,that there was different variations of the TC pacific,on the smokebox door.I think we have two or three unboxed TC pacific s in one of our boxes.I'll have to dig them out and have a look sometime. I'm fortunate in that where I live,there is a very good toyfair held on a few occasions at the bath and West showgound during the year and there is also a very good collectors shop up the road,near sherborne. Sad to read you're downsizing,I guess I will have to one day,I'll keep my eyes open on a certain auction site,if that's where you are selling your items.I hope I haven't broken any forum rules by saying this. All the best.

The "Railroad" duke of Gloucester you can see in some of the pictures is an excellent model and can pull a rake of 8 coaches around the layout with absolute ease,with no sign of wheel slip.

Hello sarahagain,Thank you for your interest.It has taken a long time to collect what you see in the pictures,years in fact.But it's been enjoyable going to toy fairs etc,to collect what you can see on the layout today.The minic motorway remains to be wired up,as do the station platform lamposts.They are on the "to do" list.Then there's the triang colour light signals to put on the layout and wire up,not forgetting the catenary also.The outer oval is DCC,controlled by a Hornb y elite unit.The inner oval(system 6 nickel silver),is 12v dc and the two inner ovals are triang super 4,again 12v DC. In one of the pictures you can see the new Hornby TTS sound van(which I can highly recommend),this is placed on a section of track powered from the Hornby Elite unit and I use this to give sound effects to the non DCC sections of the layout. On the "to do" list,is the replacement of the baseboard covering.At the moment it is simply rolls of green poster paper,but I would like to change it for something more realistic. Basically,this layout simply reminds me of years gone by,when every Christmas and birthday I would usually receive something in a red and yellow box,triang railways, triang hornby and latterly hornby railways. I started in this great hobby of ours when I was about 3 years of age,I'm 60 next year and my interest is as strong as ever. I'm always on the lookout for a bargain,the Tri ang hornby freightliner crane you can see in one of the pictures cost me £5,as did the mechanno street lamp you can see by the minic motorways car loading ramp. Thanks again for your interest.

Good morning everyone,some more pictures of the layout,hopefully from slightly different angles this time.They may take a day or two to appear.

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The r9216.

Hello,I've taken a few photo's,but they need to be checked before they will appear,I guess. I've purchased a Thomas 75 ton breakdown crane,still sealed inside its box,also,a Tri ang jinty,one of a very few made in the old Richmond factory,with British railways in writing on the tank sides and a 2-6-2 tank loco,also made in Richmond,both boxed. hopefully the pictures will follow soon.