Well everything they said would happen has happened. There is now a members section on the HRCA website which if you are a member you can join and then there is are forums for General, Dublo and O gauge. Excellent stuff and you can post photos. Only slight problem at the moment is that everyone seems too shy to actually post anything – but I am sure that it will start up fairly soon.

Very well done to all concerned and I just hope that the members appreciate it.

I am looking forward to NiccNDT posting his pictures of his beautifully re-painted engines which I think might have been lost in the transfer from the MSN Groups.

I would really like a Neverwazzas topic so that the runners amongst us could post our Dublo hybrids. I might just start it myself but compared to some out there my ones are a bit low level.

I think tha the topic would be acceptable as the last two editions of the Collector had articles on Kit built engines and the A? that was made as a limited edition.

Anyone up for it

No surprise there then – the obsession continues

Its a repaint into Southern lined livery. Runs well as it has a HD chassis although I do notice that it wiggles a little as it goes along. Not sure why.

I have checked out the links, removed a couple of non working ones and added some comments to some of the other links.

I have also added at least 3 new sites which might be of interest to my readers.

No comments now but no spam at all – so hope you continue to enjoy this site.

Have a Happy Hornby Dublo New Year.

Now this is a blog site which I devote to my 3 rail Hornby Dublo running and try to keep you up to date with what is happening. I don’t use it as a personal place to shout out my opinions but……

Binns Road Hornby has two Yahoo groups one for all Hornby trains and the other devoted to Dublo 3 rail. The former has many members and the discussions range over every type of topic imaginable with lots of experts. It is a thoroughly good forum for all Binns road train fans to discuss just about any topic you could think of. The 3R forum is slightly less formal and runners like me feel able to contribute.

Although both forums are recognised by the HRCA they are not accepted by them – as stated in the monthly magazine.

The HRCA decided to start their own forum, for members only, on MSN groups which after a slow start has become an interesting forum although the number of duplicate postings are tedious. MSN have decided to shut all of their MSN forums so a discussion started as to what should be the future. This was interesting and wide ranging with many members coming up with some excellent ideas. Nicc NDT who sometimes reads this site came up with some excellent ideas which most of the members seemed to agree with and there was a great discussion going UNTIL the HRCA Committee intervened basically stating that they were in charge (although terribly overworked) and that the views of the forum members would be considered when they made their decisions but really any more discussion was not useful.

So no more discussion.

The HRCA have missed a massive opportunity to bring the HRCA into the 21st Century but leave the trains back in the 1900’s

Shame.

Well done NiccNDT your ideas were just the ticket for real progress

These 2-6-4T tank engines are getting to be a little obsessive. The latest addition is a Hornby model of a Fowler tank engine very nicely converted to 3 rail with a Marklin skate. I am surprised at how well this engine runs with no faltering at any points or diamond crossing, this despite the fact that the conversion uses a small skate normally used by Marklin for picking up current to work the lights in their coaches. I now have:
80054 – HD standard 3 rail BR 4MT tank
80033 – HD 2 rail body on a 3 rail chassis
80153 – HD standard 3 rail BR 4MT tank beautifully repainted in Brunswick green as seen in preservation
LMS 2679 – Wrenn body on a HD 3 rail chassis
LMS 2504 – Kit built 3 cylinder Stanier tank body on HD 3 rail chassis
42319 – Hornby model of the Fowler tank converted to 3 rail
LMS 2309 – Scratch built body of Fowler tank on a standard HD chassis

There were other 2-6-4T’s modeled so there is scope for more

Extract from Wikipedia on the 3 cylinder version of what everyone knows as the 2 cylinder version which was the basis of the BR Standard 4MT

LMS 3-Cylindered Stanier 2-6-4T is a class of steam locomotive designed for work over the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway. All 2500-36 were built in 1934 at Derby Works. The third cylinder was provided to allow increased acceleration between the many stops on the L.T.&S.R. line. From 1935 the LMS switched to constructing a very similar, simpler, 2-cylindered design.

No. 2500 was the first of the 37 express passenger tank locomotives designed specifically for the London Tilbury and Southend line of the London Midland & Scottish railway (LMS) as they were too powerful for mixed-traffic work. It was built in 1934 at LMS Crewe works.

No. 2500 has survived and is on display at the National Railway Museum in York. It is the sole survivor of his class and is painted in LMS lined black livery.

Before I tell you about my recent purchases just a note to say that the change in the comments posting described below has at last removed all spam from flooding this website which means that I have more time and don’t have to read the pornographic titles of these spam comments. Its a shame that it makes it more difficult for you to post but thats the nature of the beast.

After a long period of buying 3 rail conversions my last two acquisitions have actually been Hornby Dublo engines. The first was a Class 20 Bo-Bo which has been repainted and renumbered. I have always had a soft spot for this engine perhaps because the prototype is still operating in revenue service on today’s railways. This engine along with the Class 8 shunter must be the oldest engines still working. Didn’t HD do well.

The Class 20 was billed as a runner but it didn’t. Take the body off and there was a wire loose from one of the pick-ups. Resolder, now moves but very jerky. A light oiling all round and a little grease on the screww drive on the bogie. result. Total transformation excellent runner, will pull my standard freight train easily. Now one thing is strange – no traction tyres. No problem I have some spares, which I fitted but this tended to make the engine a little unstead and didn’t do anything for the pulling power. So they were removed and it now runs well and pulls well without the tyres.

The other purchase was a kitbuilt Stanier 3 cylinder 2-6-4T. This is a brass body, reasonably well detailed but more importantloy is on a standat HD 4MT chassis. It arrived very quickly from the purchaser extremely well packed and looking very good for its age. I placed it on the track and with a bit of wheezing started off and immediately derailed on the first points. Turn it round try bunker first and it derailed on the first bend. Mmmm, Take the body off a light oiling, replace the magnet with a Neo one and try again. Goes off kie a rocket and derails as above but at a higher speed. Need to have a good look. Result is that body has steps below the drivers door and steps at the front of the loco which due to the excellent packing have been pushed and fowl both the front and rear bogies when then turn. Bend the all out a bit, one breaks off but engine now completes many circuits of the track light engine with no problem. Use super glue to re-attach the broken steps. Brass is easy to bend easy to break.

Now why doesn’t that ever cause a problem on the HD 4MT tank engine. Easy HD never put steps below the footplate door. The prototype 4MT doesn’t have steps at the front but they do have them below the door. HD just made it easy for themselves. In fact am I right in stating that the 0-6-0T and the 0-6-0 diesel shunter were the only two engines that ever had steps. Never ever thought about it before but of course they were made as toys rather than scale models so what the heck.

The Stanier now runs well bunker first but like all these 2-6-4T’s some work will have to be done on the front bogie to stop it de-railing at certain but not all points. Been there done it before so will go through the normal steps. Now where is that fine sponge I used last time…………….

Pictures to be posted soon.

I like my website. Its an innocent record of an old man playing with the trains he had when he was a kid. I have found there are many other people out there who do exactly the same thing and we are kindred spirits. I hope my web (blog) site in some small measure brings like minded people together to enjoy the innocent past time of playing with old trains. But all I get is spam, pornography, viagra etc etc posted under my comments section. At first they were posted so my site looked like a porno site so I stopped that as all comments had to be approved by me. Even that change became a very time consuming exercise with over 20 spams per day having to be deleted so I put in some filters. This improved the situation to the extent of only having to delete two or 3 of these stupid emails every day. What I have done now is stopped any anonymous comment posting. This has completely stopped the spam but means that genuine readers of my website have to be in open mode when they make their comments. The best way is to join the website, I will approve your application and then you will be able to make comments.

I know that this is a pain for you but receiving so much rubbish and having to delete it every day was a total pain for me. So we will operate in this mode for a while, perhaps after a period I can turn it off and the spammers will forget that my website exists. Some hopes.

So to those who log in to my site and want to make a comment I am sorry for the inconvenience but I have no commercial connections of any sort so your email address is safe with me. All I want to do is share my pleasure in playing with old trains to other people – seems simple but some people make it a pain,

The Mainline Deans Goods mentioned in the last posting as “lost” perhaps isn’t after all. A posting on RMWeb quickly gave me the information that the tender drive is by 2 wheels only and that my problem was probably excess friction. Light oiling of the engine’s wheels and cleaning the traction tyres got it running light engine with some slipping. After one circuit it derailed. Lifting it up showed that the 3rd rail pick up had detached itself – the glue attaching the metal pick up to the plastic body had failed. Now all it will take is to refix the pick up and I might have a runner again. Probably a job for laters as getting the position absolutely correct will take an amount of trial and error.

Well its summer and very little activity on the layout front. In the Uk the evenings are long and the gardening jobs many plus all the other bits and peices like painting etc there is little time to run the trains. Some years it gets very hot at the back of the workshop where the layout is located but certainly not a problem this year. For whatever reason not a lot has happened. The Dean Goods unfortunately broke one of its plastic gear wheels and therefore onl drives on two tender wheels instead of three and this is insufficient to allow it to actually move – it just sits and spins its wheels. I don’t think that it is repairable but I’ve put in the box ready for a winters evening to have a look at it. It is a nice model made by Mainline and on the box it states that it is Guaranteed for 3 months but as that was 25 or so years ago I don’t think that I have a claim. So that’s the one that has gone. The new one is a Triang Deeley/Johnson designed LMS 3F in BR black. This is not a tender drive. I bought it off ebay as a 3 rail conversion. It was interesting that the conversion using the spring brass pickups could never have been run as one of the brass pickups touched the screw head which attaches the engine to the tender and shorted it out completely. This was overcome by bluetacking a peice of cardboard between the pick up and the screw. It now works fine but it doesn’t have much pulling power just about managing 3 plastic wheeled plastic trucks and a brake van. I have posted a picture and it is interesting to note that the two private owner 5 plank wagons are Trix Twin which again I picked up very cheap at a local model railway exhibition. Adds a little colour and variety to the layout.

Very interesting discussion on Yahoo groups hornbyDublo 3 rail about the number and make of non HD 3 rail locos. I knew about Gaiety as I have one (the 0-6-0PT) and also bid on a N2 recently (went at over £50 so too expensive really) but some of the other makes were knew to me. The Trix 3 rail has to be modified to run on HD track as they used the middle road and one of the other rails to operate meaning that you could run 2 trains at once but tis also meant that one set of wheels were insulated. I do have a couple of Trix Twin engines converted to 3 rail. I will have to start looking out for the others on ebay.

My most recent acquisition is a 0-6-0PT ex GWR running in London Transport colours. This is a Hornby locomotive converted to three rail. It is an excellent conversion with very good running over all points and X crossings. The dissapointment is in the original engine which was body coloured in red plastic. The colour is wrong and the area under the tank is red also. I have painted this area under the tank in black and I am convinced that it does look a lot better. The red colour should be more maroon but I don’t really know how to weather it to this colour so it will have to remain as it is. These engines were always used for freight and engineering movements and lasted past the end of steam on British railways. So overall pretty pleased with another good runner even if it shows that Hornby back in the 70’s weren’t really making very good models.