In the links you will find one to Muddy’s rock pool. This is a forum type website and one of the forums is Hornby Dublo. Muddy is new to HD and is building (will be building) his layout in his garage once he has completed the modifications. He lives in Australia and doesn’t have easy access to HD stuff. The forum is good fun and there already some HD runners who have joined. It is definitely not stuffy, there are no rivet counters and its a good place for beginners to ask questions without feeling stupid.
Another small tank engine courtesy of ebay. This is a Triang Jinty 0-6-0T in late BR insignia but originally a LMS engine. A very good conversion that runs very well and pulls a couple of HD coaches with ease. My other two Triang engines are the DMU and the EMU both of which are very noisy and I expected this to be much the same but in fact it is quiet and runs very smoothly. This is an early Triang version and has pretty deep flanges which you can see makes it wobble over the points and x crossing but it does not de-rail so everything is fine. I must say that I am also very pleased with the Lima 2-6-2T conversion that I recently added as this is proving to be an excellent runner.
I did bid for a 3 rail Dublo EMU but I was no where near the final price despite it being unboxed. In some ways I am pleased because even at the price I bid it would have been very difficult to justify.
The poll for you to decide which is the most popular HD loco has completed. The results are:
Duchess of Montrose 21%
Standard 4MT 20%
Sir Nigel Gresley 20%
Dorchester 16%
Bristol Castle 16%
I suppose I am not that surprised, Montrose was a very big seller and a very popular loco and is a model of a very powerful LMS loco all in all that must make it popular. The 4 MT was an even better HD model and I expected it to win but it just lost out. Sir NG and other A4’s were not as good models as the previous ones but were part of the early HD introduction and thus remain popular with HD fans.
So all in all its the oldies that are the winners.
I will now contemplate a new poll as I think that the last one was interesting.
This is a Lima model of a GWR small prairie tank built between 1927 and 1929 and was one of the last series with sloping water tanks. A workhorse of the GWR especially in South Wales. This is well detailed model and expertly converted to 3 rail with an unusual 3 rail pick up. It works very well with no hesitation over points or crossings. Like most plastic bodied modern stuff it won’t pull very much but it is ideal with a couple of plastic wheeled carriages or a small super-detailed freight train. A very useful addition to my growing stable of small tank engines thanks to an excellent transaction on ebay.
A couple of pictures have been posted. The colour has not come out well the actual engine is much more green than the pictures show.
I am not sure when this model was produced as there doesn’t seem to be a Lima Collectors/History website that I have been able to find. The motor is a little noisy but this might be normal my only other Lima is the Warship which runs very quietly.
p.s. Welcome to 2008 I hope its a happy one for you and me.
I make it clear on the home page that I am not prepared to pay silly prices for the rarer HD items. That was written a couple or three years ago and since then prices seem to have gone even more silly.
E3003 on ebay with a buy it now price of £890
M&B EDL7 GWR £600 on vectis
M&B EDL7 Southern £750.00 on vectis
Articulated LNER coach set £1,700 also on Vectis
I leave all my rolling stock on the layout collecting dust and rust so that I can run them when I want to, so how can you ever justify these prices unless you keep it in the box, out of the sunlight and wait and sell it again in a few years time, nothing to do with running 3 rail.
I think I will continue to ignore the rare items and keep on running what I have and continue to buy some non HD items which will make the layout more interesting.
There has been no activity on the web site since June but rest assured that the trains have been running during the summer. Not as often as the other seasons but enough to keep them active. There have been no new acquisitions so its just about running what I have – which is a lot. I have spent a lot of time contemplating the layout but see no opportunity for any more sidings so the number of new engines has to be limited if they are to be stored on the layout. I need to to do some lateral thinking – an elevated section would be ideal but…………….. lots of problems to be solved. I hope to acquire some new locos over he next few months so please stay tuned in and find out what are the new additions
No not a hot rod or dragster theme but the fact that the Hornby Black 5 burnt its motor out today in a plume of smoke. I have no idea why, it was well oiled, it rang well the last time out and moved off this time before being enveloped in smoke. Not sure that it is worth repairing as it was a pretty cheap purchase in the first place. I might just put it in the non runners box and look to replace it or I could investigate how much it will cost to remotor it.
One of the comments in the Mainline thread mentioned the fact that I had Marklin Controllers but stated that Marklin engines can easily be converted to 12V DC. Interesting. However the presence of Marklin on my layout is as a result of living in Germany for some years when my children were at an age to be interested in trains so they were bought to supplement my meagre collection of old Hornby Dublo locos and rolling stock.In those days the children really didn’t mind or didn’t notice that were of a different scale. Now the HO vs OO scale difference is very noticeable and I am always close to clearing out these few remaining HO items. The most noticeable are the carriages and the small tank engines, the pacific 4-6-2 loco is relatively large in its self and is therefore not so obvious.
No, they don’t look right and will go at some time probably when I run out of suitable sidings for storage of the HD fleet.
Well after some tank engines for branch lines I have gone mainline again. This time its a Warship which was a common Western Region diesel in the early diesel days. This was a hydraulic diesel based on German DB V200 series. This engine had to be seriously modified to conform to the the UK loading gauge and it also had to be built in Britain. No imports from Germany allowed in those days. They did use German engines and transmissions. This combination produced an unreliable engine in its early days but the many problems, from the bogies to steam heating and most things in between, were slowly overcome and they ended up as pretty reliable performers.
The model by Lima seems to me to be a pretty good one with some fine detail. It has been simply converted with a brass pick up and return to all 6 driving wheels. It really is a very good performer and easily takes 4 Pullmans or even 5 Stanier blood and custards. In its later days it was also used for freight duties so it fits in well. The modeled example is D838 Rapid. Built at NBL, Glasgow, October 1960. First shed allocation Plymouth Laira. June 1964 shed allocation Newton Abbot. Withdrawn March 1971.
This means that this loco was well in service before steam was phased out in 1967. Although I run toy trains from a modelers point of view it fits the general era of the end of steam with Deltic, Metrovick Co-BO and Class 20 all part of that scene.
I am unable to post pictures as the Camera has gone walk about but as soon as I get it back I will post some
I now have my third HD 0-6-0T Southern R1. I already have the black one and a Wrenn Southern one and now I have added the green HD one. The black is definitely authentic to the prototype, the Wrenn one probably is but the green HD one definitely isn’t. It has a late BR logo and would never have been painted in green with this configuration. Must remember thay they are toys. Yet another type of 3 rail conversion. I will post some pics comparing the various types of 3 rail conversions that I have of this engine. One uses a much modified HD pick up and was done professionally one uses a Marklin skate and the newest uses a peice of bent to shape sprung brass pick up. Amazingly they all run equally well with no stalling over the points. These engine are very light and wont pull very much, two HD carriages seem about right or three or four wagons and they go very nicely. I haven’t found out much about these engines although everyone knows that they were used to move the carriages from Folkestone Harbour to Folkestone Station often triple headed with a banker engine as well. However I can’t find any examples of them used in branchline service or in shunting duties. However mine are in use as branchline engines pulling short trains. A nice little addition to the stable.
