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My first recollection of Tri-ang Railways was a yellow HO gauge diesel switcher with some freight wagons on an outer oval of grey standard track with a TT gauge jinty and two suburban coaches on an inner oval of brown track. This was a display in the shop window of the Children's Shop in Orpington, Kent. You put a penny in the slot to see the trains run a few circuits. 

 

A Christmas present of a green Princess Elizabeth, a travelling post office and a suburban composite coach steered me away from Hornby Dublo and began a life long interest in what became Hornby Railways.

 

The picture shows a yellow diesel switcher with some freight wagons with a Tri-ang station in the background at the South Dorset Modellers meeting at Winterborne Kingston on 4th November 2016.

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An RS13 train set. Tri-ang originally reserved the single digit R numbers for train set as the range of train sets increased Tri-ang had to add letters. The RS sets had series 3 track and no battery controller.  RS13 had 12 curves and six straights including an uncoupling rail and a power connecting rail which, I think, was incorporated in the uncoupling rail.

 

The set included a Tri-ang R55 A unit  which was in similar livery of silver and red to those used in Canada. It had a working headlight. There were four cars: a passenger car, a vista dome car, a baggage car with sliding doors and a vista dome car. The set was produced from 1960 to 1962 and the rolling stock had tension lock couplings.

 

Included in the set was a glass bottle of Shell oil with a red plastic top, some oiling instructions and a warning not to connect the locomotive to the mains.

 

 

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An RS13 train set. Tri-ang originally reserved the single digit R numbers for train set as the range of train sets increased Tri-ang had to add letters. The RS sets had series 3 track and no battery controller.  RS13 had 12 curves and six straights including an uncoupling rail and a power connecting rail which, I think, was incorporated in the uncoupling rail.

 

The set included a Tri-ang R55 A unit  which was in similar livery of silver and red to those used in Canada. It had a working headlight. There were four cars: a passenger car, a vista dome car, a baggage car with sliding doors and a vista dome car. The set was produced from 1960 to 1962 and the rolling stock had tension lock couplings.

 

Included in the set was a glass bottle of Shell oil with a red plastic top, some oiling instructions and a warning not to connect the locomotive to the mains.

 

That was my very first Tri-ang train set!

 

Unfortunately I think my Dad sold our Hornby O-gauge tinplate to buy it....... :scratchhead: 

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I always thought the later TC passenger bogie (truck if you prefer) looked rather clumsy and heavy compared to the earlier diecast one which is a not indecent replica of a typical North American equalised bogie. It also had the advantage of adding weight low down where it does the most good. The later bogie fitted to the redesigned Canadian style coaches was better but seems short (to match the coaches which suffer from the same thing?).

 

I finally acquired one of the pseudo F units (I think she is intended to be an F7 but the nose is wrong). She is a bit of a Hybrid as the chassis has the first style of power bogie with the X.04 type motor and the body is one of the last ones in Canadian livery. I have an idea she is actually 4mm scale as the model is rather larger than my H0 versions. The coaches on the other hand match other H0 models well.

 

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Apologies for the interlopers!

Edited by Il Grifone
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My very first electric train set was the TC one in the mid 50's.  This was the loco and dummy plus a plain coach and the one with the perspex roof top complete with standard grey track.  I still have it somewhere along with the rear plastic domed coach, bought separately, and always wanted the centre unit for the power and trailer unit but never got that.  The couplings were ungainly long open bar and big hook before the normal tension lock came out.  At that time (and even now) I thought loco to coach size was just the American way.  The motor drive was unusual as having a cog wheel on the motor shaft driving another at the end of a lay-shaft, quite noisy but that could also be the large knurled wheels too.  I have thought recently about replacing all the wheels and 3-railing it just for fun but a lot of other things to do first.

 

Very soon my parents bought me some second hand Hornby Dublo 3-rail (2-rail had not come out yet), Tri-ang TT and Trix Twin without realising none of these would work with each other.  Apart from the Trix Twin (bakelite track and A/C locos) which my mother gave away in the 70's I still have all the other.  A lot of Dublo and now just resurrecting my TT.

 

Garry

Edited by Golden Fleece 30
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My recollection is that the big diesels in the TC range were far more reliable runners than the rest of the Triang range; I never had any, but one of my friends did.

 

Were some of them either fitted with two motor bogies, or fitted with current collectors on the dummy bogie?

 

K

 

PS: re-liverying TC coaches with poster paints is inadvisable; we tried it, and it didn't really work out very well!

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I don't think any Tri-ang locos (TC or BR) were factory fitted with two motors although you could replace the dummy unit with a powered one and they certainly did not have any trailing bogie pick-ups.  Those came out later on with the last design Co-Co and A1A-A1A before the Ringfields. The TC power units had one steel wheel live to the chassis and the other with phosphor bronze wipers on a paxolin base on before the Co-Co/EM2 style of nylon axle with 4 separate bronze wipers coming down from the motor (spider assembly I think they called it).

 

The trailing bogies were just large plastic split wheels, 2 halves on one axle.

 

Garry

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Maybe this was a "Dad Special" then. The dad in question was an engineer with the GPO, who had the pleasure of overseeing the construction of our local auto-exchange, which was right behind their house, so just the sort of chap to understand and make such an alteration - he certainly built a cracking layout, and taught us how to build wagons by flattening and cutting-up tinplate oil cans.

 

K

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Here is mine, I was going to show the old style motor bogie but it has been replaced with the "standard" one of a lay-shaft with armature/commutator and worms on.  When or why this was replaced I have no idea but this still has the old style couplings on.  On the power unit the front light and side numbers lit up but not on the trailing unit, maybe Tri-ang never thought about it working trailer car first.

 

I have not seen these myself for a while having to search and dig them out of the loft and thought the plastic was cracking but it is not there just seem to be vertical black lines in the mouldings.

 

Garry

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The chassis of the TC diesel is a large strip of steel sheet bent upwards to clear the power bogie. It would not be too difficult to modify for two power bogies.

 

I'll post a couple of pictures when/if I find my camera....

Edited by Il Grifone
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Here is mine, I was going to show the old style motor bogie but it has been replaced with the "standard" one of a lay-shaft with armature/commutator and worms on.  When or why this was replaced I have no idea but this still has the old style couplings on.  On the power unit the front light and side numbers lit up but not on the trailing unit, maybe Tri-ang never thought about it working trailer car first.

 

I have not seen these myself for a while having to search and dig them out of the loft and thought the plastic was cracking but it is not there just seem to be vertical black lines in the mouldings.

 

Garry

 

Hi Garry,

 

These must be from 1956/7 as the battery box is still acetate (they must have had a large stock of them). AFAK only the 1st series had the X.04 type motor. Wavy lines in the plastic of the coaches are quite common and are probably due to insufficient mixing of the plastic. Originally there was just the standard coach and the Vista dome, but later they were joined by a baggage car, a diner (just the same as the coach, but labelled 'DINER') and the observation car. Still later the red stripe was added and a blue version appeared. I think the change in bogies coincided with the change in coupling to the tension lock. The first coaches had the roof glued on, but later it was detachable and secured with a long screw through the floor.

 

The observation car is an unusual design and appears to be based on the Milwaukee's 'beaver tail' cars*, as illustrated here. Most cars were of the design shown below this I believe.

 

http://www.american-rails.com/observation.html

 

This would also explain the source of the 'Hiawatha' name later applied to the TC 4-6-2 - a beast of clear Canadian origins.

 

*EDIT

The illustrated car is apparently a post war 'sky-top' and not a 'beaver tail'.

 

David

Edited by Il Grifone
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Tho only thing there David is the rear of the base has two lugs that clip in to the body low down to hold it in position.  I guess the two screws at the top might hold it, or, use a second plate from the trailing unit to fit a motor and put a couple of screw holes in the body top.

 

Garry

 

It would possibly be necessary to bring the plate back to the low level to engage the lugs. The simplest solution is to just follow the prototype and couple another unit behind....  :)

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Hi David, I would have guessed around 1955/6 time as I don't think I had started school and I was 3 or 4 years old then.  My set was the 4 vehicles seen with the beaver tail coming later on its own.  I like the photo you linked, most impressive for its year.  My coaches are glued as there is is just a large diameter hole in the base, no screws.  I think my locos used to have chevrons on the front but worn/rubbed off.

 

I remember the red version coming out with CN on but don't remember the blue one.  The only blue I can remember was the double ended one which had a yellow? strip on.  I think it also had a dummy vehicle too.  This was also sold as a green and orange one and with pantograghs (Australian/South African?).  I did not really have a lot of interest in these and never understood why my parents bought me the TC set, they probably did not know what they were buying just knew it was a train set and I loved trains.

 

Garry

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The 'probably-Dad-converted' one was double-ended, and our efforts at repainting it were supposed to make it, and the coaches, look like something from East African Railways.

 

Another boy in our class used to go to Nairobi, as if it was a nothing but a short bus trip, because his father was a pilot with BOAC, and his mother had been an air-hostess with them, and he came back with tales of the wonders to be found on EAR.

 

All of which is a clue to the intended market: the bonds with the former colonies were still pretty strong at the time these toys were made.

 

Kevin

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As promised a comparison between two models.

 

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On the left a Tri-ang TC Diesel in CNR livery and on the right an H0 ATSF F7A 

 

The Tri-ang model can be seen to have a somewhat bulkier appearance Direct comparison shows this to be due to the bogies, which are well over scale. The body is much the same size as the H0 model - a tad wider, but about an inch or so longer. So she is really H0 scale but badly compromised.

 

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These are the two variations of the power bogie - the original with the layshaft and the later type (actually from a dock shunter) - both go like the clappers! There should be a metal strip which hangs down beside the motor. This broke off when I tried to restraighten it.

 

The two neo magnets have been added to assist the original tired one and the loose wire should feed the headlight. In time I'll fit a LED....

 

The double ended Diesel is based on an Australian prototype - VR class B. They did a better job with the nose on this one - we'll ignore the gauge issue and the number of axles....

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_Railways_B_class_(diesel)

Edited by Il Grifone
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The original is what used to be in mine but I have no idea why or when it was swapped, obviously in its early days as the replacement had the same old style coupling.

 

The black and red is one I remember.  Tri-ang must have had a reasonable demand in the USA/Canada to keep production of these going for as long as they did, or, did a lot of British people here like them?

 

The silver one looks very nicely finished and why Tri-ang used to use their name on the sides of the TC series (locos, wagon, coaches) is beyond me.

 

Garry

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Judging by the quantity of items still around the TC range must have been popular here too. There are a few scarce items - the pickle car for instance - but most are easily available and relatively cheap.

As to marking them Tri-ang Railways, they must have taken the lead from Trix, who marked nearly all their North American range 'TRIX TWIN' or 'TTR'; and Lionel, who marked theirs 'LIONEL LINES'. It annoyed me too - I've hand lettered one 'SANTA FE', but my calligraphy leaves something to be desired....

 

The ATSF F7A is a 'Life-Like' product - I have a dummy F7B and another powered F7A. The bogies should be silver too (one day!). The power bogie is similar to Tri-ang's first design - an open frame motor (which has a strong resemblance to the Airfix unit) driving a layshaft via spur gears. Unlike the Tri-ang unit, most of it is plastic,

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Further to the scale of the TC coaches, I've found some better photos :-

 

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Two Triang with a Revell  'Big-boy' tender. A first (failed) attempt at a stainless steel finish.

 

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Rivarossi and Tri-ang (more like it)

 

some baggage cars :-  

 

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L-R, Rivarossi, Tri-ang and Lima (a rather crude modification by yours truly - to be redone...). The Tri-ang car has new bogies but is otherwise original. It is complete with the moulding marks referred to above.

 

:offtopic: and if anyone is interested in the interlopers (probably not) here they are in close up :-

 

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The three on the left are my own build (from laminated post card with K's axleguards), the next three are Hamblings, K's and Will's bought in and the last is K's, assembled (and broken) by myself.

 

The extreme left hand wagon hails from my birthplace, so was irresistible. It is lettered with Letraset (or similar) whereas the next two are my own less than perfect draughtsmanship. I believe the SECR liked to spread its lettering as far as possible so possibly some revision is necessary for the two on the right. The 3 plank wagon is not really derailed. It's EM gauge and thus doesn't sit well on H0 (Peco code 100) track and the gradient revealed by the spirit level in the gondola is intentional and not the result of poor benchwork.

 

As an excuse for wandering' I can offer than all the items count as 'Collectable/Vintage' because the Lima and Rivarossi are all 'real' and not 'Hornby' and the British wagons were built way back in the late sixties/early seventies (I can't speak for the 'bought ins' of course beyond that I bought the SECR wagon in the early seventies - 60p IIRC - I must have been feeling rich).

Edited by Il Grifone
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  • 4 weeks later...

My Tri-ang R156/R225 SR suburban emu will be 60 years old next year and is still going strong. When Tri-ang made these they gave little attention to rigid authenticity but they were probably based on a 4 SUB emu. As a child I lived near Orpington station where these were a daily sight. I was delighted when these appeared in the Tri-ang catalogue as the Hornby-Dublo southern models were limited to one meat van and Tri-ang were not much better.

 

The picture shows it at Winterborne Kingston village hall  at a meeting of the South Dorset Modellers on a mixture of series 3 and super 4 track.

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Edited by Robin Brasher
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The beauty of the old Tri-ang, EMU, DMU, Britannia, B12 and the like, just keep going like Hornby Dublo does.  Like many things old was and is still the best.  I liked this unit more than the DMU and have a couple of sets.  One is a repainted 3 car set that has been 3-railed.  Scale/accuracy it may not be quite as the real thing but as you say Robin they still looked the part.

 

Garry

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R224 Tri-ang crimson and cream restaurant car was their first coach to have curtains and interior fittings. 'Finely detailed even down to the plates and napkins on their tables.' Hornby Dublo also introduced their crimson and cream restaurant car in the same year.

 

The original owner has fitted new wheels which is clever as it has open axle boxes.  It looks like he has fitted cups to support the pin point axles.

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