Tri-ang Railways.

[cctransuk]

No doubt all the valve gear would fall off for a start ....

 

Not much of that on a 3F - but I know what you mean!!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[Golden Fleece 30]

Regarding the Catenary system mentioned this was certainly a retrograde step with Tri-ang.  When it first came out in the late 50's it looked correct with Catenary wire (the curved top part), droppers and contact wire.  Even though over scale it looked right.  Then in the early 60's with the EM1 coming out they decided on a single wire with plastic clips.  This was more flimsy and did not look good.  I guess Tri-ang's thoughts were it was easier to complete a circuit putting masts where you wanted than having to space out the masts to suit the Catenary lengths then use the adjustable piece.

 

Garry

[sandwich station]

Regarding the Catenary system mentioned this was certainly a retrograde step with Tri-ang.  When it first came out in the late 50's it looked correct with Catenary wire (the curved top part), droppers and contact wire.  Even though over scale it looked right.  Then in the early 60's with the EM1 coming out they decided on a single wire with plastic clips.  This was more flimsy and did not look good.  I guess Tri-ang's thoughts were it was easier to complete a circuit putting masts where you wanted than having to space out the masts to suit the Catenary lengths then use the adjustable piece.

 

Garry

 

 The original type, being stamped out of flat sheet was superseded I believe because it cut into the pantographs and wore them away.

[Legend]

Triang also supplied a set containing a Minic motorway,a 3f & a level crossing where the car could crash into the train(or vice versa).Try doing that with todays highly detailed models.

It would probably be banned by today’s PC Police as encouraging people to play chicken on level crossings . And yet we somehow knew in the sixties this was a bad idea..............duh!

[Legend]

If you want to see a real Triang system in action , catenary and everything , have a look at Oscar Paisleys YouTube channel. A great layout with very evocative scenes of all things Triang

[RJS1977]

 The original type, being stamped out of flat sheet was superseded I believe because it cut into the pantographs and wore them away.

 

Indeed - it wore a groove in the centre of the pan on my father's 0-4-0 electric. Where the catenary went off-centre, it then tipped the loco over on to two wheels. If those two wheels were the pickup wheels, it kept going!

[TT3]

Interesting discussion on Triang catenery, which prompted a visit to the store room

 

Late version catenery

 

 

Early version

 

 

Base attachments

 

 

Standard set, about 30 years ago two teenagers went through all this boxed catenery to build a layout for the local exhibition so no longer collectable. Incidentally the triang tape left white marks on all the posts after 20 years of storage.

 

 

Different types of contact wire, joined by little metal tubes

 

 

More posts in original boxes of 12

 

 

Bent contact wires - done to allow passage through the tunnels to the no-wired fiddle yard

 

[TT3]

Sometimes you notice things after you actually do them, on closer inspection, the early catenery instructions was more interesting than I thought:

 

Moldex Australian version with princess and TC coaches on the cover

 

 

List of Australian/Moldex built Triang

 

Note the R257 is described as a double ended diesel with operating pantographs!! I realise the only production change was the roof but still!

 

 

Overhead instructions illustrating double ended electric and Sydney Suburban car

 

 

I dont know why attachments have gone upside down again, were rotated/resized, using Linux so maybe an issue.

Edited January 21, 2018 by TT3

[sandwich station]

Standard set, about 30 years ago two teenagers went through all this boxed catenery to build a layout for the local exhibition so no longer collectable.

 

If you are interested in selling it, send me a message.

[TT3]

If you are interested in selling it, send me a message.

 

Who knows, will  have to go through it all, there at least 4 of those sets that we used for the layout and another half dozen boxes of single masts, but unfortunately only a few gantries. Noticed all the empty packets of joiners and bases too so we ended up using all mint boxed stuff but all seems back now.

 

One of the good things was it all worked very well with no problems, layout was all super 4 and series 3.

[sagaguy]

I always thought that the Trix catenary was more in keeping with the EM2 & judging by the prices this catenary fetches,it is still popular.

 

                         Ray.

 

                             

[kevinlms]

Sometimes you notice things after you actually do them, on closer inspection, the early catenery instructions was more interesting than I thought:

 

Moldex Australian version with princess and TC coaches on the cover

 

IMG20180121194157.jpg

IMG20180121194203.jpg

 

List of Australian/Moldex built Triang

 

Note the R257 is described as a double ended diesel with operating pantographs!! I realise the only production change was the roof but still!

 

IMG20180121194320.jpg

 

Overhead instructions illustrating double ended electric and Sydney Suburban car

 

IMG20180121194332.jpg

 

I dont know why attachments have gone upside down again, were rotated/resized, using Linux so maybe an issue.

Authentic Australian instructions, too. Obviously because they are upside down!

[CKPR]

If you want to see a real Triang system in action , catenary and everything , have a look at Oscar Paisleys YouTube channel. A great layout with very evocative scenes of all things Triang

 

Damn, now I'm going to have to watch ALL of these Tri-ang-tastic  videos !

[Robin Brasher]

R135 Operating ore wagon set has been mentioned a couple of times on this topic. Tri-ang originally introduced the set with a Transcontinental hopper wagon but in 1958 they produced it with a British Railways ore wagon. The grain wagon also had an unloading mechanism.

 

The pictures show the set with the collecting bin below, the wagon approaching the unloading bay with an imitation coal load, the hopper door open and then the metal hopper door closing.

[Legend]

Damn, now I'm going to have to watch ALL of these Tri-ang-tastic  videos !

Yep they are addictive . Oscars latest ones with commentary are very informative . However all of them are worth a look.

[BernardTPM]

R135 Operating ore wagon set has been mentioned a couple of times on this topic. Tri-ang originally introduced the set with a Transcontinental hopper wagon but in 1958 they produced it with a British Railways ore wagon. The grain wagon also had an unloading mechanism.

 

The pictures show the set with the collecting bin below, the wagon approaching the unloading bay with an imitation coal load, the hopper door open and then the metal hopper door closing.

 

Just like a Merry-Go-Round wagon - as those came later I wonder if they might have been inspired by the Tri-ang ones!

 

P.S. there was a covered TC Cement hopper too. In the British outline the Grain hopper is the open with an added roof, though it was probably intended from the outset as the bracing more like that of a grain than coal hopper.

[Legend]

Just like a Merry-Go-Round wagon - as those came later I wonder if they might have been inspired by the Tri-ang ones!

 

P.S. there was a covered TC Cement hopper too. In the British outline the Grain hopper is the open with an added roof, though it was probably intended from the outset as the bracing more like that of a grain than coal hopper.

There was a 1974 version too , Hornby Railways by that time with the same ore wagon but this time in red and lettered Consett Iron Ore Co.

[Il Grifone]

Sometimes you notice things after you actually do them, on closer inspection, the early catenery instructions was more interesting than I thought:

 

Moldex Australian version with princess and TC coaches on the cover

 

IMG20180121194157.jpg

IMG20180121194203.jpg

 

List of Australian/Moldex built Triang

 

Note the R257 is described as a double ended diesel with operating pantographs!! I realise the only production change was the roof but still!

 

IMG20180121194320.jpg

 

Overhead instructions illustrating double ended electric and Sydney Suburban car

 

IMG20180121194332.jpg

 

I dont know why attachments have gone upside down again, were rotated/resized, using Linux so maybe an issue.

 

Perhaps because they're Australian?  

 

Hat, coat and gone....

[Il Grifone]

R135 Operating ore wagon set has been mentioned a couple of times on this topic. Tri-ang originally introduced the set with a Transcontinental hopper wagon but in 1958 they produced it with a British Railways ore wagon. The grain wagon also had an unloading mechanism.

 

The pictures show the set with the collecting bin below, the wagon approaching the unloading bay with an imitation coal load, the hopper door open and then the metal hopper door closing.

 

Mine's never really been out of its box. the 'coal' is still in its packet. One day....

[Robin Brasher]

Last Friday at Winterborne Kingston village hall the South Dorset Modellers ran some Tri-ang Hornby trains on a layout which was a mixture of series 3 and super 4 track. There was a Tri-ang station there.

 

The trains included a 4-6-4 Baltic tank in the Transcontinental series which was not based on anything in particular but resembled a New Zealand tank. It was hauling a goods train which included a stock car with sliding doors.

 

We also gave the black Princess Elizabeth another run with a rake of four crimson and cream coaches which included a restaurant car. It was running for about an hour and was fairly comfortable with this load. As time progressed the running improved. A friend in our walking group gave it to us and it had not run since 1965 when her brother took it out for a run.

 

These engines had metal gears so they seem to last longer than later models. Sometimes I wish I had stuck with a simple Tri-ang layout instead of trying to model the prototype. A layout like this is much more manageable.

[Robin Brasher]

During our running night at Winterborne Kingston last Friday we ran a Tri-ang DMU and EMU. Living at Orpington in the 1950s I was pleased to see that Tri-ang catered for Southern Region enthusiasts at a time when Hornby-Dublo seemed to ignore anything south of the Thames. I did not buy the EMU at the time as I was concentrating on saving up for coaches for my Princess Elizabeth which my parents had bought me as a Christmas present in 1957 when the EMU came out.

 

The EMU was never very popular which led to a shortage of Southern Region models as manufacturers thought that no-one north of the Thames was interested in them. I bought the EMU at a toy fair a few years ago but never used it as it would not run on my Peco track. Last year I sold it to another member and it has had a new lease of life. At first it did not run very well but a few drops of oil and some running soon cured that. I like the illuminated destination board and sparks coming from the driving wheels. It even sounds a bit like the prototype.

 

The DMU came out a year later and was much more popular. It appeared on the same page as the EMU in the Tri-ang catalogue and remained in production for another twenty years. Over the years they had seat units fitted.

 

Running them is a bit boring on their own but on a three track layout with a passenger train on one track, a goods train on another and a multiple unit on a stopping service on the inside provides extra interest.

[Golden Fleece 30]

During our running night at Winterborne Kingston last Friday we ran a Tri-ang DMU and EMU. Living at Orpington in the 1950s I was pleased to see that Tri-ang catered for Southern Region enthusiasts at a time when Hornby-Dublo seemed to ignore anything south of the Thames. I did not buy the EMU at the time as I was concentrating on saving up for coaches for my Princess Elizabeth which my parents had bought me as a Christmas present in 1957 when the EMU came out.

 

The EMU was never very popular which led to a shortage of Southern Region models as manufacturers thought that no-one north of the Thames was interested in them. I bought the EMU at a toy fair a few years ago but never used it as it would not run on my Peco track. Last year I sold it to another member and it has had a new lease of life. At first it did not run very well but a few drops of oil and some running soon cured that. I like the illuminated destination board and sparks coming from the driving wheels. It even sounds a bit like the prototype.

 

The DMU came out a year later and was much more popular. It appeared on the same page as the EMU in the Tri-ang catalogue and remained in production for another twenty years. Over the years they had seat units fitted.

 

Running them is a bit boring on their own but on a three track layout with a passenger train on one track, a goods train on another and a multiple unit on a stopping service on the inside provides extra interest.

Robin,  The EMU and DMU are very easy to modify to run on modern Peco track.  Here mine have been modified a little more to be 3-rail but as you can see they run fine. There is the Blue Pullman, EMU and DMU that all utilise the same bogie design.

 

 

Garry

[GoingUnderground]

A schoolfriend of mine had the EMU, and we were in NW London. It was one model that I always wanted but it disappeared from the catalogue before I could afford it. So I teamed up the steeplecab with the green SR suburbans for my commuter train. I hsve since acquired one via ebay, and also a DMU. Thank you for the photos. 1960s Triang at its best.

[GoingUnderground]

I'm always surprised at the number of people who regard Triang as inferior to Hornby Dublo. True, it did have some shortcomings, but the price and range of models, 2 rail track, and the fact that you could see through the carriage windows, made them so much more attractive to schoolboys like me in the early 1960s than HD. Trix was virtually invisible, unless you visited the better model shops, whilst Triang and HD could be found in the toy shops in every High Street.

 

Triang Railways was my way into our marvellous hobby, and for that I'm very grateful to them.

[Kubes]

I would have loved to have a Tri-ang emu as a boy. I had make do with two unpowered green suburban brake ends which I pushed along the track until Mr Alex Bowie of Model Railway News fame sold me a Tri-ang motor bogie in his Modelmania shop in Norbury and gave me detailed instructions on how to fit it! Happy days!

Edited February 6, 2018 by Kubes