3 railing a Hornby 2-BIL

[sagaguy]

Has anyone on here 3 railed a Hornby 2-bil emu.I`ve just bought a Southern railway version & would like to see it run on my Dublo 3 rail layout.

 

                            Ray.

[Il Grifone]

I've not done it myself, but there should be no real problem adding a pickup to an unpowered bogie (e.g. a Märklin skate). There might be a problem with the wheels as modern Hornby wheels are rather finer (similar/identical to the old BRMSB standards*) than Dublo and tend to drop in the gap at point blades. Owing to Dublo's geometry the gauge has widened to about 18mm at the tips of the blades, which is bad news for wheels 2.5mm thick with a 0.5mm flange thickness and 14.5mm back to back - this only makes 17.5mm! I have experimented with straightening the curved stock rail up to the contact point with the blade with some success. Incidently pre-war points have longer blades and this problem does not occur. There is a bit of a bump at the crossing due to the flanges being less deep - the Dublo flange depth (1.2mm) is critical for smooth passage, as the wheel runs on its flange on the filled in flangeway at this point. Theoretically, there should also be problems with Dublo's generous check rail clearance, but this seems not to be the case in my experience.

 

Of course, it's a simple matter to check, by just pushing the unit though some pointwork.

 

* These are not Dublo compatible for the reasons stated. My conversions have been limited to a Tri-ang DMU, which was quite straightforward. I fitted the unpowered bogie with Dublo metal wheels however - more to give a bit of weight where most needed than for any other reason. Tri-ang wheels run through Dublo pointwork without problems beyond a bump at the crossing, due in this case to excessive flange depth. The wheels could be turned down a bit, but I didn't bother.

[sagaguy]

Thanks for reply,I think i posted on here about 3 railing an Airfix Royal Scot.It`s now finished,it had a small problem with the front bogie derailing on 3 rail points.I think i have mainly solved the problem by ,using digital vernier calipers,by measuring a Dublo wagon across the outside of the wheelset & adjusting the Airfix wheelset to the same dimension,the reasoning beiing that the wheels having narrower tyres,this increased the back to back dimension.It seems to have cured the problem.

 

                             Ray.

[sagaguy]

I've not done it myself, but there should be no real problem adding a pickup to an unpowered bogie (e.g. a Märklin skate). There might be a problem with the wheels as modern Hornby wheels are rather finer (similar/identical to the old BRMSB standards*) than Dublo and tend to drop in the gap at point blades. Owing to Dublo's geometry the gauge has widened to about 18mm at the tips of the blades, which is bad news for wheels 2.5mm thick with a 0.5mm flange thickness and 14.5mm back to back - this only makes 17.5mm! I have experimented with straightening the curved stock rail up to the contact point with the blade with some success. Incidently pre-war points have longer blades and this problem does not occur. There is a bit of a bump at the crossing due to the flanges being less deep - the Dublo flange depth (1.2mm) is critical for smooth passage, as the wheel runs on its flange on the filled in flangeway at this point. Theoretically, there should also be problems with Dublo's generous check rail clearance, but this seems not to be the case in my experience.

 

Of course, it's a simple matter to check, by just pushing the unit though some pointwork.

 

* These are not Dublo compatible for the reasons stated. My conversions have been limited to a Tri-ang DMU, which was quite straightforward. I fitted the unpowered bogie with Dublo metal wheels however - more to give a bit of weight where most needed than for any other reason. Tri-ang wheels run through Dublo pointwork without problems beyond a bump at the crossing, due in this case to excessive flange depth. The wheels could be turned down a bit, but I didn't bother.

There is a short video of a Hornby 2 bil trailer being pushed faultlessly on 3 rail track on Hornby Dublo Enthusiasts page on Facebook,it gives me encouragement.However this conversion wiill have to take its turn,i`ve got a Trix 2 rail blue grey Transpennine to do next.

 

 

                                 Ray.

[Il Grifone]

Later Trix wheels are no problem at all as they are more or less the same standard as Dublo, as are post-Tri-ang Hornby wheels (approx. 1970-2000). It's quite possible that they have fitted the 2-BIL with wheels more compatible with code 100 track (Series 6). Not having one, I can't measure it up.

 

Dublo's wheel standards are about the only thing to survive the Tri-ang takeover (apart from the things unloaded onto Wrenn of course). Airfix, Lima, Mainline etc. all followed suit.

 

Modern generations don't know how lucky they are. Any make will run with any other today (provided it was put together correctly in the factory!)

[sagaguy]

At last i`ve found the time to covert this model.In the end,it was quite simple to do.ny way here`s some pics & a video.

 

                   Ray.