Best value for money models ever made

[The Johnster]

3 hours ago, hayfield said:

I would think things like the Triang Jinty, or their 0-4-0 tanks fall into this bracket, how many of these items still survive after being thrown around by children and still working even  with missing bits of bodywork, The Hornby Dublo R1 must also fit this category. I doubt if many modern items are as robust 

I wouldn't call the R1 especially robust; many seem to have suffered from enthusiastic play handling and have the front end of the running plate broken off.  The plastic seems to go very brittle over time.

[Hroth]

The motor in the R1 isn't all that "robust" - it loses its magnetism much more readily.  I've two R1s and neither could pull the skin off a rice pudding, compared to a relative to the Jinty, the R153 Saddletank, which can probably pull both R1s backwards!

 

A hint to the age of my R153 is that it has Mk2b couplings, which dates it to 1959 at the latest, so its older than the R1...

[hayfield]

25 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

I wouldn't call the R1 especially robust; many seem to have suffered from enthusiastic play handling and have the front end of the running plate broken off.  The plastic seems to go very brittle over time.

 

The bodies lost steps, buffers etc but still worked

 

11 minutes ago, Hroth said:

The motor in the R1 isn't all that "robust" - it loses its magnetism much more readily.  I've two R1s and neither could pull the skin off a rice pudding, compared to a relative to the Jinty, the R153 Saddletank, which can probably pull both R1s backwards!

 

A hint to the age of my R153 is that it has Mk2b couplings, which dates it to 1959 at the latest, so its older than the R1...

 

The chassis work well perhaps with either a new neo magnet or a couple attached to the existing one. I bought the odd kit built loco with a R1 chassis and its fine, plus I have just tested a couple of R1's, one is fine as it is the other needs the wheels cleaning

[cheesysmith]

For value for monies, how about the railroad tts class 47 when first released and sold by amazon? Whole loco cheaper than what a tts decoder costs now.

[Zunnan]

For me the best VFM Hornby models of late has been the Peckett W4 and B2. I say that as the Pecketts are the only Hornby locomotives I have bought in the past 3 or more years, and have bought multiple of each...with the exception of one Black 5 in that time, and I only bought that for the local historical significance it has, it certainly wasn't good VFM otherwise. Nothing else they've done has even really interested me.

[robmcg]

9 hours ago, Robin Brasher said:

The black R1 no 2206 was excellent value at £1. 16s. It came out in 1959 after I had been waiting for four years for Hornby Dublo to produce a Southern region locomotive. Not so keen on the malachite green no 2207. It had finer wheel standards than the Tri-ang Jinty and was more refined and looked great with the SD6 goods wagons. 

 

I first saw an illustration of it in the 1959 Hornby Dublo Book of Trains. It was Simon Kohler's first model locomotive and set him on his way to greater things.

 

Wills made a G6 white metal kit for the R1 chassis. I bought the kit 50 years ago but never got round to making it.

 

This was my first engine too, the Hornby Dublo R1 as in 'my personal possession' Xmas 1961 from memory and with those two wagons and guard's van it looked great under a couch which represented the scenery... I had an older brother who had owned a green one for about a year, his ran silently, mine growled  bit. A few years later when he was at uni I painted 'his' black. 

We had a lot of 3-rail stuff so it never really mixed, precious experiences of both, and even of 0 scale clockwork when I was very young c 1955.

 

Of course, we had it tough ... 

 

Ah youth! 

[apollanaut]

For more recent models, Hornby’s excellent Crosti 9F is hard to beat. I picked up mine a few years ago on sale from a local supplier for a ridiculously cheap price, all with TTS sound which sounds quite good on this model (possibly because of the cavernous tender space).

 

It’s been the go-to heavy freight hauler on my layout ever since. I’ve never had to service or even lubricate it, but it’s as smooth-running and powerful as when I bought it.

 

It really should be properly weathered to reflect the filthy state of the real things, but I haven’t yet had the courage to spoil the beautiful black sheen of Hornby’s original paint job:

 

 

 

 

[atom3624]

Trust me, they're one loco you can't 'over weather' and look better for it.

 

Just look wrong when pristine!!

 

One of my all-time Hornby favourites - under-cab pipes aside.

 

Al.

[Robin Brasher]

Perhaps the Tri-ang  black Princess locomotive could be the best value locomotive of all time. In 1960 at £2. 7s. 6d it was the cheapest Pacific locomotive on the market. Tri-ang sold over 720,000 of them, including 65,400 in the R1X set illustrated. Information from Tri-ang Railways by Pat Hammond.

 

A friend gave this set to our model railway group and we soon got it working again: not bad for a 67 year old model.

[GreenGiraffe22]

My Hornby S15 was about £70! While not the strongest locomotive it can handle quite difficult pointwork for a big loco! 

[robmcg]

On 18/03/2020 at 04:04, Steamport Southport said:

Is the Hornby Hall a great deal when many places were selling off the Bachmann Hall split from the Shakespeare Express set for £65?

 

With the set being sold at less than £130 with a Hall, two BR Mark One Pullmans, a BR Mark One brake and a bus. I think some places still have them for about £150.

 

 

 

Jason

 

Good grief,  you can barely buy a Hornby R3205 Hall of the same name (Rood Ashton, but in BR garb)  for £100 let alone £65, and you with the Hornby one you get all the joys of 'design clever' included, solid smokebox handles and Hornby green-of-the-day.

 

Here is the blue box version....  foreground and a Hornby equivalent, background,  which I'm not sure was RR or main range 'design clever', but both were very good value. I think the Hornby 4935 'Ketley Hall' may have been split from a set and had TTS removed,  I know I liked both.

 

 

I forget which Hornby Hall was super-value a year or so back, suddenly it has piqued my interest!  They don't appear to be widely available on the web.

Edited March 20, 2020 by robmcg

[PJT]

5 hours ago, robmcg said:

I forget which Hornby Hall was super-value a year or so back, suddenly it has piqued my interest!  They don't appear to be widely available on the web.

 

It was R3170 Adderley Hall, Robbie, in Hattons' Winter Sale at the end of 2018 and the price was an amazing £49 (you'd have got it even cheaper of course, without VAT).  I got one to give the grandson at Christmas, but I wish I'd got another one or two for myself!  Even if as usual Hornby's green was a bit suspect (agreed!), a coat of Johnson's Kleer soon deepened it and made it more acceptable to my eye. 

 

In the same sale, for the same £49 knock-down price, was a Hornby Railroad Patriot.  The difference in quality of design, detail and finish between the two models was huge.  The Hall pretty well held its own by comparison to contemporary hi-fi models, as your photo shows, whereas the rather crude Patriot (in my opinion) wasn't really worth much more than £49 anyway. 

 

Pete T.

 

[Robin Brasher]

After attending several toy fairs I was unable to sell my Tri-ang Hornby 'Kneller Hall' which was in a horrible waxy green colour so I traded it in for a Hornby 'Rood Ashton Hall' in Hattons' 1918 winter sale. It was more expensive than the R3170 'Adderley Hall' but still excellent value for money and a lot better than 'Kneller Hall.'

 

[bike2steam]

6 hours ago, robmcg said:

 

 

 

 

 

Nice pic Rob, but doesn't pristine finish show up the mistakes. That steam cock on the smokebox front (door ring ?) of Rood Ashton Hall is over scale, it could do with blackening to make it less obvious, the one on Ketley Hall is more like it.

Edited March 20, 2020 by bike2steam

[atom3624]

That aside, and very minor, the 'Blue Box' one is a gem - I have one - looks great and superb runner.

 

Hornby's Hall is very nice, but if I remember was 'brake rod ready' but didn't come with them - and when I purchased a Hall, none were available anywhere - sort of pointless having the mounts.

 

Al.

[PJT]

28 minutes ago, atom3624 said:

Hornby's Hall is very nice, but if I remember was 'brake rod ready' but didn't come with them - and when I purchased a Hall, none were available anywhere - sort of pointless having the mounts.

 

You remember quite correctly, Al.  It was the only aspect of the purchase that was at all disappointing.  I gave up looking for a set of brake rods at the time, but thanks for reminding me - I'll have to go on another search.

 

Pete t.

 

[The Johnster]

18 hours ago, Robin Brasher said:

Perhaps the Tri-ang  black Princess locomotive could be the best value locomotive of all time. In 1960 at £2. 7s. 6d it was the cheapest Pacific locomotive on the market. Tri-ang sold over 720,000 of them, including 65,400 in the R1X set illustrated. Information from Tri-ang Railways by Pat Hammond.

 

A friend gave this set to our model railway group and we soon got it working again: not bad for a 67 year old model.

 

This confirms my memory that the shorty 6" coaches were once produced in a blood/custard livery, at least for the box photo of the train on the high level; I never saw any in the shops or on friends' train sets.  The ones in the box in the photo are the 'mk2' Rovex/Triang 8" coaches, intended to represent Stanier stock though that didn't prevent them appearing in green livery, and lasted a few years before being superceded by 9' mk1s, and eventually the 'scale length' mk1s.  They seem to have sagged in the middle; the previous 6" coaches had roofs which distorted upwards at the ends.  They were embossed with LMS and numbers but were representations rather than models, very crude.  The blood'n'custard ones on the box cover seem to have BR roundels on the sides and no numbers, and not to be embossed either.  This suggests to me that the embossing was a separate process that could be left out, and that the LMS and numbers were not part of the tooling.

[Robin Brasher]

The coaches on the box lid are LMS coaches that Tri-ang repainted blood and custard as it had not made the blood and custard coaches when they photographed the cover picture.

[robmcg]

12 hours ago, PJT said:

 

It was R3170 Adderley Hall, Robbie, in Hattons' Winter Sale at the end of 2018 and the price was an amazing £49 (you'd have got it even cheaper of course, without VAT).  I got one to give the grandson at Christmas, but I wish I'd got another one or two for myself!  Even if as usual Hornby's green was a bit suspect (agreed!), a coat of Johnson's Kleer soon deepened it and made it more acceptable to my eye. 

 

In the same sale, for the same £49 knock-down price, was a Hornby Railroad Patriot.  The difference in quality of design, detail and finish between the two models was huge.  The Hall pretty well held its own by comparison to contemporary hi-fi models, as your photo shows, whereas the rather crude Patriot (in my opinion) wasn't really worth much more than £49 anyway. 

 

Pete T.

 

 

Ah, thankyou, I remember it now, 4901 such an early engine!  And I DID buy one.

 

 

And what a lovely engine it, as you say it cost me about £45 delivered to NZ.   Ahhh .

 

 

[robmcg]

On the subject of the Hall class by Hornby complete with authentic faded green iivery I made a picture of one near Dawlish using this as a template, I coloured it but cannot remember the source, acknowledgements to the owner.

 

 

and came up with this..

 

 

It has special meaning for me because my grandfather was a top link driver in the Wairarapa in New Zealand during the 1920s to 1942 and he was fussy about dress and adopted this style of leaning from the cab when cameras were about.

 

 

This above is an NZR Baldwin Ud class c1921  he didn't think much of them. It is at the foot of the 1-in-15 Rimutaka Incline at Cross Creek ready for a fast run across the plains.

 

 

Gilbert preferred the 4-cylinder compound A class 4-6-2. Seen here c1936 at Masterton.

 

Sorry for going off thread, will remove if asked.

Edited March 20, 2020 by robmcg
typos

[Ruffnut Thorston]

10 hours ago, The Johnster said:

 

This confirms my memory that the shorty 6" coaches were once produced in a blood/custard livery, at least for the box photo of the train on the high level; I never saw any in the shops or on friends' train sets.  The ones in the box in the photo are the 'mk2' Rovex/Triang 8" coaches, intended to represent Stanier stock though that didn't prevent them appearing in green livery, and lasted a few years before being superceded by 9' mk1s, and eventually the 'scale length' mk1s.  They seem to have sagged in the middle; the previous 6" coaches had roofs which distorted upwards at the ends.  They were embossed with LMS and numbers but were representations rather than models, very crude.  The blood'n'custard ones on the box cover seem to have BR roundels on the sides and no numbers, and not to be embossed either.  This suggests to me that the embossing was a separate process that could be left out, and that the LMS and numbers were not part of the tooling.

 

 

The "MK2" 7 inch  Tri-ang Railways coaches, R.21 B.R.Coach, and the green S.R. coach are, in my opinion, representative of the B.R. MK 1 coaches, albeit too short.

 

There are details that are very MK1, and not S.R. stock, as has also been suggested.

 

There are late, C 1956, examples of the L.M.S. 6 inch and the 7 inch coaches made in non-warping Polystyrene Plastic.

 

The Cellulose Acetate plastic, an early thermoplastic, does tend to warp, mainly due to stresses inbuilt during the moulding process. The thinner mouldings, i.e. coach roofs, do tend to exhibit more warping than some other, better braced, mouldings.

 

The "embossed" lining and lettering on the L.M.S. 6 inch coaches was in fact due to the heat printing process used at the time.

It is rather like branding.

A hot tool literally melts the colour into the plastic.

 

The "gold" colour disappears over time, leaving the embossed lining and lettering.

 

So, yes, not a part of the tooling.

 

The "scale length" Mk 1 coaches, introduced from 1961, are also

known as the 10 inch coaches.

 

So, Rovex and Tri-ang Railways 6 inch coaches, Tri-ang Railways 7 inch, 9 inch, and 10 inch coaches.

 

Hornby Railways went back to shorter than scale length coaches with the original Mk 3 coaches...

 

The "Caledonian Railway" coaches were made to fit the 10 inch MK1 roofs and chassis, so were compromised in details, and bogies.

 

The G.W.R. Clerestory coaches introduced to go with the Lord Of The Isles, in 1962 I think, are also not scale models, and come with B.R. MK1 type bogies...

 

Later Hornby Railways pre nationalisation coaches are also compromised in details...

 

Edited March 20, 2020 by Sarahagain

[The Johnster]

The first generation of Collet Bowenders and Thompsons were also given the generic 10" BR mk1 chassis and bogies.

 

But there were 2 types of coaches between the 6" and 10".  The first is the type pictured in the box in Robin Brasher's photo, 7" and based on Staniers.  This was followed by an 8" mk1 based coach which had central doors and the window layout of a mk1 CK and the first Brake coach, also mk1 based on the BSK.  Neither of these coaches had interior detail but there was a Restaurant Car to go with the mk1 types that did; this may have been the first UK RTR coach with interior detail.  The mk1 types were accompanied by a suburban composite and brake second, which was not apparently based on any prototype though had B1 bogies.  All of these coaches were available in a Southern Region green livery as well as crimson/cream (crimson for the suburbans) and the green suburban composite was marketed as a centre coach for the 2-car Southern emu.  The gangwayed mk1s were, IIRC, available in lined maroon post 1956, and in the early 60s were in the catalogue alongside the 10" scale length mk1s, which all had interiors.  I believe they always had the original type of tension lock coupling, though.

 

All these coaches were constructed as plastic mouldings with the bogies riveted on and the underframe detail as a separate moulding that attached to the bottom; there was no chassis in the conventional sense, as were the Pullmans and shorty GW clerestories. The later mk1 types had a pretty accurate B1 bogie, which was also fitted to the shorty clerestories.  I have some of these with the bogies converted to ersatz Dean 8'6" by cutting the tiebars out and glueing footboards on; I've replaced the wheels but was surprised to find that the original wheels actually ran without problems on Peco Streamline track and turnouts.

 

The earlier coaches, the Stanier based ones in Robin's photo, had no centre door on the compartment side, correct for Staniers, toilets at each end, and window profiles more like Staniers than mk1s; they also had flat ends while the later mk1 based coaches correctly had bow ends.  The Pullman coaches were, I think, introduced in 1960, and featured interiors with turned brass table lamps; these also had the separate moulding underframe and by now generic B1 bogies.  No brakes were produced and I don't recall any 2nd class ones either, but they did have the later type of tension lock, riveted to the bogies.

 

The withdrawal of the 8" mk1 type, IIRC, marked the end of Triang's production of coaches in crimson/cream livery, the 10" scale length mk1s being available in lined maroon or Southern Region green.  The suburbans went out of production at the same time.  AFAIK no WR livery was attempted until Triang Hornby days.

 

Robin's photo shows the black Princess Elizabeth without valve gear, and this loco, latterly produced with valve gear in lined black, lined green, and I believe eventually BR lined maroon in various different identities including Princess Royal and Princess Victoria, and as a cheaper alternative without the valve gear until about 1960, lasted in the range for a very long time, well into the 10" coach era.  It was available as a CKD kit at one time, along with the EM2 'Electra' and the 10" coaches.  The 10" coaches were originally produced as a CK and BSK but a Buffet and BG were added in 1962.  The BG was incorrect, as the prototype were on 57' not 64' underframes, an error perpetuated by Lima when they began to produce mk1s, presumably because of the cost of tooling the shorter chassis.  They were not at all bad for their time, a lot cheaper than Trix and better detailed (and of course scale length) than Hornby Dublo.

Edited March 21, 2020 by The Johnster

[trevor7598]

My vote for a good value for money model would have to go to Hornby's

Thompson 01 2-8-0. At £98-99 from Rails of Sheffield, I think this is Excellent value.

 The loco runs very sweetly, and is ready to help out my  Bachmann WD's on long coal trains.

[30368]

A new Hornby Maunsell S15 bought at the Basingstoke show earlier in the month (Model Railway shows, do you remember them?) for £79 is pretty good really. A great model for, relatively speaking, peanuts.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

[Ruffnut Thorston]

8 hours ago, The Johnster said:

The first generation of Collet Bowenders and Thompsons were also given the generic 10" BR mk1 chassis and bogies.

 

The LNER Thompson style coaches were indeed made to use the 10 inch" Mk 1 chassis, bogies, and roofs.

 

The GWR coaches using the Mk 1 parts were in fact the Caledonian Railway coaches in GWR livery.

 

The first generation Collett coaches were later Hornby Railways models, and shared the bodies with the SR coaches, only the roofs and livery were different. Later versions of the Collett coaches had bogies closer to the GWR type. Now in the Railroad range.

 

Quote

 

But there were 2 types of coaches between the 6" and 10".  The first is the type pictured in the box in Robin Brasher's photo, 7" and based on Staniers.  This was followed by an 8" mk1 based coach which had central doors and the window layout of a mk1 CK and the first Brake coach, also mk1 based on the BSK.  Neither of these coaches had interior detail but there was a Restaurant Car to go with the mk1 types that did; this may have been the first UK RTR coach with interior detail.

 

 

Yes, two types of coach between the ex Rovex 6 inch and the 10 inch BR MK1 range.

 

I don't know about the 7 inch coaches being based on a Stanier design...but maybe.

 

The next range was actually the 9 inch MK1 based range.

 

Originally made with flat ends and no interiors. The roofs were glued in place on the 7 inch and the 9 inch coaches at first.

 

The first Restaurant Cars came in 1957, in Crimson and Cream, with interiors each end (no kitchen interior) and "curtains" printed on the glazing strips.

 

The roofs of the Restaurant Cars were attached with a single screw in the centre. From around this time, all the 9 inch coaches clip on underframe units had the hole for the screw, but until 1960, the roofs were still glued in place on the BSK and CK models.

 

Interior units for the BSK and CK 9 inch coaches were available from 1960, and the roofs on these coaches were now attached by a screw like the Restaurant Cars, allowing the interiors to be purchased and  fitted by the owner.

 

Factory fitted interiors became standard on the 9 inch coaches around 1962.

 

Quote

 The mk1 types were accompanied by a suburban composite and brake second, which was not apparently based on any prototype though had B1 bogies.  All of these coaches were available in a Southern Region green livery as well as crimson/cream (crimson for the suburbans) and the green suburban composite was marketed as a centre coach for the 2-car Southern emu.  The gangwayed mk1s were, IIRC, available in lined maroon post 1956, and in the early 60s were in the catalogue alongside the 10" scale length mk1s, which all had interiors.  I believe they always had the original type of tension lock coupling, though.

 

 

The Suburban coaches were actually quite good models of the short frame BR Mk 1 non corridor coaches it seems. As the BR Mk 1 non corridor coaches were made in two lengths. The Tri-ang models being close to the scale length of the short version.

 

The colour of the 9 inch  corridor coach models was soon changed, and described on the box ends as Maroon and Cream.

 

Plain Maroon, with yellow lining, was the third livery offered, after Southern Region green.

 

The last livery on the 9 inch range was Western Region Brown (Chocolate) and Cream.

 

The couplings on all Tri-ang Railways models, including the 9 inch coaches, changed from the MK2 (open loop) type to the MK3 (closed loop) tension lock couplings from January 1959.

 

The 9 inch coaches were last made in 1962-1963.

 

Quote

 

All these coaches were constructed as plastic mouldings with the bogies riveted on and the underframe detail as a separate moulding that attached to the bottom; there was no chassis in the conventional sense, as were the Pullmans and shorty GW clerestories. The later mk1 types had a pretty accurate B1 bogie, which was also fitted to the shorty clerestories.  I have some of these with the bogies converted to ersatz Dean 8'6" by cutting the tiebars out and glueing footboards on; I've replaced the wheels but was surprised to find that the original wheels actually ran without problems on Peco Streamline track and turnouts.

 

The earlier coaches, the Stanier based ones in Robin's photo, had no centre door on the compartment side, correct for Staniers, toilets at each end, and window profiles more like Staniers than mk1s; they also had flat ends while the later mk1 based coaches correctly had bow ends.  The Pullman coaches were, I think, introduced in 1960, and featured interiors with turned brass table lamps; these also had the separate moulding underframe and by now generic B1 bogies.  No brakes were produced and I don't recall any 2nd class ones either, but they did have the later type of tension lock, riveted to the bogies.

 

The 9 inch Mk 1 coaches were originally made with flat ends, and no detail on the roofs apart from moulded ventilators and periscopes for the brake coaches.

From 1961, the 9 inch coaches were made with bow ends, and the roofs gained moulded panel lines and rain strips.

 

The Pullman First Class Cars were introduced in 1958, with the Mk 2 (open loop) couplings.

From 1959, they had the Mk 3 (closed loop) Tension Lock couplings. The lamps now had the shades painted a shade of pink, and the roofs gained slots to take the "South Wales Pullman" roof boards, available as an accessory.

 

The Cars had names. "Anne", "Mary", "Jane", and "Ruth".

 

A Brake Second Class Pullman Car, "Car No. 79" was introduced, from 1960. This used a cut down Parlour Car interior, with no interior in the brake area.

 

The Pullman Cars were made until 1973-1974, when the new Pullman Car, Lucille, was introduced...later followed by a new Pullman Brake Car.

 

 

Quote

 

The withdrawal of the 8" mk1 type, IIRC, marked the end of Triang's production of coaches in crimson/cream livery, the 10" scale length mk1s being available in lined maroon or Southern Region green.  The suburbans went out of production at the same time.  AFAIK no WR livery was attempted until Triang Hornby days.

 

 The 10 inch "scale length" coaches were later, in Tri-ang Railways days before 1965, made in Crimson and Cream livery. Except for the Sleeping Car, which was only made in lined Maroon, until the BR Blue and Grey livery came in.

 

WR Chocolate and Cream livery was first used on the 9 inch MK 1 Corridor coaches, from 1961 I think.

 

The 9 inch Mk 1 coaches and suburban coaches were last made in 1962-1963.

 

Quote

 

Robin's photo shows the black Princess Elizabeth without valve gear, and this loco, latterly produced with valve gear in lined black, lined green, and I believe eventually BR lined maroon in various different identities including Princess Royal and Princess Victoria, and as a cheaper alternative without the valve gear until about 1960, lasted in the range for a very long time, well into the 10" coach era.

 

The original Princess model, inherited from the Rovex train set, was made until 1974.

 

Originally in plain black as Princess Elizabeth, with simplified valve gear. R.50.

 

Later, a green version, to be fitted with more complete valve gear as R.53 was introduced.

 

The original Tri-ang Railways Black Princess models, R.50, only ever had the simple valve gear, even after gaining a version of the BR "mixed traffic" lining.

From 1959, the Black Princess was re named "Princess Victoria".

 

The BR lined Maroon version, R.258, named "The Princess Royal" was introduced around 1958 - 1959

 

The R.50 Black model was last made in 1962.

Quote

 

 

Quote

 It was available as a CKD kit at one time, along with the EM2 'Electra' and the 10" coaches.  

 

The CKD version of the Princess was the lined Green "Princess Elizabeth", R.386 I think.

 

It was the only way to get a green Princess for a time, as the R.53 ready to run version was withdrawn.

 

Later, LMS maroon models were made. 6201, "Princess Elizabeth". Some releases had alternative names and numbers included as labels and transfers.

 

The last Princesses from 1974 were named "Princess Victoria", and made in simple black, green, and maroon liveries, mainly for mail order. The black version being featured in the catalogue, both in a train set and "solo", as R.050.

 

Quote

The 10" coaches were originally produced as a CK and BSK but a Buffet and BG were added in 1962.  The BG was incorrect, as the prototype were on 57' not 64' underframes, an error perpetuated by Lima when they began to produce mk1s, presumably because of the cost of tooling the shorter chassis.  They were not at all bad for their time, a lot cheaper than Trix and better detailed (and of course scale length) than Hornby Dublo.

 

The first 10 inch coaches were the 2nd Class Sleeping Cars, in 1961.

The first ones have open axle boxes. From 1962, closed axle boxes, and from 1963, with pin point steel axles.

 

Soon followed by the BSK, CK, RMB, and BK.

 

The shorter length used by Hornby Dublo meant that the HD BK was in fact close to scale length, while the Tri-ang BK was too long...

 

 

Edited March 21, 2020 by Sarahagain
more added...