Playing with Hornby Dublo 3 rail again

[MikeCW]

Hi Mike,a real stripling at 71,i`ll be 75 at Xmas & i still have my HD 48158 from my childhood days.I bought most of my switches in the 1980s,somtimes for 25p but some for a pound,i used to search through the boxes under dealers stalls at toyfairs,Ebay has killed most of those off these days.For the nuts,i used 1/4"(6mm) brass rod but sods law dictated that i didn`t have a collet that would hold it so i had to use hex bar of the next size up.Said collet is now on order.The original nuts were brass nickel plated,i can get N/S rod easily but i used what i had.

 

This dealer is excellent,he does ship internationally,i have a Facebook friend who lives in Namibia who buys from him,pity i didn`t know him about 10 years ago when we stopped in Okahandja for a pit stop during our tour & safari holiday there.

 

                       https://www.jwmodelrailways.com/

 

 

I have had my workshop for many years,from 1970 to about 1985,i built a 5" gauge 0-6-0 live steam Simplex loco but when i moved with my job,i sold it,i rarely drove it at fetes & my club track in St albans,all my mates drove it but Anno Domini crept on with the inevetible progress,i do have a part built 5" gauge Austerity 2-10-0 chassis in there but i don`t suppose it will ever get finished,it weighs a ton now which is why i stick to 00 gauge,easier to handle,trouble is that i have to stop & find tools & remember how i did things before,really out of practice these days,that1s why the first batch took so long.Just as an aside,nostalgia being what it is,i also have a very large collection of Meccano,one of the models i built was the giant walking dragline that is on the covers of the later instruction manuals.

 

 

dragline1 copy.jpg

 

 

This takes me back to my pre teen years ,i have a copy that i printed out on my A3 printer & it hangs ,framed,on my railway room wall

 

1955 dragline manual cover.jpg

 

 

As i`ve said before,nostalgia is bloody expensive LOL.

 

 

                            Ray.

Not exactly a stripling, Ray;  but the trick is to keep the mind and the old frame active - and this interest certainly helps. Evidenced by the work of you, Garry, David and others.

 

I too still have my Duchess of Montrose, 2 suburban coaches, A3 controller, and circle of track that was a Christmas present in 1956; and the N2 Tank, and other accessories which came at intervals for a few years after that.  The renewed enthusiasm and frequent additions to this boyhood set over the last decade is certainly part nostalgia; but also an appreciation of the quality of the product and the fact that it is robust, straightforward engineering, which can be repaired and rebuilt, modified and converted, and run as well as it did 60+ years ago - and probably for another 60 years after that. With some exceptions - the rare "collectors' items" - there is still plenty of it around as well.

 

I don't have a Dublo layout at the moment. (I have a "finescale" 00 layout in a room attached to my shed/workshop which has been my main modelling focus for over 20 years.  Boy it takes me a long time to build a locomotive kit or construct  a building!).  I am determined to get some Dublo up and running in the near future.  You will have seen from posts on another topic that I'm refurbishing some recently acquired "basket cases" of Dublo motive power.  I have three waiting for transfers from Dennis Williams to complete, and will post pictures when these have arrived and been applied.

 

Signals.  While I've repaired a number of electric semaphores I've only worked on one colour light, where some very fine soldering was required to reinstate the wiring after a bodged repair by a previous owner at some stage. I've got some photos of the repair of the semaphores which I can post if they would be of interest.  I'll check first to see if the ground has already been covered.

 

Meccano. I had only a small set (which I still have).  The problem with Meccano for me as a youngster was that the illustration on the box lid of each set had a picture of a crane or fabulous piece of machinery like your drag line, which could never be built with the 20 parts in Set No 1!  I'm sure this would never pass the relevant advertising standards authority these days!

 

Though I was pen-pusher for my working life, a hobby was, and still is, vintage (1920s) motorcycles and over the years I've acquired a large and small lathe, combined drill/mill, welding set etc. I'm self-taught but, if I take it slowly, can turn bushes and fabricate fittings which lend themselves to basic turning.  My screw cutting is patchy and milling not too bad. So basic refurbishment of Dublo chassis - bushing axle bearings, skimming wheels etc - is within my skill range.  But you made a good point earlier - you have to stick at it to keep up the skill level.  For a number of reasons outside this topic I haven't touched my bike restoration for nearly a year and I've found that I have got very "rusty" in the metal work department.  Keeping at it is the answer.

 

Thank you for the reference to JW Model railways.  I've had a quick look at their site and the range looks good and the prices, not cheap but certainly fair; and I feel an attack on my bank account is imminent.

 

Mike

[sagaguy]

I search Ebay but some of the prices are wishful thinking on the basis of if it`s old,it`s valuable whereas in reality,it`s load of old junk,however,the odd bargain does turn up normally in the small hours of the morning when i can`t sleep.I wanted a 3 rail 2-6-4 tank loco with bright valve gear to repaint into the preserved loco 80135.This arrived for £29 buy it now  inc free postage,it`s now being worked on.

 

 

 

                         

 

And here`s the finished loco,perhaps an apple green LNER nevawassa next,just got to find another cheap loco with bright valve gear.

 

                        

 

I remember rewinding a signal coil in the late 1980s,i wound the wire onto a matchbox,the darn wire was broken at the start of the coil.

 

                      Ray.

Edited September 22, 2018 by sagaguy

[Golden Fleece 30]

Not exactly a stripling, Ray;  but the trick is to keep the mind and the old frame active - and this interest certainly helps. Evidenced by the work of you, Garry, David and others.

 

I too still have my Duchess of Montrose, 2 suburban coaches, A3 controller, and circle of track that was a Christmas present in 1956; and the N2 Tank, and other accessories which came at intervals for a few years after that.  The renewed enthusiasm and frequent additions to this boyhood set over the last decade is certainly part nostalgia; but also an appreciation of the quality of the product and the fact that it is robust, straightforward engineering, which can be repaired and rebuilt, modified and converted, and run as well as it did 60+ years ago - and probably for another 60 years after that. With some exceptions - the rare "collectors' items" - there is still plenty of it around as well.

 

I don't have a Dublo layout at the moment. (I have a "finescale" 00 layout in a room attached to my shed/workshop which has been my main modelling focus for over 20 years.  Boy it takes me a long time to build a locomotive kit or construct  a building!).  I am determined to get some Dublo up and running in the near future.  You will have seen from posts on another topic that I'm refurbishing some recently acquired "basket cases" of Dublo motive power.  I have three waiting for transfers from Dennis Williams to complete, and will post pictures when these have arrived and been applied.

 

Signals.  While I've repaired a number of electric semaphores I've only worked on one colour light, where some very fine soldering was required to reinstate the wiring after a bodged repair by a previous owner at some stage. I've got some photos of the repair of the semaphores which I can post if they would be of interest.  I'll check first to see if the ground has already been covered.

 

Meccano. I had only a small set (which I still have).  The problem with Meccano for me as a youngster was that the illustration on the box lid of each set had a picture of a crane or fabulous piece of machinery like your drag line, which could never be built with the 20 parts in Set No 1!  I'm sure this would never pass the relevant advertising standards authority these days!

 

Though I was pen-pusher for my working life, a hobby was, and still is, vintage (1920s) motorcycles and over the years I've acquired a large and small lathe, combined drill/mill, welding set etc. I'm self-taught but, if I take it slowly, can turn bushes and fabricate fittings which lend themselves to basic turning.  My screw cutting is patchy and milling not too bad. So basic refurbishment of Dublo chassis - bushing axle bearings, skimming wheels etc - is within my skill range.  But you made a good point earlier - you have to stick at it to keep up the skill level.  For a number of reasons outside this topic I haven't touched my bike restoration for nearly a year and I've found that I have got very "rusty" in the metal work department.  Keeping at it is the answer.

 

Thank you for the reference to JW Model railways.  I've had a quick look at their site and the range looks good and the prices, not cheap but certainly fair; and I feel an attack on my bank account is imminent.

 

Mike

Thanks David, Mike, Ray

 

You certainly make me feel a youngster at 66.

 

My first electric train set was Dublo about 1957, second hand from a well known shop in York. Silver King with no tender, 0-6-2 wagons and coaches with some Dublo and Wrenn track. It was soon followed by Tri-ang 00 and TT as my parents had no idea of non compatible and a year or so later one Christmas I got a Trix shop window layout from the Co-oP, again non compatibility plus I could never get them to reverse direction (it never worked in the Co-oP as far as I can remember.

 

I too liked the Trix switches but just ahead were the Dublo ones for me, Tri-ang did not get a look in after buying a couple.

 

Thankfully I worked on the railway and got great training knowledge of metal work (apprentice/tradesman), machining, fitting, electrical etc which certainly helped my hobby.

 

I recently got rid of the milling machine and large lathe (ones I was trained on in 68) and have a small Boxford and even smaller Cowel one. 

 

Also the oxy-acetylene equipment went a few years ago when I stopped live steam as my 5" Duchess and A4 both weighed about 14 stone and my 7 1/4" Prairie was 22 stone. Jackie and I used to hand lift the Duchess or A4 on and off the trailer so all got too heavy and was sold.

 

Railways and playing sport were my only interests. Competitive sport only stopped a couple of years ago as arthritis in some joints took its toll and even now I can struggle to undo a tight screw in a loco, plus glasses, mind you in the dads race at the school sports last year I did not come last yet was at least 30 years older than the others :-). 

 

Garry

[sagaguy]

With some online help from Garry who suggested a Dublo 8f 3 rail tender chassis with plunger p/ups,this is my modern loco drive Hornby 9f,it also comes with the advantage of having a Dublo coupling.

 

 

                    

 

 

                 Ray.

[Golden Fleece 30]

With some online help from Garry who suggested a Dublo 8f 3 rail tender chassis with plunger p/ups,this is my modern loco drive Hornby 9f,it also comes with the advantage of having a Dublo coupling.

 

 

20180415_155157.jpg

 

 

Ray.

This model is the loco driven one and far better than the old 60's tender driven version.

 

You now need a single chimney black one Ray.

[sagaguy]

Olivias trains have sent me an email offering repaired locos at greatly reduced prices with Garretts at £144 all with warranty.I know Garry has had problems in the past with the Garrett locomotive but are they worth buying & how do you convert one to 3 rail?.I have fitted a Marklin skate under one of their EM1s which works very well plus it now has a switch inside the body which allows it to be powered by the centre rail or through the catenary.the loco is fitted with Trix EM1 pantographs which actually work.

 

                          Ray.

[MikeCW]

When I was about to repair and recommission some dud Hornby Dublo electrcally operated signals, I found little on the web that was helpful.  I took some photos as I went and, though this may be old hat to many, if it helps a few more people save some 50-60 year old Dublo accessories, then I think it's worth a page.

 

 

The Dublo electrically operated signals, in my view anyway, haven't been bettered by any British, mass-produced, proprietary signals until the recent advent of the Dapol motorised variety.  They are simple, but well-engineered.  They weren't cheap, but the price reflected the quality.  They are slightly over-scale, for strength in "toy" applications I assume.  But with etched arms and added details, they can still have a place on today's layouts, except perhaps for the most fine scale. However, this post is about mechanical restoration to Binns Road "factory specs".

I have found, typically, three reasons why a Dublo signal has stopped working.  All three faults are readily repairable.  To understand the "fixes", a refresher on how they operate might help, using a single post Home and Distant as an example.

 

As there is no fixed connection between the signal and the operating mechansm the two parts are easily separated by removing two self-tapping screws in the base, and carefully pressing out the mechanism by gently pushing a small screwdriver down on the wiring post screws in turn. That reveals the two parts in the photos below.

The two extensions which are attached to the signal balance weights and operating arms fit in the slots in the steel "slugs" which slide freely (or should) between the two solenoids.  More about that later. Each solenoid exerts a "pulling" effect on the steel slug when it is energised, trying to suck the slug into the centre of its coil The close up below shows the wiring in more detail - a very nice example of 1950s "miniaturisation".

Each pair of solenoids moves one signal arm. In this example of a two arm signal, one end of each solenoid coil is soldered to the common connection in the centre, indicated by the red arrow  This is in turn connected to the "common" wiring post in the signal base and is wired directly to the power source.  The other end of each solenoid coil, (one is indicated by a green arrow) is wired via a "D1" switch, (one switch for each pair of solenoids which move one signal arm) to the other terminal of the power source.

 

The D1 switch is another example of Dublo quality.  There have been several types over the years, probably as Meccano moved to simplify production and reduce costs, but the quality seemed to remain high.

 

This is a "flash" or "passing" switch, which gives a momentary shot of electricity to the coil.  From the photos above,the operation should be self evident, once one realises that there is a contact on the backside of the operating arm, marked by the arrow, out of sight of the viewer.  An interesting feature is that, as the operator moves the lever fully across, it delivers a momentary power charge to both solenoids in turn. But because the first shot of power goes to the solenoid that was last powered, that simply holds the steel slug in the same position.  Only when the arm passes the next contact is the other solenoid energised, and sucks the slug back. A study of the two photos should make all clear.

 

So, what can go wrong with this system?  In my experience - four things.

 

First, an operator may not have moved the lever on the D1 switch fully over, and power was maintained to the coil, which cooked and melted the insulating shellac on the copper wire. That means a coil rewind.  This is a scarce fault. On a dozen or more repairs, I've not found a burnt out coil so can't offer a view on rewinding.  I'd welcome a post from someone who has done it,

 

Second, broken wires.  The four soldered connections, one of which is indicated by the green arrow in the fourth photo above, seem especially vulnerable. Either the soldering was barely adequate in 1953, it has broken down over time, or the end of the copper wire which was soldered has itself become brittle.  Young Jimmy throwing his toys around, or any other shock, can break this connection. I've resoldered several, but have never had a break at the "common", the red arrow where the four wires come together.  You can easily test for a broken wire by setting a multimeter to "buzz", putting one probe on the common screw connection and touching the other to each of the other terminals.  Silence means a break somewhere.

 

Third, distortion in the coil frame. The twin coils are mounted on a plastic frame.  The slots through the centre of each coil, into which the steel slug fits, must line up perfectly or the slug will jam.  I have found some which, over time, have gone banana shaped.  The photo below tries to make the point. The coils here are actually well-aligned (see how nice and square the protruding slug is to the twin coils) but, if there is any slight arch or dip in the coil frame, as suggested by the crude line drawings, the slug won't be able to travel freely between the coils.  Very gentle, trial and error bending will generally fix it.

Fourth, and the most common, rust on the steel slug.  This is unplated, and looks to have been chemically blackened. The process of using the signal on a layout means that the slug is moving constantly back and forth between the coils, and is, in effect, self-polishing.  But sitting for years in the box in the cupboard, the dreaded damp starts to encourage rust.  Only a small amount will exceed the tolerance for smooth operation.  A good coating will seize it solid.  The photo below shows the start of a rust spot, enough to render the operation of the signal sluggish.  Over time the rust will get worse.  In the second photo I've cleaned and polished the rust out (it was on both sides), heated the slug with a blow-torch (hence the blue colour), and dropped it, hot, into thin oil.  That will cause some absorption of the oil into the metal and, when wiped off, should provide protection for another decade if the signal isn't left in a damp place.

 

This has been a long winded effort, and doesn't pretend to be the last word.  But I puzzled it out myself a couple of years ago and, as I said at the outset, if it saves someone else some time, and encourages them to save a signal or two, then I'm happy.

 

Mike 

Edited September 25, 2018 by MikeCW

[Golden Fleece 30]

A nice well written bit of information Mike which should help some people.

 

I too always preferred Dublo signals on my layouts although these days non electrical.

 

In the dim and distant past I did rewind both signal coils and a couple of armatures. All I did was unwind the coil counting the turns then rewinding by hand the same amount with new wire. Not a quick or as neat a job but effective and the pleasure of doing it.

 

Garry

Edited September 20, 2018 by Golden Fleece 30

[Golden Fleece 30]

Olivias trains have sent me an email offering repaired locos at greatly reduced prices with Garretts at £144 all with warranty.I know Garry has had problems in the past with the Garrett locomotive but are they worth buying & how do you convert one to 3 rail?.I have fitted a Marklin skate under one of their EM1s which works very well plus it now has a switch inside the body which allows it to be powered by the centre rail or through the catenary.the loco is fitted with Trix EM1 pantographs which actually work.

 

Ray.

Having had a Garratt Ray I would not touch another but I can appreciate the "need" to want one if you dont have one.

 

The pony wheels will not go through moden Peco points so no way will they run on Dublo, far too fine in width and flange depth.

 

Driving wheels, these cannot be removed as the plastic keeper plate is glued to the plastic frames. Wheels MAY be too fine for Dublo but will run on Peco. Return cranks etc screwed into plastic so easily stripped.

 

Valve gear a nightmare, very thin metal and plastic parts used, easily bent and some parts superglued to hold in place which can come apart.

 

Due to wheels being held in a wire was solderd across from one side to the other to make all wheels live but be careful as they are held in plastic which can melt easily with the slightest touch of the iron.

 

I cannot remember at the moment what pick up I used but wiring it was not difficult except the connections on a PCB for DCC etc are all inside the firebox with not a lot of spare wire to pull out.

 

My motors, and many others burnt out, this has supposed to have been rectified but I cannot say if successful. One chap remachined the motor housing castings tl take a differnt motor, possibly Mashima but un certain.

 

I wish I had read the 97 pages on here about it before wasting my money but like the others we were not to know of the issues 2 or 3 years earlier when pre ordered. In my opinion a complete waste of money but a couple of others have thought okay.

 

Garry

[sagaguy]

Thanks Garry,i don`t think i`ll bother with it,if i wanted a Garrett,i`d probably be better going down the Jodel models route http://www.jodelmodels.co.uk/

 

I`ll probably go back to my original idea of 3 railing a Trix A2 for which conversion,i have a lot of information about from the TTRCA & Trix facebook group.

 

 

                           Ray.

[Golden Fleece 30]

Thanks Garry,i don`t think i`ll bother with it,if i wanted a Garrett,i`d probably be better going down the Jodel models route http://www.jodelmodels.co.uk/

 

I`ll probably go back to my original idea of 3 railing a Trix A2 for which conversion,i have a lot of information about from the TTRCA & Trix facebook group.

 

 

Ray.

Hi Ray, being honest I was not keen on the Jodel model either and sold mine. I think I only bought one as John is a friend of mine. Knowing your skills I think you will be better off buying a Kitmaster one and making your own chassis's. The Jodel model has resin tanks made from the Kitmaster ones and the boiler is whitemetal cast from the Kitmaster one and neither have the sharp appearance of the Kitmaster. The chassis's are new milled brass ones. I would say just do bits between other jobs and you will end up with a far better looking Garratt. The Jodel one has 2-6-4 wheels and valve gear which just does not look right. The wheels in my opinion would be better if R1 ones were used and the valve gear looks too "heavy" in as much as it should be more like the 8F one as opposed to a Crab one.

 

The Trix A2 should be easy especially if you get a loco driven one, their tender drives were not too good, quite noisy.

 

Garry

Edited September 20, 2018 by Golden Fleece 30

[sagaguy]

Thanks Garry,i have had quite a bit of correspondence with Keith Jones of the Trix group on this subject,it seems i need a centre collector assy & insulated front bogie & pony truck wheels,these i can probably get from the TTRCA spares chappie.I do have a couple of Trix dealers who i can probably get the loco from rather than go down the Ebay route.

 

                      Ray.

[cctransuk]

The pony wheels will not go through moden Peco points ....

 

 

Only a small point, but this is not my experience - though, if you use tight radii, you may have problems.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[Golden Fleece 30]

Ray,

 

Going back to the Garratt, here are my chassis conversions.  It was not easy to get into as I mentioned the chassis is all glued up and I did not want to take the risk of breaking anything. Also look how many washers I had to put on the pony wheels.  Another photo shows how fine the wheels are to a modern Hornby/Bachmann, the other shows one of the two motors after 30 minutes running along with one of its brushes. Some people got this within minutes some never seemed to get it.  One chap I think said he bought all 12 variations and sent 10 back.

 

Garry

[MikeCW]

A nice well written bit of information Mike which should help some people.

 

I too always preferred Dublo signals on my layouts although these days non electrical.

 

In the dim and distant past I did rewind both signal coils and a couple of armatures. All I did was unwind the coil counting the turns then rewinding by hand the same amount with new wire. Not a quick or as neat a job but effective and the pleasure of doing it.

 

Garry

Garry,

"The pleasure of doing it".  Spot on.  Each to his own I suppose, and many people are not as handy as you, Ray and others but, in my view, "out-of-the-box" modellers are missing out on some of life's simple pleasures.

 

Mike 

[sagaguy]

Hi Mike,i enjoy converting & running other makes on my layout,apologies if youv`e already seen it but this is my Heljan EM1 fitted with repro Trix pantographs from the TTRCA & it really does work being cotroole by a seperate controller using the track as a common.return.It`s also pictured with a train of refinished Trix Mk1 coaches.At least,i don`t get bored in retirement,the latest project is 3 railing a Trix loco drive A2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                            Ray.

[MikeCW]

Hi Mike,i enjoy converting & running other makes on my layout,apologies if youv`e already seen it but this is my Heljan EM1 fitted with repro Trix pantographs from the TTRCA & it really does work being cotroole by a seperate controller using the track as a common.return.It`s also pictured with a train of refinished Trix Mk1 coaches.At least,i don`t get bored in retirement,the latest project is 3 railing a Trix loco drive A2.

 

 20180525_205436.jpg

 

 20180816_135735.jpg

 

 

                            Ray.

Very nice work Ray.  It looks like it has come from the Trix factory last week, which scores high marks from me as I rate highly conversions like this which "hold together" and don't look like a mish-mash of bits.  Overhead has appealed to me since I saw those Trix ads in the late 50s and early 60s (?) extolling the ability to control independently 3 trains on one track.  That was cutting edge technology!  I went to the UK in the early 1970s, when I was still in my 20s, and caught up with an English buddy who had worked with me in NZ.  For a couple of weeks we travelled around with tent and sleeping bags thrown in the back of his long-suffering mother's borrowed Morris Minor Traveller. (The Morris was long-suffering too, especially when we ran it low on water through the Peak.)  I remember, on a grey day, skirting Manchester, through Stalybridge and other "post-industrial" landscapes, and seeing the wires of the Woodhead route crossing the open country nearby, I think it was closed by then, but not lifted. But it was dramatic and evocative.

 

Given that I've got a lot of unbuilt kits and bits for my "scale" railway, and there is a decreasing number of years ahead, I'm not venturing into non-Hornby Dublo conversions (for the time being?).  I'm keeping to Garry's simple pleasures of refurbishing and recommissioning dead or faulty Dublo items.  Spring has arrived in the south of the planet; the blossoms are out; daylight saving will be here in a week; and the sun shines earlier through my workshop window. Energy is higher and after mowing the lawns yesterday I spent 3 hours salvaging another Bristol Castle.  I'd bought it for about £20 as a non-runner for spares.  The wheels wouldn't even turn a full rotation. But she is now running sweetly and I need another one for spares! The suppressor fittings on the 2 rail motor which was fitted (the second time I've encountered a replacement 2 rail motor in a 3-rail Castle - thanks for the previous help in ID-ing the difference, Garry) looked as if they had been attacked with a 200 watt soldering iron.  The motor was bone dry, the commutator clogged, and there was about 1-2mm of fore and aft movement in the armature.  Clearing off the suppressor gear, tidying up the feeds to the brushes, cleaning the commutator, adjusting and lubricating the bearings, and the motor ran beautifully, pulling barely 1ma under no load. But the chassis was still jammed. I worked out that a previous owner had somehow disturbed the driving wheel quartering, I removed all the wheels, keeping one side still on their axles, and removed coupling and con rods.  That required very carefully grinding away the peening on the rear of the crankpins.  I didn't have a quartering tool which would work with the Dublo axle/crankpin system. So I very carefully marked, in fine felt pen on the wheel treads, the crankpin position on one side, and the crankpin position plus 90 degrees on the other side and, lining these marks by eye and an engineer's square, pressed the wheels on, testing the accuracy of the quartering with temporary crankpins after two axles were done, and then after the third.  It worked.  Beginner's luck.

 

I would like to see the quartering jig that was used in the Binns Road factory as it looks, from the peening over of the crankpin on the rear of the wheels, as if the  crankpins and coupling rods were fitted to the wheels while they were off the chassis, and then the wheels were pressed on together. 

 

But to go back to a post above.  It's about the satisfaction of reviving a 60 year old engine, and the pleasure of a job well done.

 

Mike  

Edited September 21, 2018 by MikeCW

[Golden Fleece 30]

Only a small point, but this is not my experience - though, if you use tight radii, you may have problems.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

All my mainline points are 3' but the wheels would derail all the time but as soon as I changed them there were no more issues with the wheels.

 

Garry

[Golden Fleece 30]

I too would have liked to see the quartering tool used as like you Mike I can only guess the wheels were assembled complete with coupling rods as there was no space or full clearance to rivet the pins on afterwards.

 

I like your method of marking the wheels to assemble. I just visually look but only press home a little and test, if free running them complete the pressing. I only removed the pins if I was doing some axle spacing alterations.

 

I think but not 100% certain the only 2-rail wheels riveted were the R1 and 0-6-2 the others were able to be tapped out like the insulated ones were with those being in a bush.

 

Garry

[Il Grifone]

Regarding Dublo colour light signals,i bought a 9v 4amp power supply from ebay to under run the very expensive bulbs.I had a junction signal with a broken backplate,impossible to repair so i made a new one out of copperclad pcb & a couple of 10ba brass csk screws.

 

 

 

 

20180903_133935.jpg

 

 

20180903_150048.jpg

 

 

 

                        Ray.

 

I solved the bulb problem with 3mm LEDs. A very small flat transistor (I forget the type - some 2N equivalent of a BC108 etc.) in the base is wired to defalt to danger/caution and switch to clear when a signal is applied. (This simplifies the wiring and saves metres of wire. All that is requires is a 12V bus and individual signal wires (which can be very thin wire) and the return is via the track common return. (The metal base if using Dublo three rail track.)

[Il Grifone]

I search Ebay but some of the prices are wishful thinking on the basis of if it`s old,it`s valuable whereas in reality,it`s load of old junk,however,the odd bargain does turn up normally in the small hours of the morning when i can`t sleep.I wanted a 3 rail 2-6-4 tank loco with bright valve gear to repaint into the preserved loco 80135.This arrived for £29 buy it now  inc free postage,it`s now being worked on.

 

 

 

                          dublo 2-6-4.jpg

 

I remember rewinding a signal coil in the late 1980s,i wound the wire onto a matchbox,the darn wire was broken at the start of the coil.

 

                      Ray.

 

I have a pre-war electric point that had that fault. So far it has resisted my feeble attempts to rewind it. I think I'll cheat with a transplant from a post-war one!

[Il Grifone]

Ray,

 

Going back to the Garratt, here are my chassis conversions.  It was not easy to get into as I mentioned the chassis is all glued up and I did not want to take the risk of breaking anything. Also look how many washers I had to put on the pony wheels.  Another photo shows how fine the wheels are to a modern Hornby/Bachmann, the other shows one of the two motors after 30 minutes running along with one of its brushes. Some people got this within minutes some never seemed to get it.  One chap I think said he bought all 12 variations and sent 10 back.

 

Garry

 

Hi Garry,

 

Obviously far too puny for a slogger like a Garratt. The wheels are rather nice for rather for EM or 00GS fine scale or similar with 1mm flangeways than Peco code 100. I've no room for a Garratt, but it looks like a Kitmaster kit (like hen's teeth with a price to match!) with Dublo chassis is the way to go.... (I had one once but I've no idea what happened to her.)

 

David

[Golden Fleece 30]

Hi Garry,

 

Obviously far too puny for a slogger like a Garratt. The wheels are rather nice for rather for EM or 00GS fine scale or similar with 1mm flangeways than Peco code 100. I've no room for a Garratt, but it looks like a Kitmaster kit (like hen's teeth with a price to match!) with Dublo chassis is the way to go.... (I had one once but I've no idea what happened to her.)

 

David

Hi David,

 

The Dublo model that is available has the three main parts cast from moulds made from the Kitmaster model. Unfortuantely they used the 2-6-4 wheels which looked wrong, more so by using the 2-6-4 valve gear as well. It makes the unit look like a couple of Crabs or some short foreign Garratt with a long boiler.

 

The photos show the difference between the Heljan and Dublo ones. In my opinion the Heljan far outweighs the Dublo one but its poor quality build let it down.

 

Looking at the two, the Dublo wheels may have been okay if they had spaced them correctly further apart and had new coupling rods made, and possibly used the smaller 8F cylinder assemblies.

 

I still have an old Kitmaster one that I fitted a couple of Tri-ang 0-6-0 chassis's too and one day when I go back to 00 I may look at replacing with R1 chassis's

 

Garry

Edited September 22, 2018 by Golden Fleece 30

[sagaguy]

As i posted earlier,there are still bargains on ebay.This is the loco i bought for £29 & free p&p on buy it now on ebay.This pic is the finished loco.I know there are a few of these green BR tanks around.The loco was painted with a grey undercoat,Humbrol acrylic Brunswick green aerosol,Humbrol coal black acrylic brush painted,Fox transfers all finished with Railmatch aerosol enamel satin varnish.

 

 

 

                            

 

 

                     Ray.

 

[sagaguy]

As a bit of variety,i would like to repaint one in apple green lined LNER livery.The only lining set is from Dennis williams but i can`t work out whether they are waterslide or varnish fix.He has kindly sent me a set of instructions but i`m still unsure.

 

                      Ray.