Tri-ang Railways.

[Ben B]

I read those books a great deal as a child, my local library had all of them. I was a bit alarmed at the price they go for these days, when I recently tried to buy my own copies!

[Ruffnut Thorston]

New Cavendish published a lot of good books.

 

Pat Hammond's three books have been mentioned.

 

Volume 1 has two editions. The dust jacket illustrations are different.

 

Tri-ang Railways - The Story of Rovex Volume 1 1950-1965
First Published 1993.

 

 

The second, revised, edition (Published in 2002) has an extra section expanding on the contents of the first edition, and correcting some errors.

 

Tri-ang Hornby - The Story of Rovex Volume 2 1965-1971
First Published 1998

 

Hornby Railways - The Story of Rovex Volume 3 1972-1996
First Published 2005

 

Volume 4 was in preparation, but it is now doubtful that it will be published... hopefully it will emerge one day though...

 

Also of Tri-ang interest.

 

FROG model aircraft.

 

There is also the whole Meccano

Companion Series. This covers most of the products of Meccano Ltd.

 

The Hornby Dublo book by Michael Foster is Volume 3 in this series.

 

 

http://www.binnsroad.co.uk/railways/newcav/index.html

 

There is also a book on British Trix.

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2020 by Sarahagain
more added

[andyman7]

5 minutes ago, Sarahagain said:

New Cavendish published a lot of good books.

 

Pat Hammond's three books have been mentioned.

 

Volume 1 has two editions. The dust jacket illustrations are different.

 

 

The second edition has an extra section expanding on the contents of the first edition, and correcting some errors.

 

Volume 2

 

Volume 3

 

Volume 4 was in preparation, but it is now doubtful that it will be published... hopefully it will emerge one day though...

 

Also of Tri-ang interest.

 

FROG model aircraft.

 

There is also the whole Meccano

Companion Series. This covers most of the products of Meccano Ltd.

 

The Hornby Dublo book by Michael Foster is Volume 3 in this series.

 

 

http://www.binnsroad.co.uk/railways/newcav/index.html

 

There is also a book on British Trix.

 

 

 

These are all excellent books and have been a staple on my shelves for the past 25 years. The late Tony Matthewman's Trix book pictured above is a labour of love in knitting together a complex and obscure story. My copy of the Triang Hornby book is signed by Pat, in an extremely small way I was fortunate enough to contribute to some of the wagon details included.

Edited April 24, 2020 by andyman7

[andyman7]

On 19/04/2020 at 17:55, Ben B said:

 

So I bought another, this time a 2-car with non-prototypical headcode box on the dome, which an article in an old MRE informs me was the very tail-end of production by Hornby before they retired the tooling.  I'd guess Hornby binned this tooling in the great scrap clearout a few years ago, which would be a shame... the DMU would surely have been a candidate for re-issue this anniversary year.  Anyway this unit was bought to cannibalise, for about £20... and runs beautifully (if with the traditional Triang smell and growl!).  Far too nice to dismantle.  Anyway, Younger Child wants a stock roster which reflects her favourite line, the KWVR, so despite the headcode being wrong compared to their 101, this has become an important part of her roster now.

 

 

So I bought another example online to canibalise, which turned up as this odditiy.  Again, according to the MRE article by Pat Hammond, Hornby did turn the DMU out in blue in the 70's, but with different yellow ends to this one.  I'd guess this is a repaint from the issued version.  And once again I decided it was too nice to dismantle!  I'm a sucker for BR blue, and gives me something indestructible to run on her layout when we're playing (she's 8, and pretty good with looking after models, but I still wouldn't want to use modern stock just in case).

 

 

Another oldy, the good old clockwork tank loco.

 

 

Probably most other layouts don't have a dragon swooping overhead either; maybe with the blue 101 we can say it's a Cambrian Coast scene, and therefore accurate for Snowdonia

The last year of production for the R157 DMU was 1977 by which time the tooling would have been very worn, and from that year the old worm drive mechanisms were deleted so any reintroductions required new chassis to take Ringfield motors. Therefore the likely scrapping of the tooling in the last few years is realistically no great loss - Hornby have the ex-Lima calss 101 tools which are suited to a Railroad model to a much higher standard.

The blue one you have looks to be an original (and relatively rare) factory made blue example but with the yellow ends repainted to correctly extend the yellow to roof height. 

I do have a couple of projects on the go based on R157 models, I am finding myself increasingly attracted to superdetail and modification efforts on vintage models (well used/damaged models are invariably the donors) - the time and effort cannot be justified on any conventional measure but they take me back to the dawn of my modelling days in the late 70s when any half decent model railway required extensive use of what these days are considered hopelessly crude models, subject to all sorts of work to create a scale(ish) model. In the case of the R157 projects, one is a correct four coach formation with centre trailer guards van which involves extensive hacking around with the bodyshells, whilst another is a restoration of an example which someone managed to flush glaze to really good effect. 

Edited April 26, 2020 by andyman7

[Ruffnut Thorston]

From my dealings with Pat Hammond, via the Train Collector's Society, I had a few photos of wagons, both Hornby Dublo and Hornby O gauge in the last two editions of the Ramsey's Catalogue Guide.

 

 

Edited April 25, 2020 by Sarahagain
typo

[Legend]

12 hours ago, Sarahagain said:

From my dealings with Pat Hammond, via the Train Collector's Society, I had a few photos of wagons, both Hornby Dublo and Hornby O gauge in the last two editions of the Ramsey's Catalogue Guide.

 

 

Thanks Sarah. I didn’t know about the Frog book . I was an Airfix kid , but had the occasional Frog kit and of course they featured on the back of Tri-ant Hornby catalogues . So just bought a copy from Amazon . Many thanks 

[Ruffnut Thorston]

FROG...Flies Right Off The Ground.

 

Well, that's where the name came from...

 

The non flying models, and the boats (!) were FROG Penguins...

 

I suppose they could have been Ostriches, or Emus...

 

Or any other non flying bird.

 

A lot of the Frog plastic kit tools went to the USSSR, as part of the NOVO deal...but they apparently didn't want any German plane kits...

[Robin Brasher]

I remember seeing the Frog plastic aeroplane kits in the Tri-ang catalogue but I developed a huge collection of Airfix kits.

 

I think that Tri-ang made some excellent Mk1 coaches in the 1960s. The dimensions and colours were just right. Peco supplied some wheels to convert them to run on Hornby Dublo track and later Flush Glaze made some flush glaze windows.  You could also convert them to Bulleid coaches using LAM coach sides.  

 

My picture shows a Tri-ang Hornby buffet car.

[33C]

On 25/04/2020 at 20:54, Ruffnut Thorston said:

FROG...Flies Right Off The Ground.

 

Well, that's where the name came from...

 

The non flying models, and the boats (!) were FROG Penguins...

 

I suppose they could have been Ostriches, or Emus...

 

Or any other non flying bird.

 

A lot of the Frog plastic kit tools went to the USSSR, as part of the NOVO deal...but they apparently didn't want any German plane kits...

I read somewhere that a lot of the moulds were lost in the Baring sea during a storm, I believe, on the return passage. 

[Robin Brasher]

I am sorry to hear that the moulds for the FROG kits were lost in a storm.

 

I enjoyed repainting the Tri-ang model trains.  This picture shows 'Winston Churchill' repainted as 'Calstock'. 

All the 'Winston Churchill' locomotives had smoke units. In the backgound is a Tri-ang brake van that I have repainted in SR livery. Repainting models Tri-ang models is great fun but it ruins their second hand value. 

 

I took the picture at our Corfe Castle layout at our club meeting at Furzebrook Village Hall.

[GoingUnderground]

Whilst o nthe subject ot repaints, for those of you who like mytabins, here's a Steeplecab Switcher next to an unmodified late model Bo-Bo Switcher. 

 

 

Something a bit different, and not entirely unprototypical, http://wx4.org/to/foam/misc/yv_trans_co_2_june1970.jpg although the Yakima Valley locos were closer to the Bo-Bo Tyneside ES1 than the 0-4-0 Steeplecab. The Steeplecab is a repaint, but with the roof extended over the front/rear cab windows, and the pantograph has been given replacement upper arms and pan head, the Triang original upper arms had broken and the head was hanging loose. It is quite amazing, at least to me, how this slight mod to the cab roof makes it look like a much more expensive model.

[Robin Brasher]

I have not repainted my R219 50T Bogie Brick Wagon as it looked authentic.  I expect the Hornby 0 gauge No 2 High Capacity Wagon and the Hornby Dublo 32,050 D1 High Capacity Wagon inspired Triang to produce it a lower price. it was based on a LNER prototype. I bought the model from the Childrens Shop in Orpington in the 1960s.

[GoingUnderground]

My first aircraft kits were all FROG ones. I had a Hawker Hunter, a de Havilland Venom, a Gloucester Meteor, and a Westland helicopter, it might have been the S55 and it was moulded in yellow plastic, all long consigned to the bin, sadly. I also had one of the FROG elastic powered wind up planes which did fly right off the ground. I also had a Tri-ang tricycle, and a Tri-ang croquet set (that was kid's sized). There may well have been other Tri-ang toys, but those, and the trains all of which I still have, are the ones that I remember. And at my age that's about all that I can remember.

[33C]

Still got my Triang "Big Big" Ruston and three side tippers, and now I've acquired some "Y" points, I'm thinking "layout in a bread crate!"......

[Il Grifone]

5 hours ago, Robin Brasher said:

I have not repainted my R219 50T Bogie Brick Wagon as it looked authentic.  I expect the Hornby 0 gauge No 2 High Capacity Wagon and the Hornby Dublo 32,050 D1 High Capacity Wagon inspired Triang to produce it a lower price. it was based on a LNER prototype. I bought the model from the Childrens Shop in Orpington in the 1960s.

 

It's basically correct, but AFAIK all fifty were marked, "RETURN TO FLETTON". "RETURN TO DEPOT" makes no sense.

The first 25 were built by the GNR, the second by the LNER. There were slight differences between the two designs.

Mine all run on Ratio bogies. The Tri-ang effort is rubbish and despite underscale wheels* still makes the wagon sit 2mm too high.

For some reason, despite the restricted use (Fletton to London) it was a popular prototype. There was also a TTR model, again in tinplate. Only Tri-ang produced a plastic R-T-R version.

* Pinched from the Transcontinental range, where it was inappropriate . The real archbar trucks were banned in 1919 due to maintenance problems - their nuts and bolts tended to come undone....

Edited May 17, 2022 by Il Grifone

[Nearholmer]

It was, and remains, a favourite in coarse-0 too. Hornby made it, with the correct “Return to Fletton”, but they weren’t the first or only, and a new tinplate version was made recently for WJV and Raylo by ETS in. Prague, so it’s fame has spread far and wide.

 

Didn't Hornby do it in tin as part of the HD range too?

 

The exceptional is always popular, and bogie wagons were exceptional on the traditional railway.

[Il Grifone]

There are three versions* of the Dublo brick wagon: LNER (with brown underframe), BR(E) (with brown underframe) (clearing old stock? and BR(E) (with black underframe).

 

* Possibly a fourth version with nylon wheels (possibly retro fitted - look for tell-tale scratches) and possibly a fifth with plate frame bogies, though I have never seen one (it wouldn't be too difficult (but pointless) to f̵o̵r̵g̵e̵ replicate one. I suspect they had sufficient stocks to clear and that the Tri-ang model put paid to any thoughts of an SD6 version.

 

Not having them to hand, I can't comment on which iis most true to scale, though IIRC the Tri-ang one has part of the brakegear missing. The TTR version shares its underframe with their U.S. freight cars and lacks any suggestion of brakes. The U.S. cars have the the 'kill the brakesmen' roof level hand wheels.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070030/

 

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by Il Grifone

[roythebus1]

I recently got a Triang bogie brick wagon with the most recent style bogies with pin-point wheels. I also found a red brick wagon in a box of stock, is this another rarity?

 

The first I've super-detailed on Ration bogies, lowered the bogie pivot and fitted ABSwain cast buffers. the missing brake gear is the full-length brake handle. I'm certain I posted some pics of this on here under a separate thread.

[Ruffnut Thorston]

There was a brick load made for the Bogie Brick wagon.

As far as I know, this was only originally available with the wagon, under a different R. Number, R.240, to the empty version, R.219.

 

 

The brick wagon was also made in a pinky Salmon colour without printing for use in starter, mostly clockwork, sets.

Some wagons moulded in this colour were printed, and sold...

 

Top: R.219NP "Salmon" colour plastic.

Bottom: R.219NP Red/Brown colour plastic.

 

Later issues were, in keeping with the "Bright Colours" theme of the time, made in bright red with "London Brick" branding.

 

 

 

There were variations. On some, the black was left off, so the underframe is also red...

 

 

Unprinted versions of the bright red wagons were also used in some starter sets I believe...

 

This is interesting..

 

http://publictransportexperience.blogspot.com/2015/07/Hornby-trix-triang-and-bricks.html?m=1

 

A model upgrade...

 

https://srmg.org.uk/bricking-it

 

 

Edited May 22, 2022 by Ruffnut Thorston
Additional non printed photo...

[Il Grifone]

Later versions of the Tri-ang brick wagon included red (fake?) 'London Brick' P.O. (they were always 'company' wagons AFAIK) and 'Junior' (free of lettering and probably the best bet for a detailing exercise) varieties.

 

Also:

 

https://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3651

 

https://peco-uk.com/products/lner-bogie-brick-wagon

Edited May 18, 2022 by Il Grifone

[BernardTPM]

2 hours ago, Il Grifone said:

 

Not having them to hand, I can't comment on which iis most true to scale, though IIRC the Tri-ang one has part of the brakegear missing.

Checking against the diagram in LNER Wagons (Tatlow) width, length and height of the Triang body are correct. Bogies fitted look to be slightly too close together but that may be deliberate, based on the coupling length; enough to avoid buffer lock, but not too massive a gap between adjacent wagons. Since for a scale model the bogies would be replaced this doesn't really matter much. A pretty good piece of tooling given it was done over 60 years ago.

Edited May 18, 2022 by BernardTPM

[Ruffnut Thorston]

The Brick wagon, without the buffers, was also drafted into the Transcontinental Series...

 

 

https://tri-ang.weebly.com/1971-catalogue.html

[Il Grifone]

I would guess they didn't sell many?

 

I must check the wheelbase. I just stuck bolts through the holes in the floor and fixed the bogies with locknuts.

[Ruffnut Thorston]

Later Canadian catalogue pictures shew the red London Brick printed wagons ...🤔

 

 

[Fat Controller]

12 minutes ago, Ruffnut Thorston said:

Later Canadian catalogue pictures shew the red London Brick printed wagons ...🤔

 

 

London, Ontario?