Tri-ang Railways.

[Il Grifone]

 

It's much easier to push the axle out - just push from the side where the loose wheel is located or you have to pusf the axle splines right through. From the right side, it slips out easily. Crud can jam the thing and needs removal.

The smaller wheels are 10mm in diameter (the bogies are shared with the TC range). Replacing the bogies, allows the use the right size which is usually 12mm.

Edited April 29, 2023 by Il Grifone

[GoingUnderground]

Triang published instructions in their "first 10 Years" on how to remove these sleeved wheel axles, but "use a suitable pin" to push out the axle gives the wrong idea about the amount of force required, at least on older models.

 

I've found that many of the 1950s-mid 1960s wheelsets, with their metal bar and half sleeve plastic axles have problems when removing the axles because either the axle has surface rust inside the sleeve and expanded or the plastic sleeve has shrunk slightly and tightened on to the axle, in which case there is no wheel that rotates independently of the axle. Ideally you shound push out the axle from the freely rotating wheel side as the crimping on the axle only holds one of the the sleeved wheels in place on the steel axle. That way you are pushing against the crimping for the shortest possible distance  But if you can't rotate one wheel independently of the axle than you don't  know which way to push. This seizing -up problem seems to be quite common, especially in models showing signs of rust on the couplings, an indication that at some point they have been stored in dampish conditions.

 

Fortunately, in my experience, there is often just enough "give" left in the "free" wheel that you can rotate the wheels independently of each other of you try hard enough. When you do this, keep an eye on the end of the axle, and you should see it rotate with only 1 of the wheels. letting you work out which is the "free" wheel, and you push out the axle from the free wheel end.

 

Take care as if the bogie or chassis is plastic it may have become brittle with age, as the youngest example is likely to be coming up to 60 years old.

 

I use a spare axle as a drift, and place the other axlebox into a shallow recess in a small block of wood with a hole drilled through the wood. That way when I tap on the drift it can push the axle out as the bogie side which is holding the wheel in place is supported and is less likely to crack or in the worst cases shatter. The early axles of this type had flat ends, whilst the later ones were domed, so I use an early axle for my drift as it will sit on the end of a later domed one, whereas with dome to dome contact, on striking the end of the drift, the drift will try to slip sideways round the axle and between it and the bogie and if it is plastic  this often will break the bogie - personal experience. Also if you do use an old flat ended axle as your drift, make sure that the crimped end on the drift axle is closest to your hammer, or you risk getting the crimp on the drift stuck in the "free" wheel's sleeve and you'll have to resort to pliers to pull it out again.

 

Here is my kit for removing these old wheelsets. The flat ended drift axle is sitting in the hole in the block. The wheelsets to the left of the block have dome ended axles and you can just see the crimping next to the wheels, and also the crimping on the drift axle.

 

 

I don't tend to replace these older axle & wheel combinations with pinpoint axles and bearings, but when I find a seized example I do remove them as freeing off the "free" wheel will let the coach or wagon go round curves more easily as seized plastic wheels exert more drag on curves than modern metal wheels fixed to their axle.

Edited October 31, 2022 by GoingUnderground

[33C]

Been so busy but found time to refurbish some old Tri-ang rolling stock that i have picked up around the boot sales. First and second pics, a bit of artistic licence. Third pic, an exercise in a steady hand!

[33C]

A refurb of another boot-sale find from last year. Serviced with ground down wheel treads and flanges, Jouef pantographs on plasticard spider, scratchbuilt belly tank and 3D printed front skirts with a light paintwork touch up.

Edited April 29, 2023 by 33C
added detail

[cctransuk]

6 hours ago, 33C said:

... scratchbuilt belly tank ...

 

Lovely model - but a belly tank on an electric loco?

 

Perhaps an early bi-mode?

 

CJI.

[33C]

2 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

Lovely model - but a belly tank on an electric loco?

 

Perhaps an early bi-mode?

 

CJI.

Good point. How about battery box? 😁

[BernardTPM]

That underside part is often missing from the double-ended diesel version too.

Edited April 29, 2023 by BernardTPM

[GoingUnderground]

5 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

Lovely model - but a belly tank on an electric loco?

 

Perhaps an early bi-mode?

 

CJI.

Apart from a different roof moulding to accommodate the pantographs and changeover switch and a different livery, it is identical in all other respects to the R160 double ended diesel. If the fuel tank offends you that much it is very easy to unclip and could be replaced with whatever scratchbuilt underframe equipment you felt to be appropriate. On the R160 the fuel tank is dark blue, the same shade as the body, but on the R257 double ended electric loco it is black. That's one relatively easy way to tell if the tank on an R160 is original = blue, or black = replacement.

 

The R160/257 also makes a very good starting point for producing a more realistic-looking EMD F7/F9 than the mix'n'match R55 which has features of the F7/F9 as well as contemporary locos from Alco, their FA, and the Fairbanks Morse "C" Liners.

[cctransuk]

20 minutes ago, GoingUnderground said:

Apart from a different roof moulding to accommodate the pantographs and changeover switch and a different livery, it is identical in all other respects to the R160 double ended diesel. If the fuel tank offends you that much it is very easy to unclip and could be replaced with whatever scratchbuilt underframe equipment you felt to be appropriate. On the R160 the fuel tank is dark blue, the same shade as the body, but on the R257 double ended electric loco it is black. That's one relatively easy way to tell if the tank on an R160 is original = blue, or black = replacement.

 

The R160/257 also makes a very good starting point for producing a more realistic-looking EMD F7/F9 than the mix'n'match R55 which has features of the F7/F9 as well as contemporary locos from Alco, their FA, and the Fairbanks Morse "C" Liners.

 

I am sure that you know far more than I do about Tri-ang Transcontinental locos - which latter is zero.

 

Nothing 'offends' me about this model - I'm not really that interested - I merely pointed out that a belly tank is something of an anachronism on an electric loco - but there were plenty of anachronisms in the 1950/60s range!

 

CJI.

[Halvarras]

 

 

32 minutes ago, GoingUnderground said:

Apart from a different roof moulding to accommodate the pantographs and changeover switch and a different livery, it is identical in all other respects to the R160 double ended diesel.

 

Does that mean we could have had a diesel version of the EM2 electric?........(note to self: shut up H, yer making yerself look stoopid🤪!)

[GoingUnderground]

2 minutes ago, Halvarras said:

 

 

 

Does that mean we could have had a diesel version of the EM2 electric?........(note to self: shut up H, yer making yerself look stoopid🤪!)

If you want, why not, it;s your layout.

 

The Transcontinental range was introduced primarily for the Canadian market but also for sale in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. So whilst inspired by what was running in Canada in the 1950s they were never intended to be exact models. And the likely sales volumes never justified highly accurate models, for, after all, what were made and sold as children's toys. 

[D9020 Nimbus]

The double-ended diesel is based on an Australian (Victorian) prototype (B class). The blue-and-gold livery is also similar to the VR

 prototype.

[BernardTPM]

Maybe the tank is for water for a steam heating boiler 😁

[GoingUnderground]

1 minute ago, D9020 Nimbus said:

The double-ended diesel is based on an Australian (Victorian) prototype (B class). The blue-and-gold livery is also similar to the VR

 prototype.

You're quite right. But I was thinking about the single ended diesel R55, the yard switcher R159 and the 4.-6-2 Hiawatha R54, and the Budd Rail Car  R352, not to mention the rolling stock which is almost exclusively inspired by what was being operated on the Canadian Pacific at the time.

 

The only other Australian inspired item in the TC range was the Sydney Suburban "Red Rattler" EMU.

 

And before some corrects me, the double ended diesel was R159 not R160, and the dummy non-powered version was R250. Sorry for misrembering the R number as R160, I should have looked it up before posting.

[33C]

If you want to know the R number, ask a pirate.....

[friscopete]

My favorite is the baltic tank .I believe a NZ prototype .I had great fun back in the day with my friend  playing trains on the floor .he had a Rivarossi 0-4-0 docksider and I also had a liliput 2-6-0  and some stock .The Liliput made the Triang a bit crude.You can blame Pages of Barkingside just a few minutes walk from me .Great days .

[kevinlms]

12 hours ago, GoingUnderground said:

If you want, why not, it;s your layout.

 

The Transcontinental range was introduced primarily for the Canadian market but also for sale in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. So whilst inspired by what was running in Canada in the 1950s they were never intended to be exact models. And the likely sales volumes never justified highly accurate models, for, after all, what were made and sold as children's toys. 

I don't think it's true to say that the TC range was primarily for the Canadian market. It was intended for the Commonwealth market, hence examples of various items for other markets, such as this guards van for Victorian Railways.

http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_details.asp?itemid=1498

 

Note that it was to 4mm scale (presumably so they could use the BR brake van chassis). Also that the vast majority of these models were produced in an orange livery - one never carried. Who knows why?

While many VR modellers used them when they came out (after repainting them brown), they looked rather ridiculous at the end of a rake of Lima GY wagons, or the HO kits that were starting to appear. They were way oversize.

[Captain Slough]

14 hours ago, 33C said:

If you want to know the R number, ask a pirate.....

Whats a pirate's favourite letter?

[kernowtim]

I have to admit to having a great affection for the triang TC range,undoubtedly stemming from as a youngster owning an early catalogue and carefully marking what models I would like as presents, not realising it was, as I later found out, a 5th edition from 1959 and like the Percy clockwork train set on the back of one of my Thomas books, long out of production. 

In the early 80s I did buy some new models from zodiac toys, wagons at 99p, locos £4.99, but not in the triang colours, these were all Canadian, and long gone!

I do have somewhere a few blue coaches rescued from a skip and a body from an orange tc switcher resprayed green...

[33C]

3 hours ago, Captain Slough said:

Whats a pirate's favourite letter?

'Tis the C!

Edited April 30, 2023 by 33C
Added letter.

[33C]

Strangely, I have been buying a lot of Transcontinental stuff of late. The do make up into nice, colourful trains. And they are quite cheap, at the moment!

[roythebus1]

I remember buying a yellow TC diesel and painted it green like the engines I'd seen at Liverpool Street. The first 2nd hand i'd ever bought and, as it was TC, it ran the other way to my Jinty! So I could have trains running opposite ways on a double track ovel on one controller, magic!. circa 1962...

[andyman7]

On 29/04/2023 at 16:03, GoingUnderground said:

You're quite right. But I was thinking about the single ended diesel R55, the yard switcher R159 and the 4.-6-2 Hiawatha R54, and the Budd Rail Car  R352, not to mention the rolling stock which is almost exclusively inspired by what was being operated on the Canadian Pacific at the time.

 

The only other Australian inspired item in the TC range was the Sydney Suburban "Red Rattler" EMU.

 

And before some corrects me, the double ended diesel was R159 not R160, and the dummy non-powered version was R250. Sorry for misrembering the R number as R160, I should have looked it up before posting.

The R55 is based on the General Motors EMD F7 loco which was ubiquitous on North American railroads in the 50s and 60s. The real thing had six axles but Triang never let minor issues like that get in the way

[33C]

49 minutes ago, andyman7 said:

The R55 is based on the General Motors EMD F7 loco which was ubiquitous on North American railroads in the 50s and 60s. The real thing had six axles but Triang never let minor issues like that get in the way

A quick google shows the F7 was a BO-BO and the Triang model was not a bad likeness. Plenty of livery variations too!

[sandwich station]

4 hours ago, andyman7 said:

The R55 is based on the General Motors EMD F7 loco which was ubiquitous on North American railroads in the 50s and 60s. The real thing had six axles but Triang never let minor issues like that get in the way

 

3 hours ago, 33C said:

A quick google shows the F7 was a BO-BO and the Triang model was not a bad likeness. Plenty of livery variations too!

 

It was the Australian Victorian Railways B class that had 6 axles, whereas Triang only put 4.