Hornby Dublo D14 Suburbans

[cessna152towser]

My Hornby Dublo EDP14 passenger train set which my parents gave me for Christmas 1958 included three of the D14 suburban coaches.   I modernised these in the 1970s, replacing the original sintered iron wheels with Wrenn wheels, and adding Ratio interiors and number transfers (lower coach in photo).    Sixteen years ago I inherited a further set of D14s in original condition which I have retained.

Browsing Hattons second hand recently I noticed a D14 with plastic wheels and couplings, as illustrated in the 1961 Dublo catalogue and later included in the Breakdown Train pack.  As it was described as rusty it was only five pounds so I took a gamble on it being on its original bogies and made the purchase.  Happily it proved to be an authentic original with factory fitted bogies and couplings. I took a black felt tipped pen over the running boards and underframe to hide the rust but have left the coach sides as they were (upper coach in photo).   Although the D14s are very abundant, there must have been relatively few issued with the plastic wheels and couplings as the scale length suburbans superseded them in 1962.

Edited October 8, 2022 by cessna152towser