Golden Fleece 30

Yes, very nice Ed. You say you are copying the Exleys, so, what do you do about the ends and buffers? For some Westdales I have brass etched ends and replica Exley underframes made but these do lack the relief of the originals. How do you form the ribs and vents on the roof, have you made your own jigs/former's? Although a BR man I have to admit most of mine are LMS otherwise I would not have as many as I do. As in all cases with our models we all have different tastes and the LNER Tourist coaches look fine but the Teak finish do nothing for me, but that is me and I can fully appreciate those that do like them. I never thought I would have fully lined ones but when mine arrived in a job lot I could not let go. One coach of yours that throws me a little is the Clerestory full bogie brake. This one I would have thought should have had the full lining as opposed to what I term LMS basic lining. Regarding the Restaurant/Dining car scenario I have no idea. I know at one time a Dining car was a full length open coach just for meals then slowly the Kitchen part got added to them. I am open to others idea on this but I was thinking that Restaurant meant you went to the counter to order/buy your food whereas in a Dining car you sat down and a waiter took your order and served you! Regarding gluing windows back I cannot be bothered with the clips and think with or without the paper backing this causes some of the "spider" lines on the roofs. The coaches have lasted all these years since they were built and I doubt I will be around for another 50 plus years so they will be fine.

For anyone interested here is a video showing the modern Hornby loco driven 9F running on Dublo 3-rail track. This loco as in real life has 4 sets of flanged wheels. The tender has had an 8F tender chassis suitably modified to fit the tender top. It is not quite the correct style but easy to use with the plunger pick-ups.

Hi Tony, I still have a few sets of 5 etches for the GUV if you are interested in shaping one up for yourself? Underframe base, underframe battery boxes, sides/top (all one piece) and 2 sets of window bars. Garry

Here is another Black 5, 45305, which is an old Margate loco body on a Castle chassis fitted with Dublo's City valve gear. The tender is a standard 8F one as this was far better than the Margate version. This loco has been weighted slightly and does pull a lot better than the previous Black 5. It was painted like it is 30 years ago and still looks fine so a decision was made not to repaint it when it was swapped from a Hornby chassis to a Dublo one. The motorised GUV's are etched brass sides and new underframes fitted to S/D ends and roof. The ends have had a drivers window cut into each of them on one side. The green one has an etched underframe with the maroon one waiting for one to be fitted. These coaches are mounted on 3-rail Dublo Bo-Bo bogies set at a further distance apart. There is also a Blood and Custard livery version awaiting some bogies.

Two These are two Stanier locos never made by Hornby Dublo. The 2-6-0 utilises the R1 chassis with 2-6-4 valve gear and a straight forward 8F body. The tender is an 8F chassis with a modern Hornby body. The Black 5 has modern China made Hornby bodies on a Castle loco chassis with City valve gear and again the 8F tender base. Unfortunately this is too light and what is behind her is the maximum she will pull at the moment so either a lot of weight needed, or, re wheeling with plain mazak ones. At least she looks the part and runs at the moment.

Here is a K's Jubilee and Hornby Patriot. Both loco bodies are mounted onto Dublo Castle chassis's fitted with Duchess valve gear.

Here is another video I decided to do while packing stock away ready to start layout work again. This time it is the two A3's with Dublo/Wrenn A4 chassis's (I do have Tri-ang and Hornby ones ). This is what York station was like when I used to stand on the main platforms which were 8, 9 and 14. It was rare, and I don't really remember A4's on 14 whereas A1's, 2's, 3,s etc used all 3 main stopping platforms. Platforms 15 and 16 were not used by express trains often, not while I was there anyway.

Here we have 8F 48208 on an empty hopper train from Grassington Quarry to Shildon for wagon repairs on the down line, the first 10 hoppers are Wrenn with the others being Dublo. Passing on the up line is our last BR steam loco built, 92220 Evening Star, on an empty passenger/parcels train on its way to Doncaster. This model is the Hornby loco drive version with an 8F tender base used for the plunger pick-ups. The SR parcels is only as a coupling converter for now.

Here is a repainted Dublo 08 shunter. She is pulling the cross York Rowntrees and Foss Islands freight which was a regular run in the old days trainspotting. The wagons were taken too and from the main Rowntrees factory on one side of York to a rail served depot on the other. After the factory the single line branch went on first past York City General Hospital and maybe unloaded a coal wagon or two then to Dodsworth Avenue laundry where all the BR hotel sheets etc were washed, then to Foss Islands for unloading coal, cattle and oil, sometimes leaving a wagon or two for the gas works. Modellers license is used here as I don't think the oil and cattle and coal were included in the same train. In my early days this was a B1, Standard 4, Black 5 or similar turn as well as 08's.

Brian, John, The reason my County etc has wide orange lines is due to using Dublo replica transfers to try to keep within the Dublo tradition. I could have gone for a more scale version from Fox but I only use them as a last resort. For one of my Dublo A3's I had to use 3 sets of the 0-6-2 O/B/O lining to give it the Dublo looks. Castle and Duchess cab lining was out of the question due to their lower front corners being a different radius. It won't be long before I end up having to use waterslide transfers as varnish fix ones are no longer made and the only place in the UK that still has the paper for them won't do anymore.

Hi David, that set has the very old tin coaches in, mine has the newer plastic ones. Looking at the compartments in the Vectis set it looks like they should have been the longer plastic ones too. I would guess my set has had its brake lost and the owner had a buffet to hand. Mine also has track (fibre base) and a controller but no catenary.

As David and John says, it really was a bright orange. I think it may have been called Chrome orange which is supposed to show up even more than normal orange. For me even the dirty A4's. A3's, A2's and A1's etc probably all showed the lining up clearly. Maybe these locos were not as dirty as imagined although I have seen photos (and so maybe in real life) of ones where it was "invisible". All I can say is York station and sheds had lots of green/orange/black coloured locos. The ones that did seem more grubby with lining missing were the mixed traffic ones that had grey/cream/red lining. Garry

Hi David, Dennis does not often update his site as I think he used to have someone do it for him but definitely still in the business. I see him regularly at shows and speak on the phone. Just ring or write for an updated price of what you want and I know most parts, especially pick-ups are usually in stock. The coaches in the EM1 set are the maroon scale length but for some reason there is the corridor composite and a buffet car. I think the corridor will be correct but suspect the buffet should be a brake. I doubt it will make much difference with the price as both coaches are "grubby" and their windows being acetate are now considerably smaller but I am not going to worry. As for stud contact I personally would not do it, a while ago I bought some Marklin track when I was doing a Dublo layout and it looked very good, fitted well with Dublo track BUT the spoons rattled along all the studs like a lollipop stick along railings. Making the spoons flatter might help but for me there are too many locos to convert. I did start removing the studs from the track and inverting them as a rail because at the time I was going to use Marklin elevated track sections painted in Dublo colours but ended up with the layout I have now. Who knows one day they may be resurrected Garry

Here is the dish shaped disc I showed Ray that I put on my Trix Trans-Pennine although mine was needed as my centre rail is lower than the running rails, code 83 as opposed to code 100. I have just got a reasonable boxed Trix EM1 set with two coaches (possibly the wrong ones), track and a Trix controller. This controller does state made by Hammant and Morgan for Trix. There is also a Trix year book 1956 which only has A/C stock and Bakelite track. I only want the loco, Triton, so all the rest will be disposed of sometime. The loco is set for 2-rail but hopefully tomorrow I will set the collectors for 3-rail. The Marklin skate is used on a Tri-ang motorised tender for Dublo running but again domed discs are soldered on each end but not really needed I think for standard Dublo track. David, do not look at Dublo pick-ups of any style on Ebay as Dennis Williams "The Dublo Surgeon" via Google sells brand new replicas a fair bit cheaper, sometimes half the price on Ebay. Tender plungers are either Brass or Nickel, your choice. Garry

Good luck with it and I hope there are no problems for you or anyone but I personally will never have another Heljan loco after my Garratts issues (hopefully sorted but time will tell) and reading all the issues with other locos (not just one class), motor issues, mazak issues, bits dropping off, parts bending and breaking etc.

Hello Drotto, I have mentioned the NEM pockets on here being the cause of pony truck derailments. They are too high and have the bufferbeams resting on them. Heljan knew this problem and filed a chamfer on the leading edge to lower the chassis. It still derailed until I fitted smaller wheels and since then no problem. My kadees have no issues and if you look at the You Tube videos you will see this.

I imagine you may be referring to my Garratt at 100 mph and probably a long train with 18 coaches but none of this should have any detrimental effect on a loco. No manufacturer ever puts a note in with a loco saying "do not run at more than 1/2 speed of your controller" or "do not put more than 15 wagons on" etc. If a loco slips YES there is something wrong with the owner trying to overload it otherwise there should not be a problem at whatever speed etc you run it at.

I don't know about reassembling the motors, I had to break off the end cap to get to the armature and then the brush arms were totally useless also. Very soft bronze that broke up on the bent tabs so none of those parts were usable afterwards. Removing the flywheel bent the armature shaft.

There is a reasonable amount of space in the firebox/boiler if you are leaving it with the connectors for the PCB board. Alternatively if this is removed run wires to the firebox area without all the other paraphernalia otherwise as Tony says it is very tight in either unit. I don't know what physical size resisters you are looking at but possibly they may fit in the frames from below? Garry

Here you are Bertiedog, this shows the motor width and the plastic CV joint enclosed in the brass flywheel. Garry

Hi Tony, There are 2 main parts, the water tank with a separate bunker glued on with a few other little items glued and clipped on. One of which has broken off, as has a buffer. The fittings are far too flimsly for a model to be worked on anytime. There was a very tiny block with wire in on the firemans side of the bunker and this was held on with a plastic pin thinner than a domestic pin. No wonder it just snapped off. Hello Mike, My test was 30 minutes or less before failure. I think Tony's was 5 minutes. Garry

Hi Tony, Here are 3 photos showing the bunker off centre. It is as if the cone has been glued at a slight angle as the rest of the frames line up with the cab etc and when I place the water tank against a straight edge, kitchen worktop, the gap is greater on one side and I dare not try to "bend/twist" so will leave it this way on the tracks. At least Garratt's don't need turning thankfully. I have tried to keep the camera as in line as possible. Garry

Stephen, you might have a job putting the 13mm diameter motors in the casting as the 12mm ones are quite tight, I very much doubt there is 0.5mm let alone 1mm free space. You would then need to remove the internal cast mountings. I am interested to see how you fit them as I suspect my replacement might not hold out, or, the second original as no one has given that a chance to see if it is the same build as the ones that blew. As far as I know once one motor had blown the models were swapped or refunded? Garry

Sorry Bertiedog but the armatures are only 3 pole. 12mm diameter and 30mm long, supposedly 1.5mm shaft. Garry

I now have my Garratt back running, for how long I do not know I have attached photos of the original chassis blocks before and after I have modified them. I had actually removed the screws and started to separate the top block when I took the photo and due to wire and blue tack I did not want to force it back down afterwards. The top blocks have had a hole drilled in the top over the front o ring groove and some material removed at both sides on the front end. This is to hopefully give a little air circulation which seemed to be less than generous in its standard construction. I know it is not much, and unsightly, but I did not want to remove any of the motor holding part of the casting. The motors do have two small slots which I guess are for air circulation so more air around can only be a good thing. There is very, very, little room to fit wires in situ especially as I have fully hard wired these units now. Each unit could work independently now if weight was put on the pivot point as without the boiler in place they are front heavy and tip. I have had to resort to using blue tack to hold the wires in place and to insulate the soldered joins as there is no room for spare wire to be left loose and folded up inside the body as such, all original wires are laid in small grooves cast into the blocks (please give me an old Dublo or Tri-ang loco ). Both lights and the circuit board have been removed and disposed of so fingers crossed it lasts more than about 30 minutes , so far about 10. On a slightly different note I have found that the revolving coal bunker is off set, so much so that when placed on the track in one direction the whole unit will not go around 3rd radius curves with derailments, on my layout this would be bunker first on the outer track. By turning the units around so with bunker trailing on the outer track there is no issues. I did try to remove some material from the cab rear plate but to no avail. Garry