Wolseley

Yes, after i posted my earlier comments, I did think of the inaccuracy of the underframe and, if it had occurred to me at the time I posted that, I would have mentioned it. It does come down to how many compromises you are intending to make, and I had in mind the photograph of the Caley Single with these coaches behind it in the earlier post and, if you are going to run Tri-ang/Hornby locomotives whose tooling goes back a few decades, then you are going to be making compromises, such as the daylight (or lack of it) under the boiler and so on. Yes, the coaches are not accurate models by present day standards, but then neither is the locomotive hauling them. If you want a near perfect scale model, you would replace the locomotive with a London Road Models kit and the coaches with kits from Caley Coaches. As for me, I'm afraid that I left the underframes and ends of my Tri-ang/Hornby Caledonian coaches as is (I may go back and change the ends at some point, but I have plenty of other projects to finish first) but I did repaint them, as the colours varied quite a bit, and I did remove the detail from the roofs and fit new rainstrips and Havoc ventilators - yes, I know that the last few of Pickersgill's version of the 57' coaches had torpedo ventilators but, to me, the Havoc ventilators look more Caledonian and, as I was replacing the ventilators, I would rather replace them with something that is not likely to draw too much attention to other inaccuracies. They should look the part behind my GEM Cardean, which sits on a Tri-ang B12 chassis. I must admit that, probably because most of what I run is vintage equipment from the 1950s, I hadn't even given a thought to the lack of interiors. It will be interesting to see how much longer it will be before the 812 model arrives. I pre-ordered one just after they were announced and it has been rather a long time. I haven't given a thought to what I'll put behind it though but, as I ordered a blue model, it may end up hauling passenger rather than goods stock.

The sides of the Tri-ang Caledonian coaches are exceptionally accurate for ready to run models of their era - it is the roofs and the ends that leave a lot (to put it mildly) to be desired, due to Tri-ang economising by using existing products, in this case BR Mark I parts. I'm pretty certain too that Tri-ang intended the coaches not to represent the Grampian stock, but rather the 57 foot 8 wheel coaches that 123 was seen hauling on rail tours in the 1960s. If you are prepared to overlook the extra scale 8 feet in length, and the inaccurate ends and roof, a combination as above is a good representation of 123 as preserved in the 1960s.

Food for thought. Even an 0-6-2T in Metropolitan livery could be tempting. this one is going to be a bit different from those though.....

I finally got around to fitting a rear bogie to my Dublo 0-6-4T and it has been running quite happily around the layout (or at least has been running quite happily since I fixed the back-to-back of the leading driving wheels, which was almost 1mm more than it should have been). What? A Dublo 0-6-4T, I hear you say? there wasn't such a beast, was there? Well, there is now. I took a Dublo 0-6-2T and replaced the trailing wheels with a bogie from a Dublo 2-6-4T. I couldn't use the bogie as it was, as the arm connecting it to the chassis wasn't long enough. The mounting point on the chassis is very close to the gear wheel on the rear axle too, so anything I could easily make would have fouled it. In the end, I took a spare Dublo A4 trailing truck (I have several in my spares box), which is mounted to its chassis in almost an identical way to the 0-6-2T, cut off the sides and the hook at the rear, and screwed the bogie (minus arm) to it. I still have to touch up the paintwork where I modified it, but here it is:

I agree with the comment about the sound track. So many videos posted on YouTube have badly done commentaries - boring monotone voices, badly written (or more likely off-the-cuff) wording, bad music, or mindless waffle interspersed with umms and aahs. I do not venture into YouTube that often but, when I do, I invariably turn the sound off, unless the commentary is essential (Ron Dodds' videos are the only ones I think would fall into this category and, oh, how I wish he would turn his radio off. I have put three or four videos on YouTube myself, but they have no commentary or music at all, just trains rattling around on Dublo three rail track. And, by the way, what on earth is a "vintage op" in the world of model railways? A model railway item bought from an op shop?

I read the Italian version although I think the main reason I could follow what it was saying was that I had read basically the same information in English a few hours earlier. I'm not sure that I totally understood either though. As for me, I'm perfectly happy being a UK citizen with permanent residency rights in Australia........

You had me wondering about our daughters' position regarding citizenship after I read that but, as my wife became a naturalised Australian citizen before 1992, when Italian citizenship laws were changed to allow dual citizenship, it looks like they miss out. They can hold both Australian and UK passports though (and our elder daughter used her UK passport a number of years ago when she was living and working in first Switzerland and then Spain) as I am still a UK citizen.

This is getting a way a bit from the M7, but your comment reminds me of the NSW Railways 26 class, which is (and I can use the present tense, as one was preserved) a 2-6-2T but, to all intents and purposes, looks like a 2-8-0T.

Another Ex-Pat then. I'm from Brechin, in Scotland, but have been in Australia most of my life..... Jim

Perhaps because I linked to the Australian eBay site rather than the UK one. When I view both in the Australian version of eBay, the cost of posting the rolling chassis (to Australaia) is £18.08, whereas the cost of posting a bit of valve gear is £13.75. Mind you, that's nothing like $134.62 to post a Wrenn transfer for a Windsor Castle tender from the UK to Australia that I saw one eBay vendor quoting.......

It would be cheaper to buy a rolling chassis, not to mention being less work: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/133858487127?hash=item1f2a966b57:g:SlUAAOSwHy5hJT9f

I'm pretty certain that's the one.

It was Drummond's 454 class 0-6-0 for the North British, which was basically a Stroudley D class 0-4-2 (not sure what variant - I'm not too well up on LBSCR matters), redesigned as a six coupled locomotive (in details other than the wheel arrangement, the 454 was much closer to Stroudley's D class than to his 0-6-0 design, the C class). The boiler, firebox and grate dimensions were within a few inches of being the same, and the tenders were identical, down to the framing and the underhung springs. they initially were equipped with Stroudley's feedwater heating system, but this was removed at an early date. The main differences between the two classes, other than the wheel arrangement, were confined to the cab roof and dome with enclosed lock up safety valves. Both had smokebox wingplates, similar smokebox doors and fastenings, sandboxes combined with leading splashers, left hand boiler handrail incorporating the control rod to the blower valve on the smokebox side and, as mentioned, their tenders. The NBR 454 class was developed into the Caledonian "Jumbo" class, once Drummond moved to St Rollox, with little in the way of external differences.

I think that's the NB Drummond designed 0-6-0 that evolved into the Caley Jumbo, but I'll have to go digging through a few books to confirm it.

Another repaint (not quite finished yet - I have to retouch a bit of the lining.....)

As far as I'm concerned, if it's playworn AND it's not rare, I'll repaint it. And, before anyone asks, the two on the left started off as Cities of London, not the rarer Liverpool. I really need to fit the City of Edinburgh with larger name plates....... Jim

Before you send any more off to the UK, you might want to forward an email to David Neale in Bowral to find out if he can do it and, if so, how much he would charge. I haven't given him any of my locos to repair or service, but I have four non-runners that I can't fix myself and intend to have him look at. Before Covid reared its ugly head, we visited Bowral fairly frequently, as we have friends in Burradoo and family in Canberra and, what with Dublo being as heavy as it is, I was intending to deliver and pick them up myself. It's a fairly low priority for me, so it can wait until the restrictions are lifted. https://mkn-digital-train-repairs.com/other-work-undertaken/

Definitely. And I would say the same of the Duchess and the 8F too. There is something about them that modern, more detailed models don't somehow capture.

I think I would run the risk of being exterminated if I paid the price that is generally asked for a Ludlow Castle. Yes, I do have a Ringfield powered Castle, but it's a repainted two rail version that I converted to three rail (and, for those who think you should leave collectable items in their original state, I had to repaint it - it was badly playworn and the cab roof was bent): There are a few Dublo items in my collection that have been modified and/or repainted. As well as a repaint, I gave this 0-6-2T a new smokebox door:

If they have the valances, they're pre-war and potentially very valuable. Without the valances they are post-war, less valuable, but still worth having in your collection. If you are collecting Dublo in Australia there aren't many local sources, although there are a couple of eBay vendors located in Australia who regularly sell Dublo and who are well worth keeping an eye on. There used to be Train Traders at Pymble (I assume not far from where you are located) but they closed down three or four years ago. Sourcing items from the UK is still an option, but you have to be wary of the postage costs, especially on eBay. I have purchased quite a few Dublo items from JW Model Railways in the UK and his postal charges are fairly reasonable. There are others as well, just watch the cost of the postage..... Jim

Another vote for nuts and bolts. I have tried using eyelets, which are available on eBay and from one or two suppliers of spare parts, but I have found it difficult to apply the right amount of pressure to get them to fit correctly - too much pressure and they don't turn smoothly, too little and they wobble - plus one slip and you can mutilate them. I recently fitted Dublo bogies to a rake of Tri-ang Caledonian coaches and, after three unsuccessful attempts on one coach, resorted to using short nuts and bolts, which worked perfectly first time. I put a drop of superglue on the top of the thread after the nut and bolt were in place to ensure that they wouldn't unscrew in service.

I'm pretty certain that the white lines disappeared around 1956, give or take a year or so. My guess is it was a cost cutting exercise, as they look better with them. For my platforms, I used a rather pale grey, as I thought pure white looked a bit too stark.

Nice to know I'm not alone. It's the only metric measurement I can't understand. I have to convert it to miles per gallon to know what it is. Before Covid reared its ugly head, I used to do fairly regular trips from Sydney to Canberra (about 330km) and was getting figures under 5 litres per 100km (often around 4.8, sometimes less) and had now idea how little petrol the car was using until I decided to visit a web page to convert it......

And here are the repainted station buildings, footbridge, platforms and signal box:

Well, it usually takes me a while to get around to finishing most of my modelling projects, and this was no exception. It was something that had to be done at some time as, not only were the station buildings, foot bridge, platforms and signal box a bit playworn, but the platforms were three different shades of whatever you call that yellowy brown colour Meccano Ltd used. I ended up sticking with the original colours for the buildings and all that remains is to retouch the colour in the window frames and doorframes. I sprayed the paint on using small aerosol cans rather than painting by brush, as I wanted a nice clean finish without any brushmarks and with a minimum of imperfections. The colours I used were Tamiya Light Sand (TS-46) which although close to the Dublo yellowy brown, turned out to be a more attractive colour and, for the roofs, Tamiya Orange (TS-12) which is slightly brighter than Dublo orange, but not too much so. I'll post a photo once I've touched up the doors and windows, although that could take a few days of spare time, as there are three island platform buildings, one through station and a signal box to do. I think I'll probably paint the white line along the edge of the platforms too (something that some of my platforms had and some didn't). Jim