goldfish

I am currently trying to restore a Leeds clockwork body that had been stripped at some point and then left untreated. The resulting surface rust has proved something of a challenge, probably a much bigger challenge than the original stripping. I would strongly advise that the bare metal surface is sealed as soon as possible after stripping with a suitable primer or sealer. Remembering that tinplate can rust from the inside out, so it is worth paying as much attention to treating the inside of the body as treating the outside. Your biggest problem is that tinplate is addictive, so beware.

The credit should go to PaulRhB on the Billerbahn Oe tinplate thread. It also gives a quick and easy textured finish to stone walls.

Ah, so not a professional restorer. I must confess to jumping to the wrong conclusion. Partly because I recognised the name. In fact this is the second time this article has been recommended to me. Perhaps it is time I joined the TCS, although I hardly qualify as a collector.

Unfortunately I am not a member of the TCS. Does Martin Dawes have a website?

The body has nearly a century of grime in places, so I thought of having it ultrasonically cleaned. The only downside I can see is that I might have to solder it back together if it falls apart in the ultrasonic bath.

I thought of creating a pool inside the body and then brushing it, but a quick trial in tin suggests that Halford's primer is too quick drying to successfully brush. I am not completely sure what the correct primer is for tinplate, does it need an etch primer? At the moment Hammerite looks to be a good candidate for the inside. Michael

Another change of couplings, but this time with a difference. My latest clockwork conversion project is the body from a Leeds Model Company 0-4-0 Saddle Tank. It came with the hook from a 3-link coupling soldered onto the front buffer beam, but would originally have been fitted with drop link couplings as these were the standard fitting in the twenties when the body was manufactured. So this time I am restoring the original pattern couplings. The front coupling has the shortened drawbar intended for fitting to Hornby Tinplate, but to my eye could do with being a little shorter. The body appears to be an abandoned restoration project because it has been stripped, but left with some residue, and not protected from surface corrosion. It is remarkably good condition considering its age. The inside of the body needs some form of rust protection, but the nooks and crannies cannot be reached with a spray. Does anybody know of a suitable primer for tinplate that can be thinned and applied by brush? It would a shame if having lasted this long the body was allowed to rust away from inside.

Anyone using Merkur tinplate track may be interested to know that Merkur Trains are now manufactured by the TIOKA-IKARIA GROUP s.r.o. There is a smart new website which will eventually be in Czech, German and English, but currently only works in Czech. One welcome change is that if you try and contact them you actually get a response, even more welcome the response is in English. I have never heard of the TIOKA-KARIA GROUP, but according to Blik & Speelgoed, who are going to be the distributor for The Netherlands, and Google translate : "As of 2017, new tin train models Gauge 0 are produced by TIOKA IKARIA in the Czech Republic. Tioka was founded after the Second World War. The factory was nationalized in 1960. In 1968 the factory was renamed Chemoplast. Tioka Ikaria has far-reaching plans to develop a wide range of tinplate gauge 0." https://www.merkurtrain.cz/

An impressive beast. Is that a die-cast metal body? I understand that Walsall will turn wheels to any profile you specify. They make the couplings for me and i find them very helpful. I supply a rather crude drawing of what is required and they do the rest. They provide a good quality product as well. Usual disclaimer, no connection just a very satisfied customer.

Walsall probably manufacture course scale wheels to the G0G specification ( https://www.gaugeoguild.com/manual/01_1_standards.pdf ), which is much finer than what would be considered course scale here. Wheels to this standard are very similar to ETS 2-rail wheels which have problems with Lionel and Atlas points.

I have replaced the wheels on some of my stock with finer wheels so that they will negotiate ETS points which require a flange depth of 1.5mm. ETS 3-rail wheels for example will not go through ETS points. Some of my Hornby stock are fitted with Slaters wheels for use on my shunting plank. These are mainly fine scale wheels, but some are course scale wheels. Hornby runs much smoother on metal wheels with proper bearings. I have some Leeds Bakelite wagons that are fitted with ETS wheels and axle boxes. Which combined with sprung drawbar drop link couplings makes them as good, if not better, than the modern offerings. If the original axle boxes are in good condition it is much easier to replace them with modern wheels. I find that fine scale wheels run with no problems on ETS or good quality tubular track, so I have no reason to change them. Obviously they not not run through course scale points or crossings, but they will run through Hornby points but not Hornby crossings.

I have tried these, but they are a far from ideal replacement. The loop under the buffer beam is very narrow and restricts the lateral movement of the coupling to the extent that it can cause derailments. The best solution I have come up with is to cut a slot in the centre of the buffer beam and use sprung drawbar couplings, a process I find rather fraught. My own obession with couplings continues despite Covid-19, hence the arrival of another batch of couplings. This time with a shortened drawbar and the mounting hole enlarged to suit Hornby tinplate. The reduction in the distance between the buffers is not great, but they are much better than the Hornby couplings. The real bonus is that you can propel a rake of wagons through 18" radius reverse curves with complete confidence, even at clockwork speeds. So I can now mix 1950's Hornby with 2020's plastic, but Hornby is much more fun and far less fragile.

Hornby Dublo style couplings have been used by ETS for their own brand products for many years. My experience of them is limited but they seem to work well enough when new.

I am afraid that my fixation with couplings continues. My latest venture is a Bassett Lowke Class 20 Diesel. I am not sure how the original couplings were fitted, these were very lose and flopping around. The replacements are fixed rigidly to the bogies. As a result they need the full width of the cut out on the bottom of the buffer beam. Rather to my surprise, the Class 20 is not only able to traverse the double reverse curves through the 2' points on my shunting plank, but is also able to propel my Bassett Lowke Brake Van through them with no trouble at all, despite both supposedly needing 27" minimum radius curves. As a change from twentieth century tinplate toy trains, I have been experimenting with twenty first century plastic toy trains in the form of Dapol 7 plank open wagons. Much easier than those fiddly 3-link couplings.

If you read my post carefully you will see that I do say £800.99 each :-)

An ebay search for "Hornby 2710" now produces some interesting results. You can have one at the "official" price of £524.99, the discounter has raised the price to £480.00, or you can be ripped off and buy all four versions for £800.99 each. More reasonably, you can have an almost original one for £244.99. Somehow I do not think that these reproductions will prove a good investment.

The discounting has begun. eBay item number: 293481004553 Hornby R3815 0-4-0 tinplate locomotive 2710 No.1 Hornby Centenary Year O GAUGE. "Buy it now" £440.00 free postage. No connection, just noticed it in the listings.

The mechanisms are just modified ETS drive units. So probably much cheaper to do it yourself. The drive units are readily available either direct from ETS, or through one of their UK distributors. https://www.ets.cz/

I might have been less precise about which couplings I have changed I my last posts. The LMC Bakelite wagons are a straight substitution of sprung drawbar drop link couplings for sprung drawbar 3-link couplings. The ETS couplings that I have replaced are the oversize "Hornby Dublo" type. So quite a drastic change. The Steeple Cab locomotive and low sided wagon had already been converted to 3-link couplings when I got them, so a bit of a cheat. So far as propelling wagons fitted with these sprung drawbar drop link couplings goes, so far, so good. The LMC Bakelite wagons can be propelled around Lionel 036 reverse curves (18" radius) with out a problem. The coupling are only a little longer than the original 3-link couplings, and so work in the same way. If the wagons are fitted with LMC wide buffers there is contact between the buffers and the drop ink is in light tension. If the wagons are fitted with shorter, more scale sized, buffers, the couplings are long enough to keep the buffers apart.

Retaining the integrity of my LMC Bakelite wagons was one of the main drivers behind going down this route. Using a sprung draw bar requires no modification to the wagons. I regard the modern ETS stock as fair game, but I hesitate treat even my Hornby stock in the same way. I am currently looking at the possibility of replacing buffer beams on my Terrier so that I can fit sprung drawbar couplings. So far I have roughed up a replacement in styrene, which suggests that it is possible, but some cunning is going to be needed to get around the screw heads ETS put in the way.

So far I have encountered no problems. They can be pushed through the double reverse 2' curves on my shunting plank with no problem.

Perhaps not the thing to do with you prize locomotive, but in my humble opinion this is an improvement. The resulting clearance is the same as with the drop link coupling, so no problems with sharp curves.

If you will forgive my continuing obsession with couplings. Drop link couplings were only a standard fitting on Leeds products from about 1920 to 1928, before and after that period 3-link couplings were the standard fitment. It is possible to use 3-link couplings with LMC pattern drop link couplings, but the problem of potential buffer lock remains. My solution is to graft a sprung drawbar onto a LMC pattern hook and drop link. The original idea was to use them on LMC Bakelite wagons... But they work equally well on Locomotives... Or, with bit of metal bashing, as a replacement for ETS couplings...

I am not sure where this fits in the plausibility stakes, but you don't have to confine yourself to an 0-4-0. Not my conversion, but it appears to just fit.

I don't know of any links, but it is pretty straight forward on the No. 40, 50 and 51 locomotives. The rear mounting on the ETS drive unit just needs opening out, and the front mounting needs an adaptor plate to bridge the gap to the Hornby front mounting. It doesn't need to be anything fancy, for this one I just used a couple of strips of 64 thou brass strip. Things get complicated when you convert to 2-rail because you have to insulate the piston/cylinders, but for 3-rail all you have to do is bore out the piston connecting link to 4.5mm to fit the ETS bushes. If you want to move any more than a couple of wagons you need to pack the body with some serious weight.