Hacksworth_Sidings

Birthday today, went to Llangollen, spent a bit of cash on, wait for it… …Another Prairie! Fifteen quid’s probably a bit steep, but I have another project regardless!

I bought myself an Athearn boxcar kit in 2022, still have the box somewhere, you mean to say I could chuck whatever junky Triang spares I have in the box and make twenty quid??

Decided to rewatch Kleedham’s video showcasing his GraFar black five, and came across this interesting solution for the motor/gearbox coupling… A notch has been cut out of the motor pinion, to which it slots around a suitably sized rod, mounted on the shaft for the first gear reduction, a simple coupling I could probably pull off rather easily… If I can find my Dremel… Also decided against using the Triang motor, instead I’ve plans to use a motor from an Airfix prairie tank, I’d built one of the Dapol kit bodies in 2022 on the GMR chassis, but the chassis has been giving me all sorts of problems since then, motor is fine though, so whilst the prairie gets a new chassis (a modified Triang Jinty chassis like what I’ve used under other prairie models), it’s old, beefy motor is going in the 5MT.

I don’t think 33C’s was extended to scale length? Either that or my eyes are deceiving me, I was just unsure if anyone had done or thought of a combination of the “scale length” conversion and the “Turbomotive” conversion (I.E. do the necessary body extensions required for the conversion to a scale length Triang Princess first, then do the body modifications for the Turbomotive on the extended body).

Random 11PM Brainwave… Has anyone ever considered a combination of the “scale length” conversion and the Turbomotive conversion? Or is that just an idea only being thought up now? Just curious… Birthday soon, I might buy some junked Princesses and give that a stab…

“Loco looks incomplete” No $h!t!

At Severn Valley today, and I saw this fancy thing at Bridgnorth… Scratchbuilt Great Bear based around the Dublo Castle (1/2in motor).

Link? Or has it already gone? Also yes, GraFar Hudson chassis, I honestly had no idea they used that 2 pole motor until recently…

I’ve had a fair bit of luck at my local train shows with second hand Triang things… L1 for fifteen quid, suburban carriages for a fiver each or so, a smoking B12 for a tenner (sold to me as a non runner, but half an hours cleaning was all it needed)! Never really looked into 0-4-0s though, the standard Hornby ones you can get for a tenner or similar, but I’ve never really checked the prices on the Triang ones, my next local show is in June, if I remember then I’ll report on the prices of Nellies, Connies, Pollys, etc…

Probably worth it just for the chassis’s, could maybe salvage the Oxford Radial…

Good evening, RMWeb, I’ve recently been trying to branch out into modelling locomotives, rolling stock, and train sets from other countries to go alongside my fleet of UK stock, particularly Japanese prototypes. A friend shared a Google drive folder of locomotive drawings with me a while ago, but that’s mainly got steam locos, with a few older diesels/electrics, no modern items! Any decent sources for Japanese prototype drawings? In particular I’m interested in designs such as the Kintetsu 21000 series “Urban Liner Plus” (above), and the Keihan 8000 series (below), two which I’m struggling to find any form of reference for. (The above photos are not my own). Any source of information will help.

Went to Dapol’s website to check what OO locomotive kits they offer, as I was giving suggestions to a friend. It better be etched brass!

Didn’t they also do the same with the Triang Britannia too? Could’ve sworn I’ve seen one of those before…

Is that not just a static replica of the Triang/Hornby model? Note the steps moulded onto the front bogie rather than the body…

All depends on where you look really, twenty quid should be the maximum buying price for the more common ones, and I’ve seen some of the bodgy repaints go for a fiver, tenner tops. It also comes down to the finish on certain models, I recall hearing at a show (I think the Craven Arms club’s June show in 2022) that matte finish Triang models are harder to find due to being produced in smaller quantities? Or was it gloss? It was one of those two, most of my collection is matte with a few glossy though, so I assume it’s the latter, either way, the finish of the model definitely is a factor on the price.

“Ze blootoof devize is ready to pear!”

Most I ever spent on a Triang 0-4-0 was £20 on a boxed Nellie in 2020! Least I spent was a tenner on the 25550 0-4-0 (or is it 25555? The red Nellie, painted to match the Lord Westwood 4-6-0) last year! Some of the prices I’ve seen are ridiculous, I swear I saw the red 0-4-0 “Polly” going for fifty, and the yellow “Connie” for well over a hundred… The latter being sold by Gostude too if I recall correctly!

All we know is… He’s NOT The Stig Gostude, he is, in fact, Gostude’s crackhead brother!

Right, back home, and I’ve quickly knocked this together to better describe what I’m on about… (Ignore the car holding it up!) Two of these modded Princess chassis’s (no front driver, centre is flanged, rear is blind), cut to an appropriate length for mounting cylinders, and also just generally keeping it at an appropriate length, glued together, and possibly wired to run with dual motors.

Same chassis geometry used under “Nellie”, I feel like the spacing would be too far apart, as the T1s had their drivers rather close together, hence why I’d rather use a Princess, I have spare blocks and wheels to hand, would just need valve gear, another motor, and a bit of super glue…

Right, so I’ve just had an idea relating back to the conversion for a 4-4-2 Princess chassis… I’m not the biggest fan of the PRR T1s, but having found out they’re rigid frame locos, I’m tempted to, oh I don’t know… Shorten two Princess chassis’s to 4WD, blind, flangeless wheel on the rear with a flanged driver in front (in a similar fashion to the 8WD conversion, alternating between flanged and blind drivers), glue together to create a rigid frame Duplex chassis… Maybe have dual motors too? I’ll be driving back home soon, can get a few photos better describing what I’m on about doing in a bit…

I did get an A4 body off TinTracks… More tempted to shorten it and put it on an unmodified Princess chassis though, similar to 33C’s conversion on that static Coronation model. Likewise, I have a new-old stock Hornby coronation body, unpainted, also from Rich…

Good news… I finally got the 4-8-4 chassis working! Runs surprisingly well, now to see how long until my wood + milliput bearing wears out! Bad news… I’m stumped on what to do with it! Been considering all sorts of things, P2, P1 (shorten to a 2-8-2 for both), some crazy freelance design… Oooh, what if I made a second and attempted to build a Garratt? 🤪

I never understood why they did that on their cheaper steam locos, the 4F, J50, 9400, they were clearly capable of adding cranks and crank pins onto centre drivers (see their BR80, King, Crab, NSWGR C38, etc), or was it because those all needed to be attached to the wheel to provide a mount for the rods and valve gear?

Never knew GraFar offered split-axle pickup… Possibly a thing with later models then? My two didn’t have such.