Hacksworth_Sidings

The motor has two arms on the shaft, as the motor turns over the centrifugal force swings the arms outwards, these engage with a dish on the first reduction gear, providing a smooth take up of the drive when giving 12V directly from a standstill. (Clutch assembly pictured below, will be able to get more photos this weekend) It is for this reason that examples with the clutch removed in favour of a permanent coupling will stall on points with insulated frogs if there aren’t any modifications to the pickup system, as the model only picks up power in a small range (I believe the pickup range, using only the plungers on the tender, is less than 1cm, so you’ll need some serious speed to get over points if you’re relying only on the plungers on a drive with the motor permanently coupled!) The model pictured with the 2 pole motor runs rather nicely, so I’m keeping it in original condition, the other I’m planning on fitting wiper pickups to the loco, to combat the issues caused by such a short pickup range.

That reminds me of another question I have, relating to GraFar’s time producing OO… How many locos did they actually produce? I’ve counted seven so far: LMS 5MT, GWR King, SR Merchant Navy, GWR 8100, GWR 9400, NYC (Dreyfus?) Hudson, and the SR Q class(?) from the 3 rail “Formo” train set, which I can’t seem to find much info on, besides YouTube user “Kleedham’s” video on it… I recall hearing something about a GF OO 8F? Unsure where, but confirmation on that would be interesting, as Dublo produced the 8F, so was there a need for two OO, RTR 8Fs on the market? Also, if you ever need/want to sell off the King, let us know!

Does she actually run? Those chassis’s look to be Dapol’s/Hornby’s rather than the ones supplied in the kits…

Hope these photos are of use, chassis is pictured on Triang series 3 curves (I believe they’re equivalent to modern UK radii 1 and 2)

I wonder which I’ll finish first… At the rear is the 4-8-4 chassis, just needs a motor, front is one I started but haven’t shown off yet, which I’m considering turning into Henry now, need to remove the steam chest if I’m to make him though, and in the centre? I finally bit the bullet and decided to attempt a Princess to Castle conversion! Need to shorten the boiler and smokebox, then scratchbuild a new cab..

The driveshaft doesn’t need to go from loco to tender, thankfully I still have the original metal shaft, just a short one between the motor and the first reduction gear as shown above.

Managed to build a drawbar for the 8F from plasticard, and I’ve got a front bogie (if you count a friend saying he has one for you, but having not gone to his place to pick it up yet as having one), still need to sort out the rewind though. They’re pretty accurate to the actual faces used on the props, you’ve got to give the designer that… My janky, hand painted finish doesn’t help though, got them all soaking in some Dettol now, going to spray them this weekend…

I just remembered I have some 3D printed faces for the Thomas & friends character Henry… Got these from Shapeways a few years ago for a project… And I also have a cut-down Princess in the works… Ideas are brewing…

Unsure of the origin, friend only shared this screenshot with me, but it’s an E2 bash which actually looks good for a reasonable price!? Why Hornby can’t put this much effort into starter grade locos is beyond me…

Aye, I’ve seen the Hornby Minitrix range, not an N gauge modeller myself but certainly interesting.

Triang? N gauge? When?

I wonder what I could be doing here… :)

Certainly does have a “Britannia” vibe to it…

Not really after accuracy with that idea… Triang produced the Castle for TT3 in the late 50s, and I’ve always wondered how it’d look if they attempted one for OO, granted, there was no need to, as Dublo beat them to it, but it’s always interested me… Likewise with the other TT3 exclusives like the Merchant, Prairie, and the two French locos, what if they were produced by Triang in OO?

I’ve also been thinking more on a Triang Castle… This chassis is going towards another project, shan’t say what until I have it done, but a B12/Hall chassis with cylinders from a Princess, much similar to the B12/Hall chassis under the Kitmaster BoB kit, and it looks like it’ll be perfect for a Castle… The Princess boiler and frames might go to good use for a Castle, paired up with a Hall’s tender… I’m getting ahead of myself though, this chassis is going to something totally unrelated, the parts I need for it should arrive within the next week…

So… I finally sorted out the Northern chassis! A bit of fettling with the milliput and it rolls decently, binds up every now and then, but for the most part operates in a satisfactory manner! Now… What to do for the body…

If I can get that to fit on both the motor shaft and the gearbox shaft, that might be doable. Adapt, improvise, overcome.

Finally got access to the layout and my spare motors… Here’s the setup I have planned: Using a Triang Princess tender chassis, as the original GraFar tender chassis was broken and missing parts. Any suggestions for joining the motor shafts? I’ve seen some drives use a flexible tube to transmit power so I’m considering one of those…

I mean… It has a box! A bit tatty, but it has one! 😂 If I were to sell it, I don’t think I’d sell it for anything over a tenner, the box could certainly be of use to someone, but the carriage is heavily damaged, underframe could likely be salvaged, maybe the wheels too…

I’ve got a similar issue with a Pullman carriage I got, I bought two black fives (which thankfully didn’t have zinc pest!) off user Chaz D, and he threw in a GraFar Pullman carriage as a bonus due to it being unneeded, body is warped in a very similar fashion, roof sagging and ends bending up, somewhat similar to Triang 6’ carriages with how the ends warped, and the bogies broke extremely easily, so likely a victim to zinc pest. Though I assume the body warping would be due to low quality plastics.

Zinc oxide? Is that what was on my Hornby School? There was some white powder on the front bogie and the main chassis, dad mistook it for zinc pest when we viewed it in the antique store (after the scare we got from my first attempt at getting a GraFar black five), but a nylon brush and the white powder slid right off.

On the topic of R1s… Here’s one I made earlier: Dublo R1 acquired from Hattons for £15, cleaned out the chassis with WD-40 and white spirit (previous owner must’ve used 3 in 1 to lubricate it, the stuff was like freshly chewed gum on a hot day!) got it running to a reasonable standard though I think he might want a remag… Some extensions to the tanks with milliput and card, the face from an old “ERTL” Thomas, and he was done! Made him as a birthday present for my younger brother last year, he isn’t run awfully often, but he loves the thing, it’s a model unique to him.

What wheels did you use? Duchess? N2? R1? R1 might be doable as I have one on order right now… At the same time, I’m debating what to do with that, as I already have an R1, a Wrenn one, so taking its wheels for other projects could be doable… But the R1 chassis is a pretty good one, unsure what I’ll do with it just yet.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145598504520 No words, just another run of the mill Thomas & friends custom!

So I’ve been thinking.. In the first article I shared in that post, it shows another pugbash, an 0-6-0T for TT track (narrow gauge in 4mm scale), presumably built around the Triang TT Jinty chassis… …Could OO wheels be fitted to the Triang TT Jinty chassis? I’m still on the hunt for a good OO, short wheelbase chassis, so if such is possible then I’ll start looking into that…