Silverfox17

Trix look way out of place against Dublo in my opinion being at a smaller scale. I know Sagaguy runs them but it all looks odd to me. Even the Trans Pennine, which is a lovely model, looks odd although it is a stand alone model without a loco pulling it. Trix were good runners but that was it. If you dont want to paint the tinplate then i would guess the Tri-ang 8" coaches would look better with a Dublo Deltic than the later scale length ones. Garry

One good thing about the 3mm society is the Parkside wagon kits available. These are very good, easy to put together and then I discard the chassis and fit the body onto a Tri-ang wagon chassis. Sometimes I have to cut the chassis to extend it and odd times I have to shorten it. They certainly make the freight side a lot more interesting than the basic wagons Tri-ang made. The long fruit van has had its solebars extended with plastic channel. The SR one is awaiting moving the wheel sets in slightly then extending the solebars Garry

Gresley versus Thompson. Here we have a Gresley A4 pulling Gresley teak coaches with a Thompson B1 pulling Thompson coaches. The teaks were bought as was the B1, the rest are mine. Since the video was made the B1 is now in lined BR livery, it is scratchbuilt on a Tri-ang chassis. Garry

This is another loco bought at the same time as the V2 and V4. This was built be Mike Edge in the early 80's and made to go around Tri-ang curves hence the Tri-ang style rear pony truck. I am not a fan of Thompsons A2/2's but this model had a certain charm and with running on Tri-ang track I could not say no. Garry

Another bought loco, a Gresley V2. This was bought at the same time as the V4 but the locos were made by different people. The V2 is from a Pro-Scale 4mm kit that had been etched at 3mm scale. It would not be something I would have tempted to build having seen what these kits look like, certainly not easy. Garry

Yes, I don't know why I put first as I knew it was the none named one. Garry

There were only a couple of V4's made I think and here is a model of the second one. I bought this last year and as far as I know it is scratchbuilt. I decided to buy this as it was a very early BR scheme which seems to suit it. Unfortunately I cannot say any part is my handiwork although I have had made a smokebox number plate to go on the front. Garry

Here is the BR one. I had not realised it was sold with the top as an operating wagon. Garry

They also did a BR one in grey with the short 4 wheeled open ore wagon like the bottom of the bulk grain wagon. Garry

For me it is because I like my old TT, the trains just keep running after 60 + years and with modern 3D printed bodies on their chassis's a wide variety of trains can be run. They might not have been accurate scale models but you still knew what they were supposed to be just looking at them. I know some modern locos have ceased running within hours and some within a couple of years so give me the old every time. Garry

A video showing how powerful the Stanier tank is. Garry

Here is a Stanier 2-6-4 tank. It is a 3mm society one designed for the Castle chassis. Unfortunately the Castle chassis motor will not fit by a long way so I used the chassis but fitted an XT60 on. Being whitemetal it is quite heavy and a good runner. I am awaiting extra valve gear parts but due to the lockdown and the company already 8 weeks behind it will be quite a while for these items to get done. Garry

A little video of the West Country and tender driven 2P. Sorry for the poor quality. Garry

The lower body looks to be a Stewart/Reidpath one. I don't think it was based on a particular loco just a general purpose freelance one. It was very heavy being cast in a lead/pewter material. Garry

The 3D printed West Country has been painted and partly lined out, just the opposite side footplate edge to do now, that's if if this side settles nicely. Nameplates were ordered this week so awaiting the next batch to be done. Garry

Here she is painted and lined, now awaiting a smokebox number plate and a chassis building. Garry

Another Lenny Seeney 3D printed body, this time a C12 4-4-2. This is nearly finished paint wise but as of yet no chassis. The bogie and driving wheel part of the GC chassis should fit with a modified trailing truck. Garry

Another one of Lenny Seeney's 3D bodies is a rebuilt W/C. Here I have done a lot of cutting of the footplate underneath to fit a Tri-ang Britannia chassis to it. I replaced the outer wheels with the Bulleid ones but the centre ones do not have crankpins in. Yesterday I found a few spare crankpins for the Britannia and managed to fit then to a centre wheel set although I did have to remove each wheel to do so. It worked out very well so today I put some in a pair of Jinty wheels in readiness for some Tri-ang style valve gear for the 3MT tank. Garry

A lovely 3D printed model of an AL1 arrived yesterday, including a couple of nice pantographs (non working ones). Due to the low roof centre section I cannot use my usual Tri-ang motor bogies so a pair of Halling ones will probably be used. This will hopefully be finished in early Electric blue without yellow panels which looks good at the head of a maroon rake of coaches. Garry

Robert, some TT was made for a couple of years after you were born. I think until 64/5 even though it ceased in 67/8 the last few yeaes were usually selling off stock. Careful cutting of standard straights using both ends and shorter rails should be okay to give lengths of 1, 2, 3 short straights etc. So you are a youngster really, I was 10 by the time you were born. Garry

It is not easy getting things like watercranes in TT scale these days so I have used Hornby Dublo ones. The main casting was cut off just above the handle and the column drill 1/16" for some brass wire to be used to locate it in the baseboard. The bag was then made from a little iron on repair tape which gives a bit of texture then coloured with a felt tip pen. Garry

Thanks, that is brilliant. Even with the Ever Ready batteries in the controller. How long did you keep the layout as I can imagine a KitKat glued down might start togo off and even melt. A great idea and I hope it was appreciated by the public. Garry

This is the Bec/Esanel 2P kit which I bought a few years ago and only last week decided to look at it. When bought it came with a K's tender drive, which the tender was at one time designed for. The tender was falling apart but the loco body was okay so not stripped, just painted over. The tender was stripped and soldered up. I did have to make up replacement coupling rods though. I had read that the tender drives were quite weak but tonight I tried it out for the first time with no extra weight and it runs well with 7 Tri-ang coaches fitted with metal wheels but axles still in the frames, no pin points. Garry

It's just 247 not 2347 but having the 3 in would be appropriate. Edit, I have just realised what you meant about the name Robert so my comment was out of context. Garry

Here are some of the smokebox numberplates in 3mm scale. Garry