Waveydavey

Hi Andrew, I’ve enjoyed reading about your Transfesa van conversion. If you have any of the photos still would you be prepared to reload them into this thread? It would be much appreciated. Cheers David

That Thompson full brake looks like the Mailcoach kit. I have just won one of them on eBay and am looking forward to building it. MJT do a selection of LNER underframe parts that will add a decent bit of weight to both coaches.

Just found this thread after doing a search for PCA wagons. Having realised the the PCAs were built from 1973 I can have a small rake on Clackmannan Goods which is set in 1975. I tend to stick to unfitted and vacuum fitted wagons normally. Nice work on the PCB and the parallel PCA, I think one of each for will look nice amongst the ‘normals’ in a train.

The centre windows are narrower than the outer. I measured the centres at 625mm, the outers at 655mm and the reinforced outers at 645mm across the visible glass. By your era I suspect most, if not all, 101s will have had the reinforced drivers window. Some cars also had the reinforced window on the second man’s side too. The Bachmann front windows whilst being a better shape than on the Lima/Hornby body are just a little bit out but it is by fractions of millimetres. They are a bit wide but not quite tall enough.

Nice to meet you on Saturday Will. Always good to talk to somebody who likes their DMUs. There was discussion of the issues with the shape and side window size in the archived thread on here ‘Decorated Samples of Class101’ if you want to have a read through. Mostly it’s about the size and location of the door and saloon windows but the shape of the front shoulders does get a mention. For me the advantage of the Lima/Hornby option, in addition to the shape, is the availability of the centre car which Bachmann have never done. Being a Scottish 70s modeller all my Met Cams need to be 3 car units.

I’d had a niggling doubt that the Trix and Bachmann bodies weren’t the same profile but that looks really good. Both the Triang and Trix AL1 bodies have the start of the cantrail curvature a bit too high.

Having acquired two shabby Trix AL1 bodies with cracks in the cab corners my plan is to graft the body sides into the Bachmann AL5 shell. That would still leave at least part of the roof well to be cut out and replaced. Your cab swap idea sounds good and I’ll enjoy watching your progress. It’s been said in one of the Trix AL1 threads over the years that the Trix cab is a little short so you may need to keep a watchful eye on the overall length of the body as you remove and replace the cabs.

It was me that measured the 101 at Grosmont with the help of Dale Smith and Eddie Knorn for Brian to draw up for this Shawplan etch. You can see the etch above. You get a reinforced window included for if you want to represent one of the units where the drivers (and occasionally the secondmans) window has been modified. Below is a picture of a test fit I did. You need to reduce the height at the top of the windows by about 1mm, I used Evergreen strip, and widen the driver and secondmans windows outwards before adding the new frames. It has been claimed on the Met Cam Lightweight thread that the Bachmann model has a better profile than the Lima/Hornby body. It was pointed out in the press (IIRC in Rail Express Modeller but it may have spilled out onto internet fora) at the release of the Bachmann 101 that it was not the right shape at all on it's front top corners and the Lima/Hornby body is far better shaped in that area. You pays your money and make your choices how you see fit but my Met Cam fleet will all be Lima or Hornby bodies with modified front windows and chassis with power provided by the Replica chassis. A money no object job would probably involve the same but running on Bachmann chassis and bogies. Cheers David

Just for fun, here's an 82 bodyshell I bought from ebay a couple of years ago. It's resin, very clearly cast from a modified Hornby 86 and not very well done at all. As you can see, a combination of insubstantial wrapping and the Royal Mail didn't end well. I glued it back together but can't see it being any use other than as a door stop.

If you are looking at using Triang trailing bogies you'll find that Triang made them 9'3" wheelbase rather than 10' so you'll need to extend them. I'm not convinced that Triang got the various holes, axleboxes etc in the correct place. The plastic is very brittle too so not easy to carve off the footsteps. A possible start for the bogies is the Hornby ringfield motored bogie frame. It is, at least, 10' wheelbase but needs work to make it more class 82 shaped. Below is the Hymek sideframe, the Hymek sideframe with a start on fettling, and the Triang sideframe at the bottom. Hope this helps

I’m looking forward to seeing the 81-84 build. I started on such a project a couple of years back but have run out of motivation. Like you I started with Bachmann 85 shells which I shortened and, for the 82-84, fitted to Heljan 26/27/33 chassis that Olivia’s Trains were selling at a reasonable price. These needed the bogie centres adjusted and a lot of material removing from the outer ends to allow the relocated bogies the space to move.

Well this is very useful as I’ve been putting off starting my JE06 for ages trying to get my head around the compensation beams. As you’ve put the bearings for the rear axle and jack shaft drive in the beams I can see that the jack shaft drive will move a little. I had convinced myself the bearing for it would be in the frame from the outside with the hole in the compensation beam enlarged to allow movement.

As many photos as I can find have now been restored. Cheers David

Nice work Morgan, I recently tried to improve a Triang AL1 but came to the conclusion the body is far too tall. It’s easy enough to take some of the height (approx 1.5mm) off the bottom of the body but the cab roof is still about 1mm too tall. As everybody else has said in the past, the Trix body is a far better starting point even though it’s not perfect either. I decided that my 81-84 fleet will be based around the Bachmann 85 shell that can be bought fairly cheaply from Rainbow Railways at the moment. I did find that with a bit of gentle filing the Bachmann class 85 glazing that is available on eBay will fit nicely into the Triang shell and really improves the look of the front end. A shortened Hornby class 86 chassis is a perfect fit into the Triang shell and if you are doing classes 82-84 for once the wrongness of the Hornby bogies works in your favour as Hornby made them 10’ wheelbase instead of the 10’9” they should have been. Good luck with the project. I’ll enjoy watching it progress.

Nice work. I do like seeing DMUs getting modified like this. My own DMU project at the moment is an Ayrshire class 126 from a combination of Triang and Trix mk1 coaches. A 107 will follow on based on the Hornby 110. No need to draw up your own 104 parts as John Duffett has drawn them and made the files available for free on Thingiverse.

Thanks Flood, Measuring a couple of sets of random OO & P4 wheels I get the overall width to be 1.8mm different so it looks like it’ll be tight, possibly needing a bit of filing, but definitely possible. And, of course, the brakes will need repositioning but that’s standard with P4 conversions. Fingers crossed Heljan have specified 26mm long or at least 2mm diameter axles. Cheers David

Any chance you could post a photo of the bogie upside down Flood so I can see what might be involved in a P4 conversion.

Thanks for reinstating the photos Kev. I have a Bachmann 85 to 81 project in the works. The chassis has had the undergubbins rearranged to the 81 pattern but the body is stalled at the moment as I’ve not been in the best of health. I was looking at grafting in Triang AL1 sides after removing the excess height but then managed to buy a broken Trix shell with a split in the cab side. The current plan is to graft the Trix sides into the Bachmann shell. Cheers David

You can’t get across from the Stillington branch to the ECML at Ferryhill South so it would be be Tursdale they’d cross if the Leamside wasn’t reopened. Cheers David

Having recently inherited a Dapol Stove R I’d be interested in one of your chassis if you are having some more etched. cheers David

It wouldn’t be much use for freight trains to/from Tyne Dock as the connection at Pelaw points in the wrong direction, towards Gateshead rather than Sunderland. With most freight growth being in container traffic the over bridges on the Leamside might be an issue as they already are at Yarm and through the Stillington branch.

If you’re buying Hornby class 86 bodies make sure to get the ones with cab door handles and recesses. The early ones didn’t have them.

Hi Darius, As you fit SE Finecast flushglaze to your AL1s would you by any chance have four of the Trix body side windows going spare? Cheers David

I’m undecided on whether to go for the Motorail or the MAT Transauto version. With my tiny layout I can only really justify one set and even that’s a bit of a stretch. To help me decide, were the MAT ones used on services out of Linwood during the 70s? edited to add. To answer my own question, I’ve dug out ‘The Heyday of the Scottish Diesels’ by David Cross which has a nice photo of D7601 at Kilmarnock in July 1971 on a rake of Cartics. Cross referencing with Paul Bartlett’s photo site it is clear from the lettering on the side identifies them as Toleman’s Delivery Service Ltd wagons which Paul says were built to the same design and diagram as the MAT wagons.

I only drop into this thread occasionally but if there’s going to be talk of Triang/Trix hybrid class 126 DMUs and early Ultravox/John Foxx I’m going to have to drop in more often.