G`day Folks, I have a Triang Model of the Royal Mail Coach which I have had now for probably 60 years???. It was a birthday gift from my Grandmother when I was a boy and consequently, I have never had the heart to pass it on or sell it as there are too many fond memories that flood back every time I see it. The age of the coach means that it has the old Triang wheels and bogies from the toy train set days. The wheels remind me of the wooden wheels that were used on medieval catapults, they are very crude compared to modern wheels. The split axle arrangement is also a bit of a lottery when it comes to passing through the wing rails on modern point work. Now I know the great and the good out there will remind me that all I have to do is get some top hat brass bearings and some new wheels and the coach will run like a new one, but ?????....., as the coach is not an accurate scale model anyway, I thought I`d cut out the middle man ( a fellow called "Grief" ) and just retro fit new bogies. I found some Bachmann Bulleid Bogies ( Part No. 36-007A ) that are close in size to the original bogies and they were 15 bucks for the pair. They run like a dream and are fitted with the small couplings. First part of the process is to take the coach apart.......a relatively simple job with model trains of this vintage. So this is the original bogie and wheel set up I drilled into the brass retainer rivet to loosen it for removal. Then used a 3mm screw and washer arrangement as I have done with other coaches. It involves Supergluing the flat washers in place on the bogie and also under the coach body. A small drop of LocTite on the thread prevents the nut from unscrewing. And Bob`s your uncle !!!! To the untrained eye, I think it looks pretty good.....certainly a vast improvement over the original... My Grandson has always been keen to add the Royal Mail Coach to a passenger train and I`ve usually resisted due to it`s poor running qualities, however now the little fella is in for quite a surprise. Artistic shots to follow So folks.........not one for the rivet counters.......I apologize in advance for the headaches and twitchy eyes and tremors they will get after viewing this conversion......but hey.???......I don`t care.....I`m having fun... Gormo
Nice work, I have a few similar to do, but I've never worked out which bogies to use. Now, have you got the mail part of it all running with the hook, the bags and the drop off? Reckon that would really impress him. Cheers Tony
G`day Tony, No mate.........the mail bags went West many years ago and for the life of me, I don`t know when???. The little mail shelter is around somewhere and there must have been a triggering device for the track......some way of activating the levers.??? So we will just run the coach and imagine the pick ups and deliveries are done off scene. Bachmann seem to have a handful of bogies available.....have not checked them out properly, and of course there seems to be a lot available in HO from various makers. Gormo
I've got a similar but slightly newer version. I have the hook and the mail shelter. I managed to get some mail bags online a while ago at a reasonable price. I never got the actuator. It was probably more designed for Hornby sleeper spacing with the steel track, not Peco. So I figure I'll have to make my own, shouldn't be too hard. Just need to have the space on a layout to put it, which I think I forgot about in my planning for my new layout Will have to pull it out and take a look. Cheers Tony
I have exchanged bogies on quite a few old Triang coaches, using Bachmann Mk1 bogies. The running/rolling qualities are now, very impressive ! I did find that coaches with interiors (eg Triang Restaurant Coach), I had to use a small screw over nut/bolt combo as this comination just interferred with the interior far too much for my likening. Cheers, Gary.
Yes Gary, Horses for courses I suppose??.......every conversion can throw up a new set of problems to be overcome. Gormo