Dublo 3 Rail Layout

Discussion in 'Members Personal Layouts' started by Wolseley, Nov 20, 2018.

  1. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    Now I recently bought a Wrenn 2-6-4T body in LMS red - one of those I'll put in a low bid and I'm not going to get it ones where no-one else bid, so I got it for the starting bid, £10 it was. The number is almost worn off on one side (but intact on the other) and there are a few breaks in the lining, and the paintwork otherwise is almost as good as new. Now I already have the remains of another 2-6-4T chassis and a spare pick-up assembly. All I need is an armature, a pony truck and a bogie and I have another 2-6-4T!
     
  2. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    I think I'll leave it as it is and say that, in my parallel universe, both 80135 and 80153 were preserved and painted in BR green. As justification for leaving the number as it is, I will fall back on the excuse that there is a particularly rare and expensive Wrenn version of the 4MT 2-6-4T in lined green as 80135 of which only 630 were made, and this is my way of ensuring that my model cannot be mistaken for something that is much more valuable......
     
  3. Graham K

    Graham K Full Member

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    Or produce a certificate declaring it to be 1 in a limited edition of 1 :scratchchin:
     
  4. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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  5. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    Those 2-6-4T locos have a definite presence and are quite large and impressive in real life, although I have only encountered one of the (near identical) preserved LMS Fairburn examples, at Carnforth in 1975.

    Anyway, I decided I need to give more of my locos a regular run, rather than just using two or three of them. The first to be taken out of storage was my Flying Scotsman. Mine is not one of the Tri-ang-Hornby ones, but rather Trix, from Trix's later two rail period, rather than the earlier Trix Twin one. I three-railed it some time ago using a Marklin skate and, after a short spell of erratic running, it settled down to a smooth run around the layout for 20 minutes or so. I need to do a bit of detailing: two buffers to replace, handrails to replace or straighten out if I can, and redo the lining along the footplate side.

    P1010923.jpg
     

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  6. Echidna

    Echidna Full Member

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    Dear Wolseley and others,

    1 / I have just started to re read your Dublo 3 Rail Layout posts, which I am quite enjoying, especially the photos, and your excellent writing, which I find to be a joy to behold.

    2 / According to the June 1935 Railway Magazine, Maybank was exhibited in April, 1935 at Central Hall, Westminster; so the layout probably dates back to 1934, or possibly even earlier, and yet it still gets an occasional reference, not bad for an 86 year old layout that, I presume, no longer exists

    In addition to which, French Railway Apprentices also exhibited their models ( in O Gauge ? ) on a Display Stand.

    3 / there is a Strathmore homestead, near Narrabri, northern NSW; and Strathmore is a northern suburb of Melbourne , on the Essendon / Broadmeadows / Craigeburn line.

    4 / #29 ( 29 Jan 2019 ) I do like Thomas as an N2, a class of locomotive made famous by Hornby Dublo ( Mecanno ) and Wrenn, and latterly, Mainline and Hornby.

    5 / as there were 36 Stanier Coronation / Duchess / City Pacifics, you still have bit of choice for additions !

    6 / #68, the Dublo engine shed was a good design, and easily extendable, yet was not produced by either Tri-Ang, or Wrenn, despite there being no other comparable model available ( the Airfix model is a kit ). The Dublo version was apparently based on Carnforth, LMR

    The later modern, large glass window engine shed by Tri-Ang Hornby, was actually a covered, diesel fuel point, similar in design to that used by BR-ER.
    Each BR Region had its own distinct, diesel maintenance and fuel point designs.

    7 / #89 LHP / Lawrence Hogg Productions; a lovely gentleman sadly missed. I came across his website shortly before he passed, and although I did receive some items from him, he was subsequently quite ill, and ceased effective trading as a result. I liked his product, especially as he was careful to ensure that his overlays looked very similar to, and compatible with, Hornby Dublo originals, but done in a way that close inspection would reveal that it was not an original HD production.

    I had wanted to purchase some of his buildings, as I thought they were both realistic, yet HD like, no mean feat.

    8 / # 105 The Trix A3 model you have is a very nice model. A friend of mine, who has now passed, had both the A3 and the Peppercorn A2, both converted to EM Gauge. They ran well, and I really liked the look of them, and at the time I thought them superior to the Tri-Ang Hornby A3.

    9 / Love the Australian landscaping, the palm and jacaranda trees look great.

    10 / an enjoyable read, and lovely railway, you have done a marvellous job, very impressive,

    Happy New Year, best wishes and regards, Echidna.
     
  7. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    Hi Echidna and others,

    Thanks for the kind words.

    I doubt very much that the layout of Maybank still exists. The first I heard of it was in an article in Railway Modeller in either the late 1960s or possibly the very early 1970s. It was a plan of the month (I think) article by CJF titled “Homage to Maybank”. The use of the word “homage” to me suggests that it is long since gone.

    My thought of naming the layout “Maybank” does not, however, have much to do with that layout, although I was aware of its existence. It was more because it seemed like a good name for a layout, and there was a family connection. “Maybank” was the name of my father’s boyhood home at 14 Park Road, Brechin and is more in the way of a homage to my father than to a long gone, but influential, layout. It was my father who first got me interested in railways - he persisted even though at the start I was only interested in cars. The house was almost next to the Caledonian Railway station in Brechin (until about 1980 or so, the only structure between the house and the station was the agricultural market, and access to the house was via a private road (known to locals as the Bog Road) shared with the agricultural market, two other houses, and the railway goods yard. From my father’s upstairs bedroom window you got a pretty good view of the station yard - when I was there in 1975, when the house was still in the family, if you were lucky, you could look out and watch an 08 shunter pottering about the yard. Stories my father told me about the railway include getting cab rides in one of the ex-CR 0-4-4Ts to Bridge of Dun and back (one of the engine drivers was my father’s Sunday school teacher) and walking the length of the trackbed from Brechin to Edzell and back - in the late 1920s, before services were withdrawn.

    Strathmore in Scotland relates to the valley that runs through Perthshire and Angus (or along Tayside if you prefer modern terminology) from a bit north of Perth to just after Brechin - basically the Caledonian main line from Stanley (where the Highland branches off to the north) to Kinnaber Junction, where the North British main line joined the Caledonian for the journey to Aberdeen. Strathmore is the Anglicised version of a Gaelic name which translates as Great Valley. It’s not surprising that there are Strathmores in Australia, given the number of Scots that there were among the early settlers.

    The more I think of it, the more I think I will call it Maybank. My models are mostly Dublo (and some Trix) but I also have a growing collection of Caledonian and Highland Railway models (plus one ring-in from the Great North of Scotland Railway). A railway station with a Scottish name relating to a specific location (as Strathmore would) would suit the Scottish models, but rebuilt West Countries and Castles thundering through Strathmore is stretching credulity a bit.

    According to Michael Foster’s history of Dublo, the prototype of the engine shed was the one at Chester, but the shed at Carnforth is virtually identical. I spent a day at Carnforth in the 1970s - I’ll have to check and see if I have a photo of the engine shed…….

    Jim
     
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  8. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    It turns out that I didn't take any photos of the engine shed at Carnforth, but I did take a few inside it:

    7-3-2015_049.JPG

    7-3-2015_045.JPG
     
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  9. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    When I started building the layout, I decided to make it so that it could be dismantled and re-erected if the need arose so that, instead of using one 8'x4' board, I had it cut in three and joined the three sections with cabinetmakers dowels and coachbolts, with pluggable terminal blocks for the electrical connections. Well, I'm going to have to temporarily get everything, layout included, out of the room, as the house is being re-carpeted in a few days. Just as well I constructed it the way I did.....

    And, in case you're wondering, I did try dismantling and reassembling it once, after track-laying was finished, and it does work, although i have to be very careful putting it back together, as some track pieces overlap the baseboard joins a bit.
     
  10. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    Getting ready to move:

    P1010963.jpg
     
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  11. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    One of the cars is now sitting on the front lawn, and the layout has taken its place in the garage for a couple of days:

    P1010965.jpg
     
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  12. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    The carpet laying was finished today and a good deal (but not all) of the furniture is back in place. The layout is back in its room too, although I haven't put it up yet as, while taking everything out, I decided that the desk which occupies the same room would benefit from being sanded back to bare wood and revarnished. Taking into account drying time for several coats of varnish, and the difficulty (but not impossibility) of getting the desk into the room with the layout erected, I decided not to put the layout up until the desk is in its permanent position in the room.

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    P1010969.jpg
     
  13. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    Things have been rather quiet on the model railway front lately. I finished revarnishing the desk, got it back in the room and reassembled the layout and, after a few minor adjustments to the heights of the legs, everything was running properly, but other things have got in the way of progress. While I was putting everything back, I came across a playworn Dublo A4 I had taken apart with the intention of repainting it. I have since stripped the bodywork and sprayed it in a close approximation of BR blue. When finished, it will be 60012, Commonwealth of Australia, a nod in the direction of my adopted homeland.....

    Jim
     
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2021
  14. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    Now, if only I could remember where I put those nameplates......
     
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2021
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  15. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    I made a start on it tonight, but I got to the stage where I had to stop, as I felt it was making me cross-eyed. The photograph below shows how far I got so far. The blue in the photo came up brighter than it is in real life - it is a bit closer to BR blue than it appears to be here. the photo is also useful in pointing out areas where the coverage of the black leaves a bit to be desired.

    P1010972.jpg

    By the way, I found the nameplates......
     
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  16. Andy_Sollis

    Andy_Sollis Staff Member Moderator

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    I always thought they were more of a purple tinge?
     
  17. Walkingthedog

    Walkingthedog Full Member

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    Is it LNER or BR.
     
  18. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    It's BR blue, and there were two different shades of it - or three if you believe the story that some locomotives overhauled at St Rollox were finished in a lighter shade (said to be like guess who's blue!). The first blue, which was not applied to a lot of locomotives, was did have a purplish tinge to it, but the later one did not. If you have a look at the preserved A4, Sir Nigel Gresley, you will see what the standard blue looked like. The colour I used is fairly close to that, but was unfortunately distorted by the artificial light used when I took the photograph.
     
  19. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    Nothing much in the way of news, but here's a recent photo:

    P1010093.jpg
     
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  20. Wolseley

    Wolseley Full Member

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    And another photo. It's taken me a couple of years, but I finally got around to converting my Wrenn City of Stoke on Trent to three rail. While I was working on it, after seeing the condition of the wheels, brushes and commutator, I realised that it has never been run until now. The magnet was well and truly dead but, after I swapped it for a spare I had (my last one!), it started moving - after a bit of encouragement - and settled down to a steady run around the layout.

    P1010094.jpg
     

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