Dublo 3 Rail Layout

They are sold as LSWR buffers, but they are so close to Caledonian buffers in shape, they're as good as being the same. Drummond left his mark in several places.....

 

As everything is done now except for the handrails, I have given it a quick spray in a light cream (basically because that was the only light colour of spray can I had) and it is looking good, with only a few flaws to correct before the final colour is applied. I used Humbrol Maskol on the front buffers and the whistle, which is a Caley Coaches brass casting.

I'll have to repaint the tender wheels though. My copy of Jim McIntosh's "Caledonian Railway Livery" arrived today and I just read the bit that says tender wheels were painted black. I had assumed that they were painted blue like the locomotive wheels......

 

A couple of short videos of some ex-Caledonian action on the layout. The GEM Cardean (on a tri-ang B12 chassis) and a Tri-ang/Hornby Single, converted to run on three rail by replacing the insulated driving wheels with uninsulated wheels (and also the trailing wheels in the case of the Single) and fitting Marklin skates.

 

The paintwork is a bit rough and unfinished as yet, let alone the complete absence of lining, but the 60 class is at least beginning to look like a Caledonian locomotive now:

 

I had one too many of those Dublo nondescript green Co-Co diesels - the ones that look like dull green shortened Deltics. For the benefit of those unfamiliar with Hornby Dublo, their Deltic is quite an impressive and powerful beast but it is, unfortunately, not dimensionally accurate, the main problem being that it is a bit too short, particularly at the ends, the "bonnets" being smaller than they should be. It does, I think still capture the character of a Deltic, in spite of being dimensionally challenged. It was released in the correct livery for a Deltic, with the 3 rail version being "St Paddy" and the 2 rail one "Crepello". For some reason, Hornby also issued them unnumbered and in plain BR green with slightly simplified roof details.

I had three of the green ones (and two in Deltic livery as well) and I decided to turn one of them into something different. I needed to take a break from lining the 60 class, so I spent a few hours working on the diesel instead to finish off a job I had started some time ago. There are a few spots that need tidied up, but it's pretty much finished now. So here we have a BR blue "Meld" although, after finishing it, I realised that this now means I have to get myself some blue and grey coaches to go with it.......

And why "Meld"? Well, it was the first Deltic I saw, in March of 1975 I think it was. After alighting from the London to Aberdeen train at Montrose, I walked up to the front of the train to see what was pulling it and there she was. The sound of a Deltic is rather different and quite impressive. Anyway, without further ado, here's the photo:

 

And here is the "City of Bradford" as she appeared when on the Southern during the 1948 Locomotive Exchanges, fitted to a larger tender due to the lack of water troughs on the SR. Three railed Dublo "City of London" coupled to a tender assembled using a Bachmann WD tender body and a Dublo A4 tender chassis, the tender body being shortened by about 5-7mm to fit.

 

An update showing the progress on the 60 Class so far. Photographs are very unkind in that they show up flaws in the finish that the naked eye doesn't see......

 

One thing leads to another.......

It all started when I bought a Dublo Duchess of Montrose that was described as a poor runner only suitable for parts. It ran, but only slowly and hesitatingly. The body looked like it was covered in that whitish whatever it is that afflicts mazak that has been kept in a damp environment, and it had no tender. I can't remember what I paid for it now, but it was less than $30.00.

When I got my hands on it I removed the body and it cleaned up beautifully, with only one small scratch on the paintwork. What I thought was corrosion and scratches and scuff marks turned out just to be dirt. And it was one of the gloss finished ones from the early 50's, making it probably the same age as me, but I digress.....

The chassis needed a good clean and the endplay on the armature was way out, all easily taken care of. The magnet was past its best, which was the main reason it moved so slowly. As i don't have one of those magnetiser things, I fitted a neo magnet and now the chassis took off and ran perfectly, smoother and quieter that some of my other Duchesses. I had, in my spares box, a near mint gloss finished Duchess tender, which I now had a use for (one of those things I picked up because it was cheap and I knew I would need it some day). I then refitted the body with the only remaining jobs being fixing the orange lining on the footplate sides and respraying the smoke deflectors, both jobs that remain undone but will be done soon.

Here she is:



This did have a flow on effect, as I already had a Duchess of Montrose (in satin or semi-gloss finish, whatever it's called) and a renaming was called for. As I had by this time quite a few Duchesses, it took a while to work out what name to select. I settled on City of Glasgow, in the form she was in after being rebuilt following the Harrow disaster.

Here she is after her change of identity:



Which led to another renaming. I also had a near mint Wrenn City of Glasgow I had converted to three rail, which gave me another cause for a change of identity. She was in pale BR blue (how accurate the Wrenn shade is I don't know, but City of Glasgow was based at Polmadie, and the Polmadie Duchesses were said to be a lighter shade than BR blue (closer to Caledonian sky blue, by some strange coincidence!) so whatever she became, it would have to be another Polmadie engine. So here is Queen Mary:



There is a bit of work still needed to all three, but they are all now in service, awaiting a bit of touching up here and there.

 

I didn't realise until after I posted the photos, but there's a body of a Dublo City of London sitting on top of the engine shed. I have resprayed it black and will finish it in LMS post-war livery. I used an 8F tender body instead of the City of London one, as this one will be the City of St Albans, which was one of the first to have a riveted rather than welded tender.

Also, next to it, but out of view, is another Duchess of Montrose, which is going to end up as the Duchess of Buccleuch. I am half way through lining it in one of those early BR experimental colour schemes, in this case dark blue with LNWR style lining.