Dublo 3 Rail Layout

Well, with all my half finished projects, I probably shouldn't be starting another one, but I have.......

I think a lot of us end up with some items that are surplus to requirements, and I am no exception. Some time ago I bought a number of Dublo wagons at a bargain price, as I wanted to get my hands on some bogies (the ones used on the Weltrol and bogie bolster wagons). The "job lot" contained one more bogie bolster than I needed, as well as some rather scruffy brake vans. I was looking over the leftovers a few days ago and thought I should do something with some of them, and I selected these two:



First off the mark to have something done to it is the bogie bolster wagon:

 

More like an approximation of one. It won't be completely accurate......

Jim

 

A bit more work on it tonight:

 

Now checking to see that it all still fits together as planned:

 

Here it is with all its glaring inaccuracies. It does, however, I feel, capture the spirit of the real thing. The brown isn't quite as light as it appears in the first photo and is really not that far off being the right shade. I still have to apply lettering but, as I'm not really a Southern Railway modeller, I'll just use some plain white lettering transfers I have rather than buying a sheet of authentic SR lettering.

 

Some time ago I repainted a Dublo Co-Co diesel (the one that's more or less the same in appearance as their Deltic) in BR blue as a representation, and I say "representation" because the Deltic is probably, with the exception of the LMS, Southern and GWR 0-6-2T's, Dublo's least accurate model. The reason I picked Meld was that it was the first Deltic I encountered back in 1975. I did, however, create a bit of a problem for myself, as I didn't have any blue and grey coaches to go with it. Anyway, here's Meld:



I generally run four (or maybe five if I'm using the shorter Dublo Gresley coaches) coach trains, as anything longer looks like it's chasing it's tail on an 8'x4' layout. Initially I thought of finding some Trix blue and grey coaches, but they seem to be hard to find and, in any case, attract higher prices than I wanted to pay. I also considered using Tri-ang coaches, but shelved the idea.

Then, further down the track, I bought cheaply some badly faded and slightly rusty Dublo Super-Detail coaches, with the intention of using them for spare parts. They were, however, aside from the paintwork and rust spots, in reasonably good condition. After they had been languishing in the cupboard for about six months or so, I had a look at the coaches and decided to clean them up and paint them blue and grey.

Here's the Brake/Second, which I didn't get the lining as straight as I liked on, although it looks OK at a normal viewing distance:



The 1st/2nd corridor coach:



The open 1st:



And the Passenger Brake:



I probably should have added the coloured band indicating 1st class, but I decided to leave that off.

As I only have one BR blue diesel, and it is a double tracked layout, maybe I need to repaint a Dublo 20 class for freight duties.......

 

It's a while since I posted anything, so here are a few night time shots:









Jim

 

Here's my latest project. Still quite a bit of work to do:

 

Well, a while ago I made a Caledonian Railway 60 Class 4-6-0 by combining a Tri-ang Albert Hall with parts of a very old DJH kit. It runs very well and gave me a working chassis (which is something I don't always manage to easily achieve otherwise) and one that can go around sharp curves on old style track (I think Dublo track is something like Code 108 in present day terminology).

This one is a Tri-ang/Hornby Sir Dinadan combined with a DJH Highland Railway River Class/Caledonian Railway 938 Class kit, three railed by using a Marklin pickup. My next job is to put a step in the footplate and secure the rear of the footplate to the chassis (I had to shorten the back a bit). There are a few compromises but, as with the 60 Class, it should work.

Jim

 

I know what you mean about Tri-ang and Peco Streamline - back in the 1960s I had a layout that used Peco Streamline and most of my stock was Tri-ang.

Yes, the difference between Dublo Track and Code 100 is barely noticeable - as good as being the same. Some of the early Tri-ang stock was rather coarse by comparison. Even some of the original Tri-ang/Hornby stock, visually at least, seems to be slightly coarser than Dublo. I have a couple of Tri-ang locomotives that protest slightly when going through some of my Dublo points, although they do stay on the track rather than derailing......

 

Progress is slow, as I keep getting sidetracked with other things, but it's taking shape. I have had it running around the layout a bit now and it seems to be working pretty well. Here's where it's at now:

 

Well, my repainted Dublo Deltic, the sole blue diesel on my layout, now has a companion. I had two Bo-Bo diesels, so I decided to repaint the one that looked a bit playworn in blue:

 

The tank wagons, incidentally, are repainted rusty Dublo Shell tank wagons, with transfers from (I think) Modelmaster Jackson Evans. I recall, in the 1970s, seeing groups of these on many occasions on a siding near Dundee Tay Bridge station. I think I posted this photograph some time back but, anyway, here they are:

 

Another repaint I finished the other day. The Duchess of Buccleuch was one of those locomotives that was, in 1948, painted in a darker shade of blue and lined in LNWR style. Here she is - this one started off as a playworn Duchess of Montrose......