Hornby Dublo City

I managed to end up with three Dublo City class locomotives (I already have four Duchesses) when I really just meant to have one. When I started looking for one, months went by and the only ones I saw coming up for sale were either very much worse for wear, or ridiculously expensive.

My first purchase was a Wrenn blue City of Glasgow body, in mint condition (apart from one small paint chip to the smokebox) which, unusually for a Wrenn offering, was fairly cheap. I then picked up a three railed Dublo chassis (I say railed rather than rail, as I'm pretty certain it started its life as a two rail example) to motorise it. I next discovered the differences between the Dublo and Wrenn City chassis. While I was prepared to fabricate a new mount at the rear of the chassis, I began to have second thoughts about undertaking the necessary alterations to the front, so I sought out a Wrenn chassis and, after looking for quite a while, got one at what was a reasonable price. I will be fitting it with a spare Dublo third rail pick-up I have some time soon.

Which left me with a Dublo chassis and no body.... My next purchase was a rather ratty looking Dublo City body for something like ‎£5 and a very low rate for post and packing. It was rather bizarre - someone had painted it Brunswick Green, numbered it 111 and put a GWR "shirtbutton" logo on the cabside. They had also painted the chimney, not copper, as one might expect, but green (to represent verdigris perhaps?). I was originally intending to paint it maroon (or whatever you call that colour) but, after a while, I found that I rather liked it in green, so it's going to remain green, although I will strip it and repaint it. I haven't got around to buying nameplates yet, but it will end up being "City of Edinburgh" (I did briefly consider having special nameplates done and calling it "City of Brechin" with a non-existant number but decided against that course of action).

So far, so good, but one problem. When I was about 10 or so, there were two locomotives out of everything on the market that I desperately wanted, but were always financially out of reach. One was the Dublo A4, "Golden Fleece" and the other was "City of London". Now I had two Cities, but one was blue, one was green - neither was maroon.

Then, after looking at overpriced examples month after month (I wasn't even considering a "City of Liverpool" on grounds of the necessary outlay to get a good one) i managed to get my hands on a near mint "City of London" for ‎£50. All I now have to do is fit it with a spare Dublo third rail pick-up I have (I have three of them in a drawer - which will leave me one for some future project by the time I finish the Cities) and touch up a few scratches on the tender.

So there you have it - a tale of three Cities. I will have to take before and after photos of all three of them soon - at least I will have to take the before pictures soon (the after pictures will obviously be taken after I finish, whenever that will be).

 

Some are better than others, however they all fall short when compared to the current crop of models. The City was one of the best of the Dublo range, together with the Castle and the 8F 2-8-0. I find that there is something very satisfying about the solidity of these models and, of course, there is that wonderful noise they make when running on the tinplate track. I have even found that the least popular and least successful locomotive from Dublo, the somewhat unattractive C0-B0 diesel, which leaves a bit to be desired as regards detail, is beginning to grow on me. Then there is the 0-6-2T, which is more of a representation of an N2 than a model of one (although we must remember that this model harks back to the 1930s, when attitudes to modelling were different) but is still quite attractive in its way - so much so that I have ten of them!

I can't help wondering how many of today's offerings will still be running around in 60 or 70 years though.....