The season draws to a close!

I was at The Rocks by Rail Museum today where we had the last Driver for a Fiver event of the year. Just one more event in a fortnight and we close for the Winter. WOW! That all went quick! Today we had an unusual high number of visitors for an event so close to the end of season which was great and there many smiling faces and some lovely complimentary comments.

Back at WMD HQ I had some time servicing the Triang 3F Jinty. I had a bit of a surprise when removing the body to find that there is a syncrosmoke mechanism fitted. This was a novelty that Triang used on some locos. Basically a small container with a heated wire has a small quantity of oil poured into it through the funnel. The wire heats the oil which smokes and there is a mechanically driven mechanism that then emits puffs of smoke just like a real steam engine. Unfortunately it is not just like a real engine, but as a kid it was great fun! I need to find the right oil to test whether it still works - I am sure I have some in my stock of useful stuff!

Moving back to the job in hand, there was a broken pick up and a wire that came off in my hands, so some brass strip and soldering solved those problems.

Broken pickup to the right of the picture.

Repaired pickup and new wire .

The wheels were cleaned with an initial wash of rubbing alcohol and cotton buds and then a brass wire brush. The motor brushes were removed and the commutator on the motor cleaned before the also cleaned brushes were reinstalled. The couplings were bent and misaligned so they were straightened with some pliars. After that a quick wipe over of the body itself removed most of the grime but it could probably do with a wash in some water and detergent.

One coupling off and awaiting to be straightened.

The chassis serviced ready to be reunited with its body. You can see the amount of dirt and filth that was removed from the state of the cotton buds.

Back on the tracks it runs smoothly on plain track even down to a reasonably slow speed without hesitation. However it still has problems going through the points due to the coarseness of the wheels but I will live with that as I do like this model. Just need to do something with the transfers but that is for another day.

Back in time!

After yesterdays gift of various bits of model railway rolling stock, I managed to have a look through some of it today. It is like going back in time for me as I remember as a Child the delight of the red boxes that Triang and Hornby model railway stuff came in. You would walk into the local model shop where there would be shelves upon shelves of the boxes awaiting purchase from your pocket money. Not that the pocket money amounted to much. I recall getting something like 15 pence a week but that was in the days when a comic was two and a half pence so I guess it was all relative. However given that a simple wagon was about 75 pence it took a while to save up for something like that and a locomotive was a Christmas present if lucky! Oh those were the days!

However moving back to reality there were some interesting locos in the box. Most of the stuff has lived a hard life and was obviously played with and shows it but that was its purpose in its day. One or two bits are probably too far gone to save but most can live a second and perhaps less stress life with a little TLC.

I did find some locos that I have always wanted. The first is the 0-6-0 3F Jinty. One of the earliest locos that Triang produced and still it appears in production until recently although somewhat more refined and detailed then in its earliest incarnation. This particular one dates probably from the 1960s given the mechanism and the steam roller type wheels which were designed for a course toy like track system that Triang sold in those days. I tried it on one of my layouts. It lives - just! With a bit of prodding and poking it ran although it stutters which can probably be solved with a good clean and service. It does 'jump' over the point frogs but that is down to the coarseness of the wheels. The body needs a clean and possibly new transfers if I can find some. You can see the crudeness of detail by the fact that the cab is filled with the back end of the motor but I still love it!

The second loco for this blog is the Hornby Hymek. A model of British Rails Western Region diesel hydraulic loco which existed along with the Westerns and Warships. It was a mainstay in the Hornby catalogue through the 1960's and 1970's and was a loco that many a young model railway modeller wanted - including me! Well now I have this and crude as it is compared to the modern release by Heljan I still love it and no parts fall off like the more modern detailed models! Placed on the track it runs without prodding but again could do with a clean and service which I will do at a later stage. In the meantime here are some pictures of it.

More interesting stuff to come!