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I had a very early set given me with a Britannia class loco Duchess of Montrose which I loved, it was around 1958 and must have cost my father a weeks wages, later he gave me the deltic which you are holding, it had rubber band drive wheels which were a nightmare, the weight of the engine was too much for them consequently it ran badly because of the grooves in the wheels to take the rubber bands, l never told my father because I didn’t want to upset him so it never got used and was hidden away, presumably Hornby would have done something about it had I told him about the problem

Most robust way to enjoy model railways ...also the cheapest in the uk track costs are peanuts locos very cheap and powerful etc ..Hornby Dublo 3 rail !!!!!

Looking good. Happy new year from Western France. Looking forward to getting back to my 3-rail when I get home from holidays next week

I must admit, as much as I love the tinplate 3 rail wagons, vans and tankers and the charming little rattle they make. Ive started to purchase some of the later dublo super detail rolling stock for a bit of variety. Considering the vintage, they have fairly good detail. Double heading the 8f's look quite impressive. Thanks for posting.

Hi, I've recently acquired a Dublo Co Bo, with yellow ends. I noticed one of yours also has these - do you know if these are original or were added later? I cant find any information anywhere regarding this!

Just found your channel, great video thanks for sharing, J

I like the anaglypta wall paper where did get it from !?

Hello there, 1 / I like that idea of alternate 2-rail/3-rail circuit, and your switching arrangement is one approach. May I respectfully suggest that you use a 2-Pole 5-Position Rotary Switch , which would give you an OFF position, and a choice of either 2-Rail, or 3-Rail, with the advantage of preventing a short circuit due to one switch not being thrown. 2 / Rotary Switches are self isolating and fail safe, and were in fact used in Doncaster South Power Signal Box of the LNER, later, BR-ER. 3 / could you please explain how you laid the Third Centre rail, and what Code rail is it please ? Regards to all.

Hello there, another interesting video, and Oskar has come up with an elegant solution to your problem. Very well done, Regards to all.

Hello there again, 1 / this is a really informative video, and demonstrates the excellent mechanical design by Meccano's Hornby Dublo (Meccano's Hornby Acho of France is also excellent). 2 / In relation to dead HD motors, as the driving axles are 1/8th inch , and the gear wheel is held in place with a grub screw (which is actually a bolt ! ) , 3 / Plan B would be to use a can motor with a suitable gear set in lieu of the HD motor, or even an old open frame motor similar to the Trang X04, you can source old Pittman (Rolls-Royce ! ) or Tenshodo open frame motors, then mount on a plate frame to mimic the HD Pin and Bolt arrangement, Regards to all.

Hello there, with all due respect, a screw has a tapered thread which ends up in a point, whilst a bolt has a parallel thread, and takes an appropriate nut, Regards to all.

Is this the same motor as in the Wrenn West Country class. Or did Wrenn modify it. Thanks for a really informative video.

Good breakdown of the Hornby Dublo West Country class motor. The service sheet is still available for this online too. I bought a Barnstaple from ebay that had been in a child's toy box and after servicing the motor I found that the reason that it wasn't running was a lose grub screw on the main drive cog. So now she runs. 👍 I now have 2 two of them. Have a great weekend. Happy modelling

Another informative video! Since Brexit, unfortunately shipping and customs charges from our European neighbours have gone through the roof. So I’m seriously looking at learning to rewind them myself. I’m convinced the 3 armatures that have failed on me this year are due to my use of neomagnets. Now I’ve bitten the bullet and got myself a Ronald Dodd remagnetiser (I had it sent to my cousins in the UK and picked it up this summer), so all my neos have gone in the bin and I’ve remagged the originals. Next job is to source some 0.015mm enameled winding wire and give it a go… I’ll let you know how I get on. There are a few tutorials and websites out there which explain how to do it. 🤞 Rob (in ze glorieuse République Française)😂

Thats really helpful to know, thankyou. As of yet my West Country hasnt had an issue. Despite me pulling the motor apart and servicing and giving the magnet a quick zap. I absolutely had no idea that it was different to the ones in my Castles and 8f. Im assuming the B version in the Bulleid is the longer of the two. I would guess that its the same with the wrenn versions. If you do come across somebody in Australia who rewinds motors. Id be grateful to know. All the best Ted.

Great job. Yeah, any step or grade change eventually needs to be corrected/addressed. Great solution. Happy Modelling.

I did a wee bit of a test when I had my 3 rail dublo layout. One of my 8f's was the ringfield variety and I was always disappointed at its pulling ability up an incline. Of course no shortage of power, but it just wheel slipped in a trice. Of course, when dublo introduced 2 rail, as an electrical aid for the poorer conductivity of 2 rail, they nickle tyred the locos, whereas previously they were just raw cast. So in actuality, my somewhat weaker 1/2" 8f could actually pull more than the ring field 8f. Interestingly, but not really surprisingly, what outpulled them both by a fair margin was the trusty 2-6-4 tank. A weighty loco, big motor, and diecast wheels add up to a formidable combination.

Great video to watch :) Just a couple of things: the turntable feeds track power from any one of the four tracks that you currently have buffers on. The 6 stabling tracks power up only when the bridge is aligned, and this includes your main entry track. This is where your electrical issue is: you're using one of the stable tracks as the track power and the turntable isn't designed to work that way With this in mind run a track power wire to any one of those four unused track outlets and your turntable will operate exactly like you want it, powered on with the appropriate track aligned with the bridge, and no need for any isolating switches. The other thing is your motor is in desperate need of some oil on the armature bearings. That's that high pitched squeal. They are very noisy, and slow. I was actually thinking of using the dublo manual turntable instead of the marklin. But they are fun But yeah, you don't need any of your switches or isolations if you run the track power to any one of those four spaced out track pieces.

Well done. Those Arduino boards seem to be pretty popular for all sorts of model railway applications. A bit hi tech for me and my DC layouts unfortunately. Great result. My Tri-ang Turntable is still manual although I do have the motor and switch to install at some point. Happy Modelling

you have established a similar set-up to my own layout. In my case I am using Trix fibre based 3-rail track which allows Dublo, Triang, Farish , Wrenn and Trix all to be run depending on which rolling stock is available.

Nice session. A great way of adding lots of flexibility to your layout. The Tri-ang Hornby model is R.850 which first appeared in 1968 catalogue. It's should have a glowing fire box. Mine does. The X.04 motor runs great if maintained. The Plastic thing... Hmm. Interesting reference for a bit of a classic. Will be interesting to see a newer Hornby loco with the its flimsy Chinese motor running on your layout. New loco with an old controller? Should be entertaining. 👍

Very nice. Great to see the old girls stretching their legs. Yeah. Totally agree that the Dublo and early Tri-ang locos really need to be warmed up and kept running to keep their motors warm for best results. Happy Modelling.

I must admit I too prefer the early version. I have two - a "lug" example identical to yours, and a second one which was in very poor external condition which I stripped and repainted in experimental 1946 LMS blue as 6234 Duchess of Atholl. Like yours, after a thorough stripdown and service they both run beautifully, very smooth and powerful.

Good morning. Another great comparison video. I believe the Duchess of Atholl was originally intended for release earlier, however Ww2 put a stop to that when the Meccano factory went onto war production. So eventually had its release in 1948, initially with Horseshoe magnet and then quite quickly with the block magnet. I tend to agree that my Atholl's always seem to run a little better than the Montrose's. Despite much fettling, magnet changes or remags etc. I do like the custom painted blue one. Thanks for the video.

I believe that lithium grease should be used on the bevel gears connecting the armature with the worm gears shaft.

Just for info the gears can be changed on the Dublo shunter. I have an example in original condition and one where I have fitted lower gears (from Romford) I personally like the original gearing for heavy work although the re geared one does run nicely. For info new front steps can be obtained from Shapeways (3 D printed) They are nice little locos ahead of their time when the model was produced.

Great layout.

Excellent little haul of goodies there. A 3 rail West Country is high on my list of must gets and dont those southern green coaches always add a nice bit of variation. That 4mt looks in wonderful condition.

I know what you mean about😂forming up trains that will stay coupled together! I’ve found the same with coaches, which I generally leave in fixed rakes of four or five vehicles. My rakes of goods wagons are also a mix of 2 and 3 rail. But I’ve found that coaches with nylon wheels tend to produce a lot of drag, last month I was briefly back in blighty and was lucky enough to pick up 3 tinplate WR coaches. Only one of them had metal wheels, but the other 2 had nylon wheels (I think from new). Even after cleaning and light lubrication they were not at all free running, and I ended up swapping out the wheels for 3-rail ones. Have you had similar experience with 2-rail Hornby Dublo coaching stock? Also I’m not a big fan of the later nylon couplings. When properly adjusted I find the metal versions far more reliable.

That 4NT looks great, I think I might need to get one.

Excellent ! Hello to Victoria, of which I have fond memories after working on the tenders for the Yarra trams and train contracts in Melbourne back in 2008/9. Here in the Ardèche it’s a lovely sunny April morning at about 14°C at 0830.

Interesting idea. And definately something differant for the layout. Looking forward to seeing progress on that. I do have a couple of 2 rail dublo locos that have been converted to 3 rail with spare pickup shoes. A cheap and cheerful way to make the insulated wheels into uninsulated is to clean the ends of the axles and wheel hubs and use some of that paint on repair for rear windscreen demisters to pass the current. Once dry a little black paint over the top and youd never know it was there. It also has the advantage of being easily removed should you wish to revert it back to two rail operation.

Very interesting. I like the idea of keeping the 2-rail Pickups and fitting plungers in the tender. My idea is to go one step further with my Dublo 2-rail 8F. I’d like to rig up a switch to enable me to switch between 2 and 3 rail running at will. I’d be most interested to have your thoughts on that… My problem seems to be finding the plungers…

I recently replaced the ringfield magnet in my 3 rail Co-Bo with a new magnet from Peters Spares, UK. Now when the loco passes any siding containing tinplate rolling stock, the magnetic attraction from the Co-Bo body drags the rolling stock off the siding. Is there any way to shield that magnetic force from inside the Co-Bo body?

Interesting video. I've just purchased the 80033, 2 rail model so this is of particular interest. 👍

The 80054 and the 80033 (and 80059) have different body castings, the give-away is the chimney, much finer on the 2-rail and later 3-rail models and this mold was subsequently used by Wrenn. There is also an 80000. This was a (very) limited edition made/issued by the Halcyon Recollection Company in the late 1990's and was a fully refurbished and re-liveried 80054 but issued with a certificate and special full colour picture box. It was available in both 2 & 3 rail but only 7 x 3-rail models and 8 x 2-rail models were made.

Hi. The Wrenn version of the 2.6.4T had the magnetix flux shunt removed and the access hole in the body casting was blanked out.

Great video. I was one of those intrigued by your repaints previously. So thanks for the update. I love these 4mts. They are probably the best and quietest dublo runners. With a more user friendly top bearing adjustment. I have a couple of mint ones that remain untouched. But I have others that Ive repaired and found various other bodies from two rail versions for a bit of variety of number and emblems. Also these were one of the locos that werent modified by Wrenn so those bodies fit straight on and I have a few of those too, the bodies occasionally turn up. The shunt adjuster doesnt really work with modern controllers, so i tend to whip them out. Other locos come on and off the layout. But these 4mt's are always on it. I love those repaints.

Excellent.

Love your running session on the 20s and and the overview cheers

Hi, to let you know the Dublo EMU used a ringfield motor driving just the one axle. Wrenn used a similiar design to Dublo, somewhat modified. Let me know if photos of the mechanisms would be of interest. I was in australia and new zealand at christmas, probably back again in early 2025.

No better way to get tinnitus

Mercifully good watch.😊

Is that three rail OO? I didnt think anyone but three tail O used that.

Excellent vintage running, very enjoyable. All the best to you

What a great vintage model railway.

Im glad someone asked about the repaints. I especially like that 4mt, as they are my favourite 3 rail loco and would love to do some in custom livery as a break from all the black ones. 😂 I do have 1 or 2 with wrenn bodies. Id love to see a video on the custom liveried ones you have.

great video, thank you

Great running session! I have so many questions too! Are the liveries on that BR Black Castle and BR Blue Standard 4 your custom work? They look spectacular!

Interesting video. Thanks