Model Railway Forum

A fantastic layout Dublo. I collect Hornby clockwork locos and wagons and I have a few Bassett Lowke wagons. I’m in the process of building a 5ft radius circular layout in the garden to run my clockwork locos.

Hello all
How about a bit of train spotting.

Hello all
There has suddenly been a population explosion. Over the last week or so I have been painting figures, so far they have all been civilians. No railway staff as yet. The population of Little Weldon is now at 60, the High Street looks happier and busy, with a number of people now appearing on the platforms at Weldon. Little Weldon has had passengers from the start these being the Dinky Toys cast metal figures.

Wow, you've put some work in there!

A wonderful layout. What did you put under the track ? Thanks.

As far as I can see PLB, it is Hornby Dublo 3 rail tinplate track (I have lots of 3 rail myself) on what looks like ordinary ballast. Dublo will say more no doubt, and correct me if it is anything different from ordinary ballast mix.
Hornby Dublo 3 rail is lovely stuff. It normally runs a little better then 2 rail as on the loco, every wheel acts as the one connection to the motor (And actually any coach or wagon also connects its current pick up to the loco via the coupling, so it is rare that a 3 rail loco stalls), and the other connection to the motor is via a very reliable pair of skates which comes in contact witn the centre rail. If you see a picture of a HD 3 rail loco from underneath the tab like skates will be clearly seen. These skates last for donkeys years and are sprung. The odd loco like the castle class used sprung plungers on the tender instead. Its loco drive. 3 rail locos normally (With the odd exception) had lovely cast metal bodies and chassis which give them an impressive weight. The gears are made from brass and the motors are nice and large and easy to maintain. They do take a little more current then todays models do, but it is not a problem if one has a more powerful controller.
I like the noise they made. Heavy locos with tinplate metal coaches and wagons on tinplate track... The sound is amazing, especially at speed.

Hornby Dublo 2 rail then came along which was largely re-wheeled (3-rail wheels were not isolated) 3 rail items and then they introduced the early plastic bodies. Then old Hornby Dublo items were continued under Wrenn who continued making them in 2 rail form until 1992. If you want a solid loco which is built to last years with your 2 rail 00 gauge track, either Hornby Dublo 2 rail or Wrenn are the ones to look for, and I've never seen them so cheap. (They used to cost around three times the price as ordinary locos and coaches + wagons werw about double the price when they were in production).
3 rail and 2 rail cant be run on thw same track, but 3 rail users can use 2 rail stock if they wanted to, though Hornby Dublo 2 and 3 rail used the Peco type coupling rather then tension lock couplings. Wrenn were normally sold with a choice of either a plasticated Peco coupling (HD 3 rail used metal. 2 rail had plastic) or tension lock which one simply screwed onto the loco. I don't know if their rolling stoch had the choice of couplings from new though they are easily changed to the ones you want.

My mistake. I'm talking about the grey stuff under the track. Some kind of gravel scenic mat ? Thanks.

Hello all
In answer to your question PLB, Mountain Goat is correct Little Weldon's permanent way does consist of standard Hornby Dublo track screwed directly on to the baseboard. There are pre drilled holes within the track sections to enable this. Regarding the ballast this was applied once I was happy with the running of the layout, it was carried out by lifting sections of track after having drawn round them and applying ballast in the usual way. The ballast I have used is Busch 7513 Crystalline Grey. Once dry the track panels were refixed back to the baseboard. Again I agree with Mountain Goat the sound of a couple of trains of Tin plate stock travelling around the layout are quite amazing. You can certainly hear the clickerty clack of rail joints. This started to diminish upon the introduction of the Super Detailed range ( plastic bodied ) in 1958. These vehicles were fitted with nylon wheels and a really ugly, chunky version of the coupling. The coupling itself was designed by a certain Mr Pritchard who approached Mecanno with his designs and sold them the rights to use it in the toy field. He retained the rights to use it in the model field. With the money that he got from this he was able to set up his own company. Peco.

Many thanks for all your replies. Very interesting and very helpful.