33lima

First model railway project I've completed in 20 years (apart from a signal box conversion and excluding revived-but-not-yet-complete MPD and MED sets) - an NCC brown van, with another one or two to follow:

Replacement plasticard body on a Tri-ang horsebox. Kept the latter's roof with the ventilators sanded smooth; didn't bother with rainstrips as many seem not to have carried these. Only underframe modifications were to move the brake V-hangars closer to the centrelines and trim the brake levers to match, tapering the ends of the headstocks and adding seven little support brackets each side. Tho the preserved specimens at Downpatrick seem to have W-irons outside the leaf springs, older pics seem to show external springs so I left them alone.

Now, back to the MPD!

Sorry Train Model, tried again and this time I think it worked!

Re model power Kirley, I know modern can motors and such wonders only by repute and so don't much miss what I've never had. Perhaps when I get my layout up and running I will yearn for better slow-speed performance but I think not. I can see a certain amount of 'motor snobbery' online and frankly don't much care for it. Anyway I have had a bit of a soft spot for Tri-ang DMU bogies ever since I had to 'borrow' one from my kid brother's Blue Pullman to power my MED set made from maroon Playcraft mk 1 coaches with Plasticine cabs, before the Tri-ang DMU came back on the market about 1970 and I repainted that instead. I even liked the racket the original ribbed-tyre wheels made - never mind all this modern traction tyre, scale profile wheel rubbish Apparently people turn their noses up at traction tyres these days - sic transit gloria motor bogie, and all that. My current suburban MPD project will be powered by none other than a Tri-ang DMU power bogie. Most of my other stuff is Hymek-powered tho my green MED uses the Hornby Calder Valley DMU chassis and bogies.

The AEC and BUT sets I built for Leslie McAllister all those years back had Black Beetle power bogies if i recall right and although they had the advantage of better wheels, ability to accept any suitable bogie frame and IIRC didn't intrude into the body, I don't think they performed particularly better than their 30-year-older predecessors, on a test circuit anyway; their hauling power certainly seemed less, if anything.

My layout - ballasting, a horror unknown from childhood layout days, is under way - will be an expanded version of my childhood Tri-ang Super 4 layout (with Airfix trackside stuff) ie a double-track circuit, unashamedly train-set - except that it will be very broadly based on Carrickfergus, and a fair bit bigger and with System 6 track, steel rails throughout. Pic of bashed Hornby Signal box below, should have reduced the height of the base a bit and replaced the stock glazing units to reduce the horizontal bars to one etc etc but it's not too bad for the UTA-era appearance.

Thanks for the kind comments folks (and have PM'ed Train Model). They are really fairly basic conversions of Lima Mk 2 coaches, with only the blue & grey set being flushglazed, and using Tri-ang Hornby Hymek power bogies, which was about all I could get cheaply back in the early 1990s. Hope actually to have a layout to run them on later this year, basically a bigger version of my last layout, a double track trainset loop my dad built us and sold back in 1974; except this time it should bear a passing reference to Carrickfergus rather than a quick Airfix model railways accessory catalogue shot.

The Spring 1993 issue of 'Irish Lines' is available here :https://www.dropbox.com/s/ci3elrw2itkh88t/Irish%20Lines%20-%20Issue%203%20-%201993%20Spring.pdf In it I described my efforts at making an 80 Class set from Lima Mk2 coaches. I ended up making two sets this way.

Carrickfergus is another excellent NIR station, little changed from the Good Old days...whenever THEY were...