Hornby Dublo 3 rail electric trains.

[Fishandchips]

Edit: a) I intended this topic to be an addition to the scale model topic by @Nudielad
       b) corrected mistake in the title

This is probably where I end up looking like I’m turning this forum into international old naturists but hopefully might find some of you interested in railway modelling and vintage sets.

With the exception of the turntable which I bought from eBay a few years ago, everything shown belonged to my dad. Buy a kid a train set now and it will be plastic stuff that once broken is broken but these were taken apart and put back together, spare parts obtained and fitted and soldering skills developed. I never learned how to repair these properly. My dads layout had long been dumped in a skip before I was born and the engines, rolling stock, and whatever building and scenery that could be saved got confined to the cupboard of my grandparents spare/ hobby room.

I remember being really young on occasion my grandad would set up an oval circuit and a couple of sidings, gradually adding a couple of electrically operated points and signals but never the full layout. Back then there were only three locos that I was aware of, the three closest to the camera on the second picture. My grandad began suffering some health problems when I was 11 and died about a year and half later so I’d guess he never got these out for me after I got to about 9 or 10. I never knew how these things worked, my own train sets were just plug the bloody thing in and get on with it but these needed some wiring doing first.

Rummaging around in the cupboard years later mid to late teens I found the other broken locos 1 of the black tank engines which was almost complete but non runner, the shell and chassis to make up another and another of the blue sir Nigel Gresley, as you can see, in poor condition. I think maybe that was my dads original one which he abandoned and fount it cheaper to replace.

Years later I figured out that I could use a modern standard hornby controller (I say modern but still pre digital) if I cut off the track connecting clip and twisted the bare wires onto the terminals on the old track then discovered gauge master combo controllers and used that instead. Still can’t get the old original dublo control and transformer working. I also got the second of the black tank engines repaired, mostly did it myself buying replacement parts off eBay and fitting them under my dads instructions.

Unfortunately repairing one engine once is not enough practice to be able to repair the lot without his guidance. Not long after this he moved to Scotland where he died soon after. I’m also living in a cramped council bed sit with no space to have a workshop or a layout and for all YouTube is a useful learning tool, it cannot replace in person teaching.

That does not mean I’m giving up. My current project is to tidy up the tender for Gresley. Apparently my grandad used evostik to glue the original plastic coal load back down which warped the plastic and oozed over the body work. I bought a replacement acrylic coal load but getting evostik off the damn thing without scrubbing the paint off too is the first hurdle which I’m not doing very well at. The lettering is rubbing off and cloths end up looking blue afterwards. Any modellers can offer advice post below or pm me.

[Jr1994]

Nice! There used to be a model railway shop about 5 minutes from where I live. Used to love going in as a kid. Closed down sadly about a year ago to make way for a costa coffee...

[Fishandchips]

Nice! There used to be a model railway shop about 5 minutes from where I live. Used to love going in as a kid. Closed down sadly about a year ago to make way for a costa coffee...

The one in Newcastle that had been there 80 years became a bar, there was another called Rolling Stock in North Shields no idea what that is now. Probably a tanning salon.

[Fishandchips]

Some additional pictures showing the evostik damage. Not sure if the streaks show up from the blue paint being rubbed off. I’d like to avoid having to strip down the entire painting as I’d have difficulty restoring its original colours, lettering and lining. Even if I was able to I’d have to do the same to one of the blue loco bodies so it would match.

[Nudielad]

That will need some serious treatment to put right 

It will need rubbing back all the way to the paint and re painting. It can be saved but it'll be a real labor of love.

[Fishandchips]

That will need some serious treatment to put right 

It will need rubbing back all the way to the paint and re painting. It can be saved but it'll be a real labor of love.

That’s what I was hoping to avoid 😞

Decided to be a child anyway and set a few things up. The station buildings and three of the five coaches I bought the two brown/ gold coloured were my dads. I placed the coal load on the tender for the pics.

[Octavia]

I have a fondness for model railroading! There are exhibitions near me every so often that I loved going to before COVID, and I own a few HO scale pieces but haven't gotten the chance to build a proper layout and left it all at home when I moved into a dorm for the school year.

[Dylan]

I think model trains are cool. There's a small town near here that has a miniature museum and on the outside they have a whole network of trains. It looks pretty cool I think

[Fishandchips]

I have a fondness for model railroading! There are exhibitions near me every so often that I loved going to before COVID, and I own a few HO scale pieces but haven't gotten the chance to build a proper layout and left it all at home when I moved into a dorm for the school year.

There’s usually an annual model railway show at a local stadium but I’ve only been to it once when I was 18 or 19.

I think model trains are cool. There's a small town near here that has a miniature museum and on the outside they have a whole network of trains. It looks pretty cool I think

Off the top of my head I know the National Railway museum in York has a model railway exhibition inside their Great Hall. There’s also a model railway shop at the York Railway Station which has (or had) a model too. Closer to home thre are a couple of parks, one in the city centre, that have miniature live steam railways.

[Jem]

I love electric model trains, I have some that I bring out every year and put around the Christmas tree!... One day when I have the room (and time) it'd be fun to build a full set

[Fishandchips]

I love electric model trains, I have some that I bring out every year and put around the Christmas tree!... One day when I have the room (and time) it'd be fun to build a full set

In our old old house I used to put a tree up in the middle of my layout on a 6x4 feet board. Lights on the wall behind and rope lights around the board hitch created a great effect when it ran under the shed. I’ve got a few pictures I’ll post later. My brother still puts a circle of track under the tree now with the hornby Christmas train on it.

[Ad1210]

There's definately something about the old Dublin stuff.  Amazing model layouts around these days but this older stuff has a definate appeal

[Fishandchips]

There's definately something about the old Dublin stuff.  Amazing model layouts around these days but this older stuff has a definate appeal

Yes they’re more hands on, you can tinker with them and they’re made of stronger stuff harder to break.