Monday, 10 July 2023

Triang-Hornby Continental Coach

 

I mentioned last week how I'd been tempted to try a 00 'light railway' style layout, and just by chance one of the items I've always been on the lookout for for such a project appeared on a second hand stall at Railex Buxton - A Triang-Hornby Continental coach.

Apparently made at some point between 1969 - 1971, these coaches seem to have only been included in cheap starter sets with a circle of track and either a clockwork or electric locomotive. I'm slightly surprised that the coach didn't last that long as it's a really nice model with a an even more surprising level of detail, but certainly my favourite part has to be the dropped down windows. It's one of those little details that makes the coach look like it's a working coach.


So what's in store for this example? The first thing will be to strip off the previous owner's paint job. It's not particularly bad by any means, but I do wish to paint the interior (Which is still bright plastic yellow) so it just makes sense to redo the entire coach. I may also add some panelling on the outside using 20x40thou plastic strip in the style of the Wisbech & Upwell four wheelers. One of the main alterations will be the balcony ends, removing the solid wall sections and replacing them with railings of some kind. I'm currently searching for 00 gauge railings, it's amazing just how many examples there are out there! Another possible alteration might be to remove the boxes from underneath, replacing them with brake gear.

All ideas to mull over, there's no rush here. One alteration that is certain though is the buffers. As can be seen in the image below, one of the buffer heads was missing. Luckily I have a selection in the spares box that look a lot like the beefier type seen in photos of the old Wisbech coaches.

There's a picture in 'K.E. Hartley & Paul Ingham's "The Sand Hutton Light Railway" of the guard stood on the end of the coach, looking very much like a bus conductor with a money pouch and ticket machine slung over their shoulder. Even though it's a narrow gauge example, that's the look I'd like to hopefully end up with for this coach.

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