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Another new indulgence has arrived today. As is often the case, this set is for nostalgic purposes as it reminds me of the first year I spent in Australia, after my family moved here to Melbourne, from England. These old Tait sets were still the mainstay of Melbourne's suburban network, together with the post-war Harris sets, although most of the time I saw them they ran as 7-car sets with three driving motors and four trailers. I wasn't going to buy one, tempting as the new Auscision release was, but the Black Friday sales meant Auscision were selling everything in stock at 20% off, which is quite a significant saving.
I opted for a 4-car set (they do have 7-car sets on offer, but I didn't want to spend quite that much, even with the sale), choosing one in the condition I saw them in 1966, with spoked wheels and smoking and non-smoking sections marked.
The running qualities are good, although I had to tweak a few of the finer bits that interfered with the bogie swings on the motored end. I have fitted two 21-pin decoders - one Lenz Silver in the motored car, and a cheap Hatton's one in the unpowered driving car.
The models capture the look of these trains very well, with my only criticism being that they are too neat in appearance. The real trains always had mixes of clerestory and non-clerestory roofed coaches. The original stock dates from the 1919 electrification, although some trailers came from even earlier, converted from steam-hauled stock.


I opted for a 4-car set (they do have 7-car sets on offer, but I didn't want to spend quite that much, even with the sale), choosing one in the condition I saw them in 1966, with spoked wheels and smoking and non-smoking sections marked.
The running qualities are good, although I had to tweak a few of the finer bits that interfered with the bogie swings on the motored end. I have fitted two 21-pin decoders - one Lenz Silver in the motored car, and a cheap Hatton's one in the unpowered driving car.
The models capture the look of these trains very well, with my only criticism being that they are too neat in appearance. The real trains always had mixes of clerestory and non-clerestory roofed coaches. The original stock dates from the 1919 electrification, although some trailers came from even earlier, converted from steam-hauled stock.

