[Gary]

The coaches are the Caledonian coaches offered by Triang Hornby in the 1960's and last offered in 1973. They are extremely popular with collectors and Scottish railway modellers who regularly pay upwards of £20 or more for these coach types in mint condition.

What this prooves is that Hornby do have an archive of historic moulds that are still servicable.

They are not the same as the ones in the Thomas range which are ex Colletts.

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[Gary]

Picked mine up at a recent toy fair and have to agree 100% with ozwarrior. Showed the set to a Triang expert (believe me when I say a real Triang expert!!!) and he had to admit that the loco finish was a million times better than anything done in Triang days. And he found the finish on the coaches absolutely breathtaking!

The only downsides from his point of view was that it was not "Made in England" nor did it have an X04 motor. I did remind him that it would probably run a lot better than any previous example and he begrudgingly agreed that this was likely to be the case!

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[Gary]

Had the Caley pulling a 10 coach rake tonight and it seemed to have plenty left to pull more. Not too sure if the Caley ever prototypically pulled 10 coaches but if you have a gradient on your layout then the Caley should be fine.

All future models utilising the slightly revamped 4-2-2 chassis should have similar pulling power which might now give Hornby's Class 60 diesel competition!

In fact I am wondering if this Caley is Triang's best ever pulling 4-2-2?

Very probably!

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[Gary]

QUOTE I just wish it had metal tender wheels with electrical pick-up, as the traction tyres cause it to stutter badly when going over the larger Peco points.

You are right Dan. Having put traction tyres on the drive wheels and only having pick up on the bogies and small rear loco axle set does cause stuttering in certain situations. Any tender steam loco with traction tyres in these days of DCC does require tender pick up, especially when it is a 4-2-2 !

Happy modelling
Gary