A friend of mine a couple of months ago mentioned to me that he had a box of model railway odds and ends in his garage and that I could have it when he saw me next, as he had no further use for it. I saw him tonight, and he handed me a couple of boxes. Inside was a rather varied collection of odds and ends. There was some track (all two rail, so no use to me and very used in any case) a quantity of cork underlay (mostly used but some unused) for which I would have some limited use, some rather toy-like American outline, Japanese made goods stock (I'm not sure if I can do anything with it) and three items that could be useful. These are from around about 1970, and are as follows: What is supposedly a NSWGR 422 Class diesel, by Tri-ang (of the let's paint something in a different livery and pretend it's something else school of modelling). I don't think I need to tell anyone on here what it really is. Also by Tri-ang, what appears to be meant to be an Australian National Railways Baggage Car (Indian Pacific maybe?) And a Lima Australian National Railways diesel (it was also marketed by Lima in NSW colours as a 42 Class) which I think was a repaint of one of their American outline models. I'm hoping that the green paint is water based......
Where did that 422 came from? Never seen that repaint before. I think Tri-ang was gone before the 422 arrived. Tri-ang Hornby brand might have been in existence. Tri-ang did the NSWGR Suburban electrics and VR B class , the fluted steel passenger cars were sold in various liveries around the world. Not sure if they were a scale model or just generic. The Lima S class was sold painted in NSWGR livery as a 42 class and Commrail and ANR as a GM1. ( sentence modified for accuracy... memory fading) They also made the 44 class and the 422 which was a very accurate body, sadly sitting on a toy market mech. Most serious modellers put home made or modified US mechs under them. cheers Bob
I do remember this model coming on to the market, but I can't remember when (late 60s/early 70s probably) and I do remember it being sold as part of a freight set, but I don't recall it being sold individually, although it may have been. The underside of the loco bears the words "Tri-ang R357" "Built in Britain" (so presumably after the Australian operation closed down) and a logo bearing the words "Brush Traction England".
The fake 422 (ex-class 30/31 Brush type 2) models were very common at swap meets for a while. Then, I promised I'd keep an eye out for a reasonably priced example for someone I was dealing with in England, and they promptly seemed to disappear from the swap meet tables. I have now forgotten who I made that promise to. Oh well.
The maroon/silver streamlined diesel in ANR livery is of the GM-1 Class. This was soon replaced with the wording Commonwealth Railways. It was one of Lima's first outline Australian diesels to be released. This was later re-liveried as a NSWGR 42 Class. The American equivalent is generally in a Bo-Bo wheel configuration where down under we ran with Co-Co wheel arrangement. Lima locomotives for Australian sale : http://mmiwakoh.de/Eigene Webs/lima-modellbahn/AUS1 en.htm Lima Collectors Guide : http://mmiwakoh.de/Eigene Webs/lima-modellbahn/Seite2 en.htm Cheers, Gary.
Hornby R307 all the info is below on production. I’ve lost count on how many of these I’ve given away over the years Now I’m thinking I should have kept at least one of each Australian production models or the sets the only ones I’ve kept are a mint boxed single item Suburban power car and a trailer car that was from a different production run. Years Released: 1974a 1975a 1976a (Model Year pages) Model released for 3 years. Model: N.S.W.R. Diesel Locomotive (Aust) Running Number: 42202 Model Information: Australian release. * 3,700 solo models produced and 7,600 in sets. Models Produced: * 11,300 * Information from Triang & Hornby, The Story of Rovex, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 - Pat Hammond Logo & Box Style: YEAR CAT MODEL 1974a R.307 N.S.W.R. Diesel Locomotive (Aust) 1975a R.307 N.S.W.R. Diesel Locomotive (Aust) 1976a R.307 N.S.W.R. Diesel Locomotive (Aust) Train Sets Included In (1) YEARS TRAIN SET 1974a 1975a 1976a Southern Aurora Set (Aust)
Interesting, as my 42202 definitely says R357 and not R307 on the body and it is branded as Tri-ang and not Tri-ang/Hornby.
The R357 was the original UK Triang class 31 number and continued on all 31 classes fuel tank assembly’s that I have seen, no mater the livery, be it green or blue etc I’m guessing a set of the early Triang dies for the model may have been sent out to Australia for the Australian production and the code R307 May only appear on boxes, Im not sure if the model had different “R” numbers in the UK for the 31’s various livery’s their. It’s my guess that R307 was a Australian only release. It’s one of a few Australian oddities made to fill a gap in the local market. Production numbers are quite impressive as well when you consider, most of the current production runs from all the mainstream manufactures don’t get anywhere near those numbers.
The model coded R357 was painted in a variety of liveries... https://www.ebay.com.au/i/401891945...MIxIOa-Jnl5AIVioBwCh0LGAPDEAYYASABEgLnMvD_BwE Cheers, Gary.