Triang wotsit

They still turn up for sale very occassionally in New Zealand, so there must be a few wandering around Britain. The old Tri-ang wheels wouldn't like code 100 rails so I guess a lot got tossed 10-20 years back. With decent profile wheels and a five pole armature the mechanisims are quite passable. You might have to buy several at £6 each and shuffle the components, or, I would imagine, pay considerably more for a mint one. A painted and detailed model should look almost acceptable even today.

Regards, Greg.P.

Can you get 5-pole armutures or motor replacements for the motor bogie?

The original poster was asking about the Southern EMU which for its day was rather nice.

Back when I still had Triang stuff I extended its life by replacing the motors in the steam locomitives - there were several 5-pole drop-in replacements eg AIrfix/MRC, the Romford Terrier and one from ECM which incorporated a small Buhler motor.

The Triang equipment I kept longest were the clerestory coaches.

I don't suppose that they are still produced but I had a few in the past. I think the brand was MRC, as in the motor "MW05". They used to make a slot car motor, a

5 pole motor with double magnets, rather like a K's MkII, and from that 5 pole armatures for the Tri-ang X04 and motor bogies.

You posted them to me. I've still not used them along with others I acquired. They were made by MW Models who I think were in Henley and are (once again I think) the same people as the Meccano dealers so they still exist - or did until very recently - but I doubt they make the 5 pole armatures still.

From the armatures I have, there were 2 forms it seems. There were complete armatures with bearings and worms which dropped straight into a Tri-ang motor bogie and another type that needed the armature shaft cutting to length and the bearings and worms adding from a donor Tri-ang armature - such as the ones I got from you Greg.

It's time you got around to installing them! ;-) I still have one in an X04 (in a loco) and one of the motor bogie type waiting until I turn some better profile wheels. The 5 pole in the X04 certainly made the best motor for scratchbuilt models back when they were first released. The Airfix was even nicer but it didn't fit any of the locos I was building.

Kind of lost interest in modelling particularly after taking up motorcycling again. Must get some decent magnets before I install them.

I went the other way after getting splattered by an unlicenced driver!

Are there magnets better than the old Tri-ang ones (remagnetized) available?

There is someone that does the super neo magnets along the same lines as the Dublo ones. Someone may have his contact details to hand