Time for a bit of fun with Triang Met-Camms! In fact, time for the first of what's going to (hopefully) be a regular monthly series, focussing on Triang Trains, which I've been getting into collecting lately.
I've a soft-spot for the real Met-Camms, helped by frequent trips on the KWVR's class 101 (I know the Triang model isn't a 101, technically, rather it's based -however loosely- on the earlier Lightweights but near-enough)
The 101 in its current condition, BR blue with centre headcode.
This is one of my favourite models in my collection. It was my first Non-Thomas model in the 80's (though, of course, became Daisy when 6 year old me had the train set out). This belonged to my Dad and his brothers when they were kids in the 60's.
In Christmas 2025 I bought myself this. I'd already bought one for my Dad (being as I'd effectively nicked his original one!), and after I'd bought it for him and wrapped it up, I thought what the hell, who doesn't like a train set for Christmas?
Of course, whilst setting up an oval of track on the dining room table hits the nostalgia buttons, it's not a great long-term solution. On top of which, with a growing collection of Triang that could do with running-in, and the need to write-up a piece for the Hornby Collectors Club, I thought it was time to raid the scrap-wood pile and build myself a test track with the contents of the set, and a bit of shopping...
The unit itself has had a bit of a wash and scrub-up by the Seller, including the mechanical gubbins, and runs rather sweetly.
I had this board leftover from an earlier project; it's a desktop reclaimed from the scrap pile at work, with added framework (the exposed edges of the desk were rough chipboard). Of course it means it's pretty astonishingly heavy, but hey, battle-ship quality.
Scenery-wise it needed to be simple; this was going to be stored against a wall in the workshop, so whilst there could be a bit of landscaping, it couldn't project much higher than platform level.
Out with the papier-mache! One benefit to things coming with too much packaging material I suppose.
A mix of hand-painting and spraying followed.
One dodge I was experimenting with; rather than scatter, I thought I'd try textured spray-paint, then colour again over the top of it. Unfortunately, Spring was so miserable and wet, that the day I picked to paint on meant spraying took ages, and didn't set properly.
So it was out with the flock and things after all. No static grass here, this was going to be properly retro.
Ballast was a problem. I didn't have any to hand, but DID have some reptile-gravel used for an upcoming BRM project. I was a bit too light in tone though, so I ended up washing the board over with watered-down grey poster paint.
The finished layout- well I say finished. That big space in the middle might benefit a bit of work, and a building a little more contemporary to the rest of the structures (it's a Hornby/Pola shop, contemporary with the later DMU's but stands out a bit compared to the other buildings. Maybe some proper Triang Minic buildings might look good in there).
The DMU from the set looks quite at home, whizzing around the layout...
Whilst I couldn't build the scenery up too high, I could dig-down, so there's a river, bridged with the concrete sidewalls from the elevated track set.
Level crossing and keepers hut. The gates, and all the buildings, are removable for storage.
The venerable tunnel, with scatter stuck onto it to try and blend it in a bit. Well, as much as a totally arbitrary tunnel can be, plonked on the board. It's a different one to the one from the rough planning stage, which was my childhood-era one (I couldn't bring myself to modify my old one!)
The station is, like most of these, missing its chimney. One for the long-term jobs list. Signal box and water tower completed the station side of things.
One of my BR-blue examples...
...and a later-issue set, though 3-cars is about the limit with this small layout. It's proving to be a useful test-track for my growing Triang collection (for example the likes of"Polly" and "Nellie" look right at home on short goods trains). Of course, it's a bit limiting, but it's given me a taste for this. A bigger layout, but in the same retro style, beckons...
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