Repairing a Coronation Set

This Trix Coronation set, in its original presentation box, was kindly offered to me recently by a chap in Scotland who had discovered my website. It's likely that the set was made in 1939 and, considering it is over 65 years old, in very good condition. However, in common with other Coronation sets, the coal tender has suffered severe damage from metal oxidisation.

Metal damage

Here is the top casting of the coal tender. The front section has crumbled away and the sides are severely distorted and cracked, causing the fixing screws to become detached.

New casting

Fortunately, a Trix collector in Germany manufactures replacement tender top castings. Here, the new casting is mounted on the original tender underframe. The next step is to repaint the casting, and apply correct LMS lining and transfers to match the Trix original.

Controller

The Coronation set was missing its original Trix controller. For a pre-war set, the correct controller is of German manufacture with a red cut-out button in the centre of the speed knob. For the Coronation, Princess, and Scotsman presentation sets, a 'super' controller was supplied to provide smoother speed control, and is painted blue rather than black. I found one of these controllers at a Trix collectors' event in Banbury in excellent condition, so it fits perfectly in the set.

Next steps

Once the tender is repaired, I'll check out the loco mechanism and set about getting the loco running.

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