Built during February 1968, at the Company's long-established Essex works, the first production Triumph 2000 was the second Model in a new range of lathes introduced by Colchester during the latter half of the decade. Like the first in the Series, the Mascot 1600 (produced from November, 1965), it was a revolution in styling and specification and (though the new models may have lacked mechanical novelty) were a strong reminder that even machine tools are subject to the vagaries and whims of fashion for, with their distinctive 'square' styling, ergonomically-designed controls and bright finishes, the new lathes made their competitors look distinctly dowdy and old-fashioned.
It would be unfair, however, to dismiss the Triumph 2000 as a mere styling exercise for this important and very popular lathe was a tough, well-made machine with a combination of capacity, speed and ease of use that made it ideal as a both general-purpose lathe for industry and, because of its modest price, also affordable by smaller machine shops who needed an all-round workhorse able to handle as great a variety of tasks as possible. So successful was the model that, for some time after its introduction, demand outstripped supply by a considerable margin and used examples were so difficult to find that good ones fetched almost list price.
11 inches (280 mm) wide the bed was induction hardened and ground-finished as standard; it was of the usual Colchester V-and-flat type, with separate pairs of ways for the carriage and tailstock, and available in two lengths that gave either 30 or 50 inches (760 mm and 1270 mm) between centres. Both beds could be had either with or without a detachable gap piece that allowed material up to 23-inches (580 mm) in diameter and 6.125 inches (155 mm) thick to be swung on the (optional-extra) 14 and 21-inch (355 mm or 535 mm) diameter faceplates.
Power was provided by a 5.6 kW (7.5 hp) base-mounted motor that drove through 4 V belts to instant-acting forward-and-reverse "wet" multi-plate clutches of Matrix manufacture mounted inside the headstock on the rearmost layshaft. However, due to a shortage of Matrix components, from Serial No. 28412 German Ortlinghaus clutches were used as well. The headstock casting could be adjusted laterally on the bed, although before altering the factory setting the owner was strongly cautioned to consult the (very comprehensive) owner's manual. The lubrication arrangements for the headstock reflected the harder work that the lathe was intended to perform and used an impeller-type pump mounted on a oil tank fitted inside the headstock-end plinth and driven from a fifth groove on the main drive pulley; from the tank the oil was taken to a "distributor block" fastened beneath the headstock's top cover and from there by pipes to the required locations. A flow-indicator sight-glass was fitted to the front face of the headstock to allow the operator to check that oil was flowing correctly.
With a hardened 6-in D1 Camlock nose the 2.1875" (55.5 mm) bore spindle was especially rigid and had been designed in conjunction with the British Machine Tool Industry Research Association. All the gears in the headstock, and not just those responsible for the main drive as on less heavily stressed Colchester models, were hardened and finish ground on Reishauer machines. 16 speeds were available, from 25 to 2000 rpm and, because of the high top speed and the capacity of the lathe, the makers warned against the use of other than the dynamically balanced, ductile-iron chucks with hardened scrolls that had been specially commissioned from Burnerd; if a new chuck is required on these lathes it would be unwise to fit anything other than one recommended by a reputable Western manufacturer. You are welcome to email for advice as to what is suitable.
Concentrically mounted paddle levers on the front face of the headstock selected the spindle speeds and worked through an ingenious and compact mechanism, with (for a machine tool) an almost foolproof system of colour coding to indicate the settings. Once the motor had been switched on by the headstock-mounted push-button starter the spindle control was by two levers: one pivoted from the right-hand apron wall and the other up against the inner face of the gearbox; both worked through a 'third shaft'  (parallel and below the feed shaft and leadscrew) that was connected by links to a cross-shaft that passed through the bed just in front of the headstock. The apron lever gave a stop, forward and reverse action the other just a reverse and stop; in conjunction with the headstock-mounted clutches and electrical switches (and a foot-operated brake) this easily-operated and safe system allowed the operator to control the spindle from either the vicinity of the toolpost or the headstock - and all while the motor was left running so that the minimum of time was wasted waiting for speed to build up (it took 4 to 5 seconds to reach 2000 rpm with a 12-inch chuck fitted) - or slow down. At Serial No. 28412 the mechanical foot-brake was replaced by a Simplatroll spring-engaged, electrically-released unit; moving the clutch control lever into forward or reverse energised the brake solenoid, causing it to release; at the same time the power indicator lamp of the earlier models was replaced by a push button that also energised the solenoid, so allowing the chuck to be rotated by hand (though on some models this facility may be blocked if a high speed is selected).
At serial No. 22096, the knurled edges of the micrometer dials  appear to have been changed to a pattern similar in appearance to "truncated chainwheels" (probably for better grip) and, simultaneously, a micrometer dial was fitted as standard to the carriage handwheel - a useful item that had always been on the options' list. At around the same time - or possibly not until Serial No. 28501 - dual metric/imperial dials became available for the top and cross slides and at Serial No. 36035 the auxiliary brake on the end of the headstock shaft was dispensed with.
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Because the lathe was capable of rotating heavy jobs at high speed a powerful and easily-operated spindle brake was essential; the Mk. 1 and Mk. 2 Triumphs had also been fitted with a brake but its control had been through a lever that was also used as an electrical start/stop and it suffered from a lack of serious leverage. On the "2000" the problem was fully addressed by mounting a more powerful brake that was activated by a full-length foot-operated bar hinged between the stand's plinths and with a mechanism that interconnected with the control for the spindle-clutch. The lathe was also fitted with a headstock-mounted emergency stop button (that operated through the obligatory "no-volt" release to prevent the motor restarting after a power cut), and a motor-run warning light to alert the hard-of-hearing, or those working in a noisy environment, that things were "active" and the controls should not to be played with casually.
Totally enclosed the dual Metric/English screwcutting gearbox was lubricated from an oil bath and fitted with hardened and ground gears running on ball-race supported shafts. Three conventional levers, and an 8-position joystick that moved into radial slots around a circle, swapped the ratios. The box was able to generate a wide range of pitches without dismounting or changing any of the changewheels; the range of threads comprised: 39 Metric from 0.2 mm to 14.0 mm; 18 Module from 0.3 to 3.5m; 45 English from 2 to 72 t.p.i. and 21 Diametral from 8 to 44 D.P.  The range of sliding feeds varied from 0.001" to 0.040" (0.03 mm to 1.0 mm) and surfacing feeds at half those rates (and thus) from 0.0005" to 0.020" (0.015 mm  to 0.5 mm) - all per revolution of the spindle.
Doubled walled the apron had shafts supported on ball bearing at each end and all gears hardened and ground; the base was closed off to form an oil bath to splash lubricate the internals and at the top of the front face, just to the right of cross-feed screw, was a push rod for hand-operated a plunger pump to feed the same lubricant to the bed, cross-slide ways and cross-feed nut.
Selected by a push/pull button the power feeds were positively engaged by a lever that allowed the feed to be stopped instantly regardless of how deep and heavy the cut was. A second push/pull button provided a means of reversing either feed and a knurled-edge dial, on the apron's right-hand face, allowed the operator to adjust the trip force that disengaged the feed - so providing a handy means of obtaining maximum accuracy when turning up to a shoulder length. A thread-dial indicator was fitted as standard.
Able to be pulled out to disengage it, the rotation of carriage traverse handwheel could be safely stopped when power feeds were being used - a fitting that appears to have been incorporated from the start of production.
Machined all over the compound slide rest was fitted with taper gib strips that allowed a very precise fit to be obtained - while also giving far superior support in comparison with the cheaper "loose-strip" type. The 9.25-inch travel cross slide was especially wide and fitted with a cross-feed screw that could be adjusted to reduce backlash; although the slide was devoid of T slots and tapped holes - and so appeared, at a glance, to be incapable of mounting any accessories - the edges of the slide were machined to accept "slide-on" T-slotted and plain blocks that could hold a variety of items including hydraulic profiling units and parting-off and other special tools.
With a hardened No. 4 Morse taper barrel engraved with metric and inch graduations the set-over tailstock also had a large diameter zeroing micrometer dial on the feed handwheel.
Constructed around two heavy cast-iron plinths, with a deep slide-out chip tray between them, the stand, surprisingly, offered no storage at all, in either plinths or centre section, even though this would not have been difficult to engineer - and would have made life both easier and more productive for the operator.
All but the most perverse would have been happy with the combination of feed and leadscrew combinations offered by the maker for the lathe was available with an English-pitch leadscrew with feed screw micrometer dial graduations in inches or millimetres, or with a Metric leadscrew and millimetre dial graduations.
The 30-inch Capacity Triumph 2000 weighed approximately 1170 kg and the long-bed 50-inch version around 1280 kg..

Ergonomically-designed and easy-to-use controls with decent-sized levers and grouped electrical controls and a motor-running warning light.
The example shown is an early model with the screwcutting gearbox levers being round rather than the later paddle-shaped ones.

The 2.1875" (55.5 mm) bore spindle, with a hardened 6-in D1 Cam Lock nose, was especially rigid and had been designed in conjunction with the British Machine Tool Industry Research Association.

All the gears in the headstock, and not just those responsible for the main drive as on less heavily stressed Colchester models, were hardened and finish ground on Reishauer machines.
A "distributor tray" was bolted across the top of the casting to catch flung-up lubricant and feed it through pipes to critical points; the same oil was fed, unfiltered, to the Gamet Super Precision taper roller bearings.

The apron was doubled walled, with its shafts supported on ball bearing at each end and all the gears hardened and ground; the base was closed off to form an oil bath to splash lubricate the internals and at the top of the front face, just to the right of cross-feed screw, was a push rod for the hand-operated plunger pump that fed lubricant from the same supply to the bed, cross-slide ways and cross-feed nut.

The Compound slide rest was machined all over and fitted with taper gib strips that allowed a very precise fit to be obtained whilst giving far superior support in comparison with the cheaper "loose-strip" type. The cross slide was especially wide and fitted with a cross-feed screw that could be adjusted to reduce backlash. Unfortunately, it was devoid of T slots, or even tapped holes, that might have been used to hold a parting-off or other special tool; however, the slide was of a sufficient thickness to allow a hydraulic profiling attachment to be mounted on it and so the possibility existed for an owner to safely make his own tapped holes to mount anything he thought necessary.

The dual Metric/English screwcutting gearbox was totally enclosed, lubricated from an oil bath and fitted with hardened and ground gears running on ball-race supported shafts. Three conventional levers, and an 8-position joystick that moved into radial slots around a circle, swapped the ratios. The box was able to generate a wide range of pitches without dismounting or changing any of the changewheels; the range of threads comprised: 39 Metric from 0.2 mm to 14.0 mm; 18 Module from 0.3 to 3.5m; 45 English from 2 to 72 t.p.i. and 21 Diametral from 8 to 44 D.P.  The range of sliding feeds varied from 0.001" to 0.040" (0.03 mm to 1.0 mm) and surfacing feeds at half those rates (and thus) from 0.0005" to 0.020" (0.015 mm  to 0.5 mm) - all per revolution of the spindle.