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Heljan announce further batch of OO gauge Class 26s


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Yay......

 

26014 & 008 Preordered to join the fleet....

 

Now, post tops class 27's.... would be nice to see a couple of these appear.... they are like hens teeth... have tried on the rare occasion one popped on EBay, but seems lots of others interested in them as well... last one I bid on went for £155 which was way more than I was prepared to pay....

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This announcement has made me very happy with the Class 26's being my personal favourite class of loco. I used to work at Haymarket hence my soft spot for them. I've currently got 9 of these Heljan models along with 2 of their Class 27's. They are fantastic models and streets ahead of the old Lima fleet they replaced.

 

I'll be after some of the Coal livery ones for sure, and to renumber one of them into 26 001 (Haymarket 1988)

 

post-22167-0-24426700-1503658527_thumb.jpg

 

Delighted that 26 010 is being made in Railfreight livery so that'll be ordered (Ayr 1985)

 

post-22167-0-86950200-1503658334_thumb.jpg

 

Along with 26 026 in Blue (Carlisle 1982)

 

post-22167-0-27842300-1503658635_thumb.jpg

 

 

Not keen on the Dutch livery but between the Blue, Railfreight and Coal sectors I can see my fleet rapidly expanding :)

 

post-22167-0-40405100-1503658945_thumb.jpg

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Someone hasn't been keeping tabs on Heljan's class 26 releases and paid a whopping £161 for pre-owned 26004 on eBay last weekend.

 

Ouch.

 

Yup, I was tracking that as the Trainload Coal is missing from my collection. Saw the way the price was going and didn't bid.

 

Placed my order last night for 10 of these. 1 of each and two of the coal sector. Currently going through my stock to see what I can sell in order to offset the cost of these.

 

Desperate for Heljan to re-release some post TOPS 27's, but hopefully not for a good while yet until the piggy bank has recovered.

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I've been having a McRat evening tonight, with my collection of these Heljan models now standing at 11 Class 26's & 4 Class 27's.

 

attachicon.gifP1190642.JPG

Wow that’s an infestation. They seem to have bred since your August post, and I’m guessing more will come over winter...

May I offer some advice..

https://www.rentokil.co.uk/rats/how-to-get-rid-of-rats/

 

 

:-)

 

 

It’s a lovely collection, though I don’t think I ever saw so many in one place at the same time, not even at Christmas or at VicBerrys.

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Had an e-mail from Hattons today...

 

"Our latest information from the supplier suggests this item will arrive with us on or after Tuesday 30th January 2018

Whilst we are hopeful this information is accurate, manufacturer lead times are frequently prone to be delayed. 

This information is to be used as a guide only. "

 

Regards Jeff

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Heljan posted on their Facebook page today that they are now in stock, and available to order from your Heljan stockist. Can't wait to receive my little lot.

Oh Great.... So literally within a week or so, I have my 26’s coming, my realtracks 156’s, and rakes and rakes of oxford rails mk 3’s.... all I need is Bachmann to get the mk2f’s into the shops to complete my financial pain!!!! my postie and credit card have no idea what is about to hit them!

 

Looking forward to seeing the new stuff arriving, been waiting a long time for some of it...

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Received 26014 today, had a quick inspection of it before my tea, it looks the part, boiler grills plated over and leaf bogie springs. All the printing legible under a magnifying glass and electric warning labels appear to be in the correct position for this loco. No couplings or buffer beam detail fitted, their all contained in the separate bag along with NRN aerial panels and snowploughs (very rarely fitted to 26/0s). I already owned a couple of Heljan 26/1s so I'd been hoping for a 26/0 that featured some of the differences but fitted with my 80s period, so thankyou Heljan! I'll give it a run in at the weekend.

 

Brian.

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My fleet arrived today. Slight mix up as they sent an extra coal livery instead of Blue 26 026, but that's getting rectified. Looking forward to getting these on the layout over the weekend.

 

attachicon.gifIMG_20180216_161513.jpg

 

How many short of the whole fleet are you now ?

 

I have to say kudos for focussing on the class rather than distracted across anything and everything !

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My fleet arrived today. Slight mix up as they sent an extra coal livery instead of Blue 26 026, but that's getting rectified. Looking forward to getting these on the layout over the weekend.

 

 

attachicon.gifIMG_20180216_161513.jpg

 

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU......

 

There is someone worse than me out there for buying stuff..........

Got to say, having 10 locos arrive at the same time is impressive....

 

Feeling a lot better now..... now to go and order something........ lol......

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Received 26014 today, had a quick inspection of it before my tea, it looks the part, boiler grills plated over and leaf bogie springs. All the printing legible under a magnifying glass and electric warning labels appear to be in the correct position for this loco. No couplings or buffer beam detail fitted, their all contained in the separate bag along with NRN aerial panels and snowploughs (very rarely fitted to 26/0s).

 

Brian.

 

Brian, I am pretty sure none of the 26/0's carried ploughs as they didn't have any brackets to fit them!

 

Al.

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Brian, I am pretty sure none of the 26/0's carried ploughs as they didn't have any brackets to fit them!

 

Al.

Lots here...

 

https://goo.gl/images/CX6peS

 

Given their territory, I would have been surprised if they hadn’t.

 

I have a memory of the late 1980’s being stranded at Inverness in a snowstorm and the planned 47 and stock to Glasgow via Aviemore was about 6 hours late, a pair of 26’s showed with ploughs (the ex-BR tender type) at each end having cleared the line northbound, and a 37 with ploughs joined our formation with the 47 southbound.. despite the lined being cleared, it was a misty journey southbound with around another 6 inches being dumped as we went, I have some pictures somewhere, as an excited kid with frostbite having such an unusual journey, I will see if I can dig a couple out.

 

As an FYI at Aviemore,D5394, which was then already preserved, at Stathspey was in the main station platform with frontal ploughs fitted and understood it had been on the BR line to clear the station... this considering preserved diesels were banned on BR under power. I returned a year later with a Railscene camera crew (I used to hitch a ride in return for holding a microphone occasionally) and captured D5394 running stock out of Aviemore onto Strathspeys, so it wasn’t a one off occurrence either.

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Lots here...https://goo.gl/images/CX6peS

Given their territory, I would have been surprised if they hadn’t.

Misunderstanding? I can’t remember off hand at what number they changed from 26/0 to 26/1, but certainly my understanding was that the first batch - the ones that worked the coal trains - weren’t fitted with snow plough brackets. As far as I can see, none of that batch have them in those photos. Happy to be corrected though.

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Misunderstanding? I can’t remember off hand at what number they changed from 26/0 to 26/1, but certainly my understanding was that the first batch - the ones that worked the coal trains - weren’t fitted with snow plough brackets. As far as I can see, none of that batch have them in those photos. Happy to be corrected though.

 

5300-19 became 26/0 and 5320 onwards 26/1.

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Brian, I am pretty sure none of the 26/0's carried ploughs as they didn't have any brackets to fit them!

 

Al.

The 26/0's were not built with snow plough brackets, but 26 018 was fitted with the brackets while allocated to Inverness in 1975, it was a regular performer on the far north lines. Withdrawn in 1982 after going up in smoke, so it never got the major overhaul for working MGR coal trains.

https://6lda.wordpress.com/test-history/26018d5318/ 

Once bogie swaps started happening towards the end of the class 26 lives, exactly which ones could or could not carry ploughs you'd need to refer to photos. 26 014 remained on leaf spring bogies in to preservation so unless it received 26 018's bogies it wouldn't of had plough brackets. Also Haymarket depot never seemed to be in to fitting it's locomotives with ploughs even if the brackets were present.

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