Bachmann 31-128 Class 30xx 2-8-0 ROD 3036

[neilmack]

My first post - apologies if its in the wrong place.

 

What should this model come with in terms of a detail pack. I'm a complete beginner - this is my first OO gauge loco, and I don't know what should be there, or what I shall need.

 

Many thanks

 

Neil

 

 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Welcome aboard Neil. Very sensible first loco choice, one of the very common workhorses which moved the heavier freight loads on the steam railway.

 

There will be a small detail pack of user fittable optional parts, which may include the brake gear linkage for loco and tender, dummy drawhooks and couplings and brake hoses for the bufferbeams, cylinder drain cock pipes, footsteps. (I don't have this particular model, and Bachmann's practise varies a little from model to model in my experience.)

 

It is worth understanding the reason for these parts being supplied as options for user fitting. The model is specified to run as supplied on second radius of the UK set track system. Adding these parts has to be tested by the user against the curves on the layout. Cylinder drain cock pipes and footsteps at the loco front for example will foul the leading wheels on small radius curves, and may cause derailment. If thatls the case then these parts cannot be used as supplied. (There are often work arounds if prepared to compromise a little on accuracy, or to make the part in superior material to get a slimmer component.)

 

The major detail component that won't be supplied is real coal. This looks way better than the cast ballast weight lump. Inspection of photographs will reveal 'other items' that the modeller can add, lamps, fire irons, canvas weather sheet, a crew member's bicycle...

[neilmack]

Thanks for that. The implication, if I've understood correctly, is that there is nothing in the detail pack that is necessary to the operation of the loco on the track. I was careful to buy some track with radius 3 curves, in the hopes that this would be a kinder environment, and perhaps more reliable. My question was prompted by the fact that I didn't get anything with the Loco, and I'm not sure whether to be bothered or not.

 

It really is a handsome little model, seemingly very solid, and in the "weathered" finish really does at least begin to evoke the real thing.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Should have mentioned to take a look at the instruction sheet. That may mention if there are optional detail parts supplied for the owner to try out. It is quite possible that all the detail was fitted at the factory. As you recognise, optional parts are not necessary for operation.

 

Regarding curve radius, bigger is always better. (That radius 3 curve scale just under 2 chains radius (44 yards) and is only negotaible by short wheelbase four wheel vehicles in reality.) It's a permanent struggle in this hobby to make curve radii large enough, unless one has the ancestral baronial hall or a handy barn in which to build the layout. I have found by experiment that the current OO products perform optimally if a minimum radius of 30" can be adopted, for most of us it is a challenge to accomodate.

 

It is a good model, I have the earlier releases representing an ex-LNER O4 in closer to original condition as operating on BR(ER) in the last decade of steam, and am very pleased with them. Completely reliable, none of the applied detail falls off, looks very much at home plodding away slowly with a long goods train.

[7007GreatWestern]

Welcome aboard Neil. Very sensible first loco choice, one of the very common workhorses which moved the heavier freight loads on the steam railway.

 

There will be a small detail pack of user fittable optional parts, which may include the brake gear linkage for loco and tender, dummy drawhooks and couplings and brake hoses for the bufferbeams.....

 

Hi,

 

The ex GCR ROD 2-8-0 locos used on the GWR weren't 'vacuum fitted' hence no 'brake hoses'. For this reason they could never be used on passenger trains. They would be stopped by steam brake and handbrake only. I seem to remember Bachmann had to issue a notice to customers explaining that no vacuum hoses should be present on the model.

 

I think I'm right in saying the GWR only paid £50 per loco for each of them so what do you expect? 

 

Andy.

Edited April 14, 2018 by 7007GreatWestern

[adb968008]

 

I think I'm right in saying the GWR only paid £50 per loco for each of them so what do you expect? 

 

Andy.

That’s cheaper than the model..

[No Decorum]

That’s cheaper than the model..

An excellent observation.

 

I don’t know if it makes me more depressed by the price of models or the destriuction of the value of money in the intervening years.

[Guardian]

 

I think I'm right in saying the GWR only paid £50 per loco for each of them so what do you expect? 

 

 

Err - we should keep in mind that the acquisition was in about 1918/19?

 

Mark.

[7007GreatWestern]

It would seem the £50 figure is an urban myth.....or rather a piece of hand-me-down railwaymen's folklore. The following is a  summary from David Maidment's "The Great Western Eight Coupled Heavy Freight Locomotives".

 

The UK Government initially offered the surplus ROD locomotives for sale at the outrageous price of £12,000 in 1919. To put that in context it cost Swindon under £6K to build a 28xx and tender at that time. The asking price was reduced to £10,300 and at that price the GWR bought 20 unused locos.

 

Being desperately short of freight motive power the GWR then hired 84 RODs that had seen action in France. When the hire period finished in 1921-22 the locos were dumped at Stratton near Swindon and Beachley near Chepstow. The Government then offered these locos for sale, initially asking £2k but eventually reducing to £1.5k at which point the GWR stepped in and bought 80. After just four months service all of them were withdrawn from and a decision was taken to overhaul and improve 30. The work was extensive and included replacing the original steel inner firebox with copper. The other 50 locos were simply returned to traffic and run to the point they were fit for scrap.

 

The RODs had an unenviable reputation among GWR firemen. They were nicknamed 'Maggie Murphys". It was generally considered impossible to get them to 'blow off' unless stationary and sometimes not even then! They had two speed: 25 mph and stop...with very little in between. In his book "Footplate Days" Harold Gasson wrote the following:-

 

"..the truth is they were the most detested locomotives on the Great Western.......It was often called by enginemen the £100 engine. If that figure was true then the engine was the cheapest locomotive in the world."

 

He goes on to write:-

 

"They were hard pushed to go downhill; as in effect it was a two speed engine. It would plod forward, plod backward, or stop, but in either forward or reverse it would pull".

 

It's interesting to compare the enginemen's folklore (that the the engines cost £100) with the reality sourced from official records. The loco crews may have loathed the RODs but grudgingly accepted them believing they had been bought for 'pennies'. I wonder how they would have felt if they had known the company paid more for each of the first 20 than the cost of building a 28xx (a vastly better machine)?

 

I hope the above is of interest.

 

Andy.

[The Johnster]

Thanks for that. The implication, if I've understood correctly, is that there is nothing in the detail pack that is necessary to the operation of the loco on the track. I was careful to buy some track with radius 3 curves, in the hopes that this would be a kinder environment, and perhaps more reliable. My question was prompted by the fact that I didn't get anything with the Loco, and I'm not sure whether to be bothered or not.

 

It really is a handsome little model, seemingly very solid, and in the "weathered" finish really does at least begin to evoke the real thing.

 

Sounds as though you are going about things in the right way, Neil.  Yes, you should be able to use your loco straight out of the box and you have done the right thing in going for the largest radius curves you can for it to run on.  Bachmanns generally run reasonably well from new, but improve in terms of smooth starting and stopping, and controlled slow speed running, with a bit of running in.

 

If your loco runs particularly stiffly, or has a tight spot, or of course doesn't run at all, send/take it back for a replacement.  It should run quietly; any buzzing, scraping, or clicking noises indicate a problem.  Although for ultimate realism a persistent big end knock and a lot of subsidiary clanking and rattling were normal...

 

Bachmanns usually come with extra detail to put on, but as has been said there wasn't much on the real loco in this case, a basic heavy freight with no frills which was one of the reasons the ROD chose it for wartime construction.  If the coupling drawhooks are fitted the only other thing is the brake rigging, which is arguably not visible from normal viewing angles unless you have one that allows a view of the underneath of the loco (open frame overbridge?) and which I ended up not bothering with on my Hornby 42xx because it kept falling off and fouling pointwork.  The instruction sheet that came in the box should explain this, and if you do not have one they can be downloaded as a pdf from Baccy's website.

[JSpencer]

Hattons are doing BR ones at £69 right now.

[John Tomlinson]

Hattons are doing BR ones at £69 right now.

 

Indeed and have been for a while. I picked up a pristine one a few months ago at that price. It runs beautifully and particularly so at slow speed, looks great,  and is heartily recommended as phenomenal value!

 

John.