Heljan Lion

[Guest 47107]

The first images of Lion bodyshell are now on Heljan website.

 

http://www.Heljan.dk/faste_filer/modul.asp?vis=nyhedmod&fModul=web654.asp&mode=laesnyhed&artikelid=260

[Guest Max Stafford]

Looking good. as the man says, there are corrections to be made, so be nice...!

 

Dave.

[Garry D100]

Looking good. as the man says, there are corrections to be made, so be nice...!

 

Dave.

How can you be nice when there is such a glaring error.......where are the wheels

[Pennine MC]

How can you be nice when there is such a glaring error.......where are the wheels

 

Still under the class 57

[Baby Deltic]

Looking forward to getting my mitts on one of those. I have a Silver Fox one on class 47 bogies. Lets hope they use the correct BRCW bogie sideframes.

[bigherb]

Looks nice. Is that a moulded on crest I can see?

[John M Upton]

Pictures of a painted pre production 'Lion' appear in the new Hornby Magazine. Looks fine except for one thing, is that really a printed on red fan on the fan grilles?!? I hope it is an accidental effect of the camera lens because if it is not - yikes!!

[97403_Ixion]

Hi all,

 

after all this time, it's certainly good to see a painted example of 'Lion'. Judging by the struts of the grille being red, as well as where you would expect to see the fan below, it does look like it is painted on... However, as the magazine states, the project is in a pre-production phase, so it is quite possible that it will end up with a fan inside and other details could change after the model's assessment. The proof will be in the pudding, so they say!! It's due out March 2011.

 

In the meantime, well worth taking a look Certainly getting one myself B)

 

Cheers,

Ixion.

[The Stationmaster]

Thus far my view on it is 'almost'. Hopefully a few things will change between the pre-production and the final effort as it is a loco I can well remember and thus one I'm attracted to by sheer nostalgia - but not at any price in terms of visual impact; it's got to be absolutely right for me to buy on this occasion.

[Guest 47107]

A picture of Lion is now on the Howes website.

 

 

http://www.howesmodels.co.uk/admin/products/Z0oHvshe/LION%20FPS.jpg

[Allegheny1600]

Looking pretty good there except, when are they going to paint it!?

John E.

[Guest baldrick25]

Seriously excellent model. Is this a 3D printing of a model body ?.. The buffer area looks like it. I do hope they fit sprung buffers rather than those bits of plastic ( and get the colour right as they were edged on gold/black- as per the cabside numbers when the prototype was new). The livery is going to very hard to replicate as it was wasn't white, officially it was ivory , but to my eyes it was just somewhere between depending if you were face on or at an angle. Can't wait to see the finished model in the flesh..

[vac_basher]

That's looking really nice. I think I'm going to order one soon

[Pugsley]

Seriously excellent model. Is this a 3D printing of a model body ?

It looks like it, you can see the ridges by the cantrail grilles as well. It does look good.

[brian daniels]

It's a picture of a pre-production model, trust me B)

[m0rris]

Wow... might have to increase my student debt for that ! Its looking lovely, and to think 3 years ago people would have said you were mad if you said Falcon, Kestrel and Lion would all be produced in this period.

 

m0rris

[Mod6]

I've just deleted two posts which are essentially frothing/wishing about other possible products.

 

Let's keep to the topic please, which is the Heljan Lion.

[Ian Hargrave]

I wonder how many of our happy band of pilgrims actually SAW this brave curiosity in service ? Looking through my 'Locolog Book',price9D (old pence),I note that I 'copped' this beast parked at its Birmingham R.C.W. home ( Smethwick ) on 11th June 1963,whilst en route from West Bromwich to Snow Hill--D0260 'Lion'.All of this is no more. Trams run in place of Kings & 47's & 52's. The Profumo affair was front-page news.Lion didn't last as long!

[Guest baldrick25]

I too was around to see it brand new. I was going past the BRCW works at Smethwick on route to Brum when , there it was in brilliant white livery outside the paintshop. Much 'barracking' followed at school when I said what I had seen. No one beleived it. That is until a few weeks later when it started in service on Wolves low level- Snow Hill - Paddington. What a beast for its time it was. Remember at the time it was Warships etc , and a mix of other 'near prototypes' scattered around the country , and there was this most powerful diesel electric. Then it went to do tests up Lickey which I was lucky enough to get wind of and witness. At the time nothing more than six coaches went up Lickey without double heading or a banker. There was the white loco with test coach and load 12 ( weighted) if I remember right , stopped half way up Lickey ( on test- not failed I would add). Then , after some time with bods checking everything that could be checked, the 'right away' given , and this 'thing' on the front started to move forward, slowly at first. As the throttle was opened notch by notch it powered away as though it was on the flat. Absolutely astounding for its time.

 

Weeks later I was lucky enough to be on a chance holiday train from Wolves to Plymouth.. Never had I been at such speed over Dainton bank. Now with me based in Plymouth and area for a couple of weeks , I saw it at full chat thru Newton Abbott , on tracks now lifted, where the booking office is now built. A few weeks later it was transferred off to the ECML, and I was always staggered that this loco was never used as a prototype for its own class before the 47's appeared, The 47's never had either the appeal or apparent power of 'Lion' , a truly great shame it was scrapped so quickly presumably to preserve the technical advances of the time. It was a quantum leap forward in traction at the time.

[Pennine MC]

..., and I was always staggered that this loco was never used as a prototype for its own class before the 47's appeared, The 47's never had either the appeal or apparent power of 'Lion' , a truly great shame it was scrapped so quickly presumably to preserve the technical advances of the time. It was a quantum leap forward in traction at the time.

 

I think it's generally accepted that in the context of BR's dieselisation programme, Lion was probably the best class we never had and a bit of an enigma in that respect, being reckoned to be superior in many respects to the 47 despite being based around the same power unit. BRCW were apparently invited to participate in construction of a standard type 4 fleet (presumably by building 47s), but declined. Of the three contenders for the build, Falcon had twin high speed engines which were never going to find favour and and DP2 didnt fit the spec in not being flat fronted, but it seems likely that pressure to eliminate steam is what led to the flawed decision to build over 500 locos effectively straight off the drawing board. In balance though, I suppose it's likely that the well documented problems with the 12LDA28C engine would have troubled a fleet of 'Lions' just as much

[The Stationmaster]

Saw it, I even photographed it (in Swindon Stock Shed if I recall correctly - and a tad underexposed so the print looked a bit odd).

[10800]

Now with me based in Plymouth and area for a couple of weeks ,

 

Brilliant! - just the excuse I need (which I don't ) to have one running on the Tawbridge roundy-roundy. Might need to buy some more maroon Mk1s though ...

[Guest baldrick25]

To my recollection, Lion regularly worked Wolves (Stafford rd sheds)- Wolves low level- Birminghan Snow Hill - Paddington, with some daytime journies between Snow Hill-Paddington. Then it seemed to take over the Wolves -Plymouth ( Cornishman ) services mainly at busy weekends throughout summer, then some Plymouth- Paddington trips before 'Lickey tests' and then transfer to ECML.

I beleive it also made a couple of Wolverhampton High level appearances due to engineering diversions on Low Level.

Unfortunately there was no web and 'gen' in those times , and unless you or your mates saw it, that was it.

My camera at that age was nothing more than a box brownie , and the couple of shots were always 'going away', it just wasn't fast enough to be capable of 'speed' shots.

Seems amazing now that I cabbed it regularly at Snow Hill , thanks to super drivers , and even had a ride as it ran around the ECS. How todays H&S culture 'stamped out' youthful enthusiasm and aspiration as a by-product.

Although Lion had a speed of 95MPH stamped in the cab, that seemed to me to be a minimum in notch 1.

[bubbles2]

The question is do I replace my Lima class 47 / Craftsman conversion kit with the Heljan Lion when it comes out?

 

Should I put it on Ebay now?

 

Or maybe just keep it for old times sake?

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

I think it's generally accepted that in the context of BR's dieselisation programme, Lion was probably the best class we never had and a bit of an enigma in that respect, being reckoned to be superior in many respects to the 47 despite being based around the same power unit. BRCW were apparently invited to participate in construction of a standard type 4 fleet (presumably by building 47s), but declined. Of the three contenders for the build, Falcon had twin high speed engines which were never going to find favour and and DP2 didnt fit the spec in not being flat fronted, but it seems likely that pressure to eliminate steam is what led to the flawed decision to build over 500 locos effectively straight off the drawing board. In balance though, I suppose it's likely that the well documented problems with the 12LDA28C engine would have troubled a fleet of 'Lions' just as much

 

But at least it might have avoided the multiplicity of other 'teething problems' (and design errors) which beset the Brush Type 4 in its early years and it definitely did not seem to exhibit the Brush 4's alarming early tendency to set fire to its own brakeblocks as its automatic slack adjusters regularly set about 'adjusting' non existent slack

Another strange thing was how the story then went full circle as the Class 56 copied numerous 'successful' features of the Brush design only for depot and regional M&EE organisations to find they had been based on the original drawings and not the numerous mods applied in order to make various things reliable.