An update to the Class 47 summary, as before this is intended to serve as a record of the fleet (as well as something of an index, with previous blog posts having covered the work in more detail).

For Wheal Imogen the fleet is not the most useful, given that the Railfreight 47s tended to only be used on the long distance routes out of the county, however they will all become more useful at some point in the future when the big project can finally commence…

 

47338 in Railfreight Distribution

When starting work on Wheel Imogen I wanted to include as much variation in locomotives as possible to ensure a bit of variation rather than endless 37s of various colours.  I had a stripped down Bachmann 57/3 chassis in the parts box, to which an ebay RF 47 body was added.  The underframe tanks are from Heljan, and the bogies were modified to remove the sandboxes.

The bodyside has had some light weathering based on a couple of photos of the loco looking relatively clean, however the roof still needs a lot more dirt.  It has the rusty marks where the previous nameplate had been removed (the main reason for choosing this loco), and retained its depot plaques (which still need replacing with an etch).  This loco has been rewheeled with Maygibs.

 

47051 in Railfreight Distribution

This started off as a Bachmann body which was sourced via a friend, as with 338 it ended up destined for an existing chassis from a spare class 57 (this time a Freightliner 57/0) again loosing the sandboxes and gaining new underframe tanks.  This time I modified the 57/0 lighting boards to fit the 47 body (the logic being that 338 and 051 will typically work in multiple.  Eventually one of the pair will likely loose its chassis and be rebuilt as a non running loco on a pair of spare Heljan bogies (purely to run in multiple with the other on the polybulk / clay tigers).  It currently remains on its original OO wheels.

Weathering again follows prototype photos, this time from 1997 during which it had the E W S lettering wiped into the dirt on the bodyside.  It lost the depot plaques sometime in mid 1998, so as with 338 still requires the etch adding.  [update] I am a little torn about the condition of this one, with my plans shifting a touch from 97/98 to 98/99 (up to the point of the introduction of FGW livery), so the depot plaques probably should be removed...

 

47016 Atlas Railfreight Large Logo Grey

The most recent addition to the fleet, A Vitrains model which has been resprayed into large logo grey.  It still needs a few refinements (it is missing bogie steps and still needs Extreme Etchings roof grills adding), along with a single Atlas nameplate on one side.  It is a particularly versatile loco, with photos of it working on engineers, freight and most interestingly for Virgin Cross Country, with a photo of 016 passing Dawlish on its way to Penzance.  The loco is currently still running on OO wheels

 

47768 Resonant RES

A Vitrains model which has been fitted with Extreme Etchings roof grills and etched nameplate, the RES blue flashes were redone the correct colour, and the RES depot plaques carefully removed from the cab sides (which required a minor paint touch up).  Light weathering has started, however requires further attention to both the bogies and roof.  Working from prototype photos the additional pipe was added across the roof grills.  In the late 90s some of the RES fleet could be found working on St Blazey clay trains while the drivers built up their type knowledge, an excuse for a slightly more unusual visitor to the works.  As such it is currently fitted with a set of Maygibs in P4

 

48817 Institution of Mechanical Engineers Virgin

Another Vitrains model fitted with Extreme Etchings roof grills, the cab sides had to be resprayed as part of the renumber process due to the thin Vitrains paint.  From memory this loco also required modifications to the boiler port plating (again with the EE parts).  This is my second model of this loco, replacing an earlier Heljan example which died of Mazac rot.  The prototype was not named until after my period, but as with its predecessor it was named in memory of my time studying Engineering at university.   This loco remains in OO [update] This loco will eventually end up getting replaced with an Intercity 47 carrying the same name, with the Virgin example gaining a new number.  However I suspect it will require a full respray to hide the nameplate scar so it is not in any way a priority.  While I know the loco is wrong for my period it is one of those errors that I can live with....

 

47709 Fraggonset

Yet another Vitrains model back from the days when you could pick one up from Hattons for forty quid (why didn’t I buy more!)  Resprayed into Fraggonset black after the usual EE treatment to the roof grills.  It has been fitted with the condenser pipe to the underframe takes using a spare removed from the scrapped 57/3 that eventually ended up providing a chassis for 47338.  Not the most useful loco in the fleet, as one of the less interesting alternative locos to substitute for Virgins Class 47s.   If other projects and disposals go to plan in 2022 this will likely end up as my final Fraggonset loco from a fleet that once numbered seven). [update] the loco has experienced some damage in storage with both roof grills broken, so it will require some work before I can start weathering it.

 

47813 SS Great Britain  Great Western Trains

The final ViTrains class 47 in the fleet, originally an Intercity Swallow example before respraying in GWT green (and of course replacing the rubbish ViTrains roof grills).   I think this one also had modifications to the boiler port covers.  As well as use on the GWT sleeper and HST drags, I also have a photo of it on a west bound Virgin XC service which I think it rescued at Exeter.  This was always intended to replace 47830 in the fleet. As with most of the passenger 47s It is still in OO

 

47830 Great Western Trains

A Heljan model which was resprayed as 47830, currently lacking underframe tanks which were required for one of the Railfreight locos.  The loco was never actually put back together fully after the respray (and has lost its underframe tanks under one of the railfreight 47s)…  Having seen others have some success slimming down the Heljan chassis block to use with a Lima or ViTrains body, I suspect that is the final destination for this loco (more likely than not ending up under 47798)

 

47798 Prince William  EWS Royal Train

Respray to follow, will likely utilise 47830's Heljan chassis block.

 

For the Display Case:

Also for the display case are models of 47853 (Heljan) and 57601 (Bachmann), 853 is fitted with P4 wheels and may eventually end up giving up its chassis for another project.  57601 needs a little work to sort out its underframe (its tanks having been pinched for one of my Railfreight locos). 

 

The future

Looking forward, other than the continuation of work on the weathering front there remain a couple of omissions.  The key omission from a future fleet perspective is an Intercity Swallow 47/8, all be it not a very pressing requirement given that the Virgin fleet is well provided for already.   This will probably end up as either 47840 North Star or combined with a renumber of 817 as 841.  The plan is to source a Bachmann 47/8 body in Intercity which will get fitted to one of the RFD locos chassis.  The RDF body would then get fitted to a dummy chassis comprising Heljan bogies and a Vitrains underframe to run in multiple with its partner.

 

When purchasing a damaged loco to provide a chassis for 47016 I got another decent body of a 47/7.  I hadnt realised  I was getting an ex Res loco (with the modified tail lights) which scuppered my original plan of using it for an Intercity respray.  Instead it will end up as 

The plan is that I will slim down the chassis from 47830 to provide a chassis for 47798 once it is resprayed, although if I find another cheap Vitrains model at around the £45 price point I will no doubt just buy another chassis (and have another body to find an identity for.  Longer term I want to see what can be done about the underframes to bring them up to a similar standard as the latest Bachmann releases…