26th October 2020

Bachmann DB Cargo 90018

I had been planning to leave this review on here back in September, but my plans regarding the fourth instalment on my DB 90 fleet had been a bit up in the air, anyway, several weeks of plans being changed a bit, I finally settled on 90018 in DB Schenker red ''The Pride of Bellshill'' in a mucky tired state. 90018 was the second of the four DB Schenker branded Class 90s, following 90036. and subsequent to this 90029 and 90040. Subsequent to the rebranding of the business into DB Cargo UK from DB Schenker, three of the four 90s lost their Schenker branding, becoming what I call DB minus Schenker livery, one of those, 90029 has recently been reliveried out of DB red, the first 90 to be done so, and reliveried into the unfortunate Grand Central livery, now further more debranded - but for some reason 90018 hasn't - there are still Class 60s, 66s, 67s and 92s wearing Schenker so why not a 90 !!! 90018 has actually found itself in the long term storage pool at Crewe awaiting new wheelsets, having been gone from one of the busiest class members to one of the quietest. 90018 has been transformed brilliantly by Bensresprays @cambo74. 

I asked for a mucky 90, and well, 90s don’t really get dirty like 66s or other locos, but this is a good interpretation of this I feel, without being from a stock image as such.  It's interesting that I should have this one, as I had initially come across 90018 in Hornby format a good few years ago in what was then a highly detailed respray and was actually my favourite DB90 model back then, I had it rebranded into DB 90019 some time later, but it was one of the first two Hornby 90s to be photographed at a then threadbare Johnson Street IEMD, then with 90035. It’s my plan for DB Schenker branded 90018 to have a similar existence at Johnson Street IEMD being there for long term maintenance works.

Bachmann Ex-EWS DB 66139

This is actually the third reincarnation of the Ex-EWS Class 66 that I have owned, having initially had an ex-EWS DB 66 - the one from Bachmann, 66065, then, having rebranded a 66135 into 66002 only to find it wouldn’t take a 21pin sound Bachmann unit, i ummed and arr-d about this - before letting go of it, I should have hung on to it maybe and TTS-fitted it - so i have finally found a 21-pin example, which is still in ex-EWS form, unlike 66065 which is now in DB red. I plan to DCC sound chip this one as soon as the model shop find my sound chips, or it will be sorted by acquiring another such unit.