Halvarras

Plastic cab door handrails = early release too. Ex-47059?

Some more Tri-ang and Hornby Dublo chassis and parts up for grabs at Elaine's emporium this morning: https://elaines-trains.co.uk/index.php?pg=new Keeping an eye on Elaine's Trains website has become my new 'addiction' following the loss of Hattons, because you never know what's going to appear.......such as that Tri-ang clockwork NBL shunter body I mentioned last Thursday. Probably the wrong course of action then for somebody desperately trying to avoid adding new projects to The Pile..........🤭 However from time to time parts come up which could assist with completing projects already in that Pile and push them along the path to completion - that's my excuse anyway!

Slicing to make sandwiches would be closer to one of its nicknames........!

Not sure about that one myself, having no need for a '67', but your question did remind me of this one..... Bachmann's first release of their PNA open wagon (38-100) was incorrectly lettered "Railways" instead of "Railway". This was corrected on subsequent releases. (Perhaps if Railtrack had fully upheld their own advertised mission statement, regardless of the spelling, it would still be with us......)

Maybe not, but I know which one appears to be sitting on its bogies correctly compared to the real thing.......

I used to go to this show every year when I lived in Swindon, also the bigger Chippenham then Melksham then Corsham show - I'd known Geoff Endacott since summer 1987 I think, when we met in a marquee at a transport event at Avebury and I spotted the cover for his then forthcoming book 'Westerns Warships and Hymeks at Work' and got chatting about all things diesel-hydraulic - I was devastated to hear of his sudden passing on here. However I now live around 180 miles away so.........I hope it all goes well in my absence (again)! PS The wood for the layout I built in the 1980s came from CMA Calne, which I hope is still in business.......

Agreed, but the fore & aft pivoting provided by the 'yokes' takes care of gradient changes.

I've been telling myself the same thing for years, ever more loudly, but then up pops a Tri-ang ex-clockwork NBL 'D2907' shunter body and...........I've often wondered if one of these could be made to look more 'NBL'. Yep, it's in the queue! Perhaps this one will be my final razor saw, files and plasticard challenge then 🥴! Interestingly placing it on a 'D29xx' 4mm scale line drawing reveals that it's surprisingly accurate in some of its major dimensions - the upper bodywork is to correct length although the cab is 7mm too long (and the bonnet correspondingly too short, as well as too narrow) and the front and rear footsteps the correct distance apart too, in side view. A scale model of a D29xx is out of the question, but an NBL industrial 'might-have-been'........hmm....... 😜

Yes, I appreciate that, it was the fit of the components onto the top and bottom of this I was wondering about - if the holes in those are an excessively loose fit the resulting slack can affect the ride height, as was the case on my Class 28's 'Co' end bogie, which could be moved up and down about 1.5mm. I mourn those good old days too - in 2007 I had an original 47 with Mazak Rot (D1733) and Howes sent me a replacement chassis for the body which I just managed to save from splitting, but the only way I could get the old chassis out was snipping through these 'yokes' to release the bogies and hacksawing the chassis against an inserted piece of brass (to protect the inside of the body) at its weakest points, i.e. where these fit. Brutal but it worked. That left me with a complete set of running gear, except for the chassis block and the 'yokes', which sat in a box until last year when I managed to source a Heljan 47 cast chassis block (many thanks Elaine's Trains!) and reassemble the thing using these parts from a Class 23 'Baby Deltic' sprue I'd picked up during the intervening years, also from Howes (of course). All I had to do to get these to fit into the 47 casting was shorten the four 'blades' by about 1mm. I saw the Hornby mag review too and the head-on view is enlightening because you can clearly see the NSE stripes on both left and right cabsides - I don't think this should be possible? Or at least not to that extent? We know why the original had excessively curved cabsides but it's hard to believe that Heljan would apply the same curvature to a new model with a more accurate overall width...... no wonder the cab front looks slightly 'pinched'! But only slightly, after all the buffer centres have to be the correct distance apart which fixes the bufferbeam width, and if this were too short at its outer ends ETH versions with bufferbeam-mounted connections would have a bit of a problem on the driver's corners, so it can't be too far out. I think NSE 47596 looks fantastic, and I was never a big fan of this garish livery 😃! Although I will admit to preferring this later version. If I had to pick one......

Kernow's rear view of the model shows the glazing having been overpainted before insertion. Perhaps Hornby will choose the Fowler 0-4-0DM for their next small diesel shunter - if they were to come along to St Blazey to survey 'Peter' (love that wooden nameplate, very.....rustic!) I would hope that its current owner (M-Power Kernow) assists by removing those chipboard panels.......just in case.......😉! OK, that's a bit harsh - delete, delete <submit>....d'oh!

I had intended to go to this, my first exhibition in over 4 and and a half years and less than an hour's drive away...........and then our son chose this weekend to come down and visit with the family 🥴! Oh well, I might still make it, but my exhibition-going plans seem as jinxed as my last car (which was Gold Medal standard!)

During the 13 months since my photo it also collected secondman's corner numbers as well as 'domino' panels.

It does look rather smart! However I'm puzzled by the cab door and rear cab windows being painted over - presumably it's only ever driven forwards........🤪!?

Pretty much how I view every modelling task - a 'mind's eye' thing - and I'm surely not the only one. The only unknown is how meandering the path will be between the visualisation and the end result!

Caerhays (where the castle of the same name is located), near Mevagissey in Cornwall is signposted as such off the main roads but once you get into the rural lanes the old cast iron road signs have 'Carhayes' and 'Caerhayes' as well! Since Swindon saw fit to name 'Castle Class' No 7014 'Caerhays Castle' (which aligns with the OS map) I'm sure that has to be the correct spelling 😉! Same with HST power car 43162. [I got a railway connection in, although it wasn't an error. By Swindon? Heaven forbid!...........*cough* 'LEGIONAIRE' *cough*!!)]

Looking at your photo above adb, can I pose a question? - in your judgment is there any excessive vertical slack in the Heljan model's bogie pivots, which causes the body to settle on the bogie frames when upright? Reason I ask is because this problem affected the 'Co' end of my Metro-Vic Class 28 (most recent production D5706) which caused the brake linkages on top of the bogie frames to catch on the pipework on the underside of the chassis (fixed by inserting a very small 1mm-thick washer in the right place - with some difficulty, like having to completely dismantle that end!) New tooling shouldn't have this issue, but the '28's was hardly worn out. Commencing with the Hymek 20 years ago now some Heljan models have very tight bogie clearances, which may be prototypical but makes them intolerant of any slack in the pivoting arrangement. I don't expect this to affect the '47' but thought it worth asking, just in case.......

Back in the 1970s SMS issued a 'modern image' waterslide transfer sheet which included number set '33069', and in 8" numerals - non-existent identity in an inappropriate size'! D5043 was scrapped due to collision damage in the early 1970s but that didn't stop Howes including '24043' on a 1980s rub-down sheet (I think this may have been derived from an earlier SMS waterslide sheet containing the same error). Another Howes sheet I purchased around 1990, intended for N gauge but I needed very small double-arrows for an OO gauge D1030 'Western Musketeer' and DMU cab doors, included 'D6127' in Rail Alphabet style - the real D6127 would never have achieved BR Blue livery as it suffered terminal meltdown in 1962!

This one, R2771 - I couldn't find a sharper photo but the non-pipe end displayed "SOUTHHALL".

Lima probably appreciated his efforts too 😉!

By coincidence I have a mint example of this model in the post to me at the moment - I need one of these chassis fitted with the X908 motor because if I can find a way to rotate it by 90 degrees and maybe lower it a bit it'll fit into a different body which I plan to do quite a lot of work to - hence I was prepared to pay rather more than a fiver for mine! "If" and "maybe" indicates less than 100% confidence it'll work so I won't explain more here, but if another of my square-peg-into-round-hole projects achieves success I'll post the result on the 'Jintystein' thread in due course. In the meantime thanks for posting the pics, I'd failed to find any of the chassis online so it shows what I'll be up against.....😁! It's quite different to the usual GWR101/Caley Pug spring-clip chassis and possibly better suited to my purpose.......time (and a razor saw) will tell!

What an odd situation - we're usually moaning about diesel models having too large a gap between body and bogie - comparing your photo of the real thing with @adb968008's of the model, even allowing for his slightly elevated angle, this time it's the reverse! Adb's height measurement seems indisputable, which suggests that the suspicion that the model is too deep in the bodyside is correct. Regardless of this I would like to think that Bachmann's version doesn't stand too tall, bearing in mind that at launch they boasted of spending a seven-figure sum on the tooling............!

Since we are still - just - within March 2024 and this is the most appropriate live topic in which to mention this, the bulk of the BR diesel fleet was renumbered to TOPS during February and March 1974 - 50 years ago. Although some electric classes had started much earlier - Class 76 in November 1971 and some AC types during 1972 - the first BR diesel to acquire its new identity was Class 45 D96, which became 45101 at Derby Works in March 1973. During that year, with a very few isolated exceptions*, the only TOPS-numbered locos in traffic were main works general overhauls - first Class 47 1771 to 47176 in August, first Class 50 436 to 50036 in October, first Deltics 9019/20 to 55019/20 in November. It's difficult to tell from listings whether renumberings in January 1974 were works or depot-applied, but my own observations that month suggest the former, and that mass renumbering at depot level got into its stride around the middle of February - by the end of March 1974 around three-quarters of the locomotives I observed at Swindon and Oxford had already acquired their new identities (and that's ignoring the Westerns and surviving Hymeks!) Slowest off the mark appeared to be Class 08s. *Rather oddly perhaps, the Region which was very slow to apply yellow paint and OHLE flashes to its Class 33 fleet stole a march on the other Regions by renumbering 26 of them in December 1973 and had them all done and dusted in short order. The 'isolated exceptions' don't include these!

Heljan supply cranked couplers as standard with their models, which is fine if the NEM pocket pivots aren't too slack and the couplers themselves not a loose fit in the pockets - unfortunately they are usually both slack and loose. My normal solution is to fit Bachmann straight couplers, which can bring them to a serviceable height but doesn't cure the droopy look. I've been making a pair of Heljan Class 33s fit for use, but instead of the usual coupler dodge (and since I'm running out of Bachmann 36-061 short NEM couplers) I re-examined the issue to see if the supplied cranked couplers could be made to work - and came up with this: (The black one found its way here from a very old pack!) Using tweezers and a firm grip insert the washer under the plastic spring on one side, over the pin on the underside of the NEM pocket and wiggle about a bit until it pops under the other spring. I found two washers were sufficient, but three should fit if necessary: Coupled either side of my dedicated coupler/buffer height checker (I have no use for a GWR shunter's truck but Fowey is just over the hill from my location, a shunter's truck was being pushed around by the ECC Carne Point Class 10s well into the 1970s......and it only cost £6.99!) - the Heljans look a little low.......hmm, refer to the Heljan New Class 47 thread, comparison vs Bachmann......but I'm beginning to wander off my own topic! I haven't tried this with any other Heljan models yet but this coupler set-up with plastic spring centring seems common to all Heljan bogie locomotives so I don't see why it wouldn't work. However it's possible that distorted/splayed plastic springs might allow the washers to drop when the pocket is pulled to one side - they shouldn't fall out but may prevent the coupler from self-centring. Hence this being a suggestion - if it doesn't work the washers should be removable without causing damage. Re the locos, D6583 was still running without yellow warning panels in early May 1968 - D6579 went blue in June 1968, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that the two locos could be seen side-by-side that summer. D6583, a Kernow limited edition, has not long had its old blackened brass wheels replaced with a set of shiny new ones (obtained from Howes years ago - I found the round tuit!) which is why they look unused in the pic above. Both had their wheels painted black a couple of evenings ago. D6579's data panel removal using the T-Cut and blunt cocktail stick method didn't work as well as it usually does and removed the paint as well, and I wasn't rubbing that hard! It's been patched with Precision BR blue but as usual digital photography and the lighting angle make it look worse than it is. Hopefully this will be of interest to others with a case of the droops.....ooh sorry, I mean Heljan droopy couplers 😃!

A combination of slightly different camera angle and 47256's marker lights being infilled with dirt compared to 47365's unusually clean yellow end (recently repainted?) I nearly added all the 'real moneys' but I'd have had to look up three of them and my tea was ready 😁!

Just done a trawl of me own photos.....! These are rather small images so not great quality but at least that enabled me to put them all up in one hit! 47099 at Bristol TM (the next loco to appear was Hymek 7017 with its newly-acquired number transfers!) - 1st June 1974: 47178 at Oxford - 20th July 1974: 47264 on Swindon Stabling Point - 1st February 1975 (one of the relatively few LMR 47s with number applied in the WR/ScR position): Two views of 47091 at Swindon, no longer named 'Thor', displaying a touch of weathering (!!) to the same livery I'd first seen it in nearly 8 years earlier, the first '47' I ever saw - 7th May 1975: 47138 at Reading with a blue cab door - 25th July 1975: 47203 acting as Reading Station Pilot two days later - 27th July 1975: Two views at Gloucester Eastgate shortly before it closed - 47267 which took me there from Swindon, and 47262 (2nd coach looks like XP64?) - 9th August 1975: Into 1976 and first up, 47369 at Swindon - 1st May 1976: The ubiquitous 47256 approaching Teignmouth (it seemed to turn up everywhere I was, even Gateshead!) - 22nd May 1976: 47195 at Gloucester - 3rd July 1976: And back to Reading for 47365 - sunset on two-tone green 47s? Well, not quite..........- 27th August 1976: ......and 47256 once again, looking like the Bachmann model with that full-depth Sherwood green cabside and even the headcode on display I believe - 30th August 1976: They were interesting years to me, but not often modelled......