Waggon und Maschinenbau railbus

[Oldddudders]

According to British Rail Fleet Survey No8 DMU's First Generation.

 

Original Colour Malachite Green, when overhauled rpainted in dark brunswick green.

They repainted the seats?

[bigherb]

They repainted the seats?

Might have done if they where wooden slats

[Steve51769]

What were the original seat colours anyone ?

 

I helped on E79960 at the NNR many years ago when the original seats were removed for reupholstery. The orginal seat covering was a ribbed leathercloth (Rexine) in a dull olive green colour though may not have been so dull when new. The rails across the back of the seats were chromed.

 

Hope this helps

 

Steve

[Bilbo]

Had mine this morning. Ran it on Rolling Road for a while and then on some track. It was very smooth on the track. Is a fantastic weight . All I need to do now is chip it with a 21 pin decoder(that was a surprise).

[stewartingram]

Had mine to bits tonight. I only glanced quickly at the instruction sheet before "filing" it - so missed the screws under the air horns for quite a while! Body splits at the waistline, & there is a heavy weight, full length above the windowline, under the roof. Plenty of tiny screws to undo if you strip it right down. The wiring is concentrated arond the centre of the vehicle, near the doors. All mine was ripped out, along with the toy-like headlights (led). In fact I decided to remove all the lighting in the end. A copperclad sleeper, gapped in the centre, was stuck to the floor in the middle and the pickup wires & motor wires simply soldered to it. Pickups are brass (?) wires looped over the top of the tread, they were quite dirty on mine so were cleaned up before re-assembly. A spot of oil was put onto bearings and gears. Some of the grey paint flaked off the interior cab partition & will have to be touched up when I detail the interior (seats, crew/passengers etc). Re-assembly was a tad tricky but providing you are methodical, should not be a problem. I did manage to dislodge the odd underframe component, but they all went back ok except for the sandpipes - I'll add those in wire later.

On the track, an impressive model, very quiet, and complete with the ungainly waddle the prototype has over crossings etc. The heavy mechanism certainly helps with pickup, it didn't falter anywhere. Still has that WOW factor for me!

 

Stewart

Edited March 1, 2012 by stewartingram

[EEType4]

Purchased 8701 & 8702 from Cheltenham Model Centre at ModelRail Scotland on Saturday, and very pleased indeed.

 

However both function correctly on DC with directional lights etc but when fitted with a Bachmann 21 pin decoder 8702 only has lighting in one direction and 8701 is as dead as a doornail.

 

Reinstall the decoder blank, pop them on DC rolling road and all is sweetness and light.

 

Anyone else having the same problems or is it me?

Edited March 1, 2012 by EEType4

[Essex2Visuvesi]

did you try the same decoder in both?

[Bernard Lamb]

It's arrived.

Rather tasty.

 

 

Despite what it states on the destination blind it soon found itself rather south east if Witham.

I will get the scene finished one day.

Bernard

[Guest baldrick25]

Purchased 8701 & 8702 from Cheltenham Model Centre at ModelRail Scotland on Saturday, and very pleased indeed.

 

However both function correctly on DC with directional lights etc but when fitted with a Bachmann 21 pin decoder 8702 only has lighting in one direction and 8701 is as dead as a doornail.

 

Reinstall the decoder blank, pop them on DC rolling road and all is sweetness and light.

 

Anyone else having the same problems or is it me?

 

21 pin decoders are very easy to insert 'one pin out', ie 1 pin to the left or right , or even upside down. I've not opened my 8701 yet to see if its possible, but its a problem I've come across lots of times in other 21 pin models. If you are using a 21pin-to-8pin adaptor , I find they don't always sit 'square' on the PCB plug and give intermittent connections in some models.

[CWJ]

I've got one of the limited edition Australian ones.

 

There's no need to be so sarcastic; this is clearly an accurate model of a railbus working the little-known Wyhlim branch. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it...

 

More seriously, please let us know how you get on with taking the destination blind apart, as I'll need to change mine and I suspect others may want to, too. E79964 would look good with 'Buxton'

['CHARD]

 

They are rather nice, I've got one of the limited edition Australian ones.

 

Bit of random buffer rotation there, too! Judging by the nicely detailed interior moulding, it looks like these would repay careful painting and addition of crew and pax. There's a hell of a lot of glazing to show it off!

[TimP]

A cautionary tale

 

I have done about 30 decoder installs now - this one is not particularly easy - you have to prise the doors out to allow the model to come apart in itself this is really hard to do without marking the model but before you do that don't forget to disconnect the bottom end of the handrails - not something mentioned in the instructions - if you dont they will fly across the room never to be found again. then fitting the decoder there is a real mess of tiny thin wires connecting the decoder mounting board - in getting the dummy decoder board out i guess i must have put too much strain on one of the tiny wires which came away from the roof - this despite being really careful!

 

the tiny wires disappear into the metal roof moulding with no apparent access so no way to repair - argh - and have just been told by helpful and understanding guy at hattons that there are no more dark green speed whisker ones available - double argh!

 

In short be really careful when decoder fitting.

[tetsudofan]

Received E79962 and E79963 yesterday. E79963 trundles round the test track quite well but E79962 is, by comparison a very bad runner - judders along very, very, very slowly, has some light bleed into the front passenger compartment and suffers from flickering headlights. Replacement for E79962 already on it's way to me thanks to Andy at Kent Garden Rail.

 

Keith

 

Replacement E79962 Whiskers arrived today - works just as well as E79963 - Happy Bunny

 

Defective Whiskers will be on it's way back to Kent Garden Rail tomorrow.

 

Keith

[Essex2Visuvesi]

definately needs populating.

Have to shop for some passengers and a driver I think

[EddieB]

Aaaaargh!

 

A well-wrapped package waiting for me this evening - inside were E79962 and E79963. Two lovely heavy little railbuses - heavy, very detailed and, just having checked - smooth runners. Heljan have certainly done justice to the prototype. And heavy they are too.

 

But now I am without excuse. Acrow Halt or Ashdon Halt? Dust off those plans for Bartlow from forty years ago?

[CHARLIE5]

Received E79962 and E79963 yesterday. E79963 trundles round the test track quite well but E79962 is, by comparison a very bad runner - judders along very, very, very slowly, has some light bleed into the front passenger compartment and suffers from flickering headlights. Replacement for E79962 already on it's way to me thanks to Andy at Kent Garden Rail.

 

Keith

 

My E79962 arrived in a dreadful state. All the following were broken off - four buffer cables at one end,half relief tank under floor and one sand pipe. If that was not enough it ran poorly in one direction. Returned for refund as no longer available. I am trying again with one from another retailer. I hope I am not making a mistake.

 

From all manufacturers,this will be the fourth item out of the last five purchases returned for defects. Is there any QC carried out in China these days?

 

Superb model but I cannot see these Heljan detailing parts lasting very long.

[Baby Deltic]

Got mine today, along with the next installment of Baby Deltics. What a cracking model.

[00ERmissus]

Aaaaargh!

 

A well-wrapped package waiting for me this evening - inside were E79962 and E79963. Two lovely heavy little railbuses - heavy, very detailed and, just having checked - smooth runners. Heljan have certainly done justice to the prototype. And heavy they are too.

 

But now I am without excuse. Acrow Halt or Ashdon Halt? Dust off those plans for Bartlow from forty years ago?

 

Two very handsome Railbuses arrived from Merseyside yesterday. E79962 & E79964. Unfortunately, the latter is a very poor runner even after running-in so is on its way back for replacement but I have to say they really are lovely models and I congratulate Heljan on this one.

 

I too am without excuse now, it’ll have to be Saffron Walden station for me…………….

[NINJA]

This railbus has the WOW factor, a very, model, Heljan deserved to be congratulated on this one, we had the Derby Ligtweight before Xmas. now roll on the Class 128.

[Bert Cheese]

I have just given my E79963 a test run, a superb little model with only one errant handrail to attend to at the lower end when I find my tweezers...

 

I have to say my reason for getting one of these was a passing visit to the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway last year while visiting friends in Bradford, to be honest I thought the place was closed when M79964 appeared at Ingrow and I was strangely impressed....the pre-order went in the day I got home

[stewartingram]

Just to add to my earlier posts, and to clarify the running & QC issues, I'd like to comment on my experience.

 

I received the model in person from T4u, when I got home I unpacked it. There was no damage whatsoever, as is usual in my experience with Heljan. I think their packaging is the best one of the big 4 personally. I am aware of the complexity - and fragile nature of the detail fitted - of modern RTR and really despise having to strip them down for any reason. My other thread concerning the toy-like led lighting was posted as a result of this.

I placed the railbus on a section of my layout track, one of the few sections on it where I can test for any distance at the moment. I should add that the track is handbuilt copperclad code 75, with 3 points in its length, which at present are non-switchable. The controller is a handbuilt PWM type from many years ago, which gives excellent low speed running, but with a slight drop in max speed which is normally of no consequence, especially with much older models. However, there is an issue at the moment (which I am living with until I get the layout operational) in that top speed is much reduced, I think this is a power supply issue but obviously I am aware of it.

The railbus was very quiet, most noise came from the wheels clicking & thumping across joints in the track (which is laid directly to the boad, and ballasted with granite which makes it quite noisy). Performance was slightly better in one direction than the other though, but speeds were low. I suspected this was the gearing and initial stiffness before running in.

Anyway, I stripped it down to remove the lights, what a job! Should have read the instructions first. I've lost both handrails from the doors, and 3/4 minor details came off in my hands, my fault. Refitted all those apart from the handrails on re-assembly though. Whilst stripped down I gave the mechanism a light oiling then put it on the rolling road fro a few minutes. WOW what a difference, note the rolling road does not suffer from low max speed like the layout. Upon transferring it to the layout, I felt that top speed was increased, with little difference in either direction now. And it was even quieter.

Conclusions?

 

Excellent packaging, nothing amiss on arrival

Delicate to get into like most today, any damage was caused by me

Good runner straight from the box, but close examination of the mechanism showed dry gears & bearings. Lubrication definately was needed, as always sparingly & with care.

 

Stewart

[dmustu]

Picked up mine today, pretty good overall, no issues with it running. The lighting looks ok, was suprised to see all lights lit up on the front. There is no tail light, despite a red lens being used on the real thing. There is some interior lighting, but this does not look to good, but I have not chipped it yet so that might improve things.

 

 

One of the hand rails had come out, I put it back in, but it fell out again, it doesn't seem to fit the holes too well, the life guards at one end have broken, one I did, but the other was already broken, but an easy thing to fix at least. Only other thing is that there is a gap between the 2 body parts, its quite a bad fit at one end, but i'm hoping I can sort it out when I eventually chip it. I have often had QC issues with Heljan models, which has made me a little wary of getting new releases from them straight away, but at least most things with this model seem pretty minor. Other than that, its a great little model I would never have thought to be available RTR.

 

[dmustu]

Are you certain re the tail light? The preserved ones certainly do, they have the centre as 'red', however this shot, as well as other hard copy ones I have at home indicates that may not be the case for the 'service years' as opposed to preservation.

http://www.flickr.co...axe/6415591297/

http://www.flickr.co...axe/2239828358/

 

I should have elaborated about the red lens, but was trying to do several things at once! The centre marker light on the real thing is certainly white, but as part of the equipment carried on the trains, is a detachable red lens that you put over one of the marker lights to turn it into a tail light. The units had these from new, there are a few pictures in the book recently published about the rail busses that show the lens in use.

 

The detachable lens idea was also used on the derby lightweights, and Bachmann made the centre marker light a tail light. I'm not implying Heljan have done anything wrong, as normal oil tail lamps were more commonly used than the red lens over a marker light on the rail busses and derby lightweights, I was just a little surprised that Heljan didn't do the same as Bachmann did.

[stewartingram]

Are you certain re the tail light? The preserved ones certainly do, they have the centre as 'red', however this shot, as well as other hard copy ones I have at home indicates that may not be the case for the 'service years' as opposed to preservation.

http://www.flickr.co...axe/6415591297/

http://www.flickr.co...axe/2239828358/

 

Beat me to it!

The railbuses were withdrawn from service & stored at Cambridge well before the "blue" period (c1964 I think?), I remember them being there as I lived in Cambridge. At the time, there was an operating requirement for signalmen - there were hardly any regional power boxes at the time remember - to visibly check the rear of every train, day & night, for the physical presence of a tail light (oil lamp). If it was missing it was assumed the train had split so "line blocked" was put into operation. Of course this also means there must only be 1 tail lamp anywhere on the train too. So no lights on intermediate vehicles, and only 1 on the rear. To re-iterate, at this time dmu's NEVER used a marker light with a red indication, nor did diesel locos, though the latter were fitted with them from new. Any chance observations other to this were an infringement to rules. Some dmus were supplied with a red lens to place in front of the marker light, but with odd (experimental?) applications did not see general use. Later on, rules were changed, I assume with the closer of local boxes, abolition of brake vans on goods trains, and introduction of high intensity headlights all occurring around the same sort of time? So later on dmus had electric redd lights in modified former front marker lights; with preservation of the railbuses, this practice seemed to be adopted by the new owners. As far as the front lights were concerned, they were positioned the same as the headlamp brackets on a normal loco, and codes applied the same. Typically the railbus would work a stopping passenger, so the top one only would be used, not all 4. (And once again, very dim....., as were the destination blinds too).

 

Stewart

 

 

Edit - something is telling me the red lens idea, and proper red lights, were a proposal objected to by the unions at the time, in defence of the "physical presence/split train" scenario?

Edited March 3, 2012 by stewartingram

[Bert Cheese]

From the leaflet enclosed with the model:

 

"Lighting: as per the prototype, the model displays white lights in the direction of travel but no rear light.

In reality, these railbuses carried a traditional oil lamp at the rear to display the red light"