Bachmann Class 158 Status

[TravisM]

1 hour ago, adb968008 said:

158773 was announced by Bachmann in 2013..

 

31-518 Class 158 2 Car DMU 158773 East Midlands Trains £129.95

 

interesting reading looking down the list..

https://www.facebook.com/modelrail/posts/Bachmann-website-doesnt-give-the-full-extent-of-the-new-ranges-for-201314-here-a/10151359850978207/

 

158773 was originally a Provincial sprinter, then Regional Railways branded, later became one of Northerns Maroon & Gold ones.

 

From what I see, It moved to Central trains and wore Central branding, but the old Northern livery from 2007 until April 2010.

158773 was named in October 2015
158773 was denamed and rebranded EMR Regional in August   2019 

158773 was repainted in October 2019 into base grey with Orange doors.

 

so the model covers April 2010 until October 2015, with the nameplate you can change that from October 2015 until August 2019

 

As it carried the name for nearly 4 years, it would have been nice given the money that you pay for it, it, if they had added a pair of nameplate decals to add to the model if you so desire.

Edited January 25, 2020 by jools1959

[piranha240]

Does anyone know if the East Midlands Trains version 31-518 is supposed to come with the cet toilet retention tanks?, the other two versions Regional railways and gwr have them but none on this model.

Also I tested the working bsi couplings and when gently pulling the units apart one broke from inside, they are just a plastic rod inside so I think this will be a problem with these.

 

[surfsup]

14 hours ago, piranha240 said:

Does anyone know if the East Midlands Trains version 31-518 is supposed to come with the cet toilet retention tanks?, the other two versions Regional railways and gwr have them but none on this model.

Also I tested the working bsi couplings and when gently pulling the units apart one broke from inside, they are just a plastic rod inside so I think this will be a problem with these.

 

 

I wonder if there's been a mix up there as I believe the retention tanks were fitted fairly late on? Certainly some 158s only had theirs fitted in the last few years. 

[Philou]

@adb968008 Just a question to satisfy my curiosity: Your photo a couple posts up - is the 158 at Newport station?

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

[adb968008]

7 hours ago, Philou said:

@adb968008 Just a question to satisfy my curiosity: Your photo a couple posts up - is the 158 at Newport station?

 

Cheers,

 

Philip

Yes, Friday 25th October 2019, around 1pm

 

The Cardiff -Portsmouth route utilises 3 cars, by utilising 2 units, 1x2 car plus with 1 car split / divided between 2 units.

[PaulRhB]

2 hours ago, adb968008 said:

 

The Cardiff -Portsmouth route utilises 3 cars, by utilising 2 units, 1x2 car plus with 1 car split / divided between 2 units.

Currently being re-formed as 2 cars again as the 165-166’s take over most of the workings as 3 or 5 car sets. Still a few 158’s on the diagrams but in theory not for long. 

[adb968008]

9 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

Currently being re-formed as 2 cars again as the 165-166’s take over most of the workings as 3 or 5 car sets. Still a few 158’s on the diagrams but in theory not for long. 

Cardiff to Portsmouth will be a bit rough in a 165 ! - they are a little bit suburban for long distance...

165’s to me are a kind of a middle class Pacer, given its Berkshire commuter roots, where as a 158 is a more of working class express given its Peninnes background, a bit of paint and cleaning it becomes acceptable for the south.

At least you get a few table seats in a 158.

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by adb968008

[martin_l_jones]

7 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Cardiff to Portsmouth will be a bit rough in a 165 ! - they are a little bit suburban for long distance...

165’s to me are a kind of a middle class Pacer, given its Berkshire commuter roots, where as a 158 is a more of working class express given its Peninnes background, a bit of paint and cleaning it becomes acceptable for the south.

At least you get a few table seats in a 158.

 

 

The 165/66's have been working the Hereford to London services for a number of years so they're o'k on long distance workings if you take a spongy cushion !! 

[wombatofludham]

I used to regularly use the old Chiltern Network South East Class 165 units from Birmingham Snow Hill to Marylebone when the service first started, 2+3 seating and non-airconditioned as they were.  The bargain fares and arguably better ride than the Intercity Shuttle Mk2f rakes out of the Street more than made up for their commuter origins.  Oh, and the very enthusiastic trolley walleys that used to get on at Banbury and really, really had learned the art of the hard sell (I half expected them to open the inside of their waistcoats to reveal a hoard of knock-off Rolexes and gold chains cheaply priced...) made for an entertaining journey.  I never found the 165 unpleasant on a 110+ mile journey and at least the Caerdydd-Pompeys are usually coupled to a 166 which does have some 2+2 seating and air conditioning.  Plus, to be honest, how many people will be going all the way to Portsmouth or Cardiff via Bristol?  I bet the majority of people are doing Cardiff- Bristol, or Portsmouth-Southampton rather than the whole route.

[adb968008]

i’d imagine a good few may make the whole journey, Portsmouth is the naval base and Cardiff has a fair few armed forces types, if your back off duty and your Welsh i’d imagine a first stop would be the welsh capital for a night out.

[Ian Hargrave]

And both Bath and Salisbury are magnets for tourists.

[Legend]

2 hours ago, Ian Hargrave said:

And both Bath and Salisbury are magnets for tourists.

 

Especially Russians !

[Going2theDogs]

Hi All,

i managed to secure one of these Bachmann class 158 in the Regional Railways livery complete with sound.

Although I am very impressed with this model I am after some feedback about increasing the volume of the sound chip. I am aware ther has been several posts about upgrading the speaker it is more the volume 'question' that I am after an initial solution to as this model is considerably quieter than all my other sound fitted loco's.

Any advice greatfully received

In the meantime, please see an image from my running session this evening.

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by CB Rail

[newbryford]

I upgraded the speaker as per Richard's (Roads and Rails) suggestion earlier in this thread.

Consequently, the volume setting had to be reduced.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[cravensdmufan]

On 19/12/2019 at 22:29, Eddie R v2.0 said:

At the risk of being shot down in flames, I would like to ask what the opinions are on the colours? To me, the beige is far too dark on the RR one but it may just be the light in the photo in this thread.

I'm afraid I have to agree; to my eyes the beige is much too dark. IMO the original Bachmann RR 158 colours were more accurate. Which is why I'll be hanging on to my two old units. I'm disappointed because I was looking forward to upgrading them.

[cravensdmufan]

I converted my units to DCC some time ago. Hard wiring in the decoders was easy, but I never got round to fitting new lights. Still on the "to do" list!  The motors are really controllable and the fact they growl a bit saves a sound fit haha!

 

Anyway, getting back to the new model, I haven't completely ruled out getting one; if there are any RR ones being sold off cheaper in the months to come I may purchase and repaint the beige to a lighter shade.

 

[pauliebanger]

17 hours ago, CB Rail said:

Hi All,

i managed to secure one of these Bachmann class 158 in the Regional Railways livery complete with sound.

Although I am very impressed with this model I am after some feedback about increasing the volume of the sound chip. I am aware ther has been several posts about upgrading the speaker it is more the volume 'question' that I am after an initial solution to as this model is considerably quieter than all my other sound fitted loco's.

Any advice greatfully received

In the meantime, please see an image from my running session this evening.

 

 

CV266 is the volume setting CV. It's set to 64 by default.

 

This would normally be loud enough for most circumstances. You have read about speaker upgrades because, really, that's what is needed for significantly higher volume in this model. The speaker connections go through the coupling to the other (non-decoder) car so fitting a better speaker in that car is a good option. Make sure it has at least 8ohms impedance (higher will work, lower may destroy the amplifier).

 

However, your question appears to be about about volume control. There are a couple of possibilities you can try which will increase the volume but maybe not by the amount you seek.

 

There is volume control already on the decoder. F key 27 reduces volume and F key 28 will increase it, making sure only one is engaged at at time. (these work by temporarily changing the value in CV266).

 

Or you can go directly to CV266 and put in a value of your choice. The range is 1 - 255, BUT, anything higher than 100-120 (ish) will have unacceptable distortion. Not only is that bad for your ears, it can eventually damage the speaker and or amplifier. (it looks like the maximum value in CV266 by using F key 28 is 100, so there's a guide).

 

A bigger or additional, speaker will increase volume without needing to drive the amplifier quite so hard. (and sound coming from both cars' engines would probably be more realistic anyway)

 

Best regards,

 

Paul

[dj_crisp]

The 

On 10/02/2020 at 08:40, Eddie R v2.0 said:

My mate had his new version with him on Friday when he visited and we compared it with my old one- it’s definitely too dark now that I have seen a comparison. 
 

The new version is very good in most other aspects but at well over £200, I’m happy to stick with my old version which I paid £75 for! It’s next to get the Express Models lighting kit and DCC fitted. 

 

I've been looking into the beige stripe on flickr and tbh I haven't made up my mind on it. With bad light it looks quite dark but the model should possibly be a bit lighter ; 

 

And it looks quite dark here

 

 

I think alot of the lighter shade is light reflection as these my memories of them were that they were gloss, As in this shot the upper band appears to me a different colour to the lower band

 

 

 

Overall i think it probably could do with a lighter shade but that project is probably one for when I've finished my 1000 other projects first. I think i can live with it.

 

 

 

[GordonC]

The upper band and lower bands were the same colour, but the lower one is probably affected more by the tumblehome changing the light reflection and road dirt spray so the upper one would be better to use to judge

[adb968008]

Dirt plays a major factor on Rail light greys applied below window level.

The same discussion is often had about Intercity livery.

 

ex-works it will look very light, especially on a sunny day. After a week of rain, wind and snow the dirt layer darkens the grey somewhat. Within a few weeks the dirt is engrained. In the 1990’s even windows were notorious to be “tinted” with engrained dirt that you can barely see through..even after a wash.

 

As it only took about a week for dirt to set in, seeing a truly light grey wasn't that common, even on recently ex-works stock.

 

You would have thought BR would have learned from painting DMUs white in the 1970’s, that dirt is dirty. The last experiment seems to be the “silver” white of Intercity Swallow on locos, the brightness shone through for longer, but dirt gets you in the end.

This slide was being eaten, before I scanned it, but the dirt can be seen in perspectives of grey here easy enough on the loco.., the light cluster surrounds having a Swallow “white”, whilst the body sides have the executive light grey, the angled cab misses much of the dirt the body sides pickup.

 

 

Edited February 13, 2020 by adb968008

[richscylla]

Can you use any Plux22 chip or does it have to be the Bachmann one? I have a Lens Silver Plux22 somewhere and I was hoping to use that. 

Edited February 25, 2020 by richscylla

[Markwj]

10 hours ago, richscylla said:

Can you use any Plux22 chip or does it have to be the Bachmann one? I have a Lens Silver Plux22 somewhere and I was hoping to use that. 

Yes I used the lais DCC one which works fine.

[Dalesman]

On 10/02/2020 at 00:02, cravensdmufan said:

I'm afraid I have to agree; to my eyes the beige is much too dark. IMO the original Bachmann RR 158 colours were more accurate. Which is why I'll be hanging on to my two old units. I'm disappointed because I was looking forward to upgrading them.

Vivian, 

 

Have you looked at the a Fox Transfers livery pack for the Original Class 158 livery?  https://fox-transfers.co.uk/transfers/express-class-158-complete-livery-pack
 

Possibly a quick fix. Hope this helps!

 

Chris..

[cravensdmufan]

36 minutes ago, Dalesman said:

Vivian, 

 

Have you looked at the a Fox Transfers livery pack for the Original Class 158 livery?  https://fox-transfers.co.uk/transfers/express-class-158-complete-livery-pack
 

Possibly a quick fix. Hope this helps!

 

Chris..

That's a great idea Chris, many thanks!  Vivian.

[martin_l_jones]

On 25/02/2020 at 18:28, Markwj said:

Yes I used the lais DCC one which works fine.

 

I used a Lenz PluX 22-pin Silver Loco Decoder and some of the functions didn't work.

 

I will be intrigued to see if yours does.

 

I've actually purchased a Bachmann one and fitted it today.

 

The actual function buttons don't correspond with the documentation !!

 

Unless its my Gaugemaster !!