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HELJAN UNVEILS ‘OO’ GAUGE 25/3 AND ‘ETHEL’ FOR 2019


Andy Y
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1 hour ago, Daddyman said:

Well, Heljan speak very highly of it! 

 

So the ETHEL is in fact going to be unpowered.  

That’s a shame as it’s the same price, I was thinking it would be a useful spare to remove! 
 

Brian confirmed on page 1 they would be unmotored I note. 

Edited by PaulRhB
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1 hour ago, PaulRhB said:

That’s a shame as it’s the same price, I was thinking it would be a useful spare to remove! 
 

Brian confirmed on page 1 they would be unmotored I note. 

 

Although confirmed as un-motored on page 1, they were confirmed as being motored later on (by Heljan at a show IIRC), and then the interview with Ben in Nov/Dec seemed to question that again suggesting they were un-motored, which now seems to be the case.


Roy

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1 hour ago, Zunnan said:

Bit of a shame about getting ETHEL 1s unplated boiler grill correct and then also leaving the bodyside steps in place with a spurious overhead warning flash into the bargain.

 

https://www.derbysulzers.com/97250.html

 

 

Part of me says class 25 detail differences are a minefield, but the other part of me says hell, there are plenty of photos published and 20 odd survivors of different marques.  The bodyside steps to access the water hatch were redundant by the late 1960s when steam loco water was withdrawn, although I accept that odd fillings were made after that - thinking class 40 boiler water at York in the 1970s. More importantly three, the three ETHELs were ex 25/3s and didn't have boiler water tanks from new anyway. 

 

I wonder if Heljan don't have a suitable bodyshell where the boiler grille isn't plated over but the bodyside steps are.

 

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11 minutes ago, Covkid said:

 

More importantly three, the three ETHELs were ex 25/3s and didn't have boiler water tanks from new anyway. 

 

 

To give Heljan some due, D7660 was built with those steps (including the bogie step) from new so its a case of right configuration for the locomotive as built...

 

Hopefully its a case of painted EP with what was to hand to show the livery rather than it being a production model. After all, no blanking plates but sealed over bodyside steps wasn't all that uncommon a configuration up to around the time of the change to TOPS. Of the models HJ are producing D7667 was certainly one, although it had lost the 'D' prefix when photographed as such. D7550 had a right royal mixed bag when it was GFYE as HJ propose to do it, including plated steps and no blanking plate, mixed sand boxes etc, so I am assuming their tooling suite allows for variation, especially given this ~

 

On 10/07/2018 at 11:00, 61661 said:

 

3) Liveries and numbers: The initial selection is provisional and we're still looking for photos of both sides of some locos to confirm details and positions of the various bits of deco. If anyone has any photos of the locos in question (in the liveries chosen) that might help us to confirm details or, even more importantly, show up any anomalies, feel free to share them with us!

If any of the chosen locos prove not to be suitable, we will replace them with something that we can confidently say is more accurate. 

 

 

So presumably they are fully aware of the configuration needed for ETHEL 1.

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20 hours ago, Ryan91 said:

And I saw this on Facebook yesterday.

Expected next month!

Screenshot_20210111-123456.jpg

 

It was not difficult to find a picture of ETHEL 1 minus boiler steps and body side warning flash as seen in August 1983. A shame that the inaccuracies might be there but the Heljan offering still looks like being an upgrade to my old Hornby repainted ETHEL.

 

From the quick review of pictures that I found it appears that the ADB prefix to the number was only applied to ETHEL 1 when ex works and was replaced by the number only at a later date. The only pictures of ETHEL's 2 and 3 show the number only, i.e. with no prefix.

 

ETHEL 1

 

Edited by young37215
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Converted June 1983, discontinued on the WHL June 1986. 

ADB in 1983: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sixbellsjunction/albums/72157658390328599

Still ADB at Swindon in January 1984 but 97250 (no ADB) at Perth Rail Fair April 1985: 

https://www.derbysulzers.com/97250.html 

So it's between those two dates. Did it still possibly have ADB here, the day 37191 was named in early 1985?  

http://www.scot-rail.co.uk/page/ethels

 

 

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41 minutes ago, Daddyman said:

Converted June 1983, discontinued on the WHL June 1986. 

ADB in 1983: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sixbellsjunction/albums/72157658390328599

Still ADB at Swindon in January 1984 but 97250 (no ADB) at Perth Rail Fair April 1985: 

https://www.derbysulzers.com/97250.html 

So it's between those two dates. Did it still possibly have ADB here, the day 37191 was named in early 1985?  

http://www.scot-rail.co.uk/page/ethels

 

 

 

Thanks. It was still ADB97250  when it went to Swindon in October '84, so I wonder if it lost the ADB there?

 

Edit - of interest is that ETHEL 3 was in all-over blue when first converted. An easy renumber from a standard Heljan 25 perhaps?

 

Roy

Edited by Roy Langridge
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3 hours ago, Roy Langridge said:

Edit - of interest is that ETHEL 3 was in all-over blue when first converted. An easy renumber from a standard Heljan 25 perhaps?

Really? I never knew that. Are there photos? 

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Interesting comment on ETHEL 3, the earliest picture I have seen of it is November 1983 just a few months after its conversion and it's in the revised ETHEL version of blue and grey. A repaint at some stage during its short, 3 year WHL lifespan seems unlikely; perhaps it went all blue at a later stage in its life?  

 

ETHEL 3

 

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6 minutes ago, young37215 said:

Interesting comment on ETHEL 3, the earliest picture I have seen of it is November 1983 just a few months after its conversion and it's in the revised ETHEL version of blue and grey. A repaint at some stage during its short, 3 year WHL lifespan seems unlikely; perhaps it went all blue at a later stage in its life?  

 

ETHEL 3

 

 

The photos of it I saw it was in tatty BR blue still, so I imagine it got converted and then repainted. That looks pretty ex-works in that photo?

 

To add to that theory, here it is in Blue as 97252 (you can just read it) in October 83: 97252 in Blue. It was converted in September 83 at Aberdeen Ferryhill - did it go to Derby for a repaint?

 

The other photo I have seen is much closer and shows clearer the number and it is on a train, I assume providing heat. Will keep hunting.

 

Roy 

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1 hour ago, Roy Langridge said:

 

The photos of it I saw it was in tatty BR blue still, so I imagine it got converted and then repainted. That looks pretty ex-works in that photo?

 

To add to that theory, here it is in Blue as 97252 (you can just read it) in October 83: 97252 in Blue. It was converted in September 83 at Aberdeen Ferryhill - did it go to Derby for a repaint?

 

The other photo I have seen is much closer and shows clearer the number and it is on a train, I assume providing heat. Will keep hunting.

 

Roy 

Ah, so not "all-over blue" but standard blue with full-yellow ends. As you were internet! 

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All very intriguing, clearly the BR blue pictures are pre the ETHEL livery. I wonder if the date of the blue picture is correct?, it looks a bit light and bright for October to me and DerbySulzers indicate that the withdrawn 25314 arrived at Aberdeen from Crewe via a spell in Derby Works in September 1983. If the picture comes from late summer then all falls into place with 25314 having been selected for conversion and being in transit to Aberdeen via the works.  

 

I am by no means certain but I thought that Aberdeen did the repaints as well as the conversions. That said, if painting were carried out at differing locations it may explain the minor difference between ETHEL 1 and the other 2. 

 

The bottom line for us WHL modellers is that ETHELs were unlikely to be seen working on the WHL in the old BR blue livery. 

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6 minutes ago, young37215 said:

All very intriguing, clearly the BR blue pictures are pre the ETHEL livery. I wonder if the date of the blue picture is correct?, it looks a bit light and bright for October to me and DerbySulzers indicate that the withdrawn 25314 arrived at Aberdeen from Crewe via a spell in Derby Works in September 1983. If the picture comes from late summer then all falls into place with 25314 having been selected for conversion and being in transit to Aberdeen via the works.  

 

I am by no means certain but I thought that Aberdeen did the repaints as well as the conversions. That said, if painting were carried out at differing locations it may explain the minor difference between ETHEL 1 and the other 2. 

 

The bottom line for us WHL modellers is that ETHELs were unlikely to be seen working on the WHL in the old BR blue livery. 

 

Now you say that you could be right. I have a friend who used to work for a survey company and he has explained the use of shadows in determining height, knowing the exact location and date/time of an image. Using the reverse and looking at the shadows cast from the the old support, the sun would have been very high, probably higher than in October.

Roy

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On 05/07/2018 at 20:04, Andy Y said:

2535 – BR rail blue 25252 (LMR) with full yellow ends (single, central double arrows) and headcode panel still in place

 

The latest images posted by Hattons appear to show 25252 with dominos, not headcode blinds as advertised. Does that mean there's no TOPS number, unweathered BR Blue with headcode blinds in the first batch? (25155 is weathered).

Edited by brushman47544
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26 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

I don't care if Monday's blue
Tuesday's grey and Wednesday too
Thursday, I don't care about you
It's Friday, I'm in love

 

 

 

 

I always thought The Cure were railway fans -  after they done that song about Western Champion ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1015 Saturday Night

 

 

 

 

 

 

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