Class 25 roof details

[Phil Bullock]

Thought I'd tap in to the collective knowledge on here - it rarely fails - for a Class 25 connundrum

 

Which of the following locos (all Bachmann, but may help anyone selecting a number for their Heljan 7mm jobbie) has the correct roof layout?

 

 

I think I know that only 4 of the 7 are definitely correct ..... what do others think please?

Cheers

 

Phil

 

 

[Clive Mortimore]

Hi Phil

 

Didn't we go through a similar exercise a couple of years ago where we identified which batches had what type of roof panels?

[Phil Bullock]

Blimey - did we? Did google site but couldnt find it!

 

Why did no-one take phots of loco rooves I wonder?

 

Phil

Edited March 10, 2019 by Phil Bullock
Spelling Timothy!

[SouthernBlue80s]

Knowing very little about 25s....I will be interested to see the result of this Phil, as to if my filthy blue Rat is rightun or wrongun.

 

[Clive Mortimore]

Hi Phil

 

We did but I too cannot fin it on the search engine. Was it on your Abbotswood thread?

Nothing on the Derby Sulzer site. Nothing in Diesels in Depth classes 24 and 25.

 

There were the three styles of roof panels as displayed by your top three locos. The plain panel with only the engine hatches, the ones with that L shaped panel and the ones with the small panel when the exhaust was moved.

 

Light bulb moment....wasn't the chat about class 25 exhaust?

 

 

[andyman7]

I find myself asking the same question, only to find this thread on RMWeb that asks the question, but without an answer....

 

Am I right through in assuming that the gubbins on the roofs of the top two examples at the opposite end of the circular fan end is only applicable to boiler fitted examples, and therefore for the later body style Class 25s would be plain with the exception of the handful that had boilers? 

[Halvarras]

3 hours ago, andyman7 said:

I find myself asking the same question, only to find this thread on RMWeb that asks the question, but without an answer....

 

Am I right through in assuming that the gubbins on the roofs of the top two examples at the opposite end of the circular fan end is only applicable to boiler fitted examples, and therefore for the later body style Class 25s would be plain with the exception of the handful that had boilers? 

 

I believe that's correct, yes. As well as a rectangular port the boilered locos also had a raised cowl which is a separate piece on the Bachmann model.

The only exceptions may be the four non-boilered early style locos D5179-82 (25029-32) - these were built at Darlington in Feb/Mar 1963, nearly a year before Derby turned out D5238, its first later style non-boilered '25'. Darlington only ever built early style locos, all boilered except these four, so in view of this and the earlier date my assumption is that they used the boiler roof panel with the unwanted features blanked off. My own photo of 5180 at St Blazey on 16/8/71 - apparently the earliest of a Class 25 in Cornwall - seems to confirm this but being an Instamatic shot from ground level it's not perfectly clear.

Somewhere I have seen a photo of this loco in green in 1967 piloting a steam loco in the Bradford area (I think) which should confirm this, also that the exhaust port had already been modified to the rectangular type in the central position by then. I also have Exe-Rail b&w photos of green FYE D7573 and early blue D7677 at Exeter soon after arrival on the WR - the green one has a modified exhaust and the blue one doesn't! What D5180 and D7573 had in common was an allocation to 55A Leeds Holbeck, so the ER must have started on the exhaust conversions much earlier than the LMR.

Bachmann modelled early Class 25s with early exhaust and later style with later exhaust - this means that in nearly all cases blue early and green later style models have the wrong exhausts. If Heljan had been this unconcerned about exhausts we'd have been able to buy green Class 33/2s by now........