Llanbourne North Wales in the 80s.

[P.C.M]

Loving the Brute's Peter! 

 

Just needs a can of lilt and a packet of packet of home made sarnies and its my first foray into solo spotting at BNS in the 80's!

Thanks Big T,

I wouldn't mind a dollar for the hours I spent sat in a Brute sheltering from the wind at Bristol TM back in the day. I even left my camera in one which got handed into the lost property while I was off bashing a Peak. 

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

Love the Brutes Peter! Did you make the newspapers? They're a really nice touch. I especially like the "flap" too. I seem to remember that was very characteristic of them.

 

Cheers

Dave 

Hi Dave,

The blue flap is just a piece of plastic bag that I cut out, the newspapers are by Dart Castings L116 I ordered some more the other day. www.dartcastings.com great little website lots of detail bits and pieces.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

Tractor 284 looks in fine fettle Peter. Got any vids?

 

Good to see some inspirational updates.

Hi Alex,

Hope you are well, Haven't seen you on here for a while. I was asked about some vids the other day, I will try and sort something out over Christmas when I get the time to try and work out how to do them. I have done a couple before but didn't have any luck down loading them.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

You have done a lovely job with BRUTES Peter, the weathering on 37284 looks great as well.

Thanks Rob,

37284 would look at home on your new layout too, being a Canton Machine.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

Hi Peter

Once again, nice photos. Interesting to see 37 284 with the grill mesh still fitted over the louvres. Don't ever remember seeing the sheep! - must have been a Welsh thing...CF or LE?

The Welsh 37s were very rare in the north east and Yorkshire at that time. While I was working in Manchester I'd go down to South Wales to get a few more ticks in my Platform 5. There was a Euston service left Piccadilly at 00.30. York-Shrewsbury TPO Stockport-Crewe, then Crewe-Cardiff TPO. Full day South Wales, then a 33 back up the Crewe.... and home to Manchester - all on a day return!

 

Is that the new-ish Hornby 37,and would it have the same mechanism as their split box model? Hope you don't mind me asking such basic questions. I'm completely ignorant of the latest manufacturers developments of the Class 37, so it's knowing what to look out for especially if I buy 2nd hand. It's 15 years since I did any 00 modelling and way back then we used to graft old 1970s style Hornby bodies onto Lima chassis. However, having got them out of their boxes again, the Lima 37s are the worst runners so I've got to look at buying a few replacements.

Problem... Lima 37 1990s £19.99. Hornby 2014 about £95-100...though for a far better looking model.

 

Regards

Alan

Hi Alan,

Some of the Welsh 37s kept their frost grilles until quite late, I think most regions just removed them. I think it was the same with the class 40s, where some regions kept them on and others took them off.

Your day out down South sounds pretty good, I only ever saw a class 33 at Crewe the once and my photo didn't come out. :0( You would have seen plenty of class 37s though, Remember Severn Tunnel Junction with the long lines of 37s.

 

Unfortunately starting to buy 00 stuff now is going to cost you a bit as prices have recently gone up. Meaning that second hand prices have gone up a bit too. My 37s are the Bachmann model. 37284 started out as sound fitted model so cost me about 145.00 pound you might be able to find a blue one with sound removed but Bachmann haven't done this model or any other blue ones like this for a while so finding this model or a Split box one in blue which was a later release and also only came out with sound could be a bit hard. Keep an eye on the for sale section. I pick up a cheap split box 37 in dutch livery which I will repaint at some point so you can find the models, Ebay is worth a look.

 

I thought the Lima 37s were ok but as you say they don't run the best. I don't know what Hornby have in their range but in the railroad range they have some cheaper loco's which are ex Lima models which have a newer and much smoother motor unit. It might be worth trying to remotor one of you old Lima models. Check out www.emgauge70s.co.uk Kier Hardy has done this on some of his Lima models.

 

Hope that helps, Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

Hi Peter. Sorry it took a while to get back to you: most of my speakers have come from DCC Supplies (excellent service) but the most recent batch came from Peter's Spares (also great service) as I was ordering some other bits and pieces (Markits clack valves being the things I was after most), so it was worthwhile to include them for the same postage costs.

Thanks Jeff,

I have used DCC supplies before, forgot about them. I used Peter's spares too so will have a look.

 

Cheers Peter.

[60091]

Hi Peter

Thanks for that lengthy and very informative reply.

I get confused about what happened with 00 after the demise of Lima.... their old models re-surfacing under new names. For many years I didn't do any railway modelling, then started again in N so was only vaguely aware the latest developments in 00.

I've seen Bachmann and other 37s on e bay - not cheap. Thanks to your post I now know what to look out for. The Bachmann ones look good- if I can find them. It was the Hornby/ex Lima locos that confused me! As you said they could provide a cheaper alternative but ultimately with a poorer quality body.

I've got to accept the fact that running any older stock now requires a lot of detailing work and improvements to bring them up to the standard of what is available today out of the box RTR.

 

Severn Tunnel Jct... always very frustrating - going past at full speed with no time to write down all the numbers! They were great trips for getting ticks in the book. Sadly that was the priority back then so I hardly took any photographs.

 

IIRC is it Keir Hardy that has Wibbdenshaw? A fantastic layout which I first saw in MRJ?? then made a special trip to see it at the Halifax Exhibition. I wasn't disappointed - pure late 70s west Yorkshire nostalgia.

 

Thanks again for your help with the 37s... next it's 31s. I'll have a look back through Llanbourne and see what you're running. Not a favourite class of mine but, along with the split box 37s, necessary for any north east layout c1978-1990.

 

Cheers

Alan

[37114]

Thanks Rob,

37284 would look at home on your new layout too, being a Canton Machine.

 

Cheers Peter.

Indeed it would, maybe one for the future

[P.C.M]

Hi Peter

Thanks for that lengthy and very informative reply.

I get confused about what happened with 00 after the demise of Lima.... their old models re-surfacing under new names. For many years I didn't do any railway modelling, then started again in N so was only vaguely aware the latest developments in 00.

I've seen Bachmann and other 37s on e bay - not cheap. Thanks to your post I now know what to look out for. The Bachmann ones look good- if I can find them. It was the Hornby/ex Lima locos that confused me! As you said they could provide a cheaper alternative but ultimately with a poorer quality body.

I've got to accept the fact that running any older stock now requires a lot of detailing work and improvements to bring them up to the standard of what is available today out of the box RTR.

 

Severn Tunnel Jct... always very frustrating - going past at full speed with no time to write down all the numbers! They were great trips for getting ticks in the book. Sadly that was the priority back then so I hardly took any photographs.

 

IIRC is it Keir Hardy that has Wibbdenshaw? A fantastic layout which I first saw in MRJ?? then made a special trip to see it at the Halifax Exhibition. I wasn't disappointed - pure late 70s west Yorkshire nostalgia.

 

Thanks again for your help with the 37s... next it's 31s. I'll have a look back through Llanbourne and see what you're running. Not a favourite class of mine but, along with the split box 37s, necessary for any north east layout c1978-1990.

 

Cheers

Alan

Happy to help Alan,

Hornby have released a number of ex Lima loco's under their Railroad range. classes 20 31 33 37 40 and 47. They have been fitted with a better motor though which is a lot smoother and better at slow speed. I have two fitted to my Lima 101s and they are quite good though a bit noisy running on DCC.

 

I did buy a cheap Railroad class 47 to repower one of my Lima class 47s and it did seem to run ok but still had too much of a wobble on some of my dodgy point work so I sold it on. My class 47 fleet is all Bachmann now apart from a nonpowered Lima loco.

 

Pitty you didn't take many pics they would be good to see. I wish I had taken more.

 

Kier Hardy built Wibbdenshaw which looks superb. His website has pics of that and his new layout, which is also great plus a few other very nice layouts. plus a workbench section showing new stock and whats been done to them including useing the Hornby motor bogies under a Lima class 31.

 

The best running class 31 is by Hornby and is a fairly new molding. But some of the early batch had dodgy metal chassis that swell up and break. A lot of people also think the Lima body is a better molding and captures the look better than Hornby newer body. I think the Hornby body is ok though and I have two blue ones which I pick up for 45.00 quid which was a bargain, even back then. I also have a Lima Body with Hornby power bogies and motor. James Wells did a thread on here and I had a go myself. I already had a repainted Lima class 31 which I had detailed and picked up a chassis with dodgy metal and stripped it for parts.

 

Cheers Peter.

Edited December 7, 2014 by P.C.M

[P.C.M]

I have been looking at speakers. Whats better 4 or 8 ohm?

 

Cheers Peter.

[Marcus 37]

Hello Peter

Having been slowly but surely reading through your thread, I've just got to say what a wonderful layout you have. It absolutely oozes that North Wales mainline atmosphere. Having done thousands of miles over the route in the 90's riding behind the 37's, although I did go over it a few times in your chosen period, I would say you've got it spot on.

Shall definitely be following from now on.

Regards

Marcus.

[HealeyMills]

I have been looking at speakers. Whats better 4 or 8 ohm?

 

Cheers Peter.

Peter,

 

Try to match the Amp output as stated from the decoder.  If you cannot match it then get a speaker that has a higher Impedance.. never lower 

 

HTH

 

Cheers

Lee

[60091]

Hi Peter

 

Many thanks for the post about the locos. I wanted to click the Thanks and Informative buttons several times after reading it. 

It's a great help knowing who's been producing what.....and which models are rated for looks and performance.

It looks as if I'll hang on to the Lima 31 and 37 bodies for swaps and start saving up for a couple of newer Hornby 31s and Bachmann 37s. 

 

Very interesting that you mentioned metal fatigue on the early Hornby 31s .... there's one on e bay at the moment, described as a non-runner and mentioning metal fatigue, which I found very strange. Not something I've ever known to affect a model loco.

 

Also thanks for the photos of the 31s. I've always liked the corner of the station with the partly demolished wall and the disused siding and buffer stops. The 31s are a similar collection to what I'll be aiming for - one or two in blue and one railfreight, kaydee fitted and well weathered. Whatever it's shortcomings I always liked the old Airfix 31 body. I kept one and fitted it to a Lima chassis as it had a lot of original features which survived on some locos until the late 1970s.

Two Airfix 31s were my first 00 locos bought in 1983 when stocks were being cleared out... £9.95 each..!

 

Cheers

Alan

Edited December 8, 2014 by 60091

[P.C.M]

Hello Peter

Having been slowly but surely reading through your thread, I've just got to say what a wonderful layout you have. It absolutely oozes that North Wales mainline atmosphere. Having done thousands of miles over the route in the 90's riding behind the 37's, although I did go over it a few times in your chosen period, I would say you've got it spot on.

Shall definitely be following from now on.

Regards

Marcus.

Hi Marcus,

Welcome to the thread. I did a few class 37s on the Coast in the 90s before coming over to Oz. I only did a couple of trips in the 80s really wish I had done more. I do remember seeing 37408 on one of my last trips which only months before I had seen at Weymouth. Then a few months after seeing it at Llandudno I rode behind 37408 from Inverness to Kyle.

 

Cheers Peter.

[Waverley West]

Peter,

 

Try to match the Amp output as stated from the decoder.  If you cannot match it then get a speaker that has a higher Impedance.. never lower 

 

HTH

 

Cheers

Lee

 

As regards ESU version 4 decoders, a quick check on ESU's website: 

 

http://www.esu.eu/en/products/loksound/loksound-v40/technical-data/

 

suggests 4 Ohms is recommended, but specified range is 4-8 Ohms. ESU normally supply 4 Ohm speakers with their decoders.

[P.C.M]

Peter,

 

Try to match the Amp output as stated from the decoder.  If you cannot match it then get a speaker that has a higher Impedance.. never lower 

 

HTH

 

Cheers

Lee

No worries Lee.

 

Thanks, Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

Hi Peter

 

Many thanks for the post about the locos. I wanted to click the Thanks and Informative buttons several times after reading it. 

It's a great help knowing who's been producing what.....and which models are rated for looks and performance.

It looks as if I'll hang on to the Lima 31 and 37 bodies for swaps and start saving up for a couple of newer Hornby 31s and Bachmann 37s. 

 

Very interesting that you mentioned metal fatigue on the early Hornby 31s .... there's one on e bay at the moment, described as a non-runner and mentioning metal fatigue, which I found very strange. Not something I've ever known to affect a model loco.

 

Also thanks for the photos of the 31s. I've always liked the corner of the station with the partly demolished wall and the disused siding and buffer stops. The 31s are a similar collection to what I'll be aiming for - one or two in blue and one railfreight, kaydee fitted and well weathered. Whatever it's shortcomings I always liked the old Airfix 31 body. I kept one and fitted it to a Lima chassis as it had a lot of original features which survived on some locos until the late 1970s.

Two Airfix 31s were my first 00 locos bought in 1983 when stocks were being cleared out... £9.95 each..!

 

Cheers

Alan

Hi Alan,

Heljan had a problem with a batch of class 47s too. If you can pick up a Hornby chassis cheap it's well worth it to use your Lima body. I think the Airfix class 31 is pretty good too so why not put a Hornby chassis under it. 

Good luck with finding some class 31s and 37s. What other loco's are you thinking of getting? 

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

As regards ESU version 4 decoders, a quick check on ESU's website: 

 

http://www.esu.eu/en/products/loksound/loksound-v40/technical-data/

 

suggests 4 Ohms is recommended, but specified range is 4-8 Ohms. ESU normally supply 4 Ohm speakers with their decoders.

Thanks Dave,

I will get around to ordering a couple 4 ohm base speakers this week.

 

Cheers Peter. 

[SRman]

Regarding the speakers' impedances, as the others have said, 4 ohm is the recommended one; that would most likely give better volume, but two 8 ohm ones in parallel may give a better sound quality with more depth, especially if you use two different types to get a better spread of the sound spectrum (e.g. a bass reflex and a standard round or rectangular speaker).

I usually spend some time experimenting until I get the best (to me) sound quality. There have been occasions where after all that, I find that the original speaker was the best, whereas on other occasions, the mixes or combinations of speakers were better. A lot depends on what space is available in the locomotive or unit too.

[Grimleygrid]

Hi Peter, loving the photos of 37284, lovely tractor. I would like one like that, however they are very expensive on eBay!

I have to agree with previous posts, the brutes are superb. Like many have said, it really takes you back to many hours spent sat or standing on them at the ends of platforms. Bravo!

 

Cracking photo Banger Blue!

 

Loving the Ped action!

[60091]

Hi Alan,

Heljan had a problem with a batch of class 47s too. If you can pick up a Hornby chassis cheap it's well worth it to use your Lima body. I think the Airfix class 31 is pretty good too so why not put a Hornby chassis under it. 

Good luck with finding some class 31s and 37s. What other loco's are you thinking of getting? 

 

Cheers Peter.

Hi Peter

After selling off a lot of locos etc to fund the N gauge I'm left with 20+ locos plus about another 10-12 spare bodies which allowed me to swap liveries. 

The majority are Lima and these are the ones I'm concerned about replacing. - The Mainline/Dapol/Palitoy Peaks and 56s run ok-ish although the Peaks do look dated.

There's no way I can afford to replace everything like for like so the priority are the 37s and 31s for a NE layout. Next would be 1-2 Class 40s and a couple of 47s. I picked up an 08, 2nd hand, a few months ago. It runs beautifully and I'll probably get another one. at some point.

The number of 00 locos I have running in future will be very much reduced but I should have plenty of bodies to swap around.

 

In addition there's a small collection of green diesels to replace mainly to run a NE layout covering a wider timespan.

So - I've made a better start with these and have a Class 24 and a blue 25 to be repainted. Also looking for a Class 17 - have heard the early models were very poor runners??

Spare (green) bodies should cover the 37s and hopefully a 40 running on the new Hornby/Bachmann chassis.

 

Thanks again for all the info...

 

Cheers

Alan

[P.C.M]

Regarding the speakers' impedances, as the others have said, 4 ohm is the recommended one; that would most likely give better volume, but two 8 ohm ones in parallel may give a better sound quality with more depth, especially if you use two different types to get a better spread of the sound spectrum (e.g. a bass reflex and a standard round or rectangular speaker).

 

I usually spend some time experimenting until I get the best (to me) sound quality. There have been occasions where after all that, I find that the original speaker was the best, whereas on other occasions, the mixes or combinations of speakers were better. A lot depends on what space is available in the locomotive or unit too.

Thanks Jeff,

I have two sugar cube speakers in my class 33 which are 8 ohm so that would explain why that sounds good.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

Hi Peter, loving the photos of 37284, lovely tractor. I would like one like that, however they are very expensive on eBay!

I have to agree with previous posts, the brutes are superb. Like many have said, it really takes you back to many hours spent sat or standing on them at the ends of platforms. Bravo!

 

Cracking photo Banger Blue!

 

Loving the Ped action!

Thanks Alex,

Yes that Blue class 37 is hard to get. I picked one up over here for $200.00 from a model shop selling on ebay. I have another class 31 to do and would like a red stripe one at some point.

 

Cheers Peter.

[P.C.M]

Hi Peter

After selling off a lot of locos etc to fund the N gauge I'm left with 20+ locos plus about another 10-12 spare bodies which allowed me to swap liveries. 

The majority are Lima and these are the ones I'm concerned about replacing. - The Mainline/Dapol/Palitoy Peaks and 56s run ok-ish although the Peaks do look dated.

There's no way I can afford to replace everything like for like so the priority are the 37s and 31s for a NE layout. Next would be 1-2 Class 40s and a couple of 47s. I picked up an 08, 2nd hand, a few months ago. It runs beautifully and I'll probably get another one. at some point.

The number of 00 locos I have running in future will be very much reduced but I should have plenty of bodies to swap around.

 

In addition there's a small collection of green diesels to replace mainly to run a NE layout covering a wider timespan.

So - I've made a better start with these and have a Class 24 and a blue 25 to be repainted. Also looking for a Class 17 - have heard the early models were very poor runners??

Spare (green) bodies should cover the 37s and hopefully a 40 running on the new Hornby/Bachmann chassis.

 

Thanks again for all the info...

 

Cheers

Alan

Hi Alan,

I had quite a fleet of Lima loco's but have sold them off over the years and replaced them with newer better models. I still have a few left that sit in a display case, some others I have replaced the chassis. So far I have a pair of Lima class 20s one dummy and one powered by a Bachmann chassis the Lima class 31 I have mentioned and a Lima class 40 with Bachmann chassis.

You can pick up old type Bachmann Peaks quite cheap and the Mainline body clips on. The chassis are pretty good. I think the Heljan class 17s were all sorted so buying one now should be ok.

 

Cheers Peter.

Edited December 9, 2014 by P.C.M

[P.C.M]

One reason for going DCC was so I could run a Heljan class 33 with a Bachmann class 37. On DC they just wouldn't run together as the Heljan loco's needed more power to move and the Bachmann Loco would sit there spinning.

 

37693 is on test with 33202 on a Crewe- Llanbourne working.

 

45036 is on a relief and working down the branch.

 

Cheers Peter.