Class 48 in 00 Considered by “Model Rail”

[dibber25]

Projects like this, which involve some minor tooling changes, are normally offered by a manufacturer. Heljan has offered the Class 48 as a possible exclusive. That's the project that's on offer, not 47901. (CJL)

 

[No Decorum]

3 hours ago, dibber25 said:

Projects like this, which involve some minor tooling changes, are normally offered by a manufacturer. Heljan has offered the Class 48 as a possible exclusive. That's the project that's on offer, not 47901. (CJL)

 

A 48 would flex my credit card. Have you any idea of what the response has been?

[PM47079]

I have emailed with an expression of interest. It will fit in nicely with some of my other locos.
of  note the locos were fitted with the engines from new 1965/66 until

1702 12/69

1703 11/70

1704  06/71

1705. 05/71

1706  11/70

after which the unique roof arrangement dissapeared. 

[russ p]

42 minutes ago, PM47079 said:

I have emailed with an expression of interest. It will fit in nicely with some of my other locos.
of  note the locos were fitted with the engines from new 1965/66 until

1702 12/69

1703 11/70

1704  06/71

1705. 05/71

1706  11/70

after which the unique roof arrangement dissapeared. 

 

Ideal for my layout paul. 

I was told by a friend that secondmanned them at shirebrook that they were unpopular on passenger work as they had a tendency to rock at idle and when stood in stations this was partially transferred to the first coach.

Love to know what they sounded like

[PM47079]

Maybe similar to kestrel which had a v sulzer engine? 

Of note is that the engines rotated clockwise as opposed to anti clockwise for a standard 47.

Also D1702 was converted to class 47 spec using the remains of D1908 which also helped 47114 to survive so long as it was converted to series parallel specification. It appeared the sulzer 12LVA24 was prone to crankshaft damage. 

[brushman47544]

On 22/09/2020 at 20:17, russ p said:

Love to know what they sounded like

 

The engines were sold to SNCF and fitted into their 68500 series locos, so a film with sound of one of those should give a pretty good idea.

[russ p]

1 hour ago, brushman47544 said:

 

The engines were sold to SNCF and fitted into their 68500 series locos, so a film with sound of one of those should give a pretty good idea.

 

They sound like they are quite heavily silenced but don't sound bad. I wish someone would unsilence a 47 ! A plate welded over the expansion tubes in the silencer box would make one make some more noise 

[Clive Mortimore]

On 23/09/2020 at 16:31, PM47079 said:

Maybe similar to kestrel which had a v sulzer engine? 

Of note is that the engines rotated clockwise as opposed to anti clockwise for a standard 47.

Also D1702 was converted to class 47 spec using the remains of D1908 which also helped 47114 to survive so long as it was converted to series parallel specification. It appeared the sulzer 12LVA24 was prone to crankshaft damage. 

Only because the tool for lining the crankshaft up as supplied by Sulzer had been made wrong. When the engines were sold to SNCF they used their alignment tool and had no major problems.

[PM47079]

Whoops,! That’s a shame because they sounded like a good engine and were actually lighter in weight. 

[jessy1692]

As Clive says it was a crankshaft problem, something to do with the bearings, Sulzer at Winterthur solved the problem easily but somehow this was never communicated to Sulzer in Britain hence the failure of the LVA here and the success of the French ones. Im currently in the process of making one from a Lima 47 so sods law is this Heljan on will get green lighted when mines done!

Cheers

James

[TravisM]

To be honest, I really don't think they would have lasted much longer in BR service even if they had been a success.   In the late 60's, BR was going on a all out drive for standardisation and as there was only five, when they came up for major overhauls, I'm pretty sure they would have reverted back to standard.  One off's, small numbered classes and downright disasters were quickly disposed of when traffic allowed.

Edited September 27, 2020 by jools1959

[No Decorum]

Woo hoo! According to the latest issue of Model Rail, the Class 48 is a goer. Five models, of which two will be weathered. Price TBC, arrival late 2021.

MR700: D1702, BR two-tone green.

MR701: D1704, BR two-tone green, weathered.

MR702: D1706, BR two-tone green, yellow ends.

MR703: D1703, BR two-tone green, yellow ends, weathered.

MR704: D1705, BR two-tone green.

It can’t be ordered yet. The good people at Model Rail are looking (listening?) into sound, using a French 68000 sound file if it can be “anglicised”.

[russ p]

Those SNCF locos with the LVA seem quite heavily silenced.  There is a lot more room with the French loading gauge for a much bigger silencer.  I assume maybe wrongly that the 48 silencer is similar to the 47 one.

Would be great to find some genuine 48 sound footage but think I'm clutching at straws there

[jessy1692]

5 hours ago, No Decorum said:

Woo hoo! According to the latest issue of Model Rail, the Class 48 is a goer. Five models, of which two will be weathered. Price TBC, arrival late 2021.

MR700: D1702, BR two-tone green.

MR701: D1704, BR two-tone green, weathered.

MR702: D1706, BR two-tone green, yellow ends.

MR703: D1703, BR two-tone green, yellow ends, weathered.

MR704: D1705, BR two-tone green.

It can’t be ordered yet. The good people at Model Rail are looking (listening?) into sound, using a French 68000 sound file if it can be “anglicised”.

I best get mine done then! As for the sound i was going to see if the 68000 sounds could have 47 horns added to anglicise it a bit, may hang on and see what happens with these units. Hopefully whoever is looking into the sounds may make the available separately. Ill pick up model rail tomorrow for a read.

Cheers

James

[jessy1692]

3 hours ago, russ p said:

Those SNCF locos with the LVA seem quite heavily silenced.  There is a lot more room with the French loading gauge for a much bigger silencer.  I assume maybe wrongly that the 48 silencer is similar to the 47 one.

Would be great to find some genuine 48 sound footage but think I'm clutching at straws there

Agreed on that Russ but some videos iv seen they 68000 do sound pretty good. I think at least one is still running and preserved, could Heljan ask nicely for them to 'de silence' it a tad for recording purposes i wonder?

Interesting to see this progress, honestly didnt think this project would get over the line. 

Cheers

James

[Opelsi]

Will be on the list for one as soon as available for ordering.

I would love at some point to do a line up or drive through of one of each TOPS Class in chronological order.

Never thought the Class 48 gap would be plugged!

 

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

On 13/09/2020 at 23:25, Neil Phillips said:

The five members of Class 48 used to amuse us spotters in the late 1960s as their allocation regularly alternated between Tinsley 41A and Stratford 30A - they were that "popular"! 

Conversion to Class 47 finally enabled them to spread their wings - a near ex-works blue 1704 reached Penzance on 20th October 1971, I saw it at Truro on up train 1M23 and attempted a photo but it wasn't my Instamatic camera's finest hour.....

 

"Back in the day", my understanding of the swapping round of them was something to do a better starting performance on heavy trains as the V engine was higher revving initially, and also relevant to the Freightliner trains from Sheffield and Stratford FLT's.

 

Mike.

[No Decorum]

3 hours ago, Opelsi said:

Will be on the list for one as soon as available for ordering.

I would love at some point to do a line up or drive through of one of each TOPS Class in chronological order.

Never thought the Class 48 gap would be plugged!

 

 

That is more-or-less my reason for wanting one; plugging the number gap. They do add a little bit of extra interest to the Class 47 story, as do the 53 and Lion.

[TravisM]

The more I read, the more I think I’ll get one but I’m undecided between D1705 as it’s the last survivor and about a hour away if I wanted to take some extra pictures of it or D1702 as it was a bit of a celebrity in it’s later life with Freightliner.

 

As the early 47’s/48’s were delivered with small yellow ends but the list is saying “yellow ends”, I assume that means full yellow ends with yellow around the windows rather than the small as delivered?

['CHARD]

12 minutes ago, jools1959 said:

 

As the early 47’s/48’s were delivered with small yellow ends but the list is saying “yellow ends”, I assume that means full yellow ends with yellow around the windows rather than the small as delivered?

 

That's a fair assessment as no 47s were delivered without yellow warning panels.

[Wagonmaster]

I registered my expression of interest too as it will fill a gap and save me bodging, I mean converting, a 47. 

 

I'm just wondering how far the tooling changes will go. As noted on previous posts, it's a bit more than twin exhaust ports. Are they really going to retool the cantrail grilles as well? Hope so.

 

Having done a 48, is a 'Cuban 47' next? You're almost there with a 48! ;-)

[Opelsi]

21 hours ago, No Decorum said:

That is more-or-less my reason for wanting one; plugging the number gap. They do add a little bit of extra interest to the Class 47 story, as do the 53 and Lion.

 

Interesting that you should mention 'Lion' as I have allocated it the unofficial/fictitious TOPS code as a Class 49, with other similar classifications for 'Kestrel' Class 54, Sarah Siddons Class 75. APT-E Class 270.

This helps with my DCC code addressing formula which take the first 2 numbers from the TOPS code and the last two matching the last two running numbers. 

Those above therefore being 4960, 5400, 7512 and APT-E getting 2700.

Falcon is 5380.

Hope that makes sense.

One day I would like to try and run a Cavalcade.

[No Decorum]

13 hours ago, Wagpnmaster said:

 

I'm just wondering how far the tooling changes will go. As noted on previous posts, it's a bit more than twin exhaust ports. Are they really going to retool the cantrail grilles as well? Hope so.

 

The article in Model Rail says, “… our exclusive model will piggy-back on Heljan’s all-new ‘OO’ gauge Class 47 with all the detail changes required to offer the five locomotives fitted with Sulzer V12 12LVA24 engines.” Let’s hope that’s adhered to.

[No Decorum]

38 minutes ago, Opelsi said:

 

Interesting that you should mention 'Lion' as I have allocated it the unofficial/fictitious TOPS code as a Class 49, with other similar classifications for 'Kestrel' Class 54, Sarah Siddons Class 75. APT-E Class 270.

This helps with my DCC code addressing formula which take the first 2 numbers from the TOPS code and the last two matching the last two running numbers. 

Those above therefore being 4960, 5400, 7512 and APT-E getting 2700.

Falcon is 5380.

Hope that makes sense.

One day I would like to try and run a Cavalcade.

That’s a very enterprising and original approach. Do you re-number the models themselves? It opens the possibility of a fleet of Kestrels, Lions and APT-Es, which would be an eye-opener at exhibitions. Repaints would well and truly muddle the trackside pundits!

[Opelsi]

7 hours ago, No Decorum said:

That’s a very enterprising and original approach. Do you re-number the models themselves? It opens the possibility of a fleet of Kestrels, Lions and APT-Es, which would be an eye-opener at exhibitions. Repaints would well and truly muddle the trackside pundits!

Had not considered a fleet, novel idea.

No physical loco renumbering, just hypothetical numbers on my reference spreadsheet.

Green 'D' numbered diesels treated similarly so D8233 has address 1533, D601 has address 4101 and correspondingly E5001 is addressed 7101.

Makes finding a loco easy on the ECoS as one can tell the class from the morphology and then can see the last two running numbers so dead easy even with a large roster.