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Heljan LNER Tango 2-8-0

mardle

By mardle,
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No Decorum

No Decorum

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3 hours ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

Based on what we have seen in the past, Heljan have at least the O2/2 ready to go in terms of tooling. So it's a matter of their decision to push the button for a production run. I don't believe the present hoo-hah has in any way diminished the GNR/LNER/ER enthusiasm, so if economically feasible for Heljan it will find customers. I recall reading an implication that the batch size would be smaller as there was significant 'overshoot' on the volume of O2/3 and O2/4.

 

What with the general shortage in RTR of locos featuring the 'traditional' GNR style cab and tender, I suspect the O2/1 and O2/2 may actually prove more popular than the LNER period class parts. (In 'mutter, mutter,' mode, my belief is that a J6 would have been a much superior choice, but there 'tis...)

If Heljan is part way towards the O2s, it would make sense to continue. Not that I would object at all to a J6. The only trouble would be that we would “need” a Gresley K1 and K2 to plug the gap between the J6 and K3. That would be very nice. Of course, a K2 with a side-window cab would create more demand for a K4.

 

:offtopic: Bachmann deferred the J39 with an upgraded chassis. Let’s hope it’s in amongst the models Bachy is preparing but not telling us anything about.

 

I think it’s time for a liedown in a darkened room. Thank you, all, for enlivening this thread. :good:

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PJT

PJT

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1 hour ago, No Decorum said:

Yes and there’s a GN cab in there too.

 

Crikey, it is, at a very reasonable price and it's apparently in stock.  Well done for spotting it (and a big thank you for pointing it out, too).  I must admit I didn't bother checking Gaugemaster's Heljan spares listings (i) because it takes a while to pore through it, unless there's a technique I haven't discovered yet; and (ii) I assumed that having been unavailable for so long it would continue to be so until there was a new production run of O2s. 

 

Lesson for the day: Don't make assumptions (and I know that, of course, but still I trip myself up with it from time to time).  Making assumptions doesn't take into account stock that came to light during the handover between Howes and Gaugemaster, or stock delivered from Heljan to Gaugemaster that Howes never had, does it?

 

My order has been emailed already.

 

Actually - just thought - I wonder if they've got the OO diesel wheelsets back in stock again?

 

Pete T.

 

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No Decorum

No Decorum

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20 hours ago, John Tomlinson said:

I'm sure that back in the day when Howes did the Heljan spares, there was a photo on their website of the sprue which included the GN 02/2 cab. So I suspect the work has already been done for this, just need to fire up the moulding machines! Less confident about the 02/1 though.

 

I don't run my layout much, but my two 02's have carried on working OK, despite reservations about the fragility of the running gear when the model came out. Oh, "don't mention the running gear - I forgot but I think I got away with it!" with apologies to John Cleese in our idiotic times.

 

John.

:offtopic:Congratulations! You did it! John Cleese reinstated. Obviously someone at the BBC (Ben Ando?) read your comment. :laugh_mini2:

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DougN

DougN

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A bit of a story, I purchased a first release Tango back in 2016. It was a loco that I was looking forward too. A new manufacturer and new prototype!  I received said loco and a new 21 pin chip from DCC concepts Zen. All excited I assembled the loco and chiped it.... Well the poor thing ran terribly. Frustrated I should probably have returned the loco as a non runner! Any how I just placed it in the draw to look at later.  Fast forward to last weekend... I was looking to do some modelling but not one of the many projects that I have on the go. I found in the draw of shame the Tango.... Grr... time for the thing to work. I spoke to my good friend SRman to borrow a couple of 21 pin decoders to remove that as being the issue (after having dismantled the loco and run though every other item, pickups, wiring, etc.  In passing he mentioned that he had another Heljan loco which didnt run but the solder between the pins had bridged a couple.  Jump a week of work. Yesterday I sat down... looked at the PCB from the tender ran a scaple blade between each pin to remove any flux/ stray solder .... then changed it to be a new blade and did it again. Low and behold the loco actually ran half  acceptably. So I reassembled the loco, body, tender etc... and tried the loco on the layout.... first 15 minutes was pretty ropey running.... but after this time it started to improve. Now it is running and has great haulage power. The performance change from the original to now is fantastic. Should this be acceptable to begin with, No. Has the end result been worth the effort yes after all this time . 

 

So long story short if there is a Tango going cheap as a non runner it is worth checking the separation of the pins on the PCB. 

 

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teaky

teaky

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6 hours ago, davidw said:

At Warley last year I seem to recall  them talking about late 2020/1. It's gone very quiet since.

It certainly has.  Obviously, a certain pandemic may have created additional delay.  Ah well.  No big deal.  Just thought I'd ask in case someone knew anything.

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gary_lner

gary_lner

Posted
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1 hour ago, teaky said:

It certainly has.  Obviously, a certain pandemic may have created additional delay.  Ah well.  No big deal.  Just thought I'd ask in case someone knew anything.

Hi Teaky I just read your comment and thought I'd heard somthing about the 02 and just wanted to find out the source first. It was the brm virtual exhibition weekend and Ben from Heljan was talking about upcoming products and in terms of the 02 they had just received some shots of the tooling but no complete or running samples as of yet. 

 

Hope that helps

 

Regards Gary 

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gary_lner

gary_lner

Posted
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4 minutes ago, teaky said:

Thanks Gary.  So not this year then. :rolleyes:

 

More time to save up.

Indeed Maybe end of next year. I'd be happy with that with all the LNER products coming next year so far. And with hornbys announcement in Jan who knows what else they might be doing.

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No Decorum

No Decorum

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According to World of Railways today:

 

Extra versions of the new LNER ‘O2’ 2-8-0 have been included in the production run now in preparation, (my italics) adding further combinations of the GNR/LNER cabs and tenders, livery variations and two weathered BR editions.

 

EXTRA VERSIONS ADDED

GNR/LNER ‘O2’ 2-8-0 OO gauge

3900: LNER lined black O2/2 No. 3501 (GN cab/tender)

NEW 3901: BR late crest black O2/2 No. 63937 (GN cab/LNER flush-sided tender) WEATHERED

3902: BR early emblem black O2/2 No. 63933 (GN cab/tender)

3903: BR late crest black O2/2 No. 63940 (GN cab/tender)

NEW 3904 BRITISH RAILWAYS black O2/2 No. 63938 (GN cab/tender)

3930: GNR lined grey O2/1 No. 477 (GN high cab/tender)

3931: LNER black O2/1 No. 3481 (GN high cab/tender)

NEW 3932: LNER post-war black O2/1 No. 3481 (LNER cab/GN tender)

NEW 3934: BR late crest black O2/1 No. 63923 (LNER cab/LNER stepped side tender) 

3940: LNER wartime black O2/4 No. 3479 (LNER cab/GN tender)

NEW 3941: BR early emblem black O2/4 No. 63924 (LNER cab/GN tender) WEATHERED

3942: BR early emblem black O2/4 No. 63945 (LNER cab/GN tender)

3943: BR late crest black O2/4 No. 63932 (LNER cab/GN tender)

 

Happy days!

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Tramshed

Tramshed

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On 11/12/2020 at 20:33, No Decorum said:

According to World of Railways today:

 

Extra versions of the new LNER ‘O2’ 2-8-0 have been included in the production run now in preparation, (my italics) adding further combinations of the GNR/LNER cabs and tenders, livery variations and two weathered BR editions.

 

EXTRA VERSIONS ADDED

GNR/LNER ‘O2’ 2-8-0 OO gauge

3900: LNER lined black O2/2 No. 3501 (GN cab/tender)

NEW 3901: BR late crest black O2/2 No. 63937 (GN cab/LNER flush-sided tender) WEATHERED

3902: BR early emblem black O2/2 No. 63933 (GN cab/tender)

3903: BR late crest black O2/2 No. 63940 (GN cab/tender)

NEW 3904 BRITISH RAILWAYS black O2/2 No. 63938 (GN cab/tender)

3930: GNR lined grey O2/1 No. 477 (GN high cab/tender)

3931: LNER black O2/1 No. 3481 (GN high cab/tender)

NEW 3932: LNER post-war black O2/1 No. 3481 (LNER cab/GN tender)

NEW 3934: BR late crest black O2/1 No. 63923 (LNER cab/LNER stepped side tender) 

3940: LNER wartime black O2/4 No. 3479 (LNER cab/GN tender)

NEW 3941: BR early emblem black O2/4 No. 63924 (LNER cab/GN tender) WEATHERED

3942: BR early emblem black O2/4 No. 63945 (LNER cab/GN tender)

3943: BR late crest black O2/4 No. 63932 (LNER cab/GN tender)

 

Happy days!

Forgive me if this has been covered elsewhere but the above post suggests that there will be 2 versions of the GN style cab. O2/1 with 'GN high cab' and O2/2 with 'GN cab'. If so this is excellent news as wisdom until now has been that the 'GN style' cab was going to be applied to both part 1 and 2 engines. Can anyone confirm?

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23 minutes ago, Tramshed said:

Forgive me if this has been covered elsewhere but the above post suggests that there will be 2 versions of the GN style cab. O2/1 with 'GN high cab' and O2/2 with 'GN cab'. If so this is excellent news as wisdom until now has been that the 'GN style' cab was going to be applied to both part 1 and 2 engines. Can anyone confirm?

On 13th. March, 2016, Brush Veteran said,

 

“I can confirm that the original GN cab will not be produced in its original form. The tooling has already been completed for the rebuilt GN cab (to LNER loading gauge) …

There are plans to do 3501 in GN grey (but with the slightly incorrect profile cab) when the O2-1 version is produced...”

 

That was then and there’s a new man at the helm, so something might be different but the tooling for all the versions was done back then, so perhaps the above comment stands. On the other hand, as you have observed, a distinction is drawn in the list between “GN cab” and GN high cab”. Perhaps Ben Jones will enlighten us. It would be rather nice if both cabs were modelled.

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BrushVeteran

BrushVeteran

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Hi No Decorum

As I have been quoted as making a statement back in March 2016 I feel that I should reply.

 

Originally the plan was to tool everything for the O2 versions within the first releases. However it turned out to be too complicated to proceed with all five versions at once so the first releases were the O2/3 and O2/4 which both used the high frame, side window cab, GS tenders and LHD interchangeable boilers. Work had also commenced on the first tooling s of the GN cab, which were rejected but appeared on the spares spue's. The tooling for the RHD boilers (dia 20 and 100A) and GN tenders also never got completed so when the decision was made last year to plan the O2/1, O2/2 and rebuilt O2/4 (ex.O2/1 and O2/2) as the second releases, it was decided to revise the GN cab so that it  conformed more to the prototype and to also backdate it to the original GN loading gauge to make it more suitable for the GN grey liveries. Thus there will be more varieties but shorter production runs of each version. 

So I am still involved with the project and I'm sure Ben will collaborate. There will also be improvements to some detail parts and overall finish following feedback from the previous versions.

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No Decorum

No Decorum

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1 hour ago, BrushVeteran said:

Hi No Decorum

As I have been quoted as making a statement back in March 2016 I feel that I should reply.

 

Originally the plan was to tool everything for the O2 versions within the first releases. However it turned out to be too complicated to proceed with all five versions at once so the first releases were the O2/3 and O2/4 which both used the high frame, side window cab, GS tenders and LHD interchangeable boilers. Work had also commenced on the first tooling s of the GN cab, which were rejected but appeared on the spares spue's. The tooling for the RHD boilers (dia 20 and 100A) and GN tenders also never got completed so when the decision was made last year to plan the O2/1, O2/2 and rebuilt O2/4 (ex.O2/1 and O2/2) as the second releases, it was decided to revise the GN cab so that it  conformed more to the prototype and to also backdate it to the original GN loading gauge to make it more suitable for the GN grey liveries. Thus there will be more varieties but shorter production runs of each version. 

So I am still involved with the project and I'm sure Ben will collaborate. There will also be improvements to some detail parts and overall finish following feedback from the previous versions.

I’m glad to hear that you’re still involved with the project. Thank you for your very informative response. Improvements? Wow! All the more to look forward to. Revising the GN cab to the earlier version is very welcome indeed and more than I expected. May I be a bother and ask (on behalf of Tramshed, you understand) if there will be two versions of the GN cab or just one?

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BrushVeteran

BrushVeteran

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On 13/12/2020 at 00:26, No Decorum said:

I’m glad to hear that you’re still involved with the project. Thank you for your very informative response. Improvements? Wow! All the more to look forward to. Revising the GN cab to the earlier version is very welcome indeed and more than I expected. May I be a bother and ask (on behalf of Tramshed, you understand) if there will be two versions of the GN cab or just one?

Tramshed is correct, there will be two versions of the GN cab, original GN loading gauge and Gresley LNER modified loading gauge.

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Tramshed

Tramshed

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2 hours ago, BrushVeteran said:

Tramshed is correct, there will be two versions of the GN cab, original GN loading gauge and Gresley LNER modified loading gauge.

Many thanks BV. Tramshed is not always right about everything but is also delighted. Not least because the mid 2022 release date gives Tramshed's wallet time to go through counselling. :)

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davidw

davidw

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Tramshed said:

Many thanks BV. Tramshed is not always right about everything but is also delighted. Not least because the mid 2022 release date gives Tramshed's wallet time to go through counselling. :)

Very true! Thompson Pacifics, v2's, o2s what next? maroon Thompsons b16s j6s?

Edited by davidw
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