Metropolitan Bo-Bo EP sample

[JGPhoto]

I'll have a proper look tomorrow morning- I've not got the model with me at the moment.

 

I've also noticed that Hattons have the next two to arrive listed on their website with delivery expected soon!

[Jeff Smith]

I would have been very tempted with No 5 or 8 had I not scratch built No 5 in P4 a couple of years ago (post #155).  When someone takes delivery and is intending to convert to P4 or EM I would be very interested to know how easy/hard this would be.  I wonder if Heljan has made provision for this?

As per my earlier post above, now that some of you have got your hands on some, can someone take a close up of the underside of a bogie. Also is there pick-up and drive to all four axles?

[Bilbo]

Would they have had red rear lights when running ?

[Patrick Blake]

I am waiting to purchase one once they are available from the London Transport Museum in October.
I was going to order one from Hattons but a lot of people complained about missing parts and pieces either falling off or about too fall off when they received their model last week.

[johnb]

Would they have had red rear lights when running ?

Not unless running light engine, when they MAY have had a red filter over one lens. I don't recall ever seeing one running light thro' Pinner though. Certainly they would have had a red oil tail lamp if not hauling anything.

From the photo that I have seen I think that the red filter was mounted externally over the light housing, There seems to be a slot/holder on the pic of John Hampden (No 5) in Covent Garden.

 

The Dreadnaughts in the time that I knew them (1950s) used to show both a lit electric tail lamp and and an oil tail lamp.

 

John

 

edit: to add more info

Edited September 6, 2015 by johnb

[johnb]

As per my earlier post above, now that some of you have got your hands on some, can someone take a close up of the underside of a bogie. Also is there pick-up and drive to all four axles?

 

Sorry, no photo, but I'm running in No 1 (the grey one) as I type this. It's on rollers and running very sweetly at about 8 volts. It is certainly all wheel drive and so I would expect it to be all wheel pickup. It's been on for around 15mins so far in each direction and has speeded up slightly. I can't test it on track at present, but it starts at a bit over 3 volts, at full speed it doesn't seem over quick but until I get it on the track I can't be sure.

 

Hope that helps.

 

John

[johnb]

I am waiting to purchase one once they are available from the London Transport Museum in October.

I was going to order one from Hattons but a lot of people complained about missing parts and pieces either falling off or about too fall off when they received their model last week.

I got two through Hattons, No 1 and No 8. Both have the nameplates on square and all the other bits are fixed on. Yes the hoses are delicate, but seem quite robust for their size. Some gentle poking hasn't caused anyhting to drop off or break, the pickup shoes are pretty fine also but all are there on my two.

The only thing that have noticed is that the lights are 'white' white whereas the real things had tungsten lights that were a 'yellow' white and not not very bright at that. The brightness of those fitted is not excessive and commendably steady over quite a wide voltage range.

 

All in all very pleased with my two.

 

John

[Dan Hamblin]

The hoses are actually quite flexible, which is good because the standard tension lock coupler sits snuggly between them. The couplers do droop a bit though and seem lower than most other modern RTR stock. The model though really does capture the look of the real thing, the bogies particularly with the shoebeam safety brackets and rivetted bogie frame.

 

On Sarah Siddons the headlights do shine red when it is on the rear of a train, but that has only really been used in the modern era when LU heritage trains run top-and-tail.

 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

Dan

[Jeff Smith]

Maybe a dab of yellow varnish could tone down the lights - are they directional?

[johnb]

Maybe a dab of yellow varnish could tone down the lights - are they directional?

Yes, all three light up at the leading end.

 

John

[JGPhoto]

I hope they include the red lights on Sarah, as it is supposed to be modelled as it is today.

 

I also wish more places would start putting the tail lights on a separate function, as not everyone constantly runs trains light loco, but that's a whole different topic...

[tetsudofan]

My Sherlock Holmes on dcc seems to be acting in a similar fashion to pauln's (post #219) - it runs for about six feet and stops, tried to get it go in reverse and would not move at all. Took the loco off the track then put it back on the track but no movement forwards or backwards.

 

Put the loco back on the programming track, set the same loco ID which was accepted. Put the loco back on the track and it behaved just as mentioned above. All very bizarre!!

 

Ran-in the loco 30 minutes forwards and thirty minutes backwards before fitting a Lenz Silver 21+ decoder and no problems - ran quiet and smoothly. Was quite impressed - but not so when the decoder was fitted.

 

Have also got a grey No.1 which I will run-in tomorrow and then fit a similar decoder. Fingers crossed that it does not act like Sherlock Holmes.

 

Keith

[JGPhoto]

JG - the vertical hand rail next to the door in the top picture looks as though it is not engaged into the corner piece.

I've had a closer look and it is secure - just the same person who put the nameplates put the hand rail on when he was slightly tipsy !

 

 

As per my earlier post above, now that some of you have got your hands on some, can someone take a close up of the underside of a bogie. Also is there pick-up and drive to all four axles?

Can confirm all wheel pick up, will take a photo for you in a bit unless someone else beats me to it.

[pauln]

Thanks. I like the grey roof better than the reddish one on the one I got; John Hampden.

 

I gave mine a test run today. Fine in DC but on two different DCC chips it only runs properly in one direction. In the other direction it runs for a second, stops, runs for a second, stops, repeats this about half a dozen times then refuses to move at all. Same on rolling road so not a pickup issue.  Also had one of the gear cogs clicking and jumping occasionally. 

 

It will be on its way back to the shop on Monday for an exchange.

 

An update on my issue (and related to Tetsudofan/Keith's by the look of it).

 

My original one has gone back and the replacement arrived this morning having only been ordered on Saturday (well done Hattons). I dropped in a chip and had exactly the same problem as described above, only this time in both directions. Setting the speed to 6/28 or below means it crawls round the layout without exhibiting the same behaviour but a nudge up to 7 and we're back to above. 

 

Both of the chips I tried were Hornby Sapphire which run well in everything else I own (and are handy as they can be 8 or 21 pin).  So, I thought I'd extract a 21 pin sound decoder out of a Bachmann loco and with that the Bo-Bo runs perfectly in both directions.

 

So conclusion is that the loco does not like certain chips for some reason. Suggestions welcome. Bear this in mind when purchasing and choosing a chip.

[JeremyKarl]

An update on my issue (and related to Tetsudofan/Keith's by the look of it).

 

My original one has gone back and the replacement arrived this morning having only been ordered on Saturday (well done Hattons). I dropped in a chip and had exactly the same problem as described above, only this time in both directions. Setting the speed to 6/28 or below means it crawls round the layout without exhibiting the same behaviour but a nudge up to 7 and we're back to above. 

 

Both of the chips I tried were Hornby Sapphire which run well in everything else I own (and are handy as they can be 8 or 21 pin).  So, I thought I'd extract a 21 pin sound decoder out of a Bachmann loco and with that the Bo-Bo runs perfectly in both directions.

 

So conclusion is that the loco does not like certain chips for some reason. Suggestions welcome. Bear this in mind when purchasing and choosing a chip.

 

I have to say that my "Sherlock Holmes" loco from Hattons worked perfectly straight out of the box when fitted with a 21-pin 4-function Bachmann chip. Functions 0, 1, and 2 could be used to switch the various lights on and off. I should add that the loco is very easy to fit with a DCC chip with just the 4 screws underneath to undo and then the top pulls off. A really delightful locomotive... Well done Heljian! 

 

Jeremy Karl.

[tetsudofan]

Jeremy,

 

Presume the decoder you are talking about is the Bachmann 36-557. If so, think I must get hold of some to replace the Lenz Silver+ 21-pin decoders I've put in my locos.

 

Keith

[johnb]

My Sherlock Holmes on dcc seems to be acting in a similar fashion to pauln's (post #219) - it runs for about six feet and stops, tried to get it go in reverse and would not move at all. Took the loco off the track then put it back on the track but no movement forwards or backwards.

 

Put the loco back on the programming track, set the same loco ID which was accepted. Put the loco back on the track and it behaved just as mentioned above. All very bizarre!!

 

Ran-in the loco 30 minutes forwards and thirty minutes backwards before fitting a Lenz Silver 21+ decoder and no problems - ran quiet and smoothly. Was quite impressed - but not so when the decoder was fitted.

 

Have also got a grey No.1 which I will run-in tomorrow and then fit a similar decoder. Fingers crossed that it does not act like Sherlock Holmes.

 

Keith

Just been running my two now that I have chipped them. On rollers as I haven't a long run to put them on.

 

No problems on either using a TCS EU621 powered from an NCE Powercab, they are running at 128 speed steps

 

Pretty low current draw too, at full speed both draw around 0.2amp and run smoothly at half speed (64 on the controller) they draw a bit over 0.1/0.12 amps. That's running for about 15 mins in each direction.

 

John

[JeremyKarl]

Jeremy,

 

Presume the decoder you are talking about is the Bachmann 36-557. If so, think I must get hold of some to replace the Lenz Silver+ 21-pin decoders I've put in my locos.

 

Keith

 

Hi Keith,

Yes, that's correct. It was the first one I had to hand to test out the loco out with. (I couldn't recall the Bachmann number late last night, but I now recognize it;-) Usually I would try the loco out on an analogue DC circuit first but as I was unable to do so, so I simply ran it on my DCC rolling road for 30-40 minutes in each direction. My loco seemed to work perfectly as far as I could tell. 

JK

[tetsudofan]

Many thanks JK, been on the phone to The Hobby Shop at Faversham and Bachmann decoders already on the way with UK Mail. Unfortunately I'm the last drop-off on UK Mail's route so won't get the decoders until late tomorrow afternoon.

 

Keith

[Rick_Skateboard]

Does anyone know if there's a DCC sound project available or in the making? It seems like an obvious one to do as a working prototype exists to go and record and now an RTR model is available.

 

Cheers,

 

Rick.

[tetsudofan]

My supply of Bachmann 36-557 decoders arrived this afternoon and pleased to advise that once fitted to #1 and Sherlock Holmes both locos performed impeccably.

 

Many thanks guys for your help.

 

Keith

Edited September 9, 2015 by tetsudofan

[dasatcopthorne]

Hi All.

 

Thought I'd post some pics that others don't seem to have done.

 

Hope these help some of you with questions that have been posed.

 

One end of the chassis is shaped to take a round speaker.

 

Dave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2015 by dasatcopthorne

[eastwestdivide]

Photo of the real thing with NSE-livery Mk2s on the RCTS mystery locations page this week:

http://www.rcts.org.uk/features/mysteryphotos/show.htm?serial=13&img=JT-101-15

[Paul.Uni]

The year would be 1995. When LU bought 3 MK 2b TSOs from NSE. The coaches were in NSE livery at Steam On The Met 1995. I believe they were also used in NSE livery on the Jubliee Line, as part of Stanmore Depot Open day in September that year. They were repainted into Metropolitan Maroon by Steam On The Met 1996.

[Jeff Smith]

Dave,

 

Thanks for the additional photos. It looks like a drop-in wheel-set could be a possibility if one of the wheel manufacturers would like to produce them. Below is the motor and dummy bogie that I used for my P4 scratch built Bo-Bo - obviously this would not fit........