HELJAN UNVEILS ‘OO’ GAUGE 25/3 AND ‘ETHEL’ FOR 2019

[stovepipe]

Yes for use on Euston ECS work with the new stock ordered, if not yet delivered, was how I understood it too.

 

Found my IA Combined Volume for 1970, 'accurate' to Dec 1969, which has the only dual braked 25s as 7568, 7571/72, 7586, 7593 and 7596. Whilst these locos were likely featured in the works reports at the time when converted, the original 10 (or 11) from new it seems were missed or simply not known about by IA.

[Phil Bullock]

43 minutes ago, stovepipe said:

Yes for use on Euston ECS work with the new stock ordered, if not yet delivered, was how I understood it too.

 

Found my IA Combined Volume for 1970, 'accurate' to Dec 1969, which has the only dual braked 25s as 7568, 7571/72, 7586, 7593 and 7596. Whilst these locos were likely featured in the works reports at the time when converted, the original 10 (or 11) from new it seems were missed or simply not known about by IA.

Or ignored…. Wasn’t D7667 a photo cop one year in the combined volume?

[Halvarras]

3 hours ago, Phil Bullock said:

Or ignored…. Wasn’t D7667 a photo cop one year in the combined volume?

 

Yep, 1968 edition, an official BR photo of Derby Works' 1,000th diesel loco. When Bachmann were planning to release a boiler-fitted version of their then recently -released Class 25 they posted the identity as D5293. I wrote to them (no email at the time!)  to point out that only D5233-7 were boilered, and took the opportunity to include a photocopy of a bigger version of this D7667 photo from Brian Haresnape's 'BR Fleet Survey 4 - Production Diesel-Electrics Types 1-3' with a suggestion that they might like to consider it, as it was a celebrity in a class which didn't have that many. The rest, as they say, is history.......🙂

I'm sure Heljan were very well aware of D7667's claim to fame without any help from me......!

BTW, anyone who models 1974 (the first year of mass TOPS renumbering) can easily renumber either of these RTR D7667s to 25259 (ex-7609) or 25319 (ex-7669) by prototypically patch-painting over the old numbers and applying the new number on top (driver's corners only of course - there were exceptions to this but no Class 25s AFAIK). I'm fairly certain that both of these had exposed boiler compartment grilles like the models too, although by 1974 the side steps would have been plated over.

[stovepipe]

3 hours ago, Phil Bullock said:

Or ignored…. Wasn’t D7667 a photo cop one year in the combined volume?

 

Also D7661 in BSYP at Euston in April 1970 is the contents page photo of the 1971 Combined Volume. Data panel is visible and probably readable on a larger photo, which was taken by Derek Percival. E3145 is in the background if anyone has seen it elsewhere?

 

[jbg]

I bought a Heljan 25 earlier this year and it had been running fine.  More recently the motor runs fine in one direction but barely at all in the other direction even when disconnected from the bogies/gears towers.  I can't see anything obviously wrong but haven't stripped the motor down to look closely.  It's frustrating as I have recently finished a range of upgrades to the body including flush gazing, new handrails and so on.

 

Does anyone know where Heljan spares can be obtained from now?  They were with Gaugemaster who used to have a decent section on their website with Service Sheets and a full parts listing.  This seems to have disappeared and I seem to recall seeing that they were no longer Heljan's spares dealer.  A Google search hasn't helped and I am awaiting a response via Heljan's website.  

 

If I can't source a Heljan motor I wonder if the motor/flywheels from the latest Bachmann Class 24 might fit as they are freely available from Bachmann Spares.  From the photos on Bachmann's Spares site it seems a similar size and configuration.  Has anyone got dimensions for this to see if it will fit?

 

Thanks for any help anyone can give.

 

Jeremy

[micklner]

Have a look here far cheaper and hopefully better too!!.

 

https://laisdcc.aliexpress.com/store/2977030?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.f22d1802A61pjR

[55020]

42 minutes ago, micklner said:

Have a look here far cheaper and hopefully better too!!.

 

https://laisdcc.aliexpress.com/store/2977030?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.f22d1802A61pjR

 

Chinese knock-off decoders that have simply copied genuine products illegally.  I'll let you decide whether you condone such a business, and want to give them your money.

 

 

Steve

[jbg]

I think MickLNER was referring me to the motors. They may have potential but I’ll need to check dimensions. 
 

Thanks

[micklner]

35 minutes ago, 55020 said:

 

Chinese knock-off decoders that have simply copied genuine products illegally.  I'll let you decide whether you condone such a business, and want to give them your money.

 

 

Steve

We are talking Motors which are a nightmare to find. No interest whatsoever in decoders.

[andyman7]

On 21/10/2022 at 03:18, Halvarras said:

 

D7660-9 would appear to have been dual-braked from new for Euston ECS duties. Others were added, I photographed D7659 still in GSYP livery at Willesden depot in October 1973, clearly dual-braked.

I'd love to see that picture of D7659. I started at a school right next to the WCML in September 1973 and still have vivid memories of the 25s chugging past with 16 ton Mineral wagons etc, but to my small self they were all various shades of grubby and it's only fairly recently that I've realised I probably saw two of the very last locos in service still wearing original GSYP. There is also the question of whether one of them managed to get TOPS numbers before it went for overhaul and repaint...

[jbg]

Following on from my post about a fault with the motor on my 25 I have done some further investigating. 
 

Spoke to Gaugemaster who do still carry the spares and found the service sheets and parts price list in the Downloads section of their website. They suggested disconnecting motor from pcb to see if fault was in the motor or the circuit board. Disconnected motor and it runs fine in both directions. So fault is with pcb. 
 

Awaiting a replacement now so hopefully it will be back to working fine sometime next week. 
 

Jeremy

[Halvarras]

23 hours ago, andyman7 said:

I'd love to see that picture of D7659. I started at a school right next to the WCML in September 1973 and still have vivid memories of the 25s chugging past with 16 ton Mineral wagons etc, but to my small self they were all various shades of grubby and it's only fairly recently that I've realised I probably saw two of the very last locos in service still wearing original GSYP. There is also the question of whether one of them managed to get TOPS numbers before it went for overhaul and repaint...

 

Right-o, here are 3 pics taken at Willesden on 13th October 1973 - sorry they're a bit grainy, I'd not long bought my first 35mm camera and since wished I'd scraped more money together for a better one to record the interesting TOPS renumbering period, but there it is, too late now!

D7659 inside the depot building (poor camera + poor light = this, but any photo is better than none?):

Meanwhile outside (in not much better light TBH) were these two:

 

Both of the GSYP ones have air brake pipes, not sure about 7555. At this time I believe 7604 & 7647 were still about in GSYP livery, but further north. Alas, none of these managed to reach TOPS renumbering although 7600 was recorded at Crewe Works in early 1974 with '25250' chalked on its cabside - it got THAT close!

I used to live in Swindon and attended the STEAM Museum event there every September - I knew Pete Waterman, who owned D7659 back then, would be there too so I took this photo with me to show him, pointed out the date and asked him if he knew whether it had been renumbered 25309 in this condition - to the best of his knowledge, no. He did mention that it was the last Class 25 - and the very last locomotive - built by Beyer Peacock in Manchester (actually I did know that already 😉!) so it has its own little place in railway history.

7555 displays the relatively uncommon use of later-style numbers on a Class 25 in green livery (a Crewe Works habit I believe). There is a possibility that this one was renumbered 25205 while still green - a photo of a TOPS-numbered green one identified as such appeared in Traction magazine many years ago but because the number was illegible it remains unconfirmed (Russell Saxton never managed to confirm it by other means either so never included it in his 'TOPS Green' lists). One day perhaps.......

 

So yes, I'd say that, in the absence of any other loco type known to be still carrying SYPs at such a late date, you certainly did see two of the last four GSYP locos* on the BR network 🙂!

 

* or five, if you include Derby RTC's D5901!

[andyman7]

Thanks, that's brilliant! The shot of (D)7600 in GSYP with a BR Blue TOPS numbered 86 in the background is a juxtaposition that many would assume never happened, yet there is the proof

Edited November 24, 2022 by andyman7

[andyman7]

PS this is my model of D7659. Until now, I had not been able to find a picture of it in late 1973 hence it is modelled assuming that the 'D' prefix would have been deleted. However, I can see it even retained these until it went blue, so I'll have to add them at some point! (Apologies for thread drift as it's base is a Bachmann model)

[jbg]

I did. See above. 

 

Jeremy

[Hal Nail]

On 25/11/2022 at 10:18, jbg said:

I did. See above. 

 

Jeremy

yes sorry i missed that. i thought they still did spares but missed your folllow up when the thread changed direction.

[uk_pm]

What a super little model!  I let it pass when it was first released, hoping that SLW would deliver their's around the same time.  But I have now taken the plunge and, like the prototype, it is a characterful and feisty little loco.  Here are a few shots of it at work at Doncaster...

 

 

 

[BVMR21]

Anyone heard anything regarding run 2 of these?

[BVMR21]

News from Heljan on these, they're due to arrive next month.

Run 2 that is.

Edited August 8, 2023 by BVMR21

[D6332]

Lime green with a Western on one engine sound track for me.

Though iirc when looking at the original NBL blueprints the cab had 10000 sized 800 and LMS on the bonnets like 10000. A great never ozza for the LMS modeller, as it took years to build!

[andyman7]

I picked up one of the new batch of Heljan Class 25s today. I've an SLW one on order but what can I say? I like Class 25s. I haven't had the lid off yet so can't comment on the 21 pin interface or revised electrics but the example I bought (25301) already has the boiler grille plates applied (they were supplied loose on all the first batch ones, regardless of whether the modelled version had them fitted). There is also a bit less bufferbeam detail ready fitted, I suspect because on the first batch it was not possible to fit couplings without having to cut off or remove details.
Other than that the first batch and the new batch sit side by side without any obvious jarring difference. And whilst I know the SLW is expected to be the 'gold standard' the Heljan ones are very good. The 'new' one is on the left below

[40002]

I have a V1 model and overall its very good the main issue is the cab lighting which you have to have on all the time when having the lighting on, so the train train moves around the layout with the cab lighting on which is not ideal. I have just ordered a V2 model and I gather this is now fixed and you can turn off the cab light and tail lights individually. the SLW 25 may well be the ultimate Class 25 but with hopefully the lighting fixes on the v2 model I think I will be happy with the Heljen model I'm not a rivet counter as long as the model looks reasonably good I'm happy.

[Paul_sterling]

(@40002, thank you for reminding me to post this)

 

This thread talked a lot about the front of the Heljan 25, so much so i didn't buy one. This was partly because I preordered an SLW 25. 

 

However I managed to get a second hand Heljan for a very reasonable price, and was impressed by it. The cab curvature is quite good, but even before the SLW arrived, the thing that I was drawn to, that makes the cab front look flat is the grab rail. The Heljan 25 grab rail goes quite straight across the cab, rather than following the contour. 

 

Otherwise it runs beautifully, and is done to a very good standard. It holds its own alongside the SLW, and the paint finish is okay barring the overly pale front end. 

 

Sticking my old Bachmann alongside both wasn't a good idea, and really exposed the shape of the cab roof on the Bachmann. Making me think about devising a print design to try and correct it. 

thanks

Paul. 

[MikeParkin65]

On 12/02/2024 at 07:35, Paul_sterling said:

(@40002, thank you for reminding me to post this)

 

This thread talked a lot about the front of the Heljan 25, so much so i didn't buy one. This was partly because I preordered an SLW 25. 

 

However I managed to get a second hand Heljan for a very reasonable price, and was impressed by it. The cab curvature is quite good, but even before the SLW arrived, the thing that I was drawn to, that makes the cab front look flat is the grab rail. The Heljan 25 grab rail goes quite straight across the cab, rather than following the contour. 

 

Otherwise it runs beautifully, and is done to a very good standard. It holds its own alongside the SLW, and the paint finish is okay barring the overly pale front end. 

 

Sticking my old Bachmann alongside both wasn't a good idea, and really exposed the shape of the cab roof on the Bachmann. Making me think about devising a print design to try and correct it. 

thanks

Paul. 

 

The handrails of the SLW look like they are there to assist the driver into the cab whereas the Heljan ones look like bars to discourage the tubby 🤣

[Paul_sterling]

1 minute ago, MikeParkin65 said:

The handrails of the SLW look like they are there to assist the driver into the cab whereas the Heljan ones look like bars to discourage the tubby 🤣

I was thinking about the rail across the front, but the door rails, I agree haha.