18100 / E1000 / E2001 from Rails/Heljan

[Southernman46]

1 hour ago, cctransuk said:

 

Weren't they originally intended for Chunnel trains to the Continent?

 

CJI.

and from and beyond Northwards .........................................

[25kV]

3 hours ago, 97406 said:

 

I do wonder if the 3 windscreened design of the AL series locos was developed from the prototype “Class 80”.

 

The original intent (at least according to a wooden cab mock-up, built before the locos themselves) was to have the route indicator in the middle window, class 302-style, and a flush nose below.

[97406]

12 minutes ago, 25kV said:

 

The original intent (at least according to a wooden cab mock-up, built before the locos themselves) was to have the route indicator in the middle window, class 302-style, and a flush nose below.

 

I used to have a magazine supplement on the early electrics and it had a photo of the mockup. It looked strange without the headcode box and I did try and find it before online but work got in the way.

 

 

[cctransuk]

54 minutes ago, Southernman46 said:

and from and beyond Northwards .........................................

 

Obviously - but, nonetheless, not a general purpose design.

 

Rather, a specific design, for a specific purpose, requiring exceptional design criteria.

 

CJI.

[Southernman46]

🙄

[25kV]

1 hour ago, 97406 said:

 

I used to have a magazine supplement on the early electrics and it had a photo of the mockup. It looked strange without the headcode box and I did try and find it before online but work got in the way.

 

 

 

There was a side view in MRP Profile 7, but also this in Marsden's "The AC Electrics" , the caption for which suggests that a SR-style 2-digit headcode system was proposed for a period. 

The mock-up is from 1957, and its Southern counterpart appears to be lurking in the background. 😉

 

[Ian Hargrave]

Drove to the Rails Weekend Event today to look at a Dapol Mogul which was duly purchased. And then….in a small display cabinet cunningly situated on the counter were these……..I honestly wasn’t going to but I did.The beast in its original form seen by me as a state of the art exhibit at the railways part of The Festival Of Britain ,Waterloo East,August 1951. I’m now fully into my dotage… Whatever the motive,it is a cracking model.

[97406]

On 20/03/2024 at 14:45, 25kV said:

 

There was a side view in MRP Profile 7, but also this in Marsden's "The AC Electrics" , the caption for which suggests that a SR-style 2-digit headcode system was proposed for a period. 

The mock-up is from 1957, and its Southern counterpart appears to be lurking in the background. 😉

 

 

Yes! That's it! Looks quite strange without the headcode panel doesn't it! The slightly lower middle windscreen, too!

 

Edited March 23 by 97406

[adb968008]

On 20/03/2024 at 14:45, 25kV said:

 

There was a side view in MRP Profile 7, but also this in Marsden's "The AC Electrics" , the caption for which suggests that a SR-style 2-digit headcode system was proposed for a period. 

The mock-up is from 1957, and its Southern counterpart appears to be lurking in the background. 😉

 

Originally planned for oval buffers too.

[25kV]

1 hour ago, adb968008 said:

Originally planned for oval buffers too.

Which only the AL4s managed to get right! 

['CHARD]

2 hours ago, 25kV said:

Which only the AL4s managed to get right! 

 

Some would say it was the only thing right about the AL4s.

[VIA185]

On 20/03/2024 at 10:27, cctransuk said:

 

My understanding is that it was a driver-training loco, pending the introduction of production AC locos.

 

CJI.

That was my understanding, too. And as a stop-gap to test the Manchester-Crewe electrification. My research when I wrote up the gas turbines for Trains Illustrated (and it was 40 years ago, so memory may be suspect, but it appeared to do very little work either as a gas turbine or as an electric after its turns on Bristol/Weston-super-Mare expresses ended. But that may just be because the research material that I was consulting came from Swindon and Swindon had by then lost interest. (CJL)

[Ian Hargrave]

1 hour ago, VIA185 said:

That was my understanding, too. And as a stop-gap to test the Manchester-Crewe electrification. My research when I wrote up the gas turbines for Trains Illustrated (and it was 40 years ago, so memory may be suspect, but it appeared to do very little work either as a gas turbine or as an electric after its turns on Bristol/Weston-super-Mare expresses ended. But that may just be because the research material that I was consulting came from Swindon and Swindon had by then lost interest. (CJL)

Its reincarnation as an original 25KvAC test bed was on the Styal loop line c1957/58 where it was used to test newly erected OHL equipment. Its first public outing as a gas turbine was as a static exhibit on the 1951 Festival Of Britain railways stand at Waterloo East,alongside a 1500DC Wath electric and ex-works Britannia 70004.

[Peter749]

On 20/03/2024 at 10:12, No Decorum said:

Marsden and Fenn contains three photographs of 18100. One shows it under construction without steps. The second, undated but described as being of a test train, is not very clear but seems to show a step. The third, dated 5th. April, 1952, shows the steps clearly. The loco was delivered to Western Region in December, 1951. I conclude from these three photographs that steps were fitted to 18100 either from new or very soon afterwards.

 

I found this on the web which clearly has foot steps on the bogies - Author unknown