EFE Rail - Winter 2023 Announcements inc. Southern 'Booster'

[RFS]

1 hour ago, metropolitan cammell said:

I think it is only held on with two screws the other two are locating pins.

 

Agreed but I only have one screw. On the RH side there appears to be one tab but no screw for the other hole. The PCB won't sit down on that tab either and is stuck at an angle - see below. 

 

 

Edited January 10 by RFS

[RFS]

3 hours ago, Jon Horrocks said:

Got my SR and BR green ones last Thursday. Sadly one had a bogie that was in pieces with bits of snapped plastic floating around in the box, while the other had a warped bogie with the innermost wheels not touching the rails. That second model had no response to power at all. Both returned the same day but as they’re sold out they’ve had to go back to Bachmann for repairs instead of simply being replaced. Very frustrating. 

 

You're not obliged to accept a repair in this situation having just received them new but faulty. You can demand a full refund and purchase elsewhere.

[Jon Horrocks]

1 hour ago, RFS said:

 

You're not obliged to accept a repair in this situation having just received them new but faulty. You can demand a full refund and purchase elsewhere.

Plenty of SR green ones to be found but I’ve not found anywhere with BR green ones left in stock. 

[Anoldpom]

9 hours ago, Jon Horrocks said:

Plenty of SR green ones to be found but I’ve not found anywhere with BR green ones left in stock. 

Yes I quite agree. Honestly "Blind Freddy" could have worked out that the BR Green model would be the most popular.  Come on Bachman, use your brains please. I know I should have pre-ordered but I was a little nervous about the EFE name and there do seem to have been a "few" little hiccups..............

[phil gollin]

.

 

The POSSIBLE sell out of 20002 in plain BR green gives EFE the opportunity to do a near repeat run of 20001 in plain BR green (no yellow panels) with slight changes.

 

.

[Southernman46]

22 hours ago, GWR-fan said:

My black and malachite versions arrived this afternoon barely two days after receiving the tracking email from Rails.  Even Australia Post does not seem to realise that the locomotives are in the country.  All I can say is that the ten years that Muz spent on research was time well spent.  He is to be congratulated.

 

Quite likely these two latest purchases will be my last new locomotive purchases and they will be an excellent finale to my model collecting.  The last new loco purchase that I made prior these was the disappointing Rails gas turbine.  It was the most expensive "OO" loco that I had ever purchased and it left me feeling a little jaded.   After spending a lifetime working around aviation gas turbines, this loco was a novelty must have for me,  but in my opinion was a bitter disappointment.  The "boosters" have saved the day.

Totally with you on the congratulations 👍👍

 

Not wanting to introduce thread drift but interested to hear what you consider the failings of the 1st Gas Turbine model to be ?

 

[GWR-fan]

1 hour ago, Southernman46 said:

Not wanting to introduce thread drift but interested to hear what you consider the failings of the 1st Gas Turbine model to be ?

 

 

I thought the model to be lacking detail and simply boring.  I was not that concerned with the model being limited to R3 minimum without modification,  something that Rails apparently forgot to tell anyone.  I expected more from the model and being the most expensive "OO" model that I had purchased at the time it did not represent value for money.

[cctransuk]

21 minutes ago, GWR-fan said:

 

I thought the model to be lacking detail and simply boring.  I was not that concerned with the model being limited to R3 minimum without modification,  something that Rails apparently forgot to tell anyone.  I expected more from the model and being the most expensive "OO" model that I had purchased at the time it did not represent value for money.

 

Could you perhaps enlarge upon what detail was lacking? Mine looks excellent in all respects.

 

As to the R3 issue - this is not insuperable, as I posted at the time that the model was released.

 

CJI.

[Southernman46]

1 hour ago, GWR-fan said:

 

I thought the model to be lacking detail and simply boring.  I was not that concerned with the model being limited to R3 minimum without modification,  something that Rails apparently forgot to tell anyone.  I expected more from the model and being the most expensive "OO" model that I had purchased at the time it did not represent value for money.

Thank you 👍

Gong to re-read the 18000 thread again

Edited January 11 by Southernman46

[Ian Hargrave]

Having read posts concerning issues with these and after a certain YouTube video,I am relieved to post that all is well upon opening the box and running mine in both directions on the track. It sits 4 ( Or should I say 6 ? ) square on the track,runs quietly and smoothly and is responsive to control. Now to run it in.

[Metropolitan]

All the wheels sit down squarely on the track on my example. It also run fine over 2R points.

[Gwiwer]

Mine were collected yesterday and both given a short run on the test track of about 10 minutes each way.  That was all there was time for.  

 

First impressions are that they are a very welcome addition to the collection and of a type we never thought to see in RtR form.  They are apparently to "EFE Standards" rather than Bachmann's exacting and precision levels which is not to say they are in any way substandard.  It is more a reflection of the pressing quality (less well-defined joins for example) and the representation of some parts.  It's a long time since any of us saw the real things - I saw all three regularly at one stage - so I can't comment on the colour reproduction.  The headcode font on 20001 appears incorrect but this may be a font which it alone carried.  

 

20001 went straight onto the track and ran well.  20002 was a bit fussier in being railed, I discovered the pantograph required some delicate reassembly (not onerous but quite fiddly when one has left the fine tools at home) and both centre wheelsets seemed to ride high.

 

In operation 20001 performed well out of the box.  I have no issues with this loco other than the finer detail mentioned above.  20002 requires its back-to-backs checked and ride height of all wheels examined.  It derailed at the same spots on every lap and careful inspection showed it was "picking up its skirt" with the leading wheels rising above the rail head followed by the centre set which to my eyes sit high anyway.  Bogie swing is not the problem.  

 

As I collected them the conversation turned to demand and supply.  "One has already sold out" was said and having looked at the website it does indeed appear that 20002 might be that one.  

 

A second release in plain BR green with headcode panels would be welcome.  This is how I remember 20002 in traffic.  The precedent has been set with the D6xx "Warships" which sold well enough that two more were commissioned bringing us seven models for a prototype class of only five locos.  

[Jim104]

Received my BR green version yesterday, good model, but being a ‘DC dinosaur’ I have run it on a DC straight gaugemaster controller, a Trax DC feedback controller, and a Blue Railways DC controller (which uses PWM).

I am always hesitant on running any new locomotive on my favoured Trax feedback controller, as many new models do not like a feedback controller. However the running and control of the locomotive has been very good with full control and smooth slow running.

Observations that I do have is that the headcode lights are poor, with position 1 and 5 being the brightest, the rest very dull and this only when using the gaugemaster DC controller. The headcode lights do not work when being powered by the Trax (feedback) or Blue Railways (PWM) Controllers, nor do the cab lights wand facility, not a problem to me as the cab light seems far too bright and wouldnt be on whilst driving along. 

As others have reported there is a design error in the bogies, as the centre wheels have no up and down compensation, any of my code 100 track joins which may be 1mm out of level to each other, causes the loco to derail as the bogie pivots on its centre wheelset. ‘Charlie’ on you tube has shown a similar fault with a accurascale class 37.

Having said the above, it fits very well into my BR SR Waterloo - Exeter  1950’s layout, and being a DC only layout the playthings of the DCC brigade dont apply, and the sights lights and sounds of my childhood firmly remain inside my head having seen them first hand.

 

 

[Ian Hargrave]

3 hours ago, Jim104 said:

Received my BR green version yesterday, good model, but being a ‘DC dinosaur’ I have run it on a DC straight gaugemaster controller, a Trax DC feedback controller, and a Blue Railways DC controller (which uses PWM).

I am always hesitant on running any new locomotive on my favoured Trax feedback controller, as many new models do not like a feedback controller. However the running and control of the locomotive has been very good with full control and smooth slow running.

Observations that I do have is that the headcode lights are poor, with position 1 and 5 being the brightest, the rest very dull and this only when using the gaugemaster DC controller. The headcode lights do not work when being powered by the Trax (feedback) or Blue Railways (PWM) Controllers, nor do the cab lights wand facility, not a problem to me as the cab light seems far too bright and wouldnt be on whilst driving along. 

As others have reported there is a design error in the bogies, as the centre wheels have no up and down compensation, any of my code 100 track joins which may be 1mm out of level to each other, causes the loco to derail as the bogie pivots on its centre wheelset. ‘Charlie’ on you tube has shown a similar fault with a accurascale class 37.

Having said the above, it fits very well into my BR SR Waterloo - Exeter  1950’s layout, and being a DC only layout the playthings of the DCC brigade dont apply, and the sights lights and sounds of my childhood firmly remain inside my head having seen them first hand.

 

 

Reassuring to know that someone else on this forum saw them at work .In my case 20001&20003 both at platform at Victoria ready to depart with Newhaven boat train.

[Oldddudders]

20 minutes ago, Ian Hargrave said:

Reassuring to know that someone else on this forum saw them at work .In my case 20001&20003 both at platform at Victoria ready to depart with Newhaven boat train.

Where we grew up does tend to have mattered. I had seen all three by 1961, initially passing Earlswood on the Brighton Main Line, but later at various Central locations. They were just daily workhorses that did what it said on the tin, and still in service when I entered Redhill Control in 1968. 

[adb968008]

Maybe a silly question, but why was the third one built ?

i assume the first two were experimental, and successful, why the wait until 1959 for the class 71 ?

what value did the third one bring ?

[Metropolitan]

5 hours ago, Ian Hargrave said:

Reassuring to know that someone else on this forum saw them at work .In my case 20001&20003 both at platform at Victoria ready to depart with Newhaven boat train.

I don't suppose you can remember what they sounded like? I'm guessing that they made an awful din and sounded quite unlike a silky modern EMU as we might imagine?

[Ian Hargrave]

No,I saw them at platform and on each occasion from the window of a passing suburban electric.And in any case,the passage of some 70 years does tend to dim the memory somewhat 🙄

[Ian Hargrave]

After a suitable period of running in,I put my BR black to work hauling a train load of 7 new design Bachmann Bulleid coaches. These it handled silently and smoothly (DC) from a realistic crawl to a respectable mid range speed.
Its performance seems not dissimilar to its close Kernow cousin the Bulleid diesel.Is this just coincidence or has Graham Muz’s recent association with Camborne any bearing on this ?  Be that as it may,I am more than happy with my Booster.

[The Stationmaster]

13 hours ago, Ian Hargrave said:

Reassuring to know that someone else on this forum saw them at work .In my case 20001&20003 both at platform at Victoria ready to depart with Newhaven boat train.

Snap - the only two I saw were 20001 and 20003.  As far as I cab recall I definitely saw one of them at Victoria but I might well have seen the other somewhere further south in Central Division land as I did get there on several occasions.

[Metropolitan]

HM7000 easy to fit. The class 73 sound profile is better than nowt and the function map is appropriate bar the lack of whistle! But I will be fitting a power bank. I thought I could get away without one but no, not really.

 

Edited January 12 by Metropolitan

[Gwiwer]

9 hours ago, Metropolitan said:

I don't suppose you can remember what they sounded like? I'm guessing that they made an awful din and sounded quite unlike a silky modern EMU as we might imagine?

Whilst I did see all three quite regularly loitering around Brighton they were usually berthed in the loco road between platforms 2 and 3. I did see them move on infrequent occasions but cannot recall specifics of the sounds. Only an “electric locomotive” sort of humming and whirring. Which knowing what I do now may well have been the booster as much as the fans and resistance grids. 

[simon b]

The sound file for the 71 must be fairly close to what they should sound like, but louder I would imagine. They had 2 booster sets vs the single unit inside the 71, and 6 traction motors vs 4. Apparently when the locos were standing still they made quite a racket with the booster units turning inside the body.

[Metropolitan]

10 minutes ago, simon b said:

The sound file for the 71 must be fairly close to what they should sound like, but louder I would imagine. They had 2 booster sets vs the single unit inside the 71, and 6 traction motors vs 4. Apparently when the locos were standing still they made quite a racket with the booster units turning inside the body.

Sadly the HM7000 only has a profile for a 73.

Edited January 12 by Metropolitan

[Right Away]

9 hours ago, Metropolitan said:

I don't suppose you can remember what they sounded like? I'm guessing that they made an awful din and sounded quite unlike a silky modern EMU as we might imagine?

From what I remember of the class, up close, in the late 50’s/early 60’s, there was a continuous drone whilst stationary from within (booster equipment). On pulling away, this was accompanied by a low groan rising slowly in pitch (traction motors) much the same as those of a PUL/PAN motor coach. 

 

On one occasion at Haywards Heath, an UP “boat” announced its approach by its EE’s lovely chime whistle which seemed to me in complete contrast to the thumping it gave pointwork! As far as “electric sounds” went, the businesslike humming was quickly lost to the sound of coach wheels as the train passed through the platforms.

(Note: Somewhere in the house, is a B&W photo of this event which I took on cheapo Gratispool film.)