Joueff 00 Class 40

[edward66]

I have obtained a Joueff class 40 loco in mint condition. It runs well and has the plain green livery with number D285. Looking at Ramsey's catalogue it doesn't seem to have been in production for very long. Does anyone have any experience of this model, how well does it stand up as far as realism is concerned and how good is it mechanically?

 

Edward

[newbryford]

Mechanically - watch out for stripped worm gears.

Realism - hmmmmmmmmm

 

I hope you have decent platform clearances.

 

It has the correct number of wheels

 

Cheers,

Mick

[craigwelsh]

Needs to go on a diet, its got a bit tubby.

[naugytrax]

As newbryford suggests, it's pretty fat. It measures 39 mm wide, whereas a 4 mm scale model probably shouldn't measure more than 36 mm. The extra width may be due to the style of motor used. It has a conventional open-frame motor fixed atop one bogie, so it needs lots of room to swing!

The wheels have a crude profile, so they get dirty quickly. I've added extra wipers, but current collection is still an issue. 4 wheels have traction tires, which doesn't help with the dirt problem. I have improved some of my older diesels by fitting Ultrascale wheelsets, but they don't have anything suitable for this one. In any case, the excessive width means that upgrading the running has a low priority. I may eventually just junk the body and use the bogies for an SR diesel, if I can get the wheels sorted out.

[Baby Deltic]

The Jouef 40 is a bit crude, but it does have the character of a class 40 about it. Aswell as stripped worm gears, watch out for the worm flying off the shaft and the loco stopping and sitting there screaming its guts out. The wheels do have the classic Jouef 'pizza cutter' flanges which run on the sleeper chairs.

[stadman]

still have a couple in the loft, one blue other green I think

[Xerces Fobe2]

I have 5 of these sitting in my cupboard and even converted one to centre headcode. Agree with all the above comments, however in there day they were sort after and at one point would command a price of@ £80 each!

 

Xerces Fobe

 

 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

The genuine lumps of lead used to ballast it are the best component. After some highly enjoyable reshaping work with a hammer, it will all fit inside a Bachmann WD 2-8-0 and vastly improve its' traction.

 

Having taken the chassis out to mine the lead, stuff the body shell with the works from an early Bachmann Peak. Now you have a 'Q-loco' which performs reliably and pulls well; (surprising anyone used to this item, expecting the worm to just fall off the motor shaft when given a realistic load to pull) also capable of a maximum scale speed of 400mph, very popular with the young. Mine now has a plasticine face on one end and a TTTE name that I don't recall because it wasn't in my childhood Awdry set.

[SRman]

I have a blue one I painted green and weathered. As all the others above have said, it is a bit over-wide but still looks like a class 40 should. I haven't had a problem with stripped gears but a bodge I applied very early on was to put some wire insulation over the geared axle, on either side of the gear to stop it from sliding sideways on the axle. it would beneft from extra pickups but I have never bothered as it doesn't get a great deal of running.

[StaffsOatcake]

I had one complete and which ran faultlessly for about an hour and then you had to let it cool down/ . and about 3 others in various states of knackeredness.

[multiprinter]

And to think just how enthusiastically they were reviewed in certain Hornby hating magazines!

[edward66]

So the general opinion seems to be that it's a piece of junk, at least I didn't pay much for it. I'm not really a diesel enthusiast so I couldn't assess it from an accuracy point of view although I must say it does look like a class 40!

 

Thank you all for your input.

 

p.s. anybody want a Jouef class 40? [apologies for misspelling Jouef in my original post.]

[Sc59401]

So the general opinion seems to be that it's a piece of junk

I wouldn't go as far as that, although I'll agree that the motor isn't particularly good and the body is slightly too wide. The motor isn't an issue if you're not too bothered about running long trains (I've seen a real 40 hauling one wagon). I've had a blue Jouef 40 from new which I painted green immediately and detailed gradually, redirecting the lights to holes drilled through the headcode discs and fitting a Craftsman detailing kit which improves its appearance considerably.

 

More recently I picked up a second hand one which had been nicely modified, even having the wrongly-placed side window moved to its correct position, but painted with a tar brush. It's in my works siding awaiting attention.

[thirty2a]

Mine has gone fron dirty green to rail blue in recent times, runs well not as yet lost it's gears and was very easy to install Hornby decoder and dont forget the working lights.

[Rob Hayes]

it might be old but its a nice bit of nostalgia and its got a lovely character of its own, it also reminds me that when it came out i think it was either alone or the only other locos available that were british diesel was a mainline 45 , mainline 56 and possibly lima 55 and 33. other than that as far as i can see thats all that was available in 00 .

 

so it was a shining star in its day and still is for what it is. ones ive seen are good runners. possibly better than alot of models from that time.

 

 

also older locos can have advantages.

 

i have 4 bachman 40s, and 4 lima 40s. i love them both they both look like 40s however i think the lima has a better height.

 

now then i had put sound in the one Bachmann 40 it was loud enough. however i got a railroad 40 and then got ideas of fitting my aureol locos body to it, with the idea of putting dcc supplies biggest bass reflex speaker in (the one thats too big for 37s fuel tanks ) and the smaller bass enhanced speaker in.(WOW) its so damn loud now, i just done this tonight cant belive what a great runner it is too.

 

cv63 on setting 64 is unbearably loud can feel my ears ringing and its perfectly audible on volume level 1, level 5 is fine and level 10 is louder than than a bachman sound 37 out of box, really happy with it, and great to see my old aureol in br blue running and you dont percive it as a lima loco if you know what i mean, holds up well with the new Bachmann 37s now. ill do a vid and post it at somepoint,

 

so my point is buy lima locos detail them fit huge speakers into the hollow body which acts as a cathederal like acoustics centre.

just as i hoped it would.

 

im chuffed.

 

great read this article cheers rob

Edited February 5, 2012 by robhst

[Titan]

it might be old but its a nice bit of nostalgia and its got a lovely character of its own, it also reminds me that when it came out i think it was either alone or the only other locos available that were british diesel was a mainline 45 , mainline 56 and possibly lima 55 and 33. other than that as far as i can see thats all that was available in 00 .

 

 

Triang/Hornby 31, 37, 47, dublo/wrenn class 20 and so on, so there were plenty of other diesels out there. The jouef 40 was sufficiently overwide to be immediately obvious and give the nose a very squashed looking appearance - no need to get the micrometer out on this one!

['CHARD]

My faded denim D285 was a staple member of my childhood fleet. When my skills permitted, she got a pretty presentable makeover to split-box ScR stalwart 40142 vb HA. In this condition I had many years of lusty service from the beast. It had a waddling gait and its girth earnt it the nickname 'Cornish Pastie.' Far more convincing (IMHO) than the Bachmann '40,' it was later replaced by my ten-strong Lima fleet, that continue in service today (remotored).

[Rob Hayes]

Triang/Hornby 31, 37, 47, dublo/wrenn class 20 and so on, so there were plenty of other diesels out there. The jouef 40 was sufficiently overwide to be immediately obvious and give the nose a very squashed looking appearance - no need to get the micrometer out on this one!

 

well to be fair i wasnt around then im only goin on old editions of railway modeller that i read from the 70s and in the issues i had it seemed that there was not much available i had forgot about the ones you mentioned.

i fondly remember articles were people would set out to build a model of a loco and someone was making hst bodies out of wood and fiting them to a chassis. runing them with mk2s as there was no mk3s out, great read and always reminds me how lucky we are today.

if no manufacture wanted to make all these lovely models we would be stuffed.

 

much as the jouef 40 is not the best model its got a charm about it thats for sure and i like the look of the lower bodyside sweep. cheers rob

[Rob Hayes]

My faded denim D285 was a staple member of my childhood fleet. When my skills permitted, she got a pretty presentable makeover to split-box ScR stalwart 40142 vb HA. In this condition I had many years of lusty service from the beast. It had a waddling gait and its girth earnt it the nickname 'Cornish Pastie.' Far more convincing (IMHO) than the Bachmann '40,' it was later replaced by my ten-strong Lima fleet, that continue in service today (remotored).

 

nice memories and lol cornish pasty thats great i see what you mean,

id love to see that in real life the train stops and the passengers start eating it. haha.

[Adam1701D]

The Joueff 40 was a pretty good model in it's time but doesn't stack up well against contemporary releases. I had one many years ago which didn't look too bad with a lick of paint and a Craftsman detailing kit.

[ClydeIron]

On this topic... can someone supply a good view of the underside of the bogie of one of the Jouef '40s?

 

I've just been given one which has its centre sets of driving wheels attached - meaning it's a bo-bo right now  - but am rather keen to see what exactly I'm missing in terms of the other four sets of wheels. I'm guessing pivoting axles on pony trucks?

 

Hunting the spares could be rather interesting too...

 

All help gratefully received!

 

Chris

[Silver Sidelines]

My Jouef Class 40 was a great (big) model!  I don't remember any particular issues.  I was not happy with the all over green roof and I added some grey paint.  Judging by this old picture I must have changed the traction tyres - I seem to recall sourcing some tyres from Lima.

 

It ran and pulled well - no complaints.

 

Regards  Ray

[Andrew F]

Mine have taller noses and Extreme etching fan assemblies. I've moved all the side windows to the right positions They run Ok with DCC decoders in.

 

Chris, yes pivoting spring loaded pony trucks with inside bearings. I'll try and gets some pictures up.

 

Cheers

 

Andy

[BigAndy]

As people have pointed out, there were some good points, but largely  they were out weighed by the not so good.

 

One of the more drastic approaches that I saw ( i never attempted it ) was to cut the bodyshell right down the middle along it's length, and then glue it back together. That got rid of the over width, but that sets up a whole new set of problems.

 

It would a new chassis and plenty of work on the body to get it  to stand up to modern standards. If you wanted to spend the time on superdetailing a 40, start with the Lima model. The Barrowmore group have used the Lima Bucket as the basis for their fleet on Mostyn and they look superb.

 

http://www.barrowmoremrg.co.uk/mostyn_gallery_2013_Chatham.html

 

cheers

 

Andy

[Talltim]

Just only run it it with Heljan 57s....