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Heljan Class 16


Sulzer

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I wonder how they make the casting tools for the body of models now? If they are made by hand still I pity the guy who has to make all those lovres! :O Its kind of hard to believe these locos managed to suffer from overheating with all that ventilation! :lol:

It's all done by computer these days. Once the CAD is ready then the tool cuts according to what it see's. This does mean that the CAD has to be spot on as it doesn't know if anything is wrong and It usually takes at least two or three attempts with the CAD to get it ready for tooling. The biggest problem is of course these days everything has to be fitted into a timeframe otherwise the production slot is lost and then everybody starts to overheat.

The biggest problem with the Class 16's was poorly manufactured plumbing which led to oil and coolant loss and subsequent power unit shut down through overheating. I think all the grilles were there to let the oil run out easier!!! They used to light the sky up around Gospel Oak at night when working the cross London freights to Brent, Willesden, Acton or Feltham and usually as a pair, they could never be trusted and the other regions didn't want them failing on their patch. Their final workings were usually confined to short haul runs between Temple Mills and Ripple Lane and along the LTS lines. The Stratford fitters did a sterling job in keeping them going but in the end their non-standard control gear got the better of them which meant they could only work in multiple with the 31/0 'toffee apples' and once re-engined these were required for work further away than they would confidently want to send an NBL! It would be interesting to hear some accounts from the old Stratford drivers of these wonderful machines but I expect most of it wouldn't be printable!! Oh for a time machine!

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It would be interesting to hear some accounts from the old Stratford drivers of these wonderful machines but I expect most of it wouldn't be printable!! Oh for a time machine!

 

Spot on. For a short time about a decade ago I worked alongside someone who worked both the BTH and NBL type 1s on the Buntingford line. Occasionally we got to chat about the NBLs, stories about which invariably included flames, during which he always exhibited an astonishing grasp of Anglo-Saxon vernacular.

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It's all done by computer these days. Once the CAD is ready then the tool cuts according to what it see's. This does mean that the CAD has to be spot on as it doesn't know if anything is wrong and It usually takes at least two or three attempts with the CAD to get it ready for tooling. The biggest problem is of course these days everything has to be fitted into a timeframe otherwise the production slot is lost and then everybody starts to overheat.

The biggest problem with the Class 16's was poorly manufactured plumbing which led to oil and coolant loss and subsequent power unit shut down through overheating. I think all the grilles were there to let the oil run out easier!!! They used to light the sky up around Gospel Oak at night when working the cross London freights to Brent, Willesden, Acton or Feltham and usually as a pair, they could never be trusted and the other regions didn't want them failing on their patch. Their final workings were usually confined to short haul runs between Temple Mills and Ripple Lane and along the LTS lines. The Stratford fitters did a sterling job in keeping them going but in the end their non-standard control gear got the better of them which meant they could only work in multiple with the 31/0 'toffee apples' and once re-engined these were required for work further away than they would confidently want to send an NBL! It would be interesting to hear some accounts from the old Stratford drivers of these wonderful machines but I expect most of it wouldn't be printable!! Oh for a time machine!

I can only tell you this much, D8233 is a B****** to work on! To do any work on the engine means you have to try and climb up and lie on top of it, and its extremely uncomfortable. Theres no room anywhere except in the genny compartment, and nothing ever happens in there...BTH unbustable electrics ;)

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Hi

I think that's every BR Mainline diesel loco being made now in RTR (excluding the shunters class 01-13).

Calum Sellar.

 

There are still some prototypes to go before that can be claimed!

 

Welcome news I'll be having one, perhaps Heljan can work their way through the third rail DC locos next.

 

A REAL class 70 would be nice (even if only one of the two design versions), I'll admit, and none of those horrific looking diseasal thingimybobbers they have now, which contravene the rules given in TOPS (classes 70- 79 was for DC electrics, NOT for diesels!).

 

 

When that apocalyptic day dawns I shall take comfort from the fact that the sponsoring party will be reduced to releasing the abomination in fake liveries like First Dynamic Lines and Saltire, and still not turning a profit.

 

You forgot LOADHAUL!!

 

 

Sound tends to be an issue I think.

 

I am led to believe that there are sound recordings of many of the early diesels. Whether a class 16 is included is another matter, but, if all else fails, we can just wait for D8233 to be fired up again!

 

Oh, and for the record, the black and white film of the '16 in Video 125's Diesel And Electric On 35mm does not include the original sound, rather, what you hear is a recording from a more common type (I can't remember off hand currently). A class 21 (was it?) also appears in the same sequence, but yet again, it is not with the original sound IIRC.

 

Anyway, back to 4mm diesels. I'm wondering if it's worth a retailer commissioning Heljan to do a 4mm model of that spoof diesel prototype that Monty Wells did in an April Railway Modeller in about 1984. They could sell a good few thousand (it fooled me, but I was about 8 at the time).

 

Many years ago, I came across a model of a class 88 electric loco in BR Blue.

It turned out to be someone's idea of a joke using a French loco.

Really wish I'd bought it now too, but I was about 10 at the time. :senile:

 

NBL built type - the AL4? At least one of them made it to the NRM!

 

That would be amazing beyond words, especially next to Bachmann's class 85, but I can't see it happening just yet.

 

 

those that want one will be happy and it will save me some money as I doubt any of them ever reached north of Stafford, well, other than as a line of condemned stock.

 

It was said earlier in the thread that they were ran on trial in Scotland, and obviously must have been delivered south from there

 

 

I'll get me coat, but before I do, just for the record, I'd happily buy one. They were LONG before my time, but I am only too aware what they were, along with all the other loco classes ever dreamed up.

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Look at it another way: Heljans's very clearly discernable scheme is to run every body possible on each chassis they get tooled up. Their business skill is making and finishing plastic mouldings, the chassis they sub out. The 16 was going to follow the 15 as sure as night followed day. They are offering DP2, probably every chance of a class 55 to follow. The railbuses, they seem to intend several types.

 

They will have a DMU chassis at some point in the future, for the parcels car they have announced. My guess would be that chassis will get every other suitable body it can take... Although for my money they should go after the far more wonderful steam locos of which there are hundreds of classes without a RTR model; why cater to the tiny minority interested in bogcarts?

 

Me thinks Bachmann will begin a fight here, with only one winner. Re LMS 10000 & Blue Pullman. Charlie

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Me thinks Bachmann will begin a fight here, with only one winner. Re LMS 10000 & Blue Pullman. Charlie

I think the sentinal and beattie well tank have shown that narrow interest locos can and do sell very well even at a premium price. I expect Bachmann and Hornby will be wise to this.... With yet another player now in the mainstream with Dapol, and You moving in there too, I predict things are going to get very interesting over the next decade. I just need to perswade the Mrs that its actually an investment... :locomotive:

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The clip in Diesels & electrics on 35mm featured D8402 on the West London Line near Stamford Bridge. It was more than likely on a transfer freight to the Southern region via Clapham Junction.

 

The sequence is:

 

82023 Kenny Bell:

 

D5241 on the 8O66:

 

D8402 on transfer freight:

 

Class 24 on 4A11- the narration gives it as D5034, but the headcode box makes it look like it should be D5134: (D5134 was transferred to Camden shed in 1962).

 

D6351 on 9A73:

 

Kenny Bell running t'other way. Three MK1 suburbans and a Bulleid coach in tow?:

Edited by Baby Deltic
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Can't find the british transport flim forward to first principles anywhere on the net for those who haven't got it but there is a good glimpse of one in colour at the begining

 

I reckon it'll be the clip taken at Temple Mills Yard. There's another black and white film on one of the video's featuring one on the Buntingford branch, including cab footage.

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11mins47seconds in... footage of a class 16 on the west london line in the 1960s.

the sequence im sure appears on a similar clip but in colour..

 

http://vimeo.com/21455699

The clip was filmed in black and white by ATV television, but never used. They later went on to use 16mm film. The 3MT was 82023 on the Kenny Belle, one of those standard non-corridors was probably the experimental fibre glass one used on the service back then. Location is Kings Road looking north over the old Chelsea & Fulham station platforms towards Fulham Road (Stamford Bridge football and Greyhound stadium top left, Earls Court exibition halls straight ahead).

Here's a London steam version of the video you used.

http://vimeo.com/20162283 look out for the class 15 on pilot duties at Kings Cross and the the 37 at Liverpool Street both rubbing shoulders with the steam locos of the time.

click on the "nostalgia" link on the right half way down the page for more of those type videos

edited because I could not spell corridors!

Edited by Lewishambill
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11mins47seconds in... footage of a class 16 on the west london line in the 1960s.

the sequence im sure appears on a similar clip but in colour..

 

http://vimeo.com/21455699

 

Thanks for the link Michael.

 

Lots of interesting stuff including around 8 mins a Brush Type 2 on the High Dyke branch and the Midland Pullman on a test run before the white side panels were extended on the kitchen cars.

 

Regards,

Peter

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fantastic video mike, thanks for posting. a real goldmine of stuff, particularly the 40 using water troughs and a clip of a met-camm at kirkcaldy showing the lino factories(@13.25)

 

funny thing is, i've gto his videos favourited, but had only watch the blue-era ones!

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