BR(S) Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 Perhaps there are other 4mm variants on the Gloucester Parcel Car to come? There are other 128s due; I'm after a Royal Mail one: http://www.ehattons.com/stocklist/results.aspx?searchfield=Heljan 128 I seem to recall that Heljan mentioned all 5 types in the original announcement (many years ago at Warley). With the W&M model out, and the AC on the way (I've yet to see mine), that just leaves the Park Royal, Wickham and the Bristol types. . A posting from RMweb in 2012 by 00ERmissus says this: "Interesting, I still have a leaflet picked up from the Heljan stand at Warley in 2009 stating that the Wickham 4-wheel Railbus would be one of four different types to be produced. Namely: Waggon und Maschinenbau (on its way), AC Cars (also on its way), Park Royal and the Wickham itself. Has this plan perhaps changed?" I haven't heard anything more about the Wickham and never heard about the Bristol one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePipersSon Posted December 26, 2013 Share Posted December 26, 2013 "Interesting, I still have a leaflet picked up from the Heljan stand at Warley in 2009 stating that the Wickham 4-wheel Railbus would be one of four different types to be produced. Namely: Waggon und Maschinenbau (on its way), AC Cars (also on its way), Park Royal and the Wickham itself. Has this plan perhaps changed?" I haven't heard anything more about the Wickham and never heard about the Bristol one. Sorry my mistake. My only excuse is that it was 4 years ago, and my memory is not what is was. Have I really been waiting FOUR years for an AC railbus. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted December 26, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 26, 2013 Have I really been waiting FOUR years for an AC railbus. Most of the services they were used on really weren't very frequent...... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium cctransuk Posted December 28, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 28, 2013 I seem to recall that Heljan mentioned all 5 types in the original announcement (many years ago at Warley). With the W&M model out, and the AC on the way (I've yet to see mine), that jusertaint leaves the Park Royal, Wickham and the Bristol types. At the current rate of development. I have serious doubts that I will live to see them all. It could be down to the sales volume, and Heljan is not going to rush about producing models with very little sales potential. I'm pretty certain that the Bristol one was not included. Regards, John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 I'm pretty certain that the Bristol one was not included. Regards, John Isherwood. The Bristol/ECW railbus wasn't included. It was just the four and I'm guessing that each one will depend on how the previous one sells. The AC Cars vehicle should be popular. They were used, albeit briefly, in Cornwall and in Scotland and they lasted in service longer than all the others. Ironically, the hugely popular WMDs were the shortest-lived in BR service but they've more than made up for it in preservation. CHRIS LEIGH Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rembrow Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 They're on their way. Just had an e-mail from Hattons that my pre-order for 8801, light green with speed whiskers, is being picked for packing. I've checked their website and they are showing all 4 versions as in stock Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcroz Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 The Bristol/ECW railbus wasn't included. It was just the four and I'm guessing that each one will depend on how the previous one sells. The AC Cars vehicle should be popular. They were used, albeit briefly, in Cornwall and in Scotland and they lasted in service longer than all the others. Ironically, the hugely popular WMDs were the shortest-lived in BR service but they've more than made up for it in preservation. CHRIS LEIGH Hattons give product codes and livery descriptions for the Park Royal railbuses (Codes 8750-8753,) so it would seem that these at least are likely to appear: 8750 - Park Royal early BR DMU in dark green with speed whiskers SC79970 8751 - Park Royal railbus in dark green with small yellow warning panels SC79974 8752 - Park Royal raibus in green with speed whiskers 8753 - Park Royal 4-wheel railbus in green with small yellow panel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium cctransuk Posted January 3, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 3, 2014 They're on their way. Just had an e-mail from Hattons that my pre-order for 8801, light green with speed whiskers, is being picked for packing. I've checked their website and they are showing all 4 versions as in stock Picked up my W79975 from Kernow yesterday. I've already printed some transfers for replacement markings and, by this time tomorrow, mine should be W79977 with EVERCREECH JCT / HIGHBRIDGE headcodes !! It's great living in a parallel universe. Regards, John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted January 4, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 4, 2014 W79978 arrived this morning. Looks good and runs very nicely so far; it also seems very heavy for its size which should be good for current pick-up. Advice to others: keep a close watch on the windscreen wipers before/during unpacking - one came off mine as I was opening it up. Fortunately, it didn't ping off into the middle distance so I can re-fit it. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted January 4, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 4, 2014 Picked one up in Gaugemaster this morning. Looks superb. Tomorrow might try and fit a decoder inside it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted January 4, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 4, 2014 Picked one up in Gaugemaster this morning. Looks superb. Tomorrow might try and fit a decoder inside it. Do let us know how you get on! I'm tempted to buy one, but destroying the body to get to the electrics is a depressing experience....... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted January 4, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 4, 2014 The previous Helen railcar was tricky but doable so here's hoping this one is no worse. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neal Ball Posted January 4, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 4, 2014 Picked one up in Gaugemaster this morning. Looks superb. Tomorrow might try and fit a decoder inside it. Mine arrived from Hattons this morning and I forgot that it needed a 21 pin decoder... so off to Ford and the lovely people at the Engine Shed / Guagemaster. It was easy enough to put the decoder in... once you work out which way up it goes! Very fiddly to get the body apart, with the handrails being the parts that would not go back / pinged all over the place! Overall it's a lovely model. Although the lights are a bit temperamental .... should the lights work inside the saloon? - Pretty sure I saw LED in the roof, but have not seen them alight yet! I'm just about to put photos onto my Wharncliffe page: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/67477-wharncliffe-junction-gwr-in-the-1930s/page-7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
petee19 Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 My AC Railbus arrived from Hatton's today and has brought back fond memories as I was living in Cirencester when they started on the branch to Kemble. At the time I was in my last year at junior school and the class I was in were taken for a return ride to Kemble during the first week of operation,I seem to remember we were given a presentation pack on the vehicles,I have no idea what happened to that! Attached are two pictures (apologies for the poor quality) Picture 1 was taken at Kemble Station soon after the railbuses entered service,Picture 2 was taken at Cirencester Town Station and shows the very last journey,Sunday April 5th 1964. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 I now have five generations of AC Cars railbus models spread over 48 years: the remains of one I scratchbuilt around 1965, an Anbrico brass RTR, an Abrico white metal kit, the Silver Fox resin one, and now the Heljan. Except, 24 hours after I got the Heljan review sample, I ordered another one on line from Hattons. I could justify having all four Heljan models plus one extra to do the minor mods to turn it into Sc79979. Obsession? What obsession? CHRIS LEIGH PS - nice pics. W79976 worked the first day service on the Cirencester branch. I have a photo of it - gleaming. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium cctransuk Posted January 5, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 5, 2014 I opened up my W79975 yesterday to change the destination blinds. The Heljan instructions for doing this are fine, though I removed the door handrails entirely and set them to one side. The destination blinds can be pushed out from inside the upper body, to reveal that they consist of a lozenge of clear plastic glazing, with self-adhesive paper blinds behind. The papers blind stick by their extremities to two ledges within the curved ends of the recess, and the glazing sandwiches these by friction-fit. It was thus easy to apply two reverse-printed black and white lozenge-shaped transfers; (HIGHBRIDGE and EVERCREECH JCT); to the rear of the glazing, sealed with Klear. Once dry, the glazing was pressed back into position. The result is that the transfer blinds are much more transparent than the original paper ones, and the destinations can be clearly read . As insurance against a possible future sale, the original blinds were attached to the underside of the ceiling. I also removed and replaced the vehicle number, as W55977, and the BR roundel. The Heljan rendering of the latter attempts to replicate the black outlines of the original which, IMHO, makes the whole thing too 'thin' and dark. (Yep - I've just noticed that the windscreen-wiper has gone 'walkies' - I do wish that they'd provide spares if they're not going to glue them in place)! Regards, John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold DaveF Posted January 5, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 5, 2014 A photo of one at Tetbury taken by Dad. I'm the small boy! Tetbury AC Cars railbus W79978 August 59 J012 David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted January 5, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 5, 2014 Mine runs quite slowly on DC (haven't put a decoder in it yet) - much slower than the Heljan parcels unit. I'd say it's probably a realistic speed for a light branch line but I wonder if there's something up with my model? Edit - it's loosened up quite a bit after an hour's running in in both directions - seems fine now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
petee19 Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 A photo of one at Tetbury taken by Dad. I'm the small boy! Tetbury AC Cars railbus W79978 August 59 J012.jpg Tetbury AC Cars railbus W79978 August 59 J012 David Superb photograph David………those were the days! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 That photo is a superb answer to the question that I've long had, about the shade of green. The CVR people were adamant (some years back, it's true) that W79978 as they've restored it is correct in dark DMU green with whiskers (as depicted by the fourth of the Heljan models). However here we have a 1959 picture, with a W79978 less than a year old (in service only 6 months) and still in sparkling as-new condition BUT APPEARING to be in dark green. In fact, the colour is due to the film stock on which the picture was taken, and the vehicle is still in the light 'malachite' green (as Haresnape called it at the time) in which it was delivered. The colour variation on photographs of these railbuses is such that at times it even had me wondering whether they got repainted, then a dated shot like this proves that they didn't. CHRIS LEIGH Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold DaveF Posted January 5, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 5, 2014 That photo is a superb answer to the question that I've long had, about the shade of green. The CVR people were adamant (some years back, it's true) that W79978 as they've restored it is correct in dark DMU green with whiskers (as depicted by the fourth of the Heljan models). However here we have a 1959 picture, with a W79978 less than a year old (in service only 6 months) and still in sparkling as-new condition BUT APPEARING to be in dark green. In fact, the colour is due to the film stock on which the picture was taken, and the vehicle is still in the light 'malachite' green (as Haresnape called it at the time) in which it was delivered. The colour variation on photographs of these railbuses is such that at times it even had me wondering whether they got repainted, then a dated shot like this proves that they didn't. CHRIS LEIGH Chris, as the small boy standing by the railbus I fully agree with you. I remember Dad always said the green looked too dark whenever he looked at this slide. The original slide was on Ilford colour slide film which could do very odd things to colours at times. The original was also a bit underexposed. Sadly, after I had scanned the slides and returned them to Dad he and Mum moved to a small flat and he threw out his slides as he had no space to keep them, and I couldn't have taken them either so the image only exists as a scan. To be honest most of the slides had faded badly over the years. David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
railroadbill Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Here's W79978 last year, a little faded it's true, but - it's still around! Do rather like the light green on the Heljan model. But really rather fancy W79977 which was used on the Bodmin and Wadebridge line and was syp on front. But W79977 is the one in John Isherwood's pics - in the light green with speed whiskers! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium cctransuk Posted January 5, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 5, 2014 Here's W79978 last year, a little faded it's true, but - it's still around! Do rather like the light green on the Heljan model. But really rather fancy W79977 which was used on the Bodmin and Wadebridge line and was syp on front. But W79977 is the one in John Isherwood's pics - in the light green with speed whiskers! ... which they all were originally, of course. Though I live in Bodmin, in my parallel universe W79977 went to the S&D, not the Boscarne Junction to Bodmin Town line. Regards, John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium cctransuk Posted January 5, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 5, 2014 That photo is a superb answer to the question that I've long had, about the shade of green. The CVR people were adamant (some years back, it's true) that W79978 as they've restored it is correct in dark DMU green with whiskers (as depicted by the fourth of the Heljan models). However here we have a 1959 picture, with a W79978 less than a year old (in service only 6 months) and still in sparkling as-new condition BUT APPEARING to be in dark green. In fact, the colour is due to the film stock on which the picture was taken, and the vehicle is still in the light 'malachite' green (as Haresnape called it at the time) in which it was delivered. The colour variation on photographs of these railbuses is such that at times it even had me wondering whether they got repainted, then a dated shot like this proves that they didn't. CHRIS LEIGH As proof of this :- Same model, same lighting, just different angle! Regards, John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
railroadbill Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 The black (presumably originals were rubber) surrounds to the windows look well done, also the line around the waist. Nice model. The pics I was looking at of 79977 were in b&w so thanks for livery details. Actually, just come across Chris Leigh's excellent posting on the Heljan 7mm railbus thread where the livery details are explained in great detail. Thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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