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Lynton & Barnstaple OO9 Loco from Heljan


Mike Bellamy
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I have been  able  to  carry  out  a  running  comparison  between  Mark 1  & Mark 2  MWs on a friends 009 layout...... he  has  a  Mark 1 loco  which  we  modified in  the  early  days do combat  pony caused derailing.... by    bending  the   pickups  so  they  did not contact  the  pony wheel  rims, and  the  ponies  were free to move  unhindered,   this  loco  then  performed  fine  without  derailing,  it  did  suffer  valve  gear  breakage on the  left side, bt as it  was out  of  guarantee period  he  kept  the loco  and  snipped off the  loose  drop link! This loco has  contined to run without  issues   for  several  months now.

 

Whem Mark 2 arrived  last  week  it  showed  all the  signs  of  those  reported recently   with  derailing   on  points  etc,  so  we  decided   to  do  the  same  to  this  loco,, so  the  pickups were  moved  out  of  wheel contact  AND  the  centreing  brass springs  were  removed  thus  making  the  ponies  free moving  as   with  the  Mark 1 loco,  when  tested  on  the  layout  it  ran  perfectly  over  all the   points  except  one  in  both  directions  ( we  later  found  the  one  point  was  not  quite level so this  was rectified  and  the  loco did not  derail)

 

The  layout  has  mostly  Peco  009  18" radius  points,  with  a  couple of  12"  and  1  'Y' point  minimum  radius is around  12"

 

It  would  appear  that  the  lack  of  pony  power  collection  does not  have  any adverse affect  on  running  qualities  of  the  locos

 

Hope  this  info  is  useful

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How good is the slow running capability? L the vids I've seen show it moving fast.

 

I'm tempted but £200 for a loco that derails on points makes me worry about overall quality control and if anything will fall off on this batch too...

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  • RMweb Gold

Very good running at slow speed and the breakages on the valve gear can be avoided by gently tweaking out the drop link that occasionally fouls the con rod.

So far I have done three things:-

1- Flattened the pony pickups as they were lifting the drivers off causing slipping.

 

2- Gently bent out the drop link as some were clearly leaning in and fouled every time and others occasionally as the axles moved sideways on curves.

 

3- Eased off the pony centre springs.

 

That allowed them to run ok on 18” points and generally but I still get derailing on 12” points and I can see the frames pushing the wheel over. They will crawl through but any sort of realistic slow running or faster and they drop off! One loco has 1mm more space between the frames at the pony trucks and derails less so this seems to be the way to go on mine, easing out the clearances.

Edited by PaulRhB
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For those who are unsure whether to buy one of these I'll add my thoughts, and I can report that I'm absolutely delighted with my Heljan Yeo. It certainly won't tolerate tight curves - it suffered a derailed front pony truck every time it encountered the curved (18" radius?) point in the corner of my layout, until I realised that the driving wheels were still on the 12" curve leading into the point at the moment the pony lifted, and a 'kink' where point and curve met had tightened the radius. It was the job of a moment to slew the point inwards to eliminate the kink and Yeo has not had a problem since. I am perhaps fortunate that my current layout was designed and built - several years ago now - with the Heljan Manning Wardle in mind, and features a minimum curve radius of 12". Other than the curved 'N' scale point mentioned above, it is laid with Peco 009 'Mainline' 18" points so curves are relatively gentle by 009 standards. However, some of the track is less than perfectly laid - there are a couple of horrifically bumpy joins across baseboards for instance - but Yeo negotiates everything without problem. Like others, I have readjusted the pony centring springs, which don't seem to serve any useful purpose, and I've had to tweak the cowcatchers up very slightly to cope with a rather abrupt change in gradient but as someone who's modelled in 009 for 35+ years, I finally have a British outline loco that really looks the part and runs very smoothly. It was expensive, but I'm over the moon with it and I think worth every penny. Had I the spare cash, I'd be buying another.   

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  • RMweb Gold

My replacement TAW was collected today and on the rolling road for an hour and it runs very smoothly. So far no catching of the linkage.  I now need ot set up the 009 layout to tweak the pony trucks and test the loco through the 12" turnouts.

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  • RMweb Gold

Thanks for replies. I'm sold on it then and my Minehead and Lynmouth will soon be getting one to help out my two ex-WD Baldwins. It looks quite powerful too - presumably OK with four bogies up mild gradients?

Without modification to the pony truck pick ups EXE wouldn't pull itself but with mods as previously mentioned by Paul RHB I have had mine hauling 4 Peco L & B coaches on the level and it will probably pull more although I dont have any gradients ot test it on.

 

I have checked the back to back of the pony trucks on TAW and they were too wide according to my gauge that gets used on all my N and 009 stock. After filing the ends of each axle , both pony trucks now match my gauge.

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Thanks for replies. I'm sold on it then and my Minehead and Lynmouth will soon be getting one to help out my two ex-WD Baldwins. It looks quite powerful too - presumably OK with four bogies up mild gradients?

 

For  info  the  MW  weighs  around  138 Grammes  so  plenty  of  adhesive  weight,  the  Baldwins  weigh  around  60 ish  grammes  they  will  haul 2  PECO  coaches  up  a 1 in 25  18" radius  curved  incline.

 

My  three  MARK 1  MWs  would  each haul 4 x Peco  bogie  coaches up the  same  incline  with  no hesitation,  until  they  were  eventually  returned  to  the  retailer  for  refunds  when  their  valve  gear  fell off!

Edited by Stevelewis
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  • RMweb Gold

Heljan have just posted on their Facebook page that several consignments of new locomotives are due in Denmark next week.  This includes the following Manning Wardles:

 

9953 SOUTHERN (1927-9) E760 ‘EXE’
9954 SOUTHERN 759 ‘YEO'
9955 L&B 1362 ‘EXE'
9956 L&B 1363 ‘TAW’

 

Not too sure what the turnaround times are usually between arrival at Heljan Denmark and arrival in our local model railway stores?

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  • RMweb Gold

my replacement TAW has been running on the test track fine today but still needs testing on the layout next time I set it up. it has had the same mods as my EXE so should run OK.

 

I have now fitted the Greenwich couplers minus the loop as the spigots for the hinges bit foul the cow catcher. I have bent over the end of the coupler to create extra thickness to fit into the factory fitted NEM box, plus cranked them and held in place with Canopy glue.  I will eventually fit the Dapol Easi shunt couplers but that will be quite a task on all the kit built wagons that I built many years ago. After fitting these couplers the loco has been tested again on the tight curves of the test track.

post-1557-0-79038600-1547227189_thumb.jpg

 

I have also made up full couplers to go into the Langleys flat car fitted with Peco bogies and the Peco coaches.

They have been cranked the same as the loco.

post-1557-0-81388600-1547227873_thumb.jpg

 

YEO has now been ordered. Shame that its around £210.

 

 

 

 

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Just got TAW and I'm thrilled with her. I tried a couple in the shop and running quality did vary a little so would advise testing before purchase. Mine runs very well, with occasional stalling on 2nd radius so if you are building a new layout it's something to bear in mind. Works absolutely fine across peco n gauge large radius points and 3rd radius track.

 

My Minehead and Lynmouth Light Railway now has a larger engine to help my two Baldwins with the heavy summer traffic. Only downside is it's so good I may have to buy EXE as well...

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  • RMweb Gold

One thing I have noticed is that the front footplate has been fixed on at an angle. This shows up on the above photos of the latest batch.

 

I have taken them off on my two with great care using a knife to slice between the buffer plate and side frames cutting through the mounting spigot, filed the plastic chassis frames and reattached them. They now look a lot better. has nayone got the plastic pipeowrk that comes as a separate item ot actually fit?

 

I have tried but it fouls the top valve gear link. I am now going to fabricate these pipes from brass wire.

post-1557-0-66866400-1548244915_thumb.jpg

post-1557-0-14111700-1548244931_thumb.jpg

Edited by roundhouse
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Rather an expensive way of getting a chassis, especially for OO9-ers who are renown for giving the Scots a run for their money when it comes to spending! ;)

 

I think the "issues" may put people off too, though as an 0-6-0 rather than a 2-6-2 chassis it may have some uses, adding your own pony trucks/bogies may solve most of the issues!

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