Barry W

Thank you for your insight seraphim it has been most helpful. I think maybe a loco from the earlier DMEA pool may be more versatile for my needs.

Guzzler, funnily enough I found that photo of 31420 last night and it certainly helps to illustrate the duties of the Intercity maintenance pool. Rob D2, It does seem that the loco's within the various pools strayed less from there dedicated use as sectorisation progressed.

Hello guzzle and thank you for your response. I will take a look at the website linked to try and learn a bit more. I have done a fair bit a searching based on the first two mainline liveried class 31's allocated to the DMEA pool, but most photos show them on passenger revenue service despite being in the D&MEE pool. Would it be normal practice for loco's to be seconded for non pool allocated duties? You are right about the CEJB code, it is a typo in my 1992 loco book. Barry

Hello, In trying to determine which loco to choose as a future project I was wondering if anyone could shed any light on the typical duties for locos allocated to the following sector pools:- DMEA M&EE loco CEJN BRB central services engineering IHRB Intercity fleet maintenance The number of locos in each pool was quite limited, did they carry out very specific tasks or operate in a small area? Any help would be appreciated. Cheers Barry

Blueeighties, do you have any photos taken after the front rain strip was painted blue? I spent some time comparing photos last night and the strip between the top edge of the windscreen seal and bottom of the rain strip seems a tad too narrow, the gap should be a slightly bigger. The cad drawing seems to show a better width between the two. I dont know if Heljan are beyond the point of alteration, but I would really like to see a more defined windscreen seal and the cab door window size fixed before it hit the shelves. Ben, you mentioned a while back that the mesh on the radiator was a compromise of fineness and strength, does that mean a finer, albeit weaker material is available to you? Barry

Congratulations Ben, this is looking really good so far. I would agree that the door window needs to extend up and down to match the height of the cab window. The rounded corners on the top edge of the door are too large making it a bit gappy and causing the door to seem shorter than it is. There should be a rivetted plate to the right of the footstep covering the groove running along the lower edge where it meets the cab/body join. Loving the radiator detail, the new mesh is a great improvement, I hope the detail is still visible through it after painting. If I had a wish at this stage it would be a nicely detailed modified exhaust port, Brian Daniels has a great shot in his class 25 album. I think I need to start clearing my credit card in preparation for their release! When do you start work on the 25/1's?

I found a moment to compare the CAD images with some photos and I would say it looks pretty good so far. I would question if the cab door window needs to extend up a little more, it is very difficult to judge from photos so might just be my eyes! Also I wondeŕ if the exhaust grille needs to be a touch more pronounced? Barry

Ben, you will excuse my skeptism, but I have followed the progress of others trying to produce replacement cabs for the Bachmann version and whilst the CAD drawings always looked good the resulting 3d prints were often far from good. Initially the posted images do look pretty good, although I haven't been able to scrutinise them in detail yet, the first samples will give a much better indication of how close you have managed to get. Barry

I would hope Heljan takes on board feedback from the O gauge version and tweaks the OO design accordingly, a flawed model now would deserve box shifter 'bargin' status!

I was really quite surprised by this announcement, but given Heljan have the artwork from the 7mm version, probably shouldn't be. As others have mentioned getting the shape and look right will be key, I sincerely hope it is spot on and does well for them. Bachmann and Hornby have neglected their 25s for some time now and I would welcome a genuine alternative to save me lots of cutting and shutting. Fingers crossed! Barry

Hi Simon, it is good to see progress on the class 25 cabs as I too am still in the market for some and this version looks promising, it will be interesting to see it painted. Will there be a 25/1 with plated nose doors to follow? It would be nice to have a consistent look between the two variations. Cheers Barry

Hello Simon, I have been keeping an eye on this thread for some time to monitor the progress of your class 25 cab replacements, only to find they are now on hold! Whilst I understand where you are coming from, I still think there will be demand for the cabs as I'm sure I am not the only one who cannot afford to replace six type two's with the RE/SLW model (and to be honest with the excellent running properties of the Bachmann and penbit bogies purchased, wouldn't want to) but, at the same time is still looking to improve the look of the model. For what it's worth the most recent revision looks very promising and I was eager to discover how much the casting was going to cost, so any chance of revisiting the cabs? Cheers Barry

Thank you gents for adding to this thread, I'm amazed at the wealth of information that keeps being added. Roy, thank you for your recollections, I do enjoy reading about peoples memories of the area and traffic that used to be present, it serves to validate and identify traffic flows of the time. Scott B, lovely photo, though an odd starting destination for a traffic flow to Aylesbury, based on your comment I presume this is the same train with more typical motive power...https://www.flickr.com/photos/actonwellsjunction/10361060184/in/photolist-gMz9dG-dyDsZP-968jan-dyejd4-qHtpzg-4ax5Gc-uFkGbW-9N486h-dh7pbC-cxEKkj-ctUXXJ-as8CkJ-dnVHDU-7uVwzs-8dfPC7-hVvh8v-4aB7QS-6FVji1-6wneyM-dyjyaA-vmUhhw-vn2D6T-gSVmaY-FKdbH-dw6u3J-ctSce5-qExPGA-rBkThm-fyquos-tg5MQy-9xaRG5-yhNqkf-sDWesH-ebnGYL-rcNgzR-dh7rsG-bCJZxd-uGCNBe-3ZZnkk-ccduhJ-4ax51c-4ax5Y2-4ax5Pt-ccduE3-bUReTp-5BBMno-ccdutm-bURf3g-xRL4iK-oucoxW Rob, I too love that photo of the trip freight, there is another interesting photo, I believe also on Tony's site of a 25 shunting what appears to a similar train with some CCTs for good measure, possibly just split from a rake of coal for Chinnor at the other end of Risborough sidings.

Hello WBF, I too could be very interested in the FGA/FFA flats you are working on, do you think the Colin Craig sprung bogies would be compatible?

Hi Justin, on the subject of coach bogies, are the BR B4 bogies likely to be in the next batch for release? Barry