DRS Crewe On A Mission

I was looking at 66846 today in my local model shop and it was £94 in there and that seems to be the going price. Definitely a bargain for getting it at £70!

37405 and 37425 are both currently at Norwich. Neither of these 37s have appeared on the Cumbrian Coast trains yet (I don't think) so I'm not sure if all 37s can work both Anglian and Cumbrian passenger trains. Although I don't see why not considering that some of the 37/4s and 37/6s have worked together on the Cumbrian passenger trains in the past few weeks. To my knowledge there hasn't been any issues with the Cumbrian 37s except from 611 throwing a wobbler last week.

Those 37s are looking good

Thank you for the link! I think I will definitely be having a ScotRail one now to run with a rake of DRS MK2s

I wasn't complaining about any time scale. I was simply stating the facts from the Dapol website. We will just have to keep an eye on the website and see when it is updated and what the update says.

Thank you for the info both! It's very much appreciated. I keep checking the Dapol page regarding the Class 68s but their are still no updates as yet. It has said "In tooling now. Awaiting permissions before confirming models" for around six weeks so I don't think it will be long until we find out what is been produced. I have bought some Hornby DRS Compass MK2s as I know that these have been hauled by the ScotRail Class 68s. I can also use these coaches on Cumbrian Coast passenger trains and Anglian passenger trains too.

Think the 20 and 37 were 20309+37259. Hope this helps.

According to WNXX 66528 was to work a 0S66 Leeds Midland Road to Oxwellmains Lafarge today. It is then to be named at Edinburgh Waverley tomorrow (4th June). Hope this helps

Thanks for the info. I forgot about the differences between the two 20s. I might be tempted to overlook the differences if I was to use 20s for the transfers.

Thanks again Jim! Yes I could buy a pair of the BR Railfreight 20s and just have two 20s on the train for the time been. If I'm honest I never thought I would see myself buying any London Underground S Stock for my layout as its not normally something that I'm interested in but these trains do look fantastic! It would also be good to use 20s or 66s on the transfer movements!

Completely agree here! Class 20s with lights and more liveries!

Hi Simon, Thanks for the info! Its very much appreciated. I suppose I could buy the Bachmann 20118 and renumber a second one to 20132. I think that siding would be longer than the length of board! Eight cars, two barriers and four locos! That would be equivalent to at least 14 straights if you were to say one loco or piece of stock per straight. I might have to build the new layout and see if a siding like that would be possible before I commit to buying locos and stock to create the formation. I could then use the 20s on engineers trains as well as the S Stock movements. If I couldn't source or fit the four 20s in the siding I could use a pair of 66s

Hi Jim, Thanks for the info! Its very much appreciated. I had forgotten that a few GBRF 66s have worked the stock movements before. It now does sound quite tempting to buy either the four or eight car set then one or two GBRF 66s to move the stock. I will have to see how far my money stretches though as the eight car set and two 66s would be nearly £700. I will also have to wait and see how much space I have left on the new layout as I imagine for an eight car set and two locos it would have to be a pretty long siding. I think its a shame that Bachmann haven't retooled the Class 20 and released them at the same time as the London Underground S Stock as their are plenty of liveries that could be produced again (re-run) or for the first time. This could include: BR Blue, BR Railfreight, GBRF, HNRF Orange, DRS Plain Blue, DRS Compass as well as the LTM 20s (20189 and 20227). Surely Bachmann need to retool the Class 20 for the 2017/2018 catalogue.

Fantastic photos Jim! Very interesting to hear about the locos allocations. The Colas Class 70s look great. Can't wait for Bachmann to produce them in 00 Gauge

I can honestly say if I already had some Class 20s I would probably be buying the eight car set. But because I don't already have the Class 20s then that would be an additional cost on top of the eight car set. So if you think the eight car set, four Class 20s and several DCC Decoders that is the best part of a £1000. As fantastic as it would be and look I just don't think I could justify spending that amount of money. The annoying thing is that I was tempted to buy the Class 20s last year (20901, have one renumbered to 20905 and buy 20227 from LTM) but because their was nothing to run with them at the time, I decided to save the money. I just didn't think I could justify buying an additional three locos and have them just sat their seeing very little use. I'm sure I will be in the same boat as others here now wishing that I had bought them.

To tell you the truth a week ago the London Underground S Stock was the last thing I expected to be announced. No I hadn't even thought about creating one.

If I'm honest I was thinking down the same lines as you. No pun intended. I was hoping that this announcement would reveal a fully retooled Class 20 with working wipac lighting, cab lights etc in DRS Compass and HNRC Orange livery. Bachmann could have produced two of each livery and sold them in pairs. My layout is currently been dismantled as I am going to build a brand new one over the Summer. As with my old layout my new one will be based in Leeds and my depot area will be based on Leeds Midland Road. However I already have and I am wanting to buy a lot more DRS locos and stock which obviously aren't based in Leeds. I therefore think sod it and I will just run what I like and to whatever depot on a layout etc! Its just a shame that only one Bachmann Class 20 is been released any time soon which has pulled the London Underground S Stock in reality. This been 20118 which is due for release in June or July. The GBRF 20901 is now sold out and very hard to find and the LTM 20227 is now also sold out. As Bachmann obviously haven't got any plans to produce any DRS Compass, DRS plain blue (as worn by 20301/302/304/305) or HNRC Orange 20s in the near future and the above mentioned models have already sold out this leaves very little opportunity to be able to create a London Underground S Stock transfer movement which incorporates four Class 20s. EDIT: I am mentioning about the lack of availability of Class 20s because I don't have any. Therefore to be able to source four it would be quite difficult to do. Even if I bought two models of 20118 in the Summer and had one renumbered to 20132 I would still be two Class 20s short.

Thank you for the help. Its very much appreciated. I don't think I have seen a picture of a Colas 56 on engineers before so that's very good! Its also good that its hauling NR Yellow JNAs as these are some of the new wagons that I am planning on buying. I think a Colas 56 would look very smart with them! Might be worth investing in a Colas loco or two then Thanks again for all of the help

Thank you very much for the information. It looks like I could buy a Colas 60 then I really like the Hornby Colas 56s. I think the sound version of the Hornby Colas 56 was due for release today but not sure if it has. The only problem about buying these would be that I would also have to buy a rake of steel wagons to run with them.

There is just something about the Colas livery! If I'm honest I never thought it would suit a 37 but it actually looks quite smart! The 60 should be just as good. The only problem I have about buying Colas 37s, 56s and 60s is that I don't have much to run with them and it would cost a lot to make a decent rake of wagons. Whereas when the 70 is released I already have engineers wagons and I am in the process of buying some more.

Fantastic resprays! Bet your really pleased with them!

Fantastic photos Nice to see a revised liveried 57/3 on the rear!

They have certainly repainted 66705 quickly! It must have only been at Eastleigh Works no more than two weeks. The average time that a GBRF 66 normally stays their for a repaint is 3-4 weeks sometimes longer. Can't believe it has been done that quick. It was taken in for the repaint on 21st April and was sighted outside the shed on 7th May. So yes just over two weeks! That's an impressive turnaround.

Really like this picture of the depot and the positioning of the locos and de-icer wagon is great! Keep up the good work!

Yes its definitely worth a look. Just checked on their website and they have a pre-owned/broken 70003 in and a brand new weathered 70005. Weathered 70005 looks really smart