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All the lights work too. I’ve used car headlamp yellow on some to give the impression of sodium discharge lamps.

My 2 non-sprung Heljan pans now work quite well, but I’ll go for the Sommerfeldts. It looks like the Heljan metal base can be fettled with a file so the pan just drops in like the Hornby bases I’ve used before. The Hornby crossarm pan from their 87 also doesn’t work properly on catenary, with the pan head flopping over to the side, which is a real shame as I like the look of it. I have a poseable Judith Edge crossarm pan on an 86, but my soldering skills weren’t quite up to making it work fully, alas.

I understand you can send the file to a commercial 3d printer like Shapeways and they print them. I have some class 86 compressor shelves (from someone on here), to replace the one I broke on my Heljan model, and also for my Hornby fleet in due course. https://www.shapeways.com/product/7SX4KWHEF/1-76-class-86-underframe-with-one-compressor

Yes, I think the real 50 ones may be different too having squinted at photos. I really need to get up close and personal to 87002 that has a real set. Here's my Hornby 87 duplicates.

Thank you! It's been great fun to do. It could in theory get integrated into a larger layout at some point in the future.

The growing heritage fleet:

The pantograph looks good, but nearly destroyed some of my new catenary due to the pan head not sitting straight and the springing being too strong. My banger blue one now has a spare Sommerfeldt 927 on a Hornby base. The original blue ones have had the springs removed and a tweak so that they can be posed at about the right height. This is something that does need to be addressed, and watch out if you have modelled OHLE. Beware!

They look similar to the castings I took off the Hornby 87, size-wise. I wonder if the ones on the 50 are a touch too big having scrutinised some photos, though I still think the Hornby 87 ones are a little too small.

One of the few shots of the construction. I wish I'd kept more of a record in hindsight!

During last year’s lockdown I went on furlough, and during this time I started tinkering with a couple of old model locomotives that had lain in a drawer for many years. The interest grew, having abandoned it beforehand during my later teens when girls, music, nightlife took over for a good few years. Eventually I amassed a couple of drawers full of locomotives and thoughts turned to making a little scene for them to be displayed on and even run, and hence Nifkin’s Bridge TMD was born, using a couple of chests of drawers with the tops removed, and turned into covers, to protect it from dust and the odd giant cat incursion. The main period is mid-eighties, with a smaller number of items covering the green/blue transition. Of course timey-wimey stuff does happen when I just run what I want! Power is DC at the moment, with a view to going digital at some point. I joined RMWeb well after laying all the track, wiring it up, and doing the scenery, but following interest shown in posting the odd picture or two in it’s near-current state, I have taken the plunge and started a thread on here to show to all you good people, and I go into how the various parts were modeled over the coming weeks, months and years. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

I may just wait for the Heljan 86/4 and make moulds as I have 2 on order. My small, but perfectly formed appendages look good enough for now. The pan needs some work first as the geometry isn’t quite right having just installed catenary.

Or in the spirit of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, I could always treat myself to a 50, as I haven't got one yet and a large logo one would work in my era. I am trying to go for at least one model of each class eventually. I could make a set of moulds off that and use car body filler to make the items. It takes a couple of goes before you get a decent set. Food for thought as a set could also end up on the 87. Nevertheless the 87-based MW looks OK.

Still showing as sold out. I could try and contact Hornby. I got some discs for my class 31 that way.

Yes, I think they’re a little on the small side, but it’s what I had to hand. I scoured t’internet for class 50 ones, but to no avail. There is a 3D print file somewhere on here that I could have tried, but I was unsure of the dimensions being a bit of a newbie to that sort of thing.

What parts did you use? I moulded mine off the end of the Hornby 87 and used fuse wire for the cable.

I may do my 25's windows the same. I bottled it, trying to remove them. Did they come out easily?

They've all sussed rail blue out well. My blue 85, 86 and 87 have all been patched painted with Railmatch acrylic or enamel blue, which is also indistinguishable. The yellows on the other hand need thin coats of pre 84 yellow and post 84 yellow acrylic until they match.

I only have a small depot layout with a fiddle yard, but I'd say there's little to choose between the 3 models when it comes to performance. My running is slow speed, but they all excel at this. Using some rickety old scales, the Bachmann 85 is about 400g, with the 86 and 87 at about 480g. All run quiet. I'll leave comments on haulage and speed to those with larger layouts.

I haven’t really noticed the chunky ladders on mine, but if they do start bothering me, then signal ladder looks to be a promising replacement.

I’ve used a light detergent solution, ready-mixed car screenwash (also good for cleaning records), or that clear pump-action antibacterial spray. All appear good and didn’t affect the paint. I’ve also used acrylic paint thinners, but this created a bloom on the surface of the paint. A happy accident as I wanted a worn finish under the weathering.

I missed the boat with the SLW ‘Experiment’ so a Bachmann one will do nicely, having just got a 24/1. That cab front roof profile that dogged the old models is gone.

There's some temporal goings on at Nifkin's Bridge TMD. OHLE next item on the agenda.

I did use 1000 grit wet and dry to remove the numbers and arrows, then then T cut to give the areas a little polish. Once the transfers and etched arrows had been fitted the upper body was masked off and the body sprayed with satin enamel varnish to seal the transfers and even out the finish. Followed by a light dusting of frame dirt acrylic on the lower body sides, and the same paint on the ends but watered down a lot with thinners.