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Great to read in the latest Model Rail that Dave has completed the CAD work and we might expect our models in the third quarter of 2018. Thanks, Dave, for persevering with this project. Dave R

I have not been following this thread recently, thinking that the project was dead, so it was a nice surprise to find that this is not so. There are some drawings of the locomotive on page 38 of British Rail Main Line Electric Locomotives by Colin J. Marsden & Graham B. Fenn (Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN 0 86093 559 0). Dave

It looks great but shouldn't the numbers be in sunshine yellow on this particular loco?

I have also received my 30182 today and although I mentioned earlier (allegedly in the wrong place) the problems encountered by Model Rail when reviewing this model in their current issue, mine works very well straight from the box and although there is a slight reduction in speed on second radius curves (mine are Hornby System 6, by the way) it has not derailed in any section of my layout. Possibly the wider flangeway in Hornby track allows the wheels more freedom to adjust to pointwork. Dave

In the early seventies, there was a shortage of FGAs and many of the sets ran as tens. However, these were quickly converted to fives as soon as FGAs became available, due to their flexibility.

This was the best news from the Bachmann announcement, as far as I was concerned. Hattons are showing the FFAs as packs of two, rather than singly as Andy suggests. Having singles or packs of three is a far more sensible idea, given that most of the wagons were in 5 sets but I can sense the words "gift","horse" and "mouth" forming in members' minds so I will admit that having to put up with buying pairs of FFAs is a minor irritation compared with the chance to replace the old Triang wagons for those of us modelling BR circa 1970. Maybe, if these sell well, we can look forward to a decent model of a Morris crane to replace the Triang toy one. I know that this is available as a downloadable card kit but something more solid would be preferable. Have just noticed that there will be a suitable crane added to the Scenecraft range. My cup runneth over.

Kernow's web-site has indicated that the Hampshire Units were likely to be released during this year. I have just contacted them (so that my Visa card can be ready for the shock to come) and Chris has replied that they are not expected until the end of the year at the earliest A bit of a disappointment - for me, if not for my card!

As I already have 7 of the Heljan models and have learned to live with their shortcomings, I am unlikely to trade these in for new improved ones. What might persuade me to part with some shekels is if the revised body was made available to fit to the existing chassis. As Heljan are good at charging for replacement parts to cover for their own mistakes (remember the wheels), then they may hit on this idea, once they have completed the Rail Exclusive order. Dave

The leaflet which came with my model suggests that you contact Hattons directly for spares, quoting the catalogue number and the part number shown by each item. In case you did not have this information with yours, the part number for the steps is 37. It should not be too difficult to drill out the bits left behind in the slots and glue in the new part. Dave

My Blue Circle one arrived yesterday. I also broke off one of the sets of cab steps, whilst I was fiddling about fitting the brake shoes but luckily it was not flung across the room (either by the con. rods or my frustration)and I was able to stick it back on. The one the other side did not appear to be glued into the frame (just pressed in), so I fixed that at the same time. I am going to have to be careful: it is too easy to pick the loco up by the cab and have your fingers wrap around underneath and there go the steps. The weathering is OK (no bare patches on the wheels) and the model runs well. My loco was delivered without any headcode numbers but I am not too bothered as I was not intending to use them anyway. From what I have seen, the headcodes on the privately owned examples were allowed to rot away to nothing, so not fitting any seems prototypical. Dave

Happy to help. If you go ahead, you will end up with sore thumbs but save about £7.00 per loco.

Sorry, mate: been off line for a few days. Luckily, I still have some spare wheels left over from the Pullman bogie upgrade but www.Hornbyspares.com advertise a set of four Pullman w/lights wheelsets as Part no. X9096 at £1.79.

Thanks, Peter. When you said that you were going to "have a go" with the Bachmann wheels, I thought that you might have done as I did and lay in a stock before trying a test fixing. Your decision to go for the Hornby Pullman wheels might prove to be inspired as I have just discovered a problem with the Bachmann wheels. When coupling to a vehicle with the old full size tension-lock couplings and taking a second radius curve, the lower height buffer of the Class 47 will foul the hook on the wagon and may derail it. This should not be a problem with the 35 (oval buffers) or 33 (shorter wheelbase) but may result in me retro-fitting my 47s with Hornby wheels, although careful train-building might be able to keep the situation from occurring. Dave

Thanks, Peter. If you are considering the Hornby wheels, then I should point out that the ones to which I was referring were the Pullman "with lights" wheels which I had left over after upgrading my coaches to take NEM couplings. I do not know whether ordinary coach wheels will do the job. Hornby do make the Pullman wheels available as a spare part at about £2.00 for a set of four (the Bachmann ones are about £6.00 for a pack of ten sets- not twelve, as you might imagine). Thinking about it, a wheel that is one millimetre smaller in diameter will only give a ride-height half a millimetre lower, so the Bachmann ones would be fine, except where the track clearance is marginal. I did undertake some tests before adopting the Bachmann wheels and found that a loco. so fitted would double-head with a loco. with the original wheels quite happily. The difference is very small. Incidentally, I did not bother to replace the centre drivers on six wheel bogies as they are not involved in current collection and not very visible. Again, the mix of the two sizes did not cause any problems. Dave

Not John, Peter but I found the same when I started replacing the wheels on my locos. It is not a major problem with the 33s and 35s, except that the Heljan couplings are already known for being a bit droopy and the lower bogie position emphasises this. I cut about 1 mm off the dangly bit of the tension-lock coupling so that it will not foul point blades and all seems well (coupling up not affected). The only problem that I had was with a Class 47. The fuel tanks are already low-slung and when I re-wheeled the first of mine, it "beached" itself at a couple of placed on my layout. I cut the bottom out of the fuel tanks and filed back the ends and it is now OK. Strangely, the rest of the fleet did not need doing, so I can only assume that the chassis had a small bulge that caused the problem. However, if I was doing the job again, I would use the Hornby coach wheels as they are the same size as Heljan use. Dave