SRman

I can't put my finger on it for sure, but the overall shape looks wrong, just for the cab front. Whether the NSE one is the same or not is not clear, due to the paint scheme, but it looked alright to me. It could also have been the camera angles.

I'm not buying the SLW one even though it is now the definitive version of a 25 (to me). I simply don't need any more 25s. I have a few Bachmann ones, plus a Hornby one on a Bachmann chassis. Like you and 97406, the cab roof curve on the Bachmann ones was a bit off-putting, but the great mechanisms were the selling point for me, a quantum leap forward from Hornby's mechanisms at the time. Likewise, the Heljan ones look good, but something is not quite right with the cab fronts, and with the SLW models on the way, that gets my vote (but not my money at present, unless someone is silly enough to offer me a decent sum for my existing Bachmann models). I can vouch for the excellence of the SLW 24s as I have two of those. The 25 looks at least the equal of those.

I watched the Key Publishing video on YouTube last night showing the new Heljan 47s in NSE and green fyp liveries. The revised NSE looked really nice, but I couldn't help feeling that there was something not right on the green one - the cab fronts just looked slightly out of proportion. Is it just me, or have they slipped up a little there?

With some decent roof vents replacing the strange conical devices, the Lima Horse Box comes up quite well ... just not in green. Mine is now maroon, with some minor detailing done, including the roof vents. The Lima one is the maroon one on the right of the first photo (mine started off in green, BTW), with a kit-built LNER horse box in the earlier BR crimson (carmine, if you prefer). This was before I applied numbers. Once it is mixed in with other vehicles on a layout, it blends in quite well.

Additionally, many of the marker lights were painted over, or even panelled over (accident repairs?), and were removed on the 33/1 conversions. In short, the Heljan models only show white lights in the leading headcode panel, depending on the direction it is going, and also on what paper headcodes are fitted - obviously if you have the two red blanks fitted it will show red. Something to bear in mind is that the real lighting was very dim, using standard incandescent bulbs, so Heljan actually have this right. I have considered modifying the lighting on the 33/1 models I use for push-pull work with the Kernow 4 TC units to allow me to switch on red tail lights at the trailing end when propelling the units, using red LEDs and using the white blanks in the headcodes. I haven't done this yet, but that newer 21-pin circuit board looks as if it might make such a modification easier. Unfortunately, none of the nine class 33s I own have the newer setup.

My class 66 collection line up is next. All are Bachmann models of various vintages, except for Freightliner Powerhaul 66 504, which is a Hatton's model. Adding my two class 59s into the mix as well. The silver Yeoman one, 59 005 is a Lima body on a Hornby chassis, with working head and marker lights added to one end only (no point in fitting tail lights!), the other in DB livery is a Dapol 59/2, 59 206.

For the record, and also to help anyone else with the same problem, which socket was it in the end, Dave?

My guess would be the "W" (for white), but hopefully someone with a model from the same new batch can confirm or deny that definitively.

RTs on route 94 (at least, as far as Petts Wood Station) hold great memories for me. When visiting my grandparents in Petts Wood, we would catch the 94 to Bromley for a bit of shopping sometimes. Mind you, Petts Wood had shops of its own, including a Woolworths - on hot days the staff would leave some of the back doors open and I could watch the trains through there, as well as from my grandparents' house down Queensway. Rugd1022's photo shows an RT on the last day of RTs on the 94 in August 1978, somewhat after the times of my memories.

Next line-up is of my class 33 collection. All are Heljan models. There are representatives of all three sub-classes, but only one has the earlier exhaust arrangement, and is from the later, slightly more detailed batch from Heljan. There is a ring-in in there too - see if you can spot it. 😁 Edit: I have nine class 33s in total.

In model form, here are some of the Heljan models: the three blue ones all have the later exhaust outlets, while the two green ones show the original and the new side by side.

It wouldn't be too hard for them to keep the same decoration as the roofs are a separate part. The sides could still be produced exactly as before, with the new roof moulding added to feed into the production line.

Don't worry - I know! 😅😅

Do I go to the class 33s next, or the steam (Bulleids)? 😉

One of these days I'll do that on mine. I have turned down the brightness of the marker and tail lights too (again, a DCC thing most decoders allow one to do). For DC users, a thicker blob of paint might do the trick.

My Bachmann prototype Deltic had operational lights from new. I don't like the bright blue-white LEDs used, but that's what they chose from the factory. Rather than cover them up, I would simply not bother turning them on (on DCC). I would assume that the previous owner did not use DCC and therefore chose to cover the lights up.

Here we go: all of my operational class 73s in one photo (well, two really both showing the same thing from different angles). Note the word "operational" in there: I have several spare Lima and Hornby bodies with different liveries that can clip onto the existing running chassis, giving me a few more number and livery variations if I want them. A few of these models have been repainted and/or renumbered and renamed. All except one of the named ones have etched plates fitted, with the exception having Railtec's rather clever 3D printed transfers (GBRf 73 212 Fiona, one of the Dapol models). Early Dapol releases E6007 and 73 212 (as it is now) had their lighting circuits on the PCBs modified to separate the cab lights out onto separate functions. The majority of these are Hornby, or Hornby chassis with Lima bodies. There are just three Dapol models in this lot. Once again, the liveries cover multiple eras and some overlap these, but they are not usually all expected to appear on the layout at the same time.

Just thinking, I should repeat the exercise with other locomotive types I have more than three of. Straight off the top of my head, I could do a similar expanded view of class 33 diesels, class 73 electro-diesels, class 66 diesels, N15 Arthurs, Merchant Navies and Bulleid light Pacifics. Watch this space.

The latest and last intended Accurascale 37 arrival was green fyp D6704 seen straight out of the box, apart from re-addressing. And then, after adding all the extras - brass etched makers plates and frost grills, brake and air pipes and cables, and one headcode changed to suggest an interregional service to the Southern Region. This one came from Amanda Jane Models and has the factory-fitted sound installation. I will be modifying the function mapping to bring it into line with all the others, (things like Drive Hold on F8, cab lights on F21, and so on). I haven't actually run this one in yet. As shown in the Accurascale class 37 topic, I posed all 10 of my class 37s on the layout for a photo - only six are from Accurascale. Copying my post from the other topic : Accurascale examples DRS 37 423, 37 602 and 37 609 are on the left, Europhoenix/ROG 37 608 in the foreground in the siding, Railfreight Distribution 37 026 is on the right in the other triple formation, and D6704 is on the lower level on the programming track. The remaining ones are three Bachmann and one ViTrains: Bachmann 37 693 in Railfreight grey, 37 698 in Railfreight Minerals livery, and 37 038 in engineer's Dutch livery at the back, while ViTrains BR large logo blue 37 428 is in the foreground in the siding with the ROG/Europhoenix example. They represent several different eras and will not normally be on the layout all at the same time!

My final Accurascale 37 arrived today. This is a sound-fitted D6704 and the photo is as it came out of the box. I did a quick test on the programming track and changed the address, but nothing else ... yet. I posed all of my class 37s on Newton Broadway: there are 10 altogether, of which six are Accurascale models. DRS 37 423, 37 602 and 37 609 are on the left, Europhoenix/ROG 37 608 in the foreground in the siding, Railfreight Distribution 37 026 is on the right in the other triple formation, and D6704 is on the lower level on the programming track. The remaining ones are three Bachmann and one ViTrains: Bachmann 37 693 in Railfreight grey, 37 698 in Railfreight Minerals livery, and 37 038 in engineer's Dutch livery at the back, while ViTrains BR large logo blue 37 428 is in the foreground in the siding with the ROG/Europhoenix example. They represent several different eras and will not normally be on the layout all at the same time! 😁

I think you mean "parallel" where I have highlighted that bit of text, Roy, just to save future confusion.

I too would like them in pdf format, but in the meantime, I have selected the text and images from the guides I was interested in, and simply copied them into Word documents to save for future reference.

The tri-Bo arrangement can give a more even spread of the traction forces on uneven track where, for example, the weight might get lifted or concentrated on the centre axles of Co-Co bogies. The Swiss railways used the tri-Bo arrangement on some of their electric locomotives (Re6/6) as well.

Adding to this, ESU themselves had problems with a batch of defective decoders. I have bought quite a lot of my ESU LokSound 5 decoders from a (very good) local dealer here in Australia, and had to return one that failed - it was in an Accurascale class 37 but that was most emphatically not the cause of the failure. Said dealer honoured the ESU warranty and told me he had had quite a few decoders returned to him from that batch.

I had forgotten about the "pipes" being the supports. I fitted them all to my two Pill Box brake vans, but it was a long time ago.