John Tomlinson

I have just purchased one of these on Ebay. It appears to be in excellent condition, however having read other threads on the topic I am inclined to open it up for full inspection. The case does have rivets, but also six screws on the bottom. I wonder if anyone knows how these open up without damage, or is it necessary to drill out the rivets and replace afterwards - in which case I probably won't! Many thanks, John.

I made up four of their Mark 1 pullmans a while ago - just in time for the Bachmann release! I was delighted with the kits and the outcome, although they did take quite a long time with all the detailing.

Intrigued by this thread and the extensive exchanges about the Heljan EM1, I decided to make a start on one of these kits , bought a few months ago on Ebay. Initial impressions of the etches are good, with extensive rivet detail already provided, on what appear to be nickel silver etches. Comparison to Mr Edge's drawings however are not so great, the bodysides appear to be too deep and the cabs also, with the windows appearing oversize. The fit of cabs to body isn't too good either, as was remarked on above. The fitting of the roof panels also looks a bit doubtful, if done per the very skimpy instructions. Cutting the thin etches to size and making a seamless and invisible joint I think would be well beyond my capabilities, so I'm going to have to live with the scale imperfections. I think as well I shall have to make up the chassis in parallel with the body as accuracy of fit clearly cannot be taken for granted on any of the components. This is likely to be a slow effort as I have to be away a lot at the moment, but I'll add any salient observations on the build as time goes by. Happy new year to all!! John.

Now that actually looks like an EM1 - broad grumpy face and big hump on the roof!! John.

Thanks very much for this information. John

I'd be very interested to know where this is, or any other details - the buildings look GC but the surroundings have a West Riding feel? Many thanks, John.

Without wishing to be accused of fearing the worst, DMR do two B1 style smokebox doors in whitemetal, at £1.85 each. Just thought I'd mention it.... John.

I think you probably have been lucky with your Aberdonian, Ray. At the time of issue -10 years ago? - Bachmann offered to re-motor any of the first batch of A1's free of charge because of the problems people were having. I took mine in to the Barwell office where they joined a mountain of others being readied for sending to China for the work to be done. I've carried out similar mods to those described above and fully concur that they are fine engines the finish and detailing of which most kitbuilders would struggle to match.

Many thanks indeed to Adrian and Bernard for your help. The price of £64.99 was on the Signal Box stand at Peterborough show, along with some other steam and diesel goodies such as a green Derby Lightweight for £61.99. Their pricing was well below the levels of other traders present but remember they do seem to act as clearers for Modelzone with whom there is some corporate relationship. Sorry if my post was less than clear on this.

I wonder if anyone can help with a similar query. I've just come home from the Peterborough Show with the AL5 variant in original electric blue. Runs beautifully and lots of other positives, but I see that the small lights at the bottom corners of the fronts only show red, and this only when the loco is in reverse. The front end going forward has no illumination for these little lights, although the headcode panel is lit. Do I have a dud, or is this how it should be? Incidentally, The Signal Box of Rochester had these and some railblue variants on sale for £64.99, which seems a real bargain, although rather sad in another way for such a fine model. Many thanks, John.

I've just returned from the Peterborough Show at which some 01's were on display, still with a gap where the bottom of the boiler should be. I asked the Hornby rep on their stand about this, and he was clear that the items on display were in the condition of production items, and that this was how they should be. I explained about the step up from the smokebox underside to the boiler barrel, but he was adamant this was correct. I realise that also in this thread is a mention of a casting to correct this omission shown on a service sheet, and let us hope that Hornby haven't forgotten to put it in! i think I will be waiting to see one as delivered to a retailer before parting with my cash just to be sure, as this would not be a simple fix for an individual modeller. In passing I should mention that Hornby 42xx, 52xx & 72xx items were on display and looked fabulous, unfortunately not much call for these in the Sheffield area which I model!

Bill Bedford also has an 04/7 listed on his website. This would be more difficult to fabricate from RTR parts than a part 8, but as micklner says we must hope the finish is a little better than the 04/5.

I suspect delivery from Glasgow actually took place via the S&C, though I've never seen a photo. I do think trials took place down the G&SW as well, so who knows where they got to!!

I do have a memory as a child of seeing the southbound working approaching Chorley on the direct line from Blackburn, actually on Botany viaduct which was demolished to make way for the M61. Whether or not this was the usual route, rather than via Leyland I don't know, but from Chorley it would have gone to Adlington White Bear to reach the Whelley loop.

It may be of interest that Ultrascale did a replacemant wheel pack for the Triang Co-Co power and trailing bogies, although I don't know if this is still available. This does get round the issue of old style flanges on modern track. My two EM2's run quite well with this upgrade - though not to modern state of the art standards - but then you have to remember that the design is getting on for its half century!

Hi Jon, Just read this thread - I'm sure many of us have gone through this and I always fear painting as the great opportunity to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, just like a certain national football team we could mention! On paint removal, I'd be a little wary of Nitromors as I believe it can soften some plastics. I have used Precision's own product for stripping plastic with success in the past. After using any kind of stripper, it might be worth giving the model a gentle scrub in warm water with an old toothbush and a mild kitchen cleaner such as Jif, or Cif as it now is, just to make sure nothing lurks in any little corners. I'd endorse the comment made about the merits of Railmatch - using the enamel over a good few years I've found a higher probability of success than with anything else, and a much greater tolerance of temperature and proportion to thinners variances - as you say Precision seems much more fickle on the latter although it does have a fantastic range of colours. Good luck, John.

I've had a go at photographing the revised headcodes (resolution for 2011 must practice this!) and this is attached. My experience with yellow paint flaking off was the same on some 47's, and I found a tiny drop of yellow on the end of a cocktail stick enabled the touch in to be made with precision, rather than using a brush. The use of a flat headcode apparatus would , on reflection, make a lot of sense as they could just have installed a standard 47 one, and if so I wonder if the greater space between the second and third digits is merely optical illusion, caused by refraction through curved glass either side of the midpoint? John

After nearly a year of owning a Kestrel, I finally plucked up the courage to try to change the headcodes on Christmas Eve! To my relief this is not as difficult as we might think. 1) Separate body from chassis by releasing the four bodyside lugs - as on the 47. You also need to release the jumper cable which runs from the lower nearside cab to a little box by the nearside buffer. Once separate I released the two cables which run from the printed circuit board to the cab - this can be done by carefully eeasing out the push socket on the circuit board. 2) You now have a free bodyshell. Inside you can peel back the sticky silver paper that helps to hold the cab assemblies in place - these will then unclip from the roof socket to reveal the headcode panel from inside. The printed headcodes are not fixed to the glass but rather rest against it, and can be flicked out with careful use of the point of a cocktail stick. If you wish, you can release the glass headcode panels by pushing gently from the inside so they fall outwards - they are rebated this way and I seem to remember that the 47 has the same arrangement. I pressed gently at one end with a blunt cocktail stick whilst giving support outside with a finger - this did the job without damage - phew!! 3) You can now use a marker pen/ fine brush/ whatever to render the inside edge of the headcode panel black, though I should say that it doesn't make a huge amount of difference when re-assembled. Proceed then to making up your required headcodes. I used the Heljan examples as a template to cut two pieces thin black paper card, which has the flexibility to bend into the curve required. For headcodes themselves I used the Modelmaster sheet 4208, but not as decals, rather cutting to size and sticking with Bostik Solvent Free to the papercard. I used a small black marker to touch in any parts of the "decal" where the backing paper had been revealed in the cutting process. You now have two replacement headcode strips to your choice. By using this Modelmaster sheet, which has larger symbols than his 4206, I found that the symbol height almost completely filled the headcode space on the model, and looked far more realistic compared to photographs as a result. The codes supplied have been printed too small, giving the toy like appearance referred to elsewhere in this forum. I wouldn't like to say if the moulded box itself is of inadequate height, but there is certainly a great improvement in appearance by merely using larger letters. It would be possible I suppose to mark the outer lip of the headcode box in black, but this would need a far steadier hand than mine and has the potential to look dreadful if not done precisely - if achieved it would represent the rubber surround clearly visible on prototype photos. 4) The whole thing can then be re-assembled. I found positioning of the replacement strips a bit tricky, and for some reason one of them went in best before re-fitting the glass and the other after - simply a matter of persistence! This method has the effect of all but eliminating the light behind the headcode. However I would argue that this is a good thing for realism as these lights were scarcely noticeable in daylight working. It is only recently, with the introduction of the hi-density headlights seen on 66's that loco lights have really been discernible during the day. 5) For the record my replacements were; 7J31, 11.09 Mansfield to Whitemoor loaded coal, reference George Toms in his book on Brush. This would not have been an mgr, but rather traditional mineral stock. Aside from one well publicised shot at Greetham Jn running as a test train with 13 tonners to the fore, I know of no photos of these workings, despite them being by far the main employment of this loco whilst in Britain, both before and after the bogie change! Of course lots of shots of it on the "glam" ECML services which lasted two or three months - these are the heacodes supplied by Heljan. 4C70, 19.40 Hull to Stratford intermodal - freightliner in those days, reference John Turner in his 53A flickr gallery. His is the only shot I am aware of of this working. 6) A big moan! This change was possible but fiddly. I deeply resent the cavalier attitude of some manufacturers, and here Bachmann's lit Deltic is a prime example, where the heacode is printed on the back of the glass. The odds are evens at best that however careful an attempt is made at polished removal, say with fine wet and dry and brasso, damage will result, and these folk can't be bothered to offer spares!! Whilst in the 1960's and 70's trains did run with incorrect headcodes on occasion, the ability to make this change to match our miniature train in service is in my view essential for any kind of realism - however finely detailed a loco it looks nothing short of ridiculous hauling a slow freight behind a Class 1 headcode! I hope this with be of interest, and compliments of the season to all. John Tomlinson

If you do feel inclined to stick with the Triang chassis, its worth mentioning that replacement wheelsets were obtainable from Ultrascale - I'm not sure if this is still the case but worth a call. As far as the body goes, the two main issues are removal of the raised mould for the lining, and replacement of the moulded handrails - you need lots and lots of handrail knobs! Both models shown illustrate these two refinements, and how interesting that both are of the Electric Blue variety. I don't know offhand if any in this colour ever carried half yellow panels - at least one EM1 did as I recall a photo in "Traction" some time ago. Back in the 1980's I did a green one, and a black one awaits painting as I write (as it has for some while) - although I tremble with dread everytime I think of the lining! Good luck, John.