18100 / E1000 / E2001 from Rails/Heljan

[Ian J.]

As no-one else has started it yet, this is a topic specifically for the 18100 class as announced by Rails in collaboration with Heljan.

 

https://railsofsheffield.com/collections/exclusive-18100-gas-turbine?mc_cid=ae8c187910&mc_eid=d9cbfd8287

[97403_Ixion]

I was really pleased to see this on their website yesterday.  I first thought it was just an update on 18000 but then a second glance revealed it was 18100!

Like a certain other manufacturer, pleased Heljan have helped develop models of unusual locos over the years and hats off to Rails for commissioning these two models (18000, 18100).

These unusual locos must have been quite something to see out on the rails at a time when experimental vehicles were laying down the future of rail travel and as for gas turbines?!  I'm certainly interested in getting at least one... I guess a gas turbine one will suit me with no overhead wires  

Well done Rails and Heljan - hope this one is a success too!

[Ian J.]

One thing not mentioned on the website listings is sound versions. Obviously would be different projects for gas turbine and electric. So, two questions: will Rails do sound versions; and would the two electric variants be different to each other?

 

[The Stationmaster]

3 minutes ago, Ian J. said:

One thing not mentioned on the website listings is sound versions. Obviously would be different projects for gas turbine and electric. So, two questions: will Rails do sound versions; and would the two electric variants be different to each other?

 

I think that all that happened with the electric version was renumbering from its original number to E2001 although it seems to have led a pretty nomadic existence being passed round various depots (presumably for static training purposes?) once the various AL series production locos started to arrive.   Regrettably it had a very short useful life in either of its forms - as a gas turbine it only lasted about a year in traffic before being put into store and it only managed about 3 years as an electric before being put into store in 1961.

 

The renumbering from E1000 to E2001 is in itself an oddity as it occurred around a year after the loco had emerged as an electric and - perhaps apropos of nothing? - occurred in the same year that Midland Compound 1000 was returned to operational use for excursion traffic on the LMR. 

[Wolf27]

This one may tempt me in its E2001 guise. Hopefully all the detail differences will be picked up, the bogies were modified as well as the other more obvious changes.

[adb968008]

Interesting choice.

 

I wonder why there is no word on the class 89, i’m sure that would be much more popular.

 

with regard numbers, I’m not sure MR1000 had much to do with it, as when E1000 was renumbered to E 2001, BR almost certainly had more interesting number issues…

 

for example… also in 1958, GWR 4-6-0 5000 Launceston Castle was hapilly chugging about whilst D5000 emerged from Derby in Sept 1959, followed by E5000 from Doncaster in Dec 1959, and M 5000 (mk1 TSO) wasnt far away on the horizon.

 

Edit: In 1957, BR AC loco numbering was based off HP… class 81 etc… 3000hp and above, started at E3000…

E1000 had 2500hp.. hence E2001.*

 

Lets see how this model does.

 

* according to wikipedia.

Edited October 2, 2021 by adb968008

[zoomer1979]

I, like many I'm sure was a bit unsure of the loco having spoked wheels. Well I found photographic evidence. Part of the Bill Wright Collection, E2001 at Rugby shed

[Ian J.]

1 hour ago, zoomer1979 said:

I, like many I'm sure was a bit unsure of the loco having spoked wheels. Well I found photographic evidence. Part of the Bill Wright Collection, E2001 at Rugby shed

 

It looks green in that picture. Just goes to show that the film used makes a difference to what we think a livery should be, if the locomotive always had the black and silver livery as per information I've read.

[Fredo]

Hi, very much looking forward to the model of E2001, have you any idea what sort of train formation it would have worked with when on test during say 1959/60 as I have never seen any photographs. Thanks Fred 

[SHMD]

4 hours ago, zoomer1979 said:

I, like many I'm sure was a bit unsure of the loco having spoked wheels. Well I found photographic evidence. Part of the Bill Wright Collection, E2001 at Rugby shed

 

What does the Brail say on the side?

 

 

Kev.

[montyburns56]

47 minutes ago, Fredo said:

Hi, very much looking forward to the model of E2001, have you any idea what sort of train formation it would have worked with when on test during say 1959/60 as I have never seen any photographs. Thanks Fred 

 

There's a picture in Railways In And Around The Manchester Suburbs by E.M.Johnson which shows it going through Mauldeth Road station in 1960  pulling what looks like about fifteen 16T Mineral wagons with a brake van at each end 

[69843]

5 hours ago, adb968008 said:

I wonder why there is no word on the class 89, i’m sure that would be much more popular.

Without trying to wander too far off topic on page 1, I believe it was mentioned it has been due to having trouble accessing the locomotive to scan it at the depot it is/was being reactivated at.

[thohurst]

Oh fantastic! I've been looking forward to this prototype being produced for some time now! Fastest I've ever placed a preorder haha! 

Edited October 2, 2021 by thohurst

[Covkid]

13 hours ago, 69843 said:

Without trying to wander too far off topic on page 1, I believe it was mentioned it has been due to having trouble accessing the locomotive to scan it at the depot it is/was being reactivated at.

Barrow Hill ?

I thought Mervyn was quite an amenable guy, as well as the owners of 89001. Mind you, how many remember the fiasco of the "scanning party" (scamming party ?) for E5001 at Barrow Hill when someone with the initials DJ promised to fund its repaint into BR blue ? Perhaps Mervyn was bitten by it.

[No Decorum]

19 hours ago, zoomer1979 said:

I, like many I'm sure was a bit unsure of the loco having spoked wheels. Well I found photographic evidence. Part of the Bill Wright Collection, E2001 at Rugby shed

Well done and very helpful. I had no success in my search; the springs hide the wheels which are often in shade as well. The drawing in Marsden shows them as disc.

[truffy]

I tend to go for the earliest versions of these ‘not my era’ oddities. But E1000 looks more interesting. 

[russ p]

21 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

I think that all that happened with the electric version was renumbering from its original number to E2001 although it seems to have led a pretty nomadic existence being passed round various depots (presumably for static training purposes?) once the various AL series production locos started to arrive.   Regrettably it had a very short useful life in either of its forms - as a gas turbine it only lasted about a year in traffic before being put into store and it only managed about 3 years as an electric before being put into store in 1961.

 

The renumbering from E1000 to E2001 is in itself an oddity as it occurred around a year after the loco had emerged as an electric and - perhaps apropos of nothing? - occurred in the same year that Midland Compound 1000 was returned to operational use for excursion traffic on the LMR. 

 

Quite surprised it actually got a class number after been placed in store 

[Joseph_Pestell]

15 hours ago, SHMD said:

 

What does the Brail say on the side?

 

 

Kev.

 

"I'm sorry, I'll feel that again" (Dudley Moore).

 

Braille, after the name of it's inventor, pronounced Bry.

 

I think it says, "These are bloody big rivets".

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, russ p said:

 

Quite surprised it actually got a class number after been placed in store 

I somehow doubt that it did.  It was put into store in 1961 and withdrawn in 1968 - the year in which the Class numbers were introduced.   I suspect somebody might have put two and two together and come up with 80 as the answer - the AL series locos simply had their previous class designation number (AL1 etc) added to 80 to create the ac loco class numbers of 81 et seq.  But E2001 never appears to have had an AL designation - probably because it was out of use at an early date and in any case seems only to have ever been used for training and what latterly seems to have been mainly static training once AL series locos had become available for handling training.

 

And yes - on reflection adb is no doubt correct - the E2XXX number would have reflected its horsepower.  That was reduced from the original 3,000hp to 2.500hp when it was converted to an electric and became an A1A-A1A instead of a C0-C0 (or Co- Co if you prefer)

[No Decorum]

1 hour ago, cctransuk said:

 

11001 anyone?

 

CJI.

 

23 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

I think that all that happened with the electric version was renumbering from its original number to E2001 although it seems to have led a pretty nomadic existence being passed round various depots (presumably for static training purposes?) once the various AL series production locos started to arrive.   Regrettably it had a very short useful life in either of its forms - as a gas turbine it only lasted about a year in traffic before being put into store and it only managed about 3 years as an electric before being put into store in 1961.

 

The renumbering from E1000 to E2001 is in itself an oddity as it occurred around a year after the loco had emerged as an electric and - perhaps apropos of nothing? - occurred in the same year that Midland Compound 1000 was returned to operational use for excursion traffic on the LMR. 

Of course, nothing can be ruled out but I fancy Rails might feel more assured that the market is there for a main-line locomotive, in view of the success of 18000.

[The Stationmaster]

16 minutes ago, No Decorum said:

 

Of course, nothing can be ruled out but I fancy Rails might feel more assured that the market is there for a main-line locomotive, in view of the success of 18000.

Novelty and thinking outside the box have always seemed to sell - remarkably so when you look at some things which have appeared on the market so far this century.  The ES1 was no more or less restricted to a single branch line than some other locos which have appeared in recent years and ran in NER, LNER, and BR, liveries over a long operational life.    Look at the very positive reaction to Accurascale's chaldron wagons which never ran on anything approaching a mainline, or the Beattie Well tanks which in the form offered by Kernow/EFE were almost entirely restricted to a tiny geographical area  - works visits and a few railtours aside. 

 

Test runs apart as a gas turbine 18100 lasted barely a year in traffic and even then was restricted in its sphere of operation while as an electric conversion it is doubtful if it even worked any test/training trains once electrification had advanced beyond the Styal Loop and the new ac locos had begun to arrive.  But it will sell because it is different from the run-of-the-mill.

Edited October 3, 2021 by The Stationmaster

[Ian J.]

It sells to me because I have a 'Prototypes' collection that I'm building, ostensibly for a fictional 'Prototypes' day on the S&P. I have no possible use for it otherwise

[adb968008]

2 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Novelty and thinking outside the box have always seemed to sell - remarkably so when you look at some things which have appeared on the market so far this century.  The ES1 was no more or less restricted to a single branch line than some other locos which have appeared in recent years and ran in NER, LNER, and BR, liveries over a long operational life.    Look at the very positive reaction to Accurascale's chaldron wagons which never ran on anything approaching a mainline, or the Beattie Well tanks which in the form offered by Kernow/EFE were almost entirely restricted to a tiny geographical area  - works visits and a few railtours aside. 

 

Test runs apart as a gas turbine 18100 lasted barely a year in traffic and even then was restricted in its sphere of operation while as an electric conversion it is doubtful if it even worked any test/training trains once electrification had advanced beyond the Styal Loop and the new ac locos had begun to arrive.  But it will sell because it is different from the run-of-the-mill.

However sticking with the current vogue… they could always offer a BR Blue version, and maybe a Railfreight snd RTC versions too.

[phil_sutters]

On 02/10/2021 at 09:01, Ian J. said:

As no-one else has started it yet, this is a topic specifically for the 18100 class as announced by Rails in collaboration with Heljan.

 

https://railsofsheffield.com/collections/exclusive-18100-gas-turbine?mc_cid=ae8c187910&mc_eid=d9cbfd8287

There was one started on Friday 

 

[Michael Hodgson]

1 hour ago, adb968008 said:

However sticking with the current vogue… they could always offer a BR Blue version, and maybe a Railfreight snd RTC versions too.

As it was ordered in the 1940s, there would be a stronger case for producing in green with a copper capped exhaust on the alternative history of Adolf hadn't invaded the rest of Europe.