DCC Ready Accurascale Class 37, as new, very light use. All components included, and boiler vent fitted from spares pack.
£165.00 including UK insured post, collection available from Stamford or Newark. Please contact via Facebook or though messages here.
HELJAN announces new high specification ‘OO’ gauge Class 153 railcar and Class 155 ‘Super Sprinter’ DMU for release in 2025.
With calls for a high specification, high quality ‘OO’ Class 153 growing all the time, HELJAN has responded with an outstanding new model that will set new standards for detail and high-end features. Based on our highly regarded O gauge Class 153 (due Q1 2025), the new OO model will feature a similar specification with class-leading detail and lighting/sound features.
Based on original research and extensive assistance from Porterbrook Leasing, the HELJAN Class 153 is packed with desirable features that make it a ‘must have’ for modellers of the BR Sectorisation era and post-1994 privatisation period. Working engineering samples are expected to arrive in the UK for assessment in autumn 2024.
O gauge Class 153 pre-production sample shown above.
And, reversing the modifications made by BR to create the Class 153s in the early-1990s, we’ve used the ‘153’ as a basis for an all-new BR/Leyland Class 155 ‘Super Sprinter’ (see below), filling a significant gap in the second generation DMU fleet. Full details about the Class 155 will be unveiled later, but its specification will be very similar to the Class 153. Two-car units will be offered in original Provincial Services ‘Sprinter’, West Yorkshire PTE Red/Cream (original and revised livery) and Northern liveries.
Standard Class 153/155 features will include…
Other desirable features will include the myriad rivets and panel lines typical of the British Leyland body design, fine underframe and bogie details plus…
O gauge model shown above
Class 155 DMS ‘as built’ with centre window and no snowploughs.
All models will be offered DCC Ready with an easy-to-access 21-pin decoder interface or with factory fitted DCC and sound, including route specific station announcements. Decoration will be the icing on the cake for these superb models, featuring a wealth of detail based on original livery diagrams sourced from train operators and detailed research of the prototype. The first batch of liveries will be…
HELJAN ‘OO’ GAUGE CLASS 153 – BATCH 1
#5360 Regional Railways 153301 DCC READY
#53603 Regional Railways 153301 DCC SOUND
Destinations: Leeds/Hull
#5364 Stagecoach East Midlands Trains 153311 DCC READY
#53643 Stagecoach East Midlands Trains 153311 DCC SOUND
Destinations: Derby/Crewe
#5365 Northern ‘Swoosh’ 153351 DCC READY
#53653 Northern ‘Swoosh’ 153351 DCC SOUND
Destinations: Sheffield/Huddersfield
#5367 Transport for Wales Grey/Red 153906 DCC READY
#53673 Transport for Wales Grey/Red 153906 DCC SOUND
Destinations: Cardiff/Swansea
#5369 London Midland City 153356 DCC READY
#53693 London Midland City 153356 DCC SOUND
Destinations: Bedford/Bletchley
GM4240801 GWR Green 153380 DCC READY – GAUGEMASTER COLLECTION
GM4240802 GWR Green 153380 DCC SOUND – GAUGEMASTER COLLECTION
Destinations: Plymouth/Penzance
HELJAN ‘OO’ GAUGE CLASS 155
#5590 Provincial Sprinter 155301 DCC READY
#55903 Regional Railways 155301 DCC SOUND
Destinations: Penzance/Bristol Temple Meads
#5591 Provincial Sprinter 155324 DCC READY
#55913 Regional Railways 155324 DCC SOUND
Destinations: Crewe/Cardiff
#5592 West Yorkshire PTE Red/Cream/Yellow 155344 DCC READY
#55923 West Yorkshire PTE Red/Cream/Yellow 155344 DCC SOUND
Destinations: Leeds/Blackpool North
#5593 West Yorkshire PTE Revised Red/Cream 155345 DCC READY
#55933 West Yorkshire PTE Revised Red/Cream 155345 DCC SOUND
Destinations: York/Hull
#5594 Northern 155346 DCC READY
#55943 Northern 155346 DCC SOUND
Destinations: Leeds/Huddersfield
Suggested Retail Price (SRP) for DCC Ready Class 153s is £199.00 or £299.00 with factory fitted DCC and authentic sound. Delivery of these exciting additions to our OO range is expected in Q3 2025.
Suggested Retail Price (SRP) for DCC Ready two-car Class 155s is £299.00 or £399.00 with factory fitted DCC and authentic sound. Delivery of these exciting additions to our OO range is expected in Q3/Q4 2025.
I’ll break protocol and will put words in this time, Iain Rice would have loved this one! Yep I know it’s a J68….
This video is about a year old and was done for a couple of friends whom were interested in using the Peco bullhead track hence this being a very quick first look type of presentation.
Around that time there were a few comments on forums and Facebook that it was fragile. I find and found this a peculiar comment. As you can see I bend and twist the point far more than you reasonably would and I’ve used it since regularly with no problems. I’ve also used the slips, crossings, large radius points and plain track without any issues.
I know many friends who model in EM/P4 (as I have in the past), and code 40 N finescale and 2mm finescale. One thing stands out, none of them think the track is fragile. They do however lay their track carefully and treat it with respect, it is finescale track after all, not mass production RTR ‘coarse’ track.
What spurred me to do this a year ago was the thought of what happens when you bend or twist this track. The answer is if you don’t go crazy it doesn’t break, so what are other modellers doing or how are they using it if it’s considered by them to be fragile?
A first look at the Dapol Hawthorn Leslie in OO.
I wasn’t sure what I would make of it, Hornby’s Pecketts, and Planet Industrial’s Kerr Stuart and Rapido’s Hunslet have set high standards for anyone else to meet. I have to say in my opinion this Dapol Hawthorn Leslie meets those standards. It’s a split chassis design with front axle compensation. This has real benefit for electrical conductivity and was seen previously in the Dapol B4.
It is an excellent addition to the industrial locomotives available in OO scale from various manufacturers. Well worth considering if you’re into industrial and light railways, I doubt you’ll be disappointed!
It’s been a bit quiet of late on the blog and ‘socials’ as the hip dudes so refer! So here’s a quick look at a previous You Tube video of Shelfie3.
Some of you may have been wondering what happened to it, as Shelfie4 Maple River, and Shelfie2 Guyzance, have already been seen in the wild!
Well Shelfie3 is alive and well. It is taking far longer to come to completion than any of the others, and there may be a Shelfie5 and six before the wraps come off, and time is up for Shelfie3 to emerge from its man cave chrysalis!
At the top of the post you can view the timelapse video, where under test this simple three point layout proved its ‘play value’. That hasn’t changed, in fact it’s got better with the addition of Dingham couplings. Just using three semi permanent magnets it’s almost entirely hands free operating. The scenic treatment is very different, the picture area immediately above has changed now too, a very different use of the volume of the scenery is being trialled.
So, Shelfie3 lives! As do a number of other projects and pieces to come soon, including a review of the sublime Heljan/Model Rail Class 11 above.
More soon!
This coming weekend at the brilliant Railex in Aylesbury has given the opportunity at short notice to exhibit Shelfie2. Due to circumstances beyond their control one of the layouts had to cancel, and with help from some good friends, I was able to offer Shelfie2 as a stand in, and this weekends spare time has been in the man cave testing it and trying a couple of new items out.
Railex is one of those shows that is consistent in its quality of exhibits and trade, this year including Alexandra Sidings above and Canada Street below.
Interesting that both layouts above have been inspiration for projects, undoubtedly Canada Street was ‘in mind’ in the background when building Shelfie4, and Alexandra Sidings has certainly given food for thought with Shelfie3 which is still in development.
So if you’ve got time this coming weekend, and want to see some really good quality finescale modelling across the main UK scales and gauges, get to Railex, you won’t be disappointed. If you’re there, come and say hello too, it’s always interesting to meet the readers!
It’s good to take a step away from stuff.
This post was to be an #FEF theme, but having been away for a few days last week mixing work with pleasure, (it can work), I thought I’d put up some pretty pictures instead 🙂
The last time I was on Yr Wyddfa I was perched on Crib Goch as my starter for ten. Quite the intro for hill walking, if you know, you know!
These are all north Welsh locations, it’s a country I love and is excellent for detoxing, and with stunning scenery. If you’ve not been there, go.
If I had done #fef, it would have been this, so a win win, pretty pictures and an #fef!
This is the most recent part of the improvement package I’m doing on the Bachmann Standard Class 5, and as this covers the improvements made to the front bogie wheels and the chimney, sort of comes under the #fef banner!
Most of the components used here are from the Alan Gibson range.
Good quality replacement parts always make these sort of tasks easier and quicker, as do good tools. The above work not taking much more than an hour, makes these improvements a viable set of small changes, that can be done sequentially. Next steps will be changing the smokebox door detailing and AWS boxes which will follow in a similar format.
These techniques in the video aren’t of course unique in their application to the Standard Class 5, the work on the 4575 prairie above used very similar techniques and components.
Albion Yard 
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