Bachmann 45t crane
◆ GAUGE ‘OO’ ◆ MODEL Bachmann Branchline 38-801 Ransomes & Rapier 45t steam crane No. 16, GWR grey ◆ PRICE £249.95 ◆ AVAILABILITY Bachmann stockists
Is this the best ‘OO’ gauge ready-to-run model of all time?
Bachmann Branchline’s 45t Ransomes & Rapier steam crane has been a long time coming. It was first announced in May 2015 (MR208) and its four-year gestation has given ‘Bachmann bashers’ more ammunition to fire at the Barwell company.
Yet what we have here should silence the critics once and for all.
Hornby’s 75t Cowans & Sheldon steam crane dates from the 1970s and still looks good today. It has two winding handles to raise and lower the jib and to raise and lower the hook. It still makes for an impressive model, despite the fact that it’s getting on for 50 years old. But if you think the Hornby crane looks good though, Bachmann’s offering blows it away in every category.
With copies of Peter Tatlow’s Railway Breakdown Cranes Vol. 2 being as rare as hen’s teeth, we had to compare the model to photographs on the websites of both Paul Bartlett and the Vintage Carriages Trust, and first impressions are that Bachmann’s designers have nailed the overall shape and character of the Ransomes & Rapier design.
CRISP DETAIL
The jib draws the eye and it looks very impressive, with the rivet detail particularly crisp and refined. The main body is equally impressive and it’s pleasing to note that with such a large model, even the smallest details on the boiler and cab have been beautifully reproduced.
The heavy duty solebars and frames match the good work elsewhere and the axlebox and spring detail is excellent. The relieving bogies are good, with fine wire brake gear.
It seems churlish to criticise anything, but the match truck looks a little on the basic side, an impression that’s not helped by the fact that this was a ‘minimal’ vehicle at the best of times! The other slight issue is that the GWR grey makes the crane look a little plasticky in places, particularly around the frame plates.
The overall grey finish does have some relief and it’s beautifully executed. The printed signs are all legible under a glass and the boiler pipework is picked out in a pleasing coppery finish.
Where this model really stands out is the sheer amount of technological innovation that has gone into its construction.
That sea of cogs and gears is like nothing we’ve ever seen before in ‘OO’. They all mesh together beautifully and you feel that four years of research and development could have been spent in this area alone. Bachmann could have gone for the Hornby approach and used large knobs on the jib to make it operational. But that would have clashed with the fine detail.
KEY POINT
Instead, it has devised a most ingenious solution. You get a key with a magnet on one end. You use the magnet to remove the plugs on the back of the boiler. One raises and lowers the jib and the other raises and lowers the hook. Turn the key over and you can operate both.
The printed signs are all legible under a glass and the boiler pipework is picked out in a pleasing coppery finish
Keep an eye on the mechanism as you do. You’ll see the cylinders move as you raise and lower the hook and, even more incredibly, as you change the position of the jib, the angle of lift indicator moves too!
Spare a thought for the teams on the Kader assembly lines who have to loop the thin black thread over the various pulleys. This is one time where we will ignore our “if it’s a kit we build it, if it isn’t we take it apart” motto!
The crane body rotates, with the gears engaging with a satisfying ‘clunk’. The outriggers are posable too and can be slid in and out, but just be aware that there’s no restraining point and you can pull them out of their slots. You can see from the photographs just what other moving features there are.
Included in the box are the spread beam, vacuum pipes and coupling chains. The pipes and chains fit neatly into the relieving bogies by removing the tension lock couplers; you will have to prise the NEM coupler pocket from the jib runner and unscrew the mounting box to fit them to this vehicle.
This is all described in detail in the accompanying instruction booklet. The only thing missing from the booklet is any indication of what to do with the separately supplied ladder. Bachmann’s crane might not be cheap but it’s testament to the skill of the team both at Barwell and at Kader’s factory to have been able to produce such a wonderful piece of miniature engineering.
Is Bachmann’s crane the best ‘OO’ gauge ready-to-run model ever?
In the face of the evidence, the answer’s probably yes. (RF)
Delivery of Heljan’s ‘OO9’ Lynton & Barnstaple Railway 2-6-2Ts may have been problematic but they seem to have proved popular with ‘OO9’ modellers. After all, try finding any of the first batch – they’re as rare as unicorns.
That first run of ‘OO9’ models depicted the trio of 2-6-2Ts that the L&B ordered from Manning Wardle for its opening in May 1898. Buoyed by such success, Heljan decided to offer the line’s fourth 2-6-2T.
However, this was not a straight repeat of the first model with a new name and number. No, this new model has required a few tweaks to the tooling.
The Southern Railway absorbed the L&B in July 1923, a few months after the Grouping had taken effect. It wanted to transform the L&B’S ailing fortunes and one of its plans was to increase the frequency of its service. In order to accomplish that, it ordered another locomotive to complement 2-6-2Ts Yeo, Exe and Taw and the Baldwin 2-4-2T Lyn.
This new locomotive was built by Manning Wardle and was almost a duplicate of the original trio. However, when it was delivered in 1925, Lew had subtle differences, as a result of the builder’s experiences with the originals.
The cab was much simpler with a straight back and there was no attempt to provide the troublesome cover over the valve gear.
Instead there was a simple oil drip tray under the motion.
As Heljan’s new model shares the majority of its DNA with the original Manning Wardles, there’s no point in repeating chunks of our March 2019 review (MR258). Let’s just focus on what makes Lew different.
That squared cab with its four roof ventilators looks spot on and matches drawings in Stephen Phillips’ The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway Measured & Drawn. The front spectacle plate includes the pair of vertical rivet strips down each side, fitted circa 1931, but lacks the oil atomiser pipework. Intriguingly, three of the four ventilators are moulded open and this allows you to see the footplate, which, while not as detailed as some contemporary ‘OO’ models, is still well executed.
While on the subject of the cab, it’s worth pointing out that
Heljan has used the same tooling for the Ffestiniog Railway’s 21st-century take on Lew, which goes by the name of Lyd. However, Lyd is built to the FR’S loading gauge and its cab profile is quite different to that of Lew.
There are a couple of minor differences elsewhere. The oil drip tray is present and correct, as are the two types of coal bunker. Lew was delivered with coal rails but the fireman’s side bunker was plated over almost immediately after delivery. Heljan has chosen to produce a moulded coal rail, which looks effective enough. You can imagine the difficulties of producing such a tiny etched metal part.
CURVES AND QUIRKS
Sadly, Lew does have a few annoying little errors. The lining on the front of the tanks follows the curve of the smokebox, whereas Lew’s lining dropped straight down. The model of Lyd has the correct lining but that on Lew is incorrect.
The ‘E188’ number is printed a touch too low on the bunker side but this masks another little error. Lew was originally built with short safety valve extension tubes; it was fitted with half-length tubes circa 1929 and full-length tubes circa 1934. However, by this time, it had lost the ‘E’ prefix. Heljan has printed the ‘E’ prefix but given the model tall valves.
The whistle was originally mounted in front of the valves.
However, presumably when the taller valves were fitted, the whistle was fixed to the cab spectacle plate and not in front of the valves as Heljan has modelled it.
Running quality on the Heljan Manning Wardles has been a bit hit or miss. The locomotives can be a little jerky and will really benefit from running in and spotless track. Our Lew, which replaced an early sample with some build quality issues, was a decent performer straight from the box and would definitely benefit from extended running in.
Despite these little niggles, Lew is still a cracking little model and matches what Chris Leigh called “Hatton Garden jewellery quality” of Yeo, Exe and Taw. Grab one while you can… and get your order in for Lyn while you’re at it for neither model is likely to hang around for long! (RF)
Heljan has chosen to produce a moulded coal rail, which looks effective enough
It’s unusual for Model Rail to review a model which is not currently available, but this exclusive product from Rails of Sheffield is rather special and warrants a review, especially if it helps to convince the manufacturer to either produce another run or to use the production method for other models.
So, what’s different about this 10-ton wooden box van model in ‘OO’? Well, aside from the fact that it is unusual to see a wagon of pre-grouping origin and antique appearance like this offered in anything other than kit form, the real novelty of this model is that it has been produced in volume by the 3D printing process. This system of producing a plastic model by building it up directly from a computer file has not, so far as I’m aware, been used for volume production of a fully finished ready-to-run model before.
Owing to its experimental nature and the question mark over the likely demand, the model has been produced to pre-order only. Unlike pre-orders for conventionally produced ready-to-run products that can take years to be fulfilled, Rails closed the order book on this van in mid-2019 and delivered finished models in November. One of our colleagues on Steam Railway magazine loaned us this model for review.
At first sight the model and its packaging look to have come from Dapol, and the box labelling confirms that to be the case. The model itself has the weight and presence of a conventional injectionmoulded van but the paint finish is very matt and has the merest trace of that textured effect which is usually associated with 3D printing.
This is a wagon that’s full of character, with hefty external timber framing to the sides and double doors and with crisply executed hinge and handle detail. The body sides and ends are one piece, the roof and underframe are separate. Our sample showed a slight bow in the roof and underframe but not enough to detract from the model.
SEPARATE FITTINGS
The underframe and floor are one piece, including the springs, axleguards and axleboxes, plus the brake shoes and linkage. Indeed, only the brake levers appear to be separate fittings. It is particularly pleasing to see brake shoes, hangers and actuating levers that are much finer than we’ve become accustomed to on injection-moulded underframes.
The free-running wheelsets are particularly fine, having moulded split-spoke centres with blackened metal rims. Cranked and pivoted NEM coupler pockets are held in place with screws so that they can be easily removed if some other coupling arrangement is to be fitted. However, fitting working three-link couplings will be complicated by the solid floor behind the bufferbeams. Standard small tension-lock couplings are provided with the model and these clip into the NEM pockets.
Detail on the headstocks is also very neat and fine, the blackened metal bufferheads being fitted into slender shanks which are formed as part of the body, while the coupling hook is separately fitted. The neat white printing on the dark chocolate brown body shows that this van was rated at 10 tons, with a tare weight of 6 tons 1 cwt, giving a load capacity of just under 4 tons in the van body, which scales to just 6ft 6in at its highest point.
This is a basic, unfitted small goods van of modest capacity that would have been a familiar sight in goods trains between the world wars. The manufacturer has made a commendable job of turning it out by this novel production process. More, please! (CJL)
The free-running wheelsets are particularly fine, having moulded split-spoke centres with blackened metal rims