58 Model Spot – DRS Class 20s
Simon Bendall reports on the new Bachmann Class 20/3s as DRS marks its 25th anniversary.
Bachmann answered many longstanding requests back in January 2017 when a ready-to-run version of the refurbished Class 20/3 was announced in OO gauge. With the locos having launched Direct Rail Services to prominence during the second half of the 1990s, the absence of a model had long been keenly felt by those wishing to portray nuclear flask workings and, later, Rail Head Treatment Trains on privatisation era layouts.
There were two versions of the Class 20/3s, and Bachmann has opted to portray the second and larger batch that was converted at RFS, Doncaster, during 1998, namely 20306 to 20315. These ten locos had a number of improvements carried out during their refurbishment following service experience with the quintet of 20301-05, which were modified by Brush Traction during 1995. The decision to portray this version also gives a more diverse choice of liveries, something that is always important to a model manufacturer.
Making up the initial trio of releases are 20306 in the original incarnation of the DRS blue livery and 20312 with the revised ‘compass’ brandings. Although not illustrated here, HNRC’s orange 20311 completes the line-up.
A world of differences
As converted, 20306-15 featured a multiple working socket at both ends along with a high-level headlight to comply with new Railtrack group standards. In contrast, 20301-05 were modified before the additional light was required and were never retro-fitted while, initially, they only had a multiple working socket on the nose end.
A cab front socket was duly added to the five in 1998 to give greater flexibility as the DRS fleet expanded with the arrival of the first Class 37s. Cosmetically, the second batch of Class 20/3s were outshopped with a black roof instead of the smoke blue of the initial five, making them easily distinguishable.
Perhaps less well known is that 20306-15 have an extra fuel tank fitted in the nose end, in front of the cooler group. These locos thus have a total of five fuel tanks, the others being the two original English Electric fittings inside the loco frame and the two pannier tanks that sit on the solebars in front of the cab. With a capacity of 1,000 gallons, they have a much greater range compared to their Brush classmates, which can only hold 650 gallons of fuel. Externally, the fuel filler is much further forward on 20306-15, while their fuel gauge is positioned on the leading edge of the nose on each side instead of on the solebar.
Less obvious differences between the two batches are that 20306-15 have their cab front light clusters mounted slightly higher up, a larger and repositioned baseplate for the radio roof pod and relocated windscreen washer jets. Additionally, at the nose end, the multiple working socket is mounted lower down, while the pannier tanks have no external fuel gauge.
New wardrobe
In a welcome move, Bachmann has started with a completely clean slate for its Class 20/3 models rather than just producing a new body to fit on the existing Type 1 chassis that has been around since 2004. As a result, every part has been tooled from scratch with the aim of delivering a loco that has all the features expected of a current day model, both in terms of DCC functionality and tooling options.
Under the body, the model retains a centrally -mounted five-pole motor with flywheels, which drives all four axles. Turning to the electronics, a Plux22 decoder socket is provided, as is an eightohm speaker, the latter being fitted in all models irrespective of whether they are supplied with a sound chip or not. One major advantage of the re-tool is the ability to fit lights for the first time, the Class 20/3 having directional head lights as well as
tail lights and cab interior lighting. One disappointment is that the vertical marker light elements of the light clusters are non-functional at both ends. While this was to be expected at the nose end, where space inside the clusters is very restricted, functional marker lights on the cab front would seem to be a realistic expectation, especially as they would be the ones in use most of the time.
For DC users the lighting can be turned on and off using switches beneath the loco, concealed beneath the air tank moulding, that simply unclips. Three switches control the nose, cab and internal lighting with a fourth being an unused spare.
Faithful body
The new bodyshell has been well worth the investment as not only does it portray all the refurbishment modifications it also corrects the shape errors of the original Class 20 model, such as the nose taper. On the roof, a much-improved radiator fan moulding sits beneath the fan grille, while a nice period specific detail is the presence of the GSM-R radio aerial fin on 20312 but not on the earlier 20306. The same is true on the cab front with the former loco sporting the bracket and angled aerial for the GPS tracking equipment.
The cab and nose ends have various other nice touches, such as separate windscreen washer jets, sprung buffers and correctly patterned and positioned lamp brackets. In contrast, the windscreen wipers remain rather chunky, even though they are new mouldings and not carried over from the old model. The accessory bag includes a full set of air, main reservoir and control air pipes along with working screw couplings and the associated banger plate to mount behind. Miniature snowploughs also feature, which screw in place from beneath.
The bodysides faithfully reflect the repositioned fuel gauge and fuel filler point, along with the plated-over original gauge position. The extra fuel tanks are particularly nice, capturing the ‘bolted on’ look of the real things and the overlapping lower edge. The battery boxes are just as well executed with some really nice tooling to reflect the various taps and drains as well as the handle for the battery isolating switch, all superbly picked out in their correct identification colours. Behind the boxes the air tanks are finished in white, while the nearby electrical conduit is highlighted in orange, which is a very nice touch.
Both of the DRS locos are fitted with bogies featuring fluted equalising beams but without weight relieving holes. This was the second style of Class 20 bogie originally found under the production disc headcode machines. The benefits of the new tooling are also seen here in the greater depth to the spring detail, while the NEM coupling pockets are mounted on the bogies.
The main livery colours are well applied and accurate, although a small amount of fuzziness is discernible on the edges of the yellow ends under close examination. All the detailed painting and high-quality printing further enhances the models, items such as the data panels being fully legible. All of these features add up to deliver a Class 20/3 that is well up to today’s standards and finally fills that allimportant gap in the range of available DRS motive power.
Cumbrian Choppers
DRS received its first five Class 20/3s between September and December 1995, 20301-05 emerging from Brush Traction’s Loughborough Works to undergo trials and training through to the end of the year. They were based at Sellafield, but it was not until January 24, 1996 that DRS received approval to commence main line running, with 20301 and 20302 working the first loaded train of nitric acid tanks from Ince to the nuclear reprocessing plant two days later.
Such workings, as well as trips to Barrow Docks, were the type’s initial duties, as the everyday work of moving spent reactor fuel from around the UK did not commence until early 1999 with the end of EWS’ contract. By this time a further ten Class 20/3s had been modernised at Doncaster, with 20306-15 helping to spread the workload and cater for future traffic
growth. The early 2000s brought a brief deployment on Network Rail’s weedkilling set and a much longer association with autumnal Rail Head Treatment Trains, most famously across parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire but also, for a time, in East Anglia.
Inevitably, the Type 1s could not go on forever and as DRS’ motive power fleet expanded in new directions 20307/10/11/13/15 were removed from traffic at the end of 2008, with 20306 and 20314 following during the course of 2009. During the spring of 2011, 20311 and 20314 were sold to HNRC. They went on to gain the company’s orange livery the following year, after which they saw use on a variety of stock moves and RHTT workings amongst other duties. Less fortunate were 20306/07/10/13/15, which were sold to CF
Booth and scrapped at Rotherham in the spring and early summer of 2013.
This left the whole of the Brush batch intact, 20301-05 being favoured over the RFS conversions, of which just 20308/09/12 were left standing. From June 2010 the quartet of 20301/02/04/05 were hired to GB Railfreight for use on the movement of London Underground ‘S’ Stock from Derby to London, for which their DRS logos were removed. This role continued until December 2011 when HNRC-owned Class 20s took over the work.
Thereafter, the locos suffered a slow decline, typically being pulled out of store every autumn to perambulate around Yorkshire and beyond with RHTT sets and occasional other ad-hoc duties, such as infrastructure trains working off York and Doncaster to a wide variety of unlikely destinations. Class pioneer 20301 was stored in 2014, with 20304 and 20309 following the next year and then 20308 after the 2016 RHTT season and 20312 12 months later. With reliability plummeting, 2019 was the last RHTT season for the DRS machines, 20302 and 20305 staggering to the end after 20303 fell by the wayside early on.
Following a farewell railtour on January 18, 2020, the survivors have remained in store, with 20301/04/08/09/12 at Barrow Hill and 20303 recovered from a year-long stay at York and taken to Crewe at the end of December. More hopeful are 20302 and 20305, which remain serviceable at Bo’ness and somewhat in the care of the SRPS diesel group following their transfer north last July in connection with design work for ETCS cab signalling equipment.
"The early 2000s brought a brief deployment on Network Rail’s weedkilling set and a much longer association with
autumnal Rail Head Treatment Trains."