A new set of Spoons
The Heljan Class 47 has returned more than two decades after it ushered in a revolution for Uk-outline diesel models. Now completely retooled, Simon Bendall takes a look at the new model to see if it is an improvement on what came before.
When the first batch of models were released in 2002, the Heljan Class 47 showed British-outline modellers just what could be achieved in OO gauge if European standards of detail were employed on this side of the English Channel. Up to this point, Lima and Hornby still dominated the market with their basic products that lacked detail and employed ill-performing ‘pancake’ motor bogies, while Bachmann was still in its infancy but beginning to show what was possible.
The Danish manufacturer outshone all of its rivals though with the Brush Type 4, delivering a model with a wealth of separately applied parts and performance to match thanks to a heavy diecast chassis and central motor with flywheels. For those who customised and repainted their models, the Class 47 was perfect, with parts being easy to swap around using readily available spares to produce different variants. For example, if you wanted extended range fuel tanks, it was just a matter of unclipping and swapping over the mouldings rather than hours rebuilding the underframe of a Lima Class 47 with fiddly bits of styrene!
The range of models from Heljan eventually expanded to cover almost all sub-classes and liveries, the majority of which were well-applied and colour-matched to the popular Railmatch paints. However, there was a fundamental problem with the model in that it was too wide, the width over handrails measurement having been mistaken for the body width. As a result, the cab shape was affected, although how much this mattered was very much down to personal taste. Nonetheless, the model was quickly christened the ‘tubby Duff ’, a moniker that remained until production ceased in about 2010.
At the time the plug was pulled, the Heljan model faced competition from both Bachmann and the short-lived Vitrains versions of the Class 47, neither of which was perfect either. Now, 14 years later, the Danes are once again going up against Bachmann in the battle of the Brush machines, the latter having released its own extensively reworked and upgraded model back in 2021.
A new ‘Brush 4’
The wait for the new Heljan model has been a long one, though, having been first announced in the summer of 2019 with the unveiling of CAD artwork. Seemingly stuck in development hell at times, this allowed Bachmann to gain the advantage when its new version was launched exactly two years later after being designed and produced in secret. Since then, it has been a case of wait and see to find out what Heljan could come up with in comparison.
Having come a distant second in terms of release date, Heljan is making up for this with a swathe of launch liveries. Of the initial 10 models available from stockists, three are already on sale in the form of BR two-tone green with either half or full yellow ends as D1526 and D1969 respectively, along with BR blue 47137, this having domino headcodes as supplied.
Due for release shortly is another BR blue example, 47316, which has plated headcode panels, and it will be joined by half a dozen sisters from the 1980s. These include 47450 in BR large logo blue, the infamous 47555 The Commonwealth Spirit in Intercity Executive, Parcels red/grey 47575 City of Hereford and the invariably well-presented 47214 Tinsley Traction Depot in Railfreight Red Stripe. Rounding things off are Shell ‘namer’ 47125 Tonnidae in Railfreight Petroleum and the model pictured here, Departmental Grey-liveried 47329. The models are all available in Dcc-ready form with a RRP of £249.95, or with DCC sound at £389.95.
In addition, retailer Gaugemaster has commissioned a further six liveries, these
having the same DCC options and pricing. Already available is 47596 Aldeburgh Festival in revised Network Southeast, which will be joined by contemporaries 47600 Dewi Saint/ Saint David in Railfreight Distribution, InterCity Scotrail-branded 47492 The Enterprising Scot and 47578 Respected in Rail Express Systems. Moving to the privatisation era, the duo of 47501 Craftsman in DRS ‘compass’ and the short-lived 47815 Lost Boys 68-88 in Rail Operations Group blue complete matters.
Enhanced specification
With more than 20 years between the models, it is no great surprise that the new Class 47 has considerably more going on underneath the bodyshell. This includes a 21-pin DCC decoder socket, while on factory-fitted sound models, two speakers are installed beneath the twin radiator fans, with the decoder being an ESU Loksound V5.
The sound files have been provided by Legomanbiffo with different versions installed depending on whether the locomotive is a freight-only machine or fitted with electric train supply. The usual range of sound functions is available, such as wipers, cooling fans and horns, while there is also a ‘heavy load’ option to increase engine noise.
The lighting suite is suitably enhanced as well, with the directional marker and tail lights joined by independently switchable cab, engine and headlights where fitted, all via DCC. A complaint against the original model has been addressed with authentic light colours employed rather than bright white bulbs. Slightly surprisingly, the new model retains the drivetrain arrangement of its predecessor, with only the inner and outer axles of each bogie being driven.
Body options
Mirroring the approach taken by Bachmann, Heljan has designed the Class 47 to cater for a wide range of detail variations from the outset, even if some of them do not appear in the first tranche of models, such as both Scotrail and Rail Express Systems Class 47/7s. Nine different cab toolings are said to exist, which can be mixed and matched to give different treatments at each end if required, while original or
cut-back bufferbeams can be catered for, along with water tanks, extended range fuel tanks, or battery box-only underframe.
It is a similar story on the roof, with both the original fixed grilles and later Serck radiator shutters tooled up, along with all the common boiler port variations, be they open or plated over. Smaller details include both positions for the ETH cable on the cab fronts, as well as single or double arm windscreen wipers. Each model is supplied with a full set of bufferbeam pipework already applied at both ends, along with functional screw couplings. The only contents of the accessory bag are tension lock couplings and miniature snowploughs, which can be screwed in place beneath the cabs if required. Other nice, but largely now expected, touches include the painted and correctly arranged pipework visible behind all four bodyside windows, etched fan grilles, sprung buffers, and detailed cab desks and bulkheads. The angled body framing that protrudes behind the cabside windows in such a noticeable fashion is also present.
Overall impression
While the new Class 47 does address the width issue that undermined Heljan’s first attempt at the Type 4s, it unfortunately has other areas of concern. Among the most obvious are the roof hatches over the engine bay, which have been modelled as a pair rather than a set of four, with the intermediate joint on each side bizarrely omitted. Equally puzzling is the treatment of the lower cabsides, where the default tooling appears to be a locomotive with cut-back bufferbeams and the resulting step in the cabsides. For locomotives still with their cowls in place, the solution looks to be an infill that leaves a noticeable mould line on what should be a completely smooth area. Concerns have also been raised about the look of the cab fronts, with the horizontal handrail beneath the cab windows certainly being on the low side, while the headcode panels look oversized. Queries also exist over the size of the cab front windows, but the black surrounds on 47329 mask this issue to an extent.
This is all something of a shame as the model displays Heljan’s typical excellent finishing, with the admittedly basic Departmental Grey scheme being well-applied. The shade of grey certainly looks right, with what printing there is all being correctly positioned. Liveries is where the new offering may win out though, as with regular releases promised, the Danes may well be able to deliver more colour schemes compared to the competition.
Accurascale goes bananas
With the company ever-expanding, Accurascale is continuing to grow its range of steam age and transition era models. The latest wagons to appear in OO gauge as a result of this are the Southern Railway banana vans built to diagrams 1478 and 1479. Dating from the 1930s, these helped the company cater for changes in which docks the bananas were imported to. Like the vans employed by other regions, they were steam-heated to help the ripening process and vacuum-braked to allow faster transit times.
The fleet passed to British Railways ownership upon Nationalisation, gaining the now standard bauxite livery. As the 1950s progressed, the use of steam heating fell out of favour in preference of insulation, the former being disabled and then removed while extra insulation was fitted. However, the following decade saw the transport of bananas by rail go into terminal decline, with many of these Southern vans transferring to departmental service.
Here they were used to provide ‘ fitted heads’ on otherwise unbraked freight trains for much of the 1970s, particularly on mineral workings in the Welsh Valleys, their vacuum brakes supplementing the braking ability of the locomotive in much the same way as a brake tender. Such vans were classified as ‘Tadpoles’ and lasted until 1978 or so.
Accurascale has released 12 different triple packs covering the lives of the vans, each priced £84.95. In some cases, the packs contain examples of one diagram or the other, reflecting the smooth bodywork of those to diagram 1478 and the ribbed appearance of diagram 1479. A few sets contain examples of both as per the Tadpoles illustrated. These are all nicely moulded and finished, the unusual arrangement of the vacuum brake system being particularly well-captured. Supplementing this is a bag of accessories to populate the bufferbeams if the tension lock couplings are not being used, giving a nice finishing touch.