Baby Deltic / class 23

[Bigmet]

Heljan have announced that this loco will join their line up. Only ten built, notoriously unreliable, were used out of Kings Cross for suburban runs, one of the proposed replacement types for the loco I have nicknamed myself after (the N2, 'big metropolitan' tank commonly called 'big mets' - they were actually very small engines, from which an awful lot of work was noisily extracted.)

Whatever, it is a very pretty diesel class, looking like a miniature class 40, and likely to be popular despite its' rather limited sphere of operation. You can run it alongside the Gresley and Peppercorn pacifics you see. Little known fact about the Baby Deltic, it was the first UK diesel class to be available as a RTR model with all wheel drive, and this was in the early 1960s! It was a feature of Lone Star's Treble-o-lectric range, which was half OO gauge, just a touch smaller than what would emerge as N gauge. Lone Star's factory stood beside the BR(ER) main line, the toolmaker just looked out of the window and built tools based on what he saw.
http://lonestarrailways.fotopic.net/p61692302.html

[live-frog]

I think Heljan have latched onto "Curiosity value" in a big way with :-Falcon;Kestrel; 17(pity about the problems) & soon to come 14.

I commend their willingness to take risks !!
There must be many modellers who have strayed "off-theme" to accommodate these classes and I'm sure the 23 will be as big a success as the rest.

[K9-70]

Whatever, it is a very pretty diesel class, looking like a miniature class 40, and likely to be popular despite its' rather limited sphere of operation. You can run it alongside the Gresley and Peppercorn pacifics you see. Little known fact about the Baby Deltic, it was the first UK diesel class to be available as a RTR model with all wheel drive, and this was in the early 1960s! It was a feature of Lone Star's Treble-o-lectric range, which was half OO gauge, just a touch smaller than what would emerge as N gauge. Lone Star's factory stood beside the BR(ER) main line, the toolmaker just looked out of the window and built tools based on what he saw.
http://lonestarrailways.fotopic.net/p61692302.html

And it wouldn't look out of place on a narrow gauge layout today



K9-70

[gdaysydney]

Hi Bigmet

Had a look on the Heljan site but could not find an thing about the proposed new model. Can you post a link to the announcement or was it an unofficial announcement ?

Dave

[Metadyneman]

One of the 5 built NBL class 43 A1A-A1A warship class locos (Like Ark Royal for instance) would have been nice.. one or two of the five made it into BR blue livery (just!) . Still as Heljan are embarking on the manufacture of lesser known locos these days maybe that will follow in due course.

[Bigmet]

Had a look on the Heljan site but could not find anything about the proposed new model. ...

Apparently someone spotted it in the Warley show guide, and now an ad may be found in the December Railway Modeller. That seems to confirm that it is a reality, not just someone's wind up! Nothing on-line AFAIK.

One of the 5 built NBL class 43 A1A-A1A warship class locos (Like Ark Royal for instance) would have been nice.. one or two of the five made it into BR blue livery (just!) . Still as Heljan are embarking on the manufacture of lesser known locos these days maybe that will follow in due course.

Not so likely from Heljan, unless Dapol fail to deliver.
http://www.dapol.co.uk/index.php?option ... &Itemid=64

Generally, provided the demand is there, it looks like every diesel type that ever ran on BR is going to get a RTR model as time goes on. Even once classes 21/29 28, 07 and 11 are knocked off there's plenty of choice in the onesy-twosy department: Lion, DP2, LMS 10000/10001 for those who founfd the FIA trains price too steep, the three SR/EE prototypes, the Fell, and OK they aren't diesels but are still bogie boxes, Swindon's Kerosene Castles.

[Flashbang]

Hi
I can confirm what has been stated. The Heljan ad in Decembers RM states....
"HELJAN are pleased to announce that their new "OO" diesel model for 2010 is the BR class 23 'Baby Deltic'. Initially this model will be available with the later 4-character headcode in both BR green and BR blue liveries." No pictures as yet though.
Bring it on!!!

[Metadyneman]

I wonder if they might do a class 71 electric ... that would pave the way for a Class 74 electro diesel.

[Bigmet]

The latest announcement is for a range of four wheeled railbus types, (which presumably share a chassis to help keep development costs down) and yet another prototype, Lion, which will let them make more use of their class 47 pattern chassis. Bit of a theme there, this will be the fourth model off the 47 chassis.

What I would expect is that if the class 86 succeeds, they will start in earnest on electrics sharing a similar chassis, or using other chassis for which they already have a suitable match among their diesel types. That's just a guess on my part, but it does seem to be the way they operate; find out if there is a market for the volume of sales they need (which is smaller than what Hornby or Bachmann require) then plug away at every variation.

[Metadyneman]

If it does it for Heljan then I have to say it certainly does it for the model railway trade... Bring it on I say.

[m mcdermott]

i dont need one for my area but i think i must buy one to support heljans effort in bringing new and obscure locos to us . i have kestral , and 2 x 14,s on order ill be getting lion but missed falcon in green , picking 17 up next weekend.bravo heljan keep looking for locos not already in production

[spongebob]

One of the 5 built NBL class 43 A1A-A1A warship class locos (Like Ark Royal for instance) would have been nice.. one or two of the five made it into BR blue livery (just!) . Still as Heljan are embarking on the manufacture of lesser known locos these days maybe that will follow in due course.

Dapol announced this (NBL class 41) as one of their projects in conjunction with Kernow models.
http://www.dapol.co.uk/index.php?option ... &Itemid=64

[Metadyneman]

That's a shame... it means it'll be way out of my price range! There is so much the manufacturers can extract from my wallet. I'm really getting a bit fed up with the super detail one offs at vastly unaffordable prices. Still I suppose if there is a market for them at that price for those lucky enough to afford them then that is how it is! I just get the feeling that the middle of the road modeller is slowly being priced out.

[Curler Guy]

Wowwee!! a '14, a clayton a '22, a '41, a '53 a new '86, Lion, Kestrel, a Thumper, EPB, CEP and VEP, and NOW a 23??

Looks like I've come back to railway modeling at just the right moment!!

[Curler Guy]

Not to mention Irish stuff too.

Ask people 10 years ago when these would be produced in RR form and they probably would have laughed in your face.
I'm genuinely enjoying this, so, what's next??!!