No.101 North East Nostalgia – the arrival of Bachmann Class 101 DMU

I grew up in Middlesbrough and for a couple of years around 1960 I used to go ‘train spotting’, mostly to Darlington but occasionally up to Newcastle and even sometimes across to Carlisle (age about 12ish!). When it was announced that Bachmann would be producing a green whiskered Metro-Cammell DMU destinations Newcastle/Middlesbrough I would have to buy one.


Bachmann Class 101 with whiskers

My DMU has arrived and I am delighted.

Bachmann Class 101 arrived

I might even have travelled on the Prototype.


Metro-Cammel DMUs resting at Darlington c 1961


Bachmann Class 101 in the north east

Out of the box I would have preferred the units to be coupled together more closely.

Using the Bachmann Class 101 drawbar

However Alun Hughes (RMweb) suggested that I replace the Class 101 coupling bar with a Class 150 bar (Bachmann part number 36-062) – thank you Alun.

Using the Bachmann Class 150 drawbar

The improvement is immediate – and yes the DMU can still negotiate a Peco medium radius crossover.

Class 150 top, Class 101 bottom

A comparison of the two coupling bars shows that the Class 150 bar is 11mm between mountings, whilst the Class 101 bar is 15mm. The picture also shows the copper connectors that are contained within the coupling bar which are needed to maintain the operation of the lighting units in the trailing car. This way when running under digital control only one chip is needed for the two car unit. The presence of the wiring also explains why I couldn’t just use a simple coupling bar cut from some nickel silver rail – as used on my Class 108 units.

1961 British Railways North Eastern Timetable

I am sometimes surprised to find what I have kept – one North Eastern timetable – 53 years old.

Table 42 Middlesbrough / Newcastle

For those of you with a more detailed interest I have loaded all the relevant pages on toFlickr. 

As an aside I am amused to see that in 1961 you could commute from Guisborough in North Yorkshire using a through train to Newcastle (if you didn’t mind arriving for elevenses!). It really is quite sobering to see how many stations and lines have disappeared – many of which would now be very useful.

The train is waiting – sorry must dash before I miss it.

Bachmann Class 101 with whiskers

Addenda

I have just remembered - I do believe that I had a trip on a 101 on the Wensleydale Railway in 2008.
Wensleydale Railway October 2008

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