Silver Sidelines

“It’s a Semi!” I am sure that is what young train spotters used to shout in 1959 at the sight of a Coronation Class Pacific. I am guessing, ‘Semi’ because it had been semi streamlined as opposed to fully streamlined like the ‘streaks’ (A4s) on the East Coast Mainline. East meets West (or Streaks and Semis) The’ Coronations’ were introduced by Sir William Stanier in 1937, the same year as the coronation of George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon with the first member of the class named ‘Coronation’. The locomotives were the logical development of the earlier ‘Princess’ Class and initially all the original Coronations were streamlined, with the exception of 46230-4 / 49-55. The streamlining was gradually removed from 1946; 46243 (City of Lancaster) being the last member of the Class to have its streamlining removed in 1949. In 1947 George Ivatt (Stanier’s successor) added two further locomotives to the Class (46256-7). These last two members of the Class were never streamlin...

Continuing with my north east themed running sessions I have unboxed Bachmann’s 15th Anniversary Set. Bachmann D396 and 60143 Bachmann marketed the set in 2004 to celebrate the first 15 years of Bachmann Branchline (1989 to 2004). The set comprises two Gateshead shedded locomotives, A1 Pacific 60143 Sir Walter Scott and D396 Type 4 English Electric Diesel (later Class 40). Both locomotives are of types that would have hauled the Tees-Tyne Pullman around 1960. Bachmann 15th Anniversary Edition Set Interestingly the Limited Edition Certificate contained in the set and shown below details the Type 4 locomotive as being D369 in contrast to D396 which was actually provided in the set. Bachmann 15th Anniversary Edition Set – close up of certificate Coming from the north east of England I am well pleased with Bachmann’s choice of models. However I have not found any obvious link between the Tees-Tyne Pullman and Bachmann Branchline’s...

As Autumn approaches it is time to put the garden to bed and to come inside and play trains. I am revisiting the north east of England in the early 1960s and I have resurrected my Bachmann Elizabethan train set. The splendid wooden box contains a model of 60017 Silver Fox with late crest and six maroon Thompson coaches. For use on my layout I had already added some extra lead ballast to the engine as detailed here in an earlier Post . A4 60017 Silver Fox heading the Elizabethan Firstly a little bit of history. Bachmann marketed ‘The Elizabethan’ to mark the fifth anniversary of Bachmann Branchline. I calculate that the set dates from 1995. Bachmann Elizabethan 31-1995 In 1970 the model train manufacturer Trix had produced an 'OO' scale model A4. In 1974 it was re-branded as a Liliput model. Kader, Bachmann's parent company, bought Liliput in 1993 and according to the entry on Wikipedia modified the Liliput A4 to produce their Bachman...

My last post dealt with Hornby’s latest King George I engine and I finished with the question, what about some sound on DC? The Hornby TTS digital chip allows running on both digital and analogue DC layouts but does not provide sound on analogue DC. At the time of my last Post I had removed the Hornby TTS chip and speaker and was running the engine on analogue DC with an eight pin blanking plate. Hornby King George I King George was purchased at a discount and now I have felt able to invest in a digital sound chip that will produce sound on analogue DC. A LokSound Micro chip was purchased from Coastal DCC loaded with their own Sound Project for a King. My previous Blog Post concerned the running qualities of Hornby’s latest King George I. The current Post covers the operation of the King fitted with a LokSound Micro digital sound decoder. Hornby King George I – replacement LokSound Micro The 28mm speaker supplied by Coastal DCC had a slightly differe...