No. 149 A Deltic Dalliance

The English Electric Deltic has long been popular with railway enthusiasts. It was a hugely powerful locomotive with a particularly evocative exhaust note, characteristic of its 18 cylinder two – stroke diesel engines. Production units began to appear in 1961 and ran initially in two tone green livery without names or yellow warning panels.


D9002 – without name and warning panels 1961



It was about this time that I was ceasing to collect engine numbers. Notes inside the rear cover of my Ian Allan ABC book shows that I ‘spotted’ D9003 and D9004. From memory, I saw these locomotives speeding past the outside of Darlington Station on the ‘non-stop’.



Train Spotting in 1961



The availability of some good quality old Bachmann models has prompted me to add to and reorganise my fleet of Deltics. There is a view below of my models of D9003 and D9004 with names and small yellow warning panels as running perhaps as early as 1962.


Early model Bachmann Deltics, ‘D9003’ Meld and ‘D9004’ Queen’s Own Highlander



I should comment that my model of QoH has slightly different shades of green and yellow to any of my other Bachmann Deltics. I do believe it is the oldest of my Deltic models, dating I think from 2002. Perhaps this particular model has seen too much sun light?



Sometime after 2008 (the date printed on the internal circuit boards), Bachmann updated their Deltic models. The models were given a new chassis with a 21 pin decoder socket, six wheel drive bogies (and pick ups) and cab and directional lighting. The latter required that the dummy moulded red running lights were drilled out and a light bar fitted internally. The only other change to the body shell that I am aware of, was the use of etched grills to the cooling fans in place of the previously used woven wire.


Deltc Chassis, 8 pin (bottom), later 21 pin with lights (top)



Bachmann Deltic early four wheel drive bogie – note difference in wheel profile at the front end

Bachmann Deltic later six wheel drive bogie - note difference in wheel profile at the front end


Grills to fans, later etched (top), early woven (bottom)



A little bit of history. At 69’-6” long the production Deltics were big, being longer than the longest Mk1 coaches with their 63’-6” underframes. Since the Deltics were designed to haul the fastest and most prestigious trains on the East Coast Mainline this excessive length would only have been an issue at the old steam depots used for servicing. By the early 1960s steam was being phased out and a discrete number of new servicing depots for diesel engines were under construction with presumably suitable track layouts. However for railway modellers, the 27.8mm scale length over the buffers causes a distinct practical issue. With overscale flanges and a rigid wheel base to individual bogies, the wheels catch the underside of the inward flared bodywork when negotiating train set curves. It is interesting to see how different manufacturers have approached this problem. For example Hornby Dublo solved the ‘train set’ curve issue back in 1960 by lopping a couple of inches off the length of their model. Lima on the other hand produced their model of Meld at the reduced scale of 3.5mm to the foot with seemingly distinctly underscale diameter wheels. There is an Appendix at the end of this Post with a couple of pictures of the Hornby Dublo and the Lima models taken with the permission of Hattons from their web site.


Hornby Dublo news item, Railway Modeller December 1960



Whilst researching pictures for this article I came across a lovely period news item in the December 1960 Railway Modeller (and why wasn't the lady referenced?). As is still the case at Christmas time, manufacturers were showcasing their forthcoming products. Hornby Dublo were advertising the forthcoming launch of their model Deltic in advance of the anticipated launch of the full size locomotives. In addition to the Hornby Dublo model’s unrealistically short length the first models were painted in all over green livery with no lower band. One can only speculate as to whether the production of such a glaringly incorrect model contributed to Hornby Dublo’s demise and sale to Lines Brothers in 1963.



Back to the Bachmann models and how do they accommodate ‘train set’ curves? Bachmann would appear to have adopted a ‘belt and braces’ approach. As already noted above they adopted a narrower profile for the leading bogie wheels. Then in addition, they controversially raised the running height of the model while at the same time thinning the bodywork with ‘cutouts’ in the vicinity of the front and rear bogie wheels.

Deltic D9002 coupled to a Bachmann Mk1
Bachmann Deltic interior

Bachmann Deltic bogie wheel cut outs



The only thing that Bachmann did not do was to provide articulation within the bogie as was used on the old Bachmann / Mainline Class 45 models.



My understanding is that the body can be lowered relatively easily and the model will still negotiate reasonable layout curves. However this is something that I have not undertaken.



There is of course another recent model of the Deltic – Heljan’s DP2.


Heljan DP2 and Bachmann Deltic – 1962?


Heljan DP2 and Bachmann Deltic 0- 1962?



The prototype DP2 appeared in 1962 and is reported as using the chassis and body destined for D9018. So identical externally to a production Deltic. The Hejan model, has the right scale wheels, is the correct scale length and has the right ride height. However in order to navigate train set curves the shape of the nose end of the model has been massaged. It is no longer tapered, and the cab windows are now parallel with the main sides rather than angled inwards in the direction of travel.



Time flies. The sound from a Deltic is nearly as important as the appearance. It was back in 2016 when I wrote a Post about adding sound to D9008 ‘The Green Howards’

https://longsheds.blogspot.com/2016/08/no136-my-deltic-sound-project.html 

As part of my reorganisation I have transferred the ‘sound’ from D9008 to D9002. In the process I have tweaked some of the settings to improve the running on my Analogue DC system.





I have to say that there is only so much sound my ears can stand!



Decent sound requires large speakers and only comes after some serious modification of the Bachmann model. 2019 will be interesting with the promise from Accurascale of a new ready-to-run Deltic with quality on board sound. Space for speakers is being made available by the provision of a smaller heavier tungsten chassis. Interesting times.



Appendix

Images of Past Hornby Dublo and Lima Models, Courtesy of Hattons Ltd

Hornby Dublo Deltic from the 1960s
Lima Deltic from the 1980s - 3.5mm to the foot?

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