Silver Sidelines

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...

Before continuing with my journey around the layout I thought I would share a few pictures of the Main Junction Station populated with some rolling stock that might have graced the north east of England in the 1960s. Bachmann Mk1 Pullmans, Hornby L1 and Bachmann WD 2-8-0 The original theme of the layout is BR (LMR/WR) perhaps near Chester or there again maybe Shrewsbury or even somewhere further south. However I also have fond memories of growing up in north east England and with the availability of so many splendid ready to run models I have indulged in a few north eastern and Scottish types. Coincidentally the buildings for the Main Junction Station are those early Hornby Skaledale models based on Goathland on the North York Moors Railway. This was done purely for convenience until I can construct some more appropriate types. So some views with north eastern rolling stock should be a good fit. Bachmann V2 60964 suitably weighted and with blackened wheels First a vie...

I noticed a thread this last week asking if anyone had comments on the ‘new’ Bachmann A4s – I like mine! I have fond memories of A4s speeding past Darlington Station hauling the Elizabethan.   So it did not take much persuasion for me to buy one of Bachmann’s A4s with a new chassis.   Initial impressions are of a well engineered model that I think looks the part and compares very favourably with the latest Bachmann A1s and A2s. Bachmann A4 DCC Ready Chassis Out of the box with a weight of around 335gm the engine is I feel a bit lightweight.   The motor has lots of power but when hauling seven coaches on my steep gradients there was too much wheel spin.   The reason for the low weight is obvious – there is big gap for a decoder.   Yes I removed the front bogie and Cartazzi axle springs but there was still a lot of wheel spin. With so much space it is relatively straight forward to add extra ballast in the shape of lead sho...