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A Western for the Broader Gauge.
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by John Sherratt
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Really, I don’t remember very well the ‘Westerns’ in service; they were almost before my time. I think
I only ever saw three members of the class in action on BR, when I stayed a weekend in Bath, just before
their withdrawal. However, I have always had a soft spot for their distinctive styling, and so my interest
was caught when I read about the forthcoming model from Heljan after the generally good reviews given to
their Class 47.
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Although I did not manage to get to the Warley show in December 2004, I was able to nip out for a quick
visit to a swapmeet at the Stafford County Showground that was on the same weekend, just down the road from
where I live. There I was pleasantly surprised to see a pile of boxes containing the new Western, on several
stands. The piles seemed to be going down steadily, so after thinking carefully about this for around 40
seconds out came the wallet, and I went home with a model of D1015 in Golden Ochre, courtesy of Trainlines of
Derby.
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Now, I don’t claim to be an expert on the Westerns, or any of the other diesel hydraulics for that matter,
and I haven’t held the model up against a drawing or a big collection of photographs. So, I stand to be
corrected by any real experts, but to me, this is a very nice model that really captures the feel of the real
thing and is, certainly to my way of looking at it, a big improvement on the models that have gone before.
Anybody wanting to know more about this class, would most likely find a useful starting point in the article
by Allan Sibley in MRJ on improving the old Lima model.
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Conversion Pack.
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The following day I contacted Ultrascale to ask about a wheel conversion kit for the Western, and I was
lucky enough to get an early set of wheels from them to test. What you get in the bag from Ultrascale, is
a complete set of six axles, with a pack of spacing washers to move out the bogie sideframe to accommodate
the wider gauge. The Heljan model is powered on four axles, this being the outer axle on each bogie; the
middle axle just goes along for the ride. The Ultrascale wheels come with a gear wheel already fitted to
each of the four driven axles, so you do not have to worry about dismantling the 00-gauge axles and fitting
the gear off them on to the 18.83 mm axle. I always check the back-to-back of any wheels before using them
– here I found that one axle was just a little “wide” on gauge, though that was easy enough to put right
with a twist and tweak.
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For me, the longest part of the conversion was working out how to remove the keeper plate from the bogie
to get out the 00 wheels and axles, but this is probably down to me being a bit dim! I found out you do not
have to remove the bogie from the underframe, though it does help if you take the body off the underframe.
Aside from anything else, it would probably be a good idea to do this in order to avoid damaging the paintwork.
You will need to pull off the bogie sideframes: these are just a push fit on to two spigots on the side of
the bogie, so can be pulled off quite easily.
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I found that if you slip a narrow screwdriver down from above, through the gap in the underframe casting
that takes the bogie, it is quite easy to prise open and undo the clips on the keeper plate that hold it in
place, on the bogie moulding. You can then lightly pull the keeper plate up, by putting your thumbnail
under it at the end of the bogie. This is probably easier to do than describe, and once I had worked out
how to do it, the second bogie only took me about 10 minutes to convert.
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Before conversion.
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Conversion fitted.
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Once you have taken the 00 wheels out, you will need to bend the pick-up strips out a little, so they bear
on the back of the new Ultrascale 18.83 mm wheels. This is a matter of trial and error and probably best done
with a fine pair of tweezers. The backs of the Ultrascale wheels are all-metal, so you do not have to be too
exact with your “aim” in adjusting the pick-ups; anywhere on the back of the wheels should be fine. Once you
have done this, all you need to do is to clip the keeper plate back on the bogie to hold the new wheels in.
I did not actually use the spacing washers to pack out the bogie side detail, as I found this moved the brake
shoes further out from the wheels – though it is an easy enough job to add them later, if this turns out to
be necessary.
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One minor note of caution – I have not yet had time to try adding the extra brake detail that comes in the
box with the model from Heljan. I suspect that if you try to fit this unmodified to the model, it may score
a direct hit on the valance on the body when the loco is on anything other than very easy curves. I plan on
checking this out as soon as I have a little more time.
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In summary, a very quick and easy conversion to P4.
I have done a few conversions to P4 of ready-to-run, including the Hornby Black 5, and the Bachmann Pannier,
Class 08 Shunter, Class 24, and even, going back quite a while, the Lima Class 40 and Dapol Pug.
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Of these, I would say the Heljan Western with the wheels from Ultrascale is probably the quickest and easiest
to do. It might not be ready-to-run P4, but it’s not far off.
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The test run.
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A few days later, I went to the clubrooms of the Manchester Model Railway Society for their pre-Christmas social
afternoon and was able to give D1015 a good test run on Slattocks, the P4 layout that is under construction there.
I had not given D1015 a run at all in its 00 form, but I need not have worried, as it turns out to be a very
smooth and steady runner with a steady range of speed from a slow crawl to a quite respectable top speed.
It looked very fine, I thought, as it lapped Slattocks with a rake of Bachmann Mk1 coaches, courtesy of fellow
member Andy, and powered past the seasonal scenery.
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Full price details for the conversion packs can be found in the 'Conversion packs'
section of the
Ultrascale products catalogue
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