This is a story of delight turning to horror. Between us my friend and I had ordered four of the just released Class 31 from Heljan in O Gauge. Imagine my horror when on opening the boxes and finding three of them damaged because of poor packaging. This was the first time I have ever had damage on a Heljan loco (although I know others that had) and immediately rang my supplier, sadly I seemed to be one of many, I was asked to return the three damaged locos for replacements. After testing the locos all were excellent runners – I made the decision that I was going to do the repairs myself and I asked for a discount from the supplier/Heljan – I was refused as it was not Heljan policy. I thought that was an awful decision but decided to keep and repair anyway as the replacements could have the same problems.

The damage on these loco included – Buffers torn off, bogie sides loose, Buffer Beam details fallen off, bogie ends missing and couplings broken. I have now repaired the lot and now have excellent locos, I guess it took me about two hours and I am happy.

The photos below show the finished Locos, the one that was not damaged and a 37 that I am also doing. They all need to be varnished (over the transfers) and then weathered.