You can see pictures of Alex Bridge in the Layout section, however this only featured a few loco’s, here are the rest.

I intended Alex Bridge to be used for multiple region use, but to date I have only completed the NE Region. Hopefully other regions will follow when time and of course money is available.

All loco’s have detailed buffer beams at both ends, some have had turned brass chimneys to replace the original poor mouldings and most have crews. There are a few with fire irons, but more are needed.

 

This is one of the era’s I run on my garage layout. I really like the loco mix of this period, especially in Scotland. They range from SWP green to the latest blue painted loco’s. All loco’s are Heljan and Bachmann, some renumbered, a few with repainted warning panels and all with detailed buffer beams one end and tension locks at the other. I would have loved to photograph these loco’s on trains of carriages and wagons but sadly my garage has no windows and is very dark. I do not consider myself a very good photographer and struggle even with my eight year old digital camera, also when it comes to lighting a scene, I am lost!!

There is a mix of weathering ranging from spray, dry brushing and weathering powders. I have to say the Heljan weather much better than the Bachmann. Sadly the Bachmann around this time suffered from over oiling/lubrication in many cases and this does not help weathering. I tried to clean all bogie sides with thinners to help neutralise the problem, but it still seems to seep out for years to come. I guess a complete strip down and re-assembly is really required, sadly I had neither the time or the inclination. I have not seen this problem on new Bachmann Loco’s for the last five years or so.

Over the years many people have asked me to heavily weather steam loco’s. I usually tell them that I can do that, but for my own stock I usually stick at medium weathering. I like to read the numbers and plates after weathering, just my preference. I usually use a scale of one to ten, ten being absolute filth. I do my loco’s up to about six or seven.

I also try to encourage people to vary the degree of weathering, having ten loco’s all heavily weathered is not good. Even towards the end of steam shed pet loco’s always had a little more care than the rest. Add to this nicely clean Railtour loco, and you have your mix.

Below are a mix of loco’s from about four to seven on my scale. All are for a shed layout and have detailed buffer beams both ends. They have mostly been ‘crewed’, coaled and have lamps.

Class 37 are my favourite Loco’s by a mile. I still remember the first ones on the GE section of the Eastern Region back in 1960/61. I can still see them to this day working off Norwich on passenger services.

This is just a preliminary look at a few of my collection and a more detailed look will follow later, especially the detailed Lima variety.

All Loco’s have detailed buffer beam on one end and a tension lock on the other, these are used on my ‘garage’ layout. Most are lightly weathered.

After completing the Freightliner Loco’s for the Depot I decided to add some visiting Loco’s. I now turned to my visits to Ipswich Stabling Point,  then I turned to my Photo Album and came up with four Loco’s. They were as follows.

Anglia Class 47 and Cotswold 47 – These would be to the same specification as the Freightliner 47’s.

A DRS class 37 was also required, this would be 37229, recently named and seen at Ipswich several times. This would be a heavily modified Lima Model with the following alterations.  – Lowered Bogies — Wire hand rails – Windscreen Etch  – Motor strip and rebuild – Roof fan and grill – Extra pickups – Detailed buffer beams –  Flush glaze –  Ultrascale wheels.

The last Loco would be a class 31, I decided it would be a Railtrack loco in their new livery. Here I have to say that the Lima Class 31 body shape is still the best available, although Hornby’s motor/chassis is way superior, they certainly missed a great opportunity with the body. The specification of the Lima 31 would be the same as the 37 above, without a windscreen etch.

 

 

 

 

 

After modelling the 47’s and 57’s for the Depot layout I then added three Class 66’s. Again, at the time Bachmann had not issued its 66. I drew up a specification as follows.

Detail both ends – Ultrascale wheels – Extra pick-ups – extra weight – Renumber/Name – Strip Lima motor and rebuild –

Unlike the 47’s and 57’s I would not repaint the 66’s.

 

At roughly the same time as making the 57’s, I also researched and made four 47’s to different specifications. These were made to join the 57’s on a depot layout I had at the time. These now appear together on my latest depot, Marsh Lane.

The specifications were the same or similar to the Class 57’s, so for the full list, look at that post. This of course excludes the class 57 roof detail/exhaust kit.

Some of these loco’s had some 57 like modifications, sand boxes and extra piping.

47303 is basically the standard Freightliner 47 at the time in original livery.

47309 is an extended tank loco with sand boxes in original livery.

47270 is an extended tank loco with sand boxes in Freightliner Green (as 57)

47805 is a standard extended tank loco, Ex Virgin Cross Country with Freightliner flashes.

 

 

 

The starting point for this conversion was the Lima 47, and these notes describe what  was changed to convert to a true 57. Lima did make a so called 57, but this was in fact a 47 painted as a 57!!!!!

Shawplan class 57 roof kit – Shawplan Class 47/57 cut away buffer kit – Shawplan  roof fan and grill kit – Fox transfers – Ultrascale Wheels – Wire Handrails – Amended Fuel tanks –  Add extra pipes on bogies – Fit extra pickups – Strip and rebuild Lima Motor –  SE Flush Glaze – Add extra weight – Amend centre body doors – add cab to shore radio aerials – Body windows inside pipework- Shawplan sand boxes – Buffer Beam details both ends .

I made these way before Bachmann decided to make their model of the 57. These were the days that modelling was modelling and not just opening a box of your chosen loco/Livery. I find that the research is a pleasure and to find slight differences between loco’s of the same class is worthwhile, these are sometimes missed by the manufacturers.

I would not call this an easy or quick conversion, but it is rewarding. Taking a razor saw to a model can be a bit daunting, but at least in those days Lima were very reasonably priced and second-hand bargains were plentiful.

I made three loco’s at the same time to set up a mini production line. There are detailed differences between the three, some obvious, others more subtle.