Best Class 31?

"Brian Watson" wrote

Mainline never produced a class 31. They were variously produced in

00-scale first by Tri-ang, then Hornby, Airfix and finally Lima, although it was alleged that some were also produced by Dapol using the Airfix tooling, but I have no evidence of to back this up.

John.

"Adam Warr" wrote

It (the class 31 diesel) did indeed appear in one (or more) of their catalogues, and I heard it rumoured that one or two shops did get some, but I'm rather sceptical of that.

John.

Pretty much the same mechanical configuration as the old Tri-ang power bogie, but by heck, could it pull, especially with a bit of extra lead!!

Cheers, Mick

Sorry, my error. They were the Airfix and Tri-ang versions there as well as Lima's.

-- Brian "Stuck down a hole, in the fog, in the middle of the night, with an owl."

So, Airfix or Tri-ang versions are recommended, but not the Lima version?

-- Brian "Stuck down a hole, in the fog, in the middle of the night, with an owl."

The Triang one is definately not recommended, the wheels and motors are appalling.

I recommend the Lima 31, unless you want an original type 31, then you can go for the Airfix.

Alan

"Brian Watson" wrote

Certainly not what I was implying. I'd categorically forget the Tri-ang or Tri-ang/Hornby versions, and select from the Airfix or Lima models.

If you can find a *good* Airfix version (you'll know it's good because it will run quietly and smoothly) then I think it would just about have the nod over the Lima version in my opinion. Neither are perfect, just the best currently available.

John.

OK, thank you John.

-- Brian "Stuck down a hole, in the fog, in the middle of the night, with an owl."

Shame really; from memory the bodywork was pretty good, even featuring a Brush works plate on the cab side! The Airfix one, as people have said, was let down a bit by as it used dummy centre wheels on the power bogie (as did Tri-ang). Not sure why they went for this set-up when the Scot, 4F and Castle managed perfectly well with (genuinely!) 6-wheeled 'pancake' power units in their tenders.

David E. Belcher

I can confirm that - I've got my Tri-ang D5572 (green, headcode 9D80) and it's a nice model in terms of the bodywork, with small but perfectly readable Brush plates[1] on either side of one cab - not bad considering the age! The "magnadesion"(sp?) wheels on the motor bogie give it good traction, and it manages a decent speed - while being the oldest loco I've got, it still runs regularly. The let-downs are the noise of the motor and the compromise with the centre wheels on the motor bogie. Still, given the age, not a bad model, and always easy to pick on ebay at a decent price - has anyone ever fitted an alternative motor to one of these? Looking at mine, it doesn't look like an easy task...

[1] - I hadn't noticed those until today!

--

*** *** - updated 19 August Rich Mackin (rich-at-richmackin.co.uk)

The Tri-Ang body shell is excellent. No fear of losing the buffers as they're part of the same moulding and the transfers on mine are still intact after nealry 40 years.

The roof moulding is very crude - especially if you have a poor example like I do - and tends to be squashed in the middle due to overenthusiastic tightening of the retaining screw at Margate.

Even allowing for the dummy centre wheels on the drive bogie, the bogies bear little resemblance to the real thing. The steamroller width wheels will tear any modern pointwork to shreds. They can be replaced with drop-in sets from Ultrascale but these will cost more than than the original model.

Low speed control is non existant, 0-200mph in half a second.

The Airfix body blows the Tri-Ang model out of the water and the Lima has much more realistic bogies although up till now no one has attempted to replicate the smaller diameter centre wheels.

I was hoping Heljan would produce a Class 31 with illuminated headcode box to match their Class 47 but they don't seem to be interested.

kim