Class 31, by Accurascale - It's time 2 Brush Up!

[younGGuns7]

Just now, Southernman46 said:

Seeing the size of these ships & ports, I'm always amazed any container makes to to where it's going and not get lost or mis-directed - imagine getting it to the warehouse and breaking the seals to find instead of 100's of Class 31's but 2,000 pairs of patent leather ladies court shoes, multiple sizes ............. 😵

In over 20 years I have never once had the wrong container turn up, considering we will have approx 1500 units this year I don’t think that’s a bad record so far 👍

[Covkid]

2 hours ago, Southernman46 said:

Seeing the size of these ships & ports, I'm always amazed any container makes to to where it's going and not get lost or mis-directed - imagine getting it to the warehouse and breaking the seals to find instead of 100's of Class 31's but 2,000 pairs of patent leather ladies court shoes, multiple sizes ............. 😵

 

2 hours ago, younGGuns7 said:

In over 20 years I have never once had the wrong container turn up, considering we will have approx 1500 units this year I don’t think that’s a bad record so far 👍

 

Well seeing as the container ships moving westbound around the globe will be laden will literally millions of £ or $ of goods, I am confident the owners and shipping lines will know which ship they are on and where on the ship they are.  Obviously the odd slip up would happen but very rare I am guessing.   

[Wayne 56089]

 

Bit of something to whet the appetite for all you awaiting your sound fitted ones.

 

Really looking forward to getting 432 and hoping the wait isn’t much longer. 

[Cabra cement depot]

18 hours ago, younGGuns7 said:

Yep I have spent all week trying to sort inbound containers, some have been stuck in Portugal for 10 days some have transferred in 35 days from India then  can’t get into FLX so have been diverting to Gateway but can’t cover transport then others have just decanted in odd ports, TBH it’s a nightmare and the costs are fluctuating between 7000$to 10000 per 40ft containers 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️ a real issues and with what is happening in the Middle East I can see it getting better, unfortunately the odd poster keeps copying and pasting  the same comment in every Accurascale stream 🤷🏻‍♂️it ain’t going to get any easier and there are going to be some babies disappointed this Xmas 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️🤣🤣

Sounds like I have a kindred spirit. 

 

Fingers crossed to never end up with a container on a two week holiday in the Algarve!

 

 

Edited September 30 by Cabra cement depot

[Swindon 123]

On 29/09/2024 at 10:42, Kirby Uncoupler said:

No Paul, judging by the time on the clock, you and your secondman colleagues would be in the KX model shop in York Way. 😁

Of course I worked in said premises, and lived alongside Holloway Bank, so like you, I was surrounded by Class 31s, I heard them in my sleep. and even before that in the early 70s, used to travel to my school's sport field on a 31 plus sub coaches in the morning. That would be heading back virtually empty, to the carriage sidings at Potter's Bar or Welwyn. If you missed that post 9.30am, it would be a two-car Cravens DMU, and a telling off from the teachers when you got there, the off-peak service was quite sparse (hourly for stoppers?), the afternoon return would usually be an empty 6-car Class 125 formation, heading into Broad Street or KX for the peak-hour.

      I've added one Bachmann 31 to my old Hornby and Lima collection, as a test, but will now hang fire to compare with the new Accura product, from images the cab front looks exquisite.

                                                                                 Cheers, Brian K.

Too early to be over at KX models if we are looking at a late shunt release of the 14:03 York service stock. The morning shunt turn relief didn't book on until 14:30, so about another hour before I'd have been over in the shop asking after 16T mineral wagons. 😄 I still remember those days Brian. Great fun.

 

There has been another suggestion as it being one of the Peterborough stopping services, or "Parleys" as we knew them, but much to early in the day to be one of them, as they were evening rush hour trains, the first being just before 17:00hrs.

 

It could be that 31404 was actually working the 14:03 service to York, and the FP 31's were very capable machines, the 31/4's especially, but FP usually liked to turn out a Deltic or an ETH 47 at least on those trains.

 

Paul J.

[rorz101uk]

1 hour ago, Wayne 56089 said:

 

Bit of something to whet the appetite for all you awaiting your sound fitted ones.

 

Really looking forward to getting 432 and hoping the wait isn’t much longer. 

The sound that is produce when loadbanking is very different when the powered by the Traction motors and when the loco is weakfielding/diverting. Trust me, I’ve heard plenty Class 31 loadbanking plus being travelling fittter with them. 

[Phil Bullock]

16 minutes ago, Swindon 123 said:

Too early to be over at KX models if we are looking at a late shunt release of the 14:03 York service stock. The morning shunt turn relief didn't book on until 14:30, so about another hour before I'd have been over in the shop asking after 16T mineral wagons. 😄 I still remember those days Brian. Great fun.

 

There has been another suggestion as it being one of the Peterborough stopping services, or "Parleys" as we knew them, but much to early in the day to be one of them, as they were evening rush hour trains, the first being just before 17:00hrs.

 

It could be that 31404 was actually working the 14:03 service to York, and the FP 31's were very capable machines, the 31/4's especially, but FP usually liked to turn out a Deltic or an ETH 47 at least on those trains.

 

Paul J.

Hi Paul

 

What do you think made the 34G locos better than the WR ones? 
 

Cheers

 

 Phil

[bradfordbuffer]

1 hour ago, rorz101uk said:

The sound that is produce when loadbanking is very different when the powered by the Traction motors and when the loco is weakfielding/diverting. Trust me, I’ve heard plenty Class 31 loadbanking plus being travelling fittter with them. 

Agree with sound under traction load.... also all the bloody doors are open! You stand next to a xc mtu hst off Nevile Hill as they allways left the engine to rad comp door open....bloody lazy shed drivers...use to drive me crazy! The door was there for a reason shut it!

[russ p]

1 hour ago, rorz101uk said:

The sound that is produce when loadbanking is very different when the powered by the Traction motors and when the loco is weakfielding/diverting. Trust me, I’ve heard plenty Class 31 loadbanking plus being travelling fittter with them. 

 

At least it has a load Rory,  all class 15 sound files I've heard are the preserved one being revved when it was started a few years back so no load whatsoever and not right sound at all. Unless you want to model a loco that won't take power!

[rorz101uk]

8 minutes ago, russ p said:

 

At least it has a load Rory,  all class 15 sound files I've heard are the preserved one being revved when it was started a few years back so no load whatsoever and not right sound at all. Unless you want to model a loco that won't take power!

The sound that is making is just run in the engine ie bearings and the coolant/oil system, when the loco is in service is very different 

[Markwj]

Blue class 31 showing as arrived into stock on the accurascale website.

[Kirby Uncoupler]

3 hours ago, Swindon 123 said:

 

 

It could be that 31404 was actually working the 14:03 service to York, and the FP 31's were very capable machines, the 31/4's especially, but FP usually liked to turn out a Deltic or an ETH 47 at least on those trains.

 

Paul J.

 

Thanks Paul, it's good to hear from you, i'm no longer in London, having moved overseas - , well the Isle Of Wight!

     There's a colour photo in Rail Portfolios 15 - Class 30s & 31s  (IA 1991) page 19, of 31 423 approaching Peterborough on the 17:10 KX to Leeds, deputizing for a Deltic  on Sunday 28th August 1977. The loco is seen pulling a 9-coach air-con rake, and was reportedly only 2 minutes down on the schedule, with "half of the horsepower of a Deltic", and presumably powering the air-conditioning too, although no heating would be required that day.  I understand ETH can be switched on and off, when extra traction power is required, like climbing Holloway Bank.

                                 Cheers, Brian.

[Swindon 123]

2 hours ago, Phil Bullock said:

Hi Paul

 

What do you think made the 34G locos better than the WR ones? 
 

Cheers

 

 Phil

It is hard to say why FP locos had such a good reputation, especially with KX traincrew. Good maintenance most certainly, along with a long association and familiarity with the class. Stratford 31's also had a good reputation for reliability and were used on some very heavy trains on the GE, both passenger and freight.

 

In the five years I was at Kings Cross, they were used on just about everything, from local freight to overnight sleeper trains. They could put in a good turn of speed if left to get on with it, and were surprisingly quick on a long uninterrupted run, but get signal checked, especially in the wrong place like the bottom of a bank, they could loose handfuls of time. Quick off the mark they were not. They were prone to overheating, especially when No 1 end was leading, which led to the experimentation with the fan cowling in the early 80's on 31186, followed be fitting of a cowling to many of the class. Note in my photo of 31186 below, the additional cross bracing on the original experimental cowl, which I don't remember being repeated on the later ones.

 

As a class, they were the most varied in performance terms of any loco I ever worked ono. One day you could work on a loco which put in a solid, powerful performance, followed the net day, as happened to me once, with a loco on a light train, a bullion train in my case that didn't weigh much more than  250tons, and the loco run hot, with high water temperature and the fire bells ringing, despite opening all windows and wedging open the internal doors to try and get cool air through the engine room, from Peterborough to Doncaster, loosing time all the way. Something very frowned upon by control at York. I'm sorry to say Phil it did support your original statement as it was a WR (BR I think) allocated loco, running No1 end first.

 

WR locos weren't the only bad locos though. The week after I passed out on the Class 31 I was booked on an early hours of the morning  turn that involved working to Doncaster, the booked loco being an Immingham allocated Class 31. Of the 5 days I worked the turn, we failed 3 times en route, all 31's, and all with different faults that the fault guides didn't actually cover. They were a bit of an enigma as locos go, and would quite often surprise you on the road with the odd failure that "wasn't in the book".

 

As to your original question as to why the WR locos had such a poor reputation. Fitting staff unfamiliarity with the class, compared to the hydraulics that they had probably originally been trained on. Or probably that when the ER was asked to transfer class 31's to the WR, they took the opportunity to get rid of all their "dud" locos to the Western.

 

Whatever the truth, from my own experiences the Class 31 were a fun, perplexing, and sometimes very frustrating loco class to work on/with. 

 

Paul J.

[MidlandRed]

3 hours ago, Phil Bullock said:

Hi Paul

 

What do you think made the 34G locos better than the WR ones? 
 

Cheers

 

 Phil

An interesting question - maybe an odd thought but did they have a hard act to follow - the NBL hydraulic type 2s (aka D63xx or class 22) had more tractive effort than a King (not sure I’ve ever heard (G)WR fans mention that.

 

Id only ever heard of both the Brush 2 and Derby 2 being described as useless after they appeared on the WR (along with the class 50). The Derby class 2 is mentioned in an adjacent thread concerning ICI hopper trains where they appear to have been far from useless - actually taking 8F/9F loads back in the 60s. Perhaps they were all worn out, perhaps they were used inappropriately or perhaps the drivers and fitters couldn’t get the best out of them - who knows.

 

As I say, interesting question. 
 

Also it’s interesting re the EE Type 4 - I think the first concerns about them occurred on the ex GE (Brentwood??) when they didn’t appear to be as powerful as Britannias - however they ran exactly those trains on the WCML prior to electrification. The full 3000+ hp electric hauled service on the WCML was accelerated and intensified way beyond the pre electrified days in 1967 (way beyond what any preceding type of loco, steam or diesel, could hope to be provided on a daily, reliable basis). 

Edited September 30 by MidlandRed

[Michael Hodgson]

9 minutes ago, Swindon 123 said:

As to your original question as to why the WR locos had such a poor reputation. Fitting staff unfamiliarity with the class, compared to the hydraulics that they had probably originally been trained on.

 

Not invented here syndrome?

[Captain Kernow]

I looked for some P4 wheels for the class 31 on the AS website earlier, but couldn't find any. Would Accurascale kindly advise whether they haven't been put on sale yet or whether I've left it too late, please?

 

Thanks.

 

[Swindon 123]

7 minutes ago, Kirby Uncoupler said:

 

Thanks Paul, it's good to hear from you, i'm no longer in London, having moved overseas - , well the Isle Of Wight!

     There's a colour photo in Rail Portfolios 15 - Class 30s & 31s  (IA 1991) page 19, of 31 423 approaching Peterborough on the 17:10 KX to Leeds, deputizing for a Deltic  on Sunday 28th August 1977. The loco is seen pulling a 9-coach air-con rake, and was reportedly only 2 minutes down on the schedule, with "half of the horsepower of a Deltic", and presumably powering the air-conditioning too, although no heating would be required that day.  I understand ETH can be switched on and off, when extra traction power is required, like climbing Holloway Bank.

                                 Cheers, Brian.

Isle of Wight! That is certainly "over the water" Brian, but a nice place, and I have fond memories of visiting there..

 

The old 31 could do a good stand in on most workings out of "The Cross", and as you say, they could put in some speedy performances if they didn't have to stop anywhere or got signal checked. The evening "Parleys" from KX to Peterborough stopping at Stevenage, Biggleswade then all stations to Peterborough could be a bit of a stagger, but they had appropriate timings to allow for this.

 

I worked a couple of night sleeper trains with one, which was often load 13 to 15 coaches and motorail vans. It was a predictably slow start on those trains, but as they were timed for about 60mph running, and nobody was in a hurry to get anywhere quickly, it didn't matter it was a slow old class 31. the thing you had to watch out for on them was boiler water, which you could top up en-route if needs be, but more importantly boiler fuel, as on the 31's, like the 40's, the boiler fuel was taken from its own dedicated tank, not the main loco fuel tank. i did have a class 31 run out of boiler fuel on one trip, when we were diverted via Lincoln coming back from Doncaster. It took so long that it ran out of boiler fuel south of Peterborough.

 

With regards to switching the ETH off to get more power, on a Class 31/4, the Drover had to switch the ETH on, and could switch it off at will although personally i never thought it made a lot of difference on a 31. You may be thinking of the original 20 "Westinghouse" Class 47's, which originally had a "+" position beyond tha max on the power handle. It was spring loaded, and the driver could push the power handle past the max position to the "+" position and add the ETH power to the traction power, as long as he held the controller against the spring. The  original 20 Class 47's could do this because the had ETH Generators, as opposed to Alternators the rest of the 47/4's had.

 

It is nice to remember the old days. They were so much more interesting.

 

Paul J.

[Chris56057]

Looking forward to seeing the production photos of the Intercity, Regional Railways examples 👍

[GordonC]

15 hours ago, russ p said:

 

At least it has a load Rory,  all class 15 sound files I've heard are the preserved one being revved when it was started a few years back so no load whatsoever and not right sound at all. Unless you want to model a loco that won't take power!

 

to be fair, is that not understandable? You're probably only going to either get revved with no load or very old grainy footage that probably wont sound any better until a certain unique loco is finished.

 

[russ p]

1 hour ago, GordonC said:

 

to be fair, is that not understandable? You're probably only going to either get revved with no load or very old grainy footage that probably wont sound any better until a certain unique loco is finished.

 

 

A mate has a sound fitted one, it sounds awful.  So much so that until there is an accurate class 15 sound file mine are all staying silent 

[NXEA!]

1 hour ago, russ p said:

 

A mate has a sound fitted one, it sounds awful.  So much so that until there is an accurate class 15 sound file mine are all staying silent 

Who provided the sound file? I have the Coastal DCC one and it’s pretty decent, albeit it has the wrong horns. Engine noises sound bang on though. 

[russ p]

1 hour ago, NXEA! said:

Who provided the sound file? I have the Coastal DCC one and it’s pretty decent, albeit it has the wrong horns. Engine noises sound bang on though. 

 

I'll have to have a look at that, people have told me that worked on them they had quite a scream to them

[Krieghoff]

Well, i have 5 Accurascale 31's on order, with two blue ones imminent (apparently😊). I have a competitors class 31 and have already closely inspected it. I will reserve judgement for now and until i have my hands on my ACC 31's. I am indeed looking very enthusiastically to receiving my Accurascale 31's. 

[Michael Hodgson]

On 30/09/2024 at 19:55, Swindon 123 said:

 

The old 31 could do a good stand in on most workings out of "The Cross", and as you say, they could put in some speedy performances if they didn't have to stop anywhere or got signal checked. The evening "Parleys" from KX to Peterborough stopping at Stevenage, Biggleswade then all stations to Peterborough could be a bit of a stagger, but they had appropriate timings to allow for this.

 

That's right - they didn't stop at Hitchin (or at Arlesey, because that had closed shortly after WW2 and the present station hadn't yet been opened)

But it still sometimes made sense for me to catch one of these and change onto a Royston electric at Stevenage

[Kirby Uncoupler]

On 30/09/2024 at 19:43, Captain Kernow said:

I looked for some P4 wheels for the class 31 on the AS website earlier, but couldn't find any. Would Accurascale kindly advise whether they haven't been put on sale yet or whether I've left it too late, please?

 

Thanks.

 

Give it time Captain Tim, they are listed here (below) as "Incoming Stock", but "sold out",  does that mean the EM/P4 brigades have pre-ordered the lot already? (Gnashes teeth😡) Anyway you wouldn't expect spare/alternative wheels in stock, until the intended loco had already started selling in quantity. We wouldn't want a "cart before the horse" situation (old English expression). The expected Class 31 wheelsets are listed lower down here.

https://www.accurascale.com/collections/wheelsets

                                                                                                             Cheers, Brian.