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

[Michael Hodgson]

12 hours ago, 45125 said:

They were allocated at various places, but the actual trip cock was removed on the majority that weren't allocated to Finsbury Park. The trip cock was often isolated on FP locos not required to work over LT etc.

Why?  It won't be actuated elsewhere - except perhaps by some sort of debris one the track?

[derekdoestrains]

10 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

except perhaps by some sort of debris one the track?

exactly that reason… high ballast shoulders can trip them… had issues a few years back with a hired in unit that kept getting tripped!

[RANGERS]

14 hours ago, Mark C said:

 

I'm trying to resist, but slowly failing - they weren't associated with Norfolk - where my 31s are destined to ply their trade and more suited to B/G corridor Mk.1s, grain wagons etc - but resistance is futile, I know!!

 

There’s at least one photo of a Kings X set on an excursion train to Skegness, baby Deltic on the front IIRC, so why not a similar trip to Hunstanton, Cromer or Gt Yarmouth? 

[45125]

48 minutes ago, derekdoestrains said:

exactly that reason… high ballast shoulders can trip them… had issues a few years back with a hired in unit that kept getting tripped!

Spot on there. The rest of the pipe work was still there. On the secondmans side a 2" pipe would be seen poking down from behind the valance to about 6" above railhead with the trip cock removed. The isolated cock(yellow Handle) would be in the horizontal position and secured .

[Kirby Uncoupler]

There was a trip-cock tester device at King's Cross York Road platform, for incoming service trains, dunnow how it worked?.If a Class 31 or Craven DMU failed the test, they could be shunted out of the way into KX platform 1, hence the additional pointwork. As an aside, there were also curious and confusing LT signals at KX York Road, arranged around the tunnel mouth, possibly in duplicate, or as repeaters, where BR handed over to the Widened Lines section.

    I presume with a multiple of Craven units in a train, only the front trip cock was active, the rest being isolated, except for the rearmost in reverse, for the return journey?   

                                                                                Cheers, Brian.

[Mark C]

1 hour ago, RANGERS said:

There’s at least one photo of a Kings X set on an excursion train to Skegness, baby Deltic on the front IIRC, so why not a similar trip to Hunstanton, Cromer or Gt Yarmouth? 

Thank you - good thinking...I've got a set in my AS basket and a finger hovering over Pay Now...

[Izzy]

22 hours ago, Southernman46 said:

Not seen an AS alongside a Hornby one yet - that'll be an interesting "comparison" as the AS loco is streets ahead but be interesting to see how the Hornby version stands up.

I’d be interested to see a comparison sometime with both Hornby models, the full fat and the ex Lima, the latter being better in many respects. No doubt the AS is a step up all round but it would be informative.

 

Bob

[Roy Langridge]

For me the improvement is massive, and it is hard to say why. I got the first of my three Accurascale 31s out its box and it just shouts Ped at you - it looks so right in a way nothing has before. 
 

Roy

[Albie the plumber]

Personally,  I found both the Lima and super detailed Hornby 31 to be very good models for their time .

They were very well recieved in the model railway press .

I don't recall anyone complaining. 

The working fan running off a belt is  sneered at now but was widely commended then and I never had any trouble with them .

Of course everyone likes a better model with better features and 

I'm looking forward to the imminent arrival of 5544 early next week and the green version soon after but I won't spend precious modelling time comparing them with pics on the Internet. 

They look like a '31 as does my Bachmann version and also my Hornby skinhead which will run alongside them and is a respectable model in its own right .

[SR Chris]

6 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

In lieu of a proper East Anglian example from A/S, is it possible to remove the trip cock detailing bits from the locos ? 

I'm waiting on the GSYP versions for an East Anglian project. Though I don't class myself as a rivet counter bore, this is making me wary of acquiring one until Accurascale do release a bone fide East Anglian based loco, as in a GSYP  one but without the trip cock malarkey. 

 

Rob

 

Out of the box ...

Tripcock fitted:

 

Not tripcock fitted:

 

I reckon if you paint the handle black no-one would notice the difference unless they were really looking for it.

[NXEA!]

46 minutes ago, Albie the plumber said:

Personally,  I found both the Lima and super detailed Hornby 31 to be very good models for their time .

They were very well recieved in the model railway press .

I don't recall anyone complaining. 

The working fan running off a belt is  sneered at now but was widely commended then and I never had any trouble with them .

Of course everyone likes a better model with better features and 

I'm looking forward to the imminent arrival of 5544 early next week and the green version soon after but I won't spend precious modelling time comparing them with pics on the Internet. 

They look like a '31 as does my Bachmann version and also my Hornby skinhead which will run alongside them and is a respectable model in its own right .

Agree, I really like the Hornby model and

will be keeping my single example - simplistically, if it looks like a 31 to me, it is a 31! It’s got a very good level of finesse, lights and sound and is an excellent runner.
 

That said, I have an A/S one on order, and as I’ve not purchased anything from A/S before I’m very excited to receive mine and see what all the fuss is about!

[Mark C]

37 minutes ago, SR Chris said:

 

Out of the box ...

Tripcock fitted:

 

Not tripcock fitted:

 

I reckon if you paint the handle black no-one would notice the difference unless they were really looking for it.

 

Looking at mine, that seems to be the only difference.   As you say, you can overpaint the handles - whilst filling the recess after removing them would be a straightforward job too.

 

 

[Matt C]

On 11/10/2024 at 10:13, shunny said:

If you look at this image there no sticking up handles on the centre roof panels.

 

And yet on the pictures of 5631 and 5831 posted I can clearly see sticky up handles ? The photo that you posted looks to be a more modern livery so maybe the handles were removed during some refurbishment  work ? I'm  definately no expert BTW just saying what I see. As to the degree of stickyupyness on the model as opposed to the real thing......... it looks OK to me, but as I said, I'm  no expert 🙃

[Amnesiac]

31432 arrived today for me which is also my first Accurascale model (N gauge modeller here mostly). Very glad I purchased it and a very well executed model of possibly my favourite class of locomotive! 

[Southernman46]

2 hours ago, NXEA! said:

Agree, I really like the Hornby model and

will be keeping my single example - simplistically, if it looks like a 31 to me, it is a 31! It’s got a very good level of finesse, lights and sound and is an excellent runner.

Agreed - did some side by side staring today - I'm keeping me Hornby ones too - going to be A LOT of double-heading 👍

[Swindon 123]

8 hours ago, Kirby Uncoupler said:

There was a trip-cock tester device at King's Cross York Road platform, for incoming service trains, dunnow how it worked?.If a Class 31 or Craven DMU failed the test, they could be shunted out of the way into KX platform 1, hence the additional pointwork. As an aside, there were also curious and confusing LT signals at KX York Road, arranged around the tunnel mouth, possibly in duplicate, or as repeaters, where BR handed over to the Widened Lines section.

    I presume with a multiple of Craven units in a train, only the front trip cock was active, the rest being isolated, except for the rearmost in reverse, for the return journey?   

                                                                                Cheers, Brian.

From the information I gleaned from various  fellow traincrew who were at "The Cross", the following is how the tripcock tester was supposed to work.

 

"At York Road = Drop the tripcock. Also supposed to open the aircock but this was rarely done. The tripcock would activate the "OK" signal at Kings Cross Met. If this didn't light up you were supposed to stop and check the tripcock again.

At Moorgate = When changing ends, drop the tripcock as before. No need to raise the tripcock at what would become the trailing end."

 

Even during the Class 313 era there was a tripcock tester as trains left Finsbury Park station and traversed the line to Drayton Park. If the trip cock failed to operate correctly the signal at the end of Drayton Park platform couldn't be cleared, and the train would have to return to Finsbury Park from there.

 

Paul J.

 

[NXEA!]

14 minutes ago, Southernman46 said:

Agreed - did some side by side staring today - I'm keeping me Hornby ones too - going to be A LOT of double-heading 👍

Can you post some pictures showing side by side comparisons please? 

[NXEA!]

17 minutes ago, Swindon 123 said:

Even during the Class 313 era there was a tripcock tester as trains left Finsbury Park station and traversed the line to Drayton Park. If the trip cock failed to operate correctly the signal at the end of Drayton Park platform couldn't be cleared, and the train would have to return to Finsbury Park from there.

 

Paul J.

 

You did get the occasional non-313 visitor to Drayton Park, although photos are rare. One of my favourite classes, albeit in the privatisation era: 

 

 

Edited October 12 by NXEA!

[stewartingram]

Ugh. 317s, my least favourite cattle trucks. Awful things, especially after a 12hr night shift on the tube in winter. 1st early moning departure from the suburban side, all stations to Huntingdon with no heat draughtsn noisy doors and door alarms, no comfort and a dreadful ride. How anyone could actually like them I'll never know.

[Pendle Forest]

12 minutes ago, stewartingram said:

Ugh. 317s, my least favourite cattle trucks. Awful things, especially after a 12hr night shift on the tube in winter. 1st early moning departure from the suburban side, all stations to Huntingdon with no heat draughtsn noisy doors and door alarms, no comfort and a dreadful ride. How anyone could actually like them I'll never know.

Try a 142 at any hour... ur 317s were luxury ;)

[stewartingram]

Not a proper train, but I have tried all Pacers and not found them as hateful as a 317.

[Albie the plumber]

1 hour ago, stewartingram said:

Ugh. 317s, my least favourite cattle trucks. Awful things, especially after a 12hr night shift on the tube in winter. 1st early moning departure from the suburban side, all stations to Huntingdon with no heat draughtsn noisy doors and door alarms, no comfort and a dreadful ride. How anyone could actually like them I'll never know.

Not to mention it possessing the aerodynamics of a brick .

Am i right in thinking they are being towed for scrap to Sims metals in my neck of the woods ?

[ptrickf]

Anyone had issues with the stayalive? I have 5544 which is wonderful but there is no evidence of any stayalive working, i.e. as soon as I remove power it stops dead. It's very easy to remove the body so I'm hoping someone has and can tell me what&where to look for to the physical capacitors?. I also wonder if I have inadvertently switched it off somehow. In DecoderPro I can see it as AUX11 in the function mapping for stopped & moving, and I can see AUX12 as PowerPack control in the function outputs but AUX11 is shown as dimmable headlight which I think is just the default setting. I will ask Accurascale directly but I imagine (hope) that they take some time off at weekends.

Cheers, Patrick

[McC]

12 minutes ago, ptrickf said:

Anyone had issues with the stayalive? I have 5544 which is wonderful but there is no evidence of any stayalive working, i.e. as soon as I remove power it stops dead. It's very easy to remove the body so I'm hoping someone has and can tell me what&where to look for to the physical capacitors?. I also wonder if I have inadvertently switched it off somehow. In DecoderPro I can see it as AUX11 in the function mapping for stopped & moving, and I can see AUX12 as PowerPack control in the function outputs but AUX11 is shown as dimmable headlight which I think is just the default setting. I will ask Accurascale directly but I imagine (hope) that they take some time off at weekends.

Cheers, Patrick

Once track voltage is around 14v or more it should auto charge and just work. Worth a decoder reset to remove any possible issue otherwise. 

[robertcwp]

My 5644 arrived on Thursday and 31 402 yesterday. Both from Rails. One came Parcelforce with my Mark 1 non-gangwayed stock and the other by Royal Mail which took a day longer although both listed as despatched on the same day.  They were separate orders as 31 402 was a late addition. They are very impressive models and ran very well straight from the box on my DC layout. 

 

I'm not planning to replace my large Hornby fleet other than the duds but I particularly welcome the pre-TOPS blue and green with full yellow ends liveries as Hornby basically ignored that period completely and Bachmann barely touch it.

 

Apologies if it's already been covered but has anyone worked out how to change the headcodes? I would like to change 31 402 to domino or 0O00 rather than the full codes it displays, although this is a very minor point. 

 

One like this would be good for the second batch:

 

5528_1970 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

 

Or this:

 

5688_Slough_4-73 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

 

Or this:

 

5692_Paddington_1-12-73 by Robert Carroll, on Flickr

 

Or this:

 

D5524_HaughleyJ by Robert Carroll, on Flickr