Hornby 2 BIL

[andyman7]

My blue NRM one turned up today - although I don't normally bother I'd pre-ordered this one from Hattons in the dark days when both Hornby's pricing and release schedule were all over the place.As it happens I could have saved myself a tenner by buying from one of my regular suppliers. Still, it's nice to have a blue one at last. Now I must write out 100 times 'Hattons isn't always cheaper...' 

[kernowtim]

R3162A BR green back in stock at Hornby for £59.99 inc postage!!

http://www.Hornby.com/shop/last-chance-to-buy/br-2-bil-car-electric-multiple-unit-train-pack.html

1 less now :-)

[SRman]

Blue unit ordered. Unusually for me this is from Rails who emailed me to confirm the VAT-free price as their checkout did't apply it.

 

Jeff - I would be more than happy for you to add a SYP to my green one sometime and possibly with a custom renumbering as well

 

I would be happy to do this for you, Rick, as long as you aren't in too much of a hurry. I tend to take my time doing these things.

 

 

My blue NRM one turned up today - although I don't normally bother I'd pre-ordered this one from Hattons in the dark days when both Hornby's pricing and release schedule were all over the place.As it happens I could have saved myself a tenner by buying from one of my regular suppliers. Still, it's nice to have a blue one at last. Now I must write out 100 times 'Hattons isn't always cheaper...' 

 

I was looking at the prices too. Rails is slightly cheaper than Hattons for the blue BILs.

 

Going slightly off topic, while looking at said prices, I also looked at the 1960s Brighton Belle and Rails is again slightly cheaper than Hattons for the motor/dummy motor pack, but considerably more expensive for the three coach pack. Oddly too, when doing a search for the Belle on Rails' site, the search results showed a higher price for the motor coach pack than when actually clicking on the item and seeing it in detail.

 

I suppose the moral is, check and double-check  the actual shopping cart prices before ordering to make sure you get what you are expecting. 

 

(None of the above is intended as criticism for either trader. I have dealt very happily with both in the past and have had nothing but excellent service from both. Simply, there may be a little bit of human error in some of the inputs into the stock systems - none of us are perfect!)

Edited September 4, 2014 by SRman

[GNR Dave]

Due to lack of space, until recently, I could only collect locos for my display cabinets. Now I have the room for a layout I find my lack of 'working layout knowledge' a tad daunting.

 Sorry if this question sounds stupid but can I run two 2-BILs coupled together for a more prototypical working ? Will having a motor at each end of the formation cause electrical problems with power, points or isolated sections. If so, can one of the motors be removed or replaced with a non powered bogie ? The reason for asking, is the SR units from Kenrow Models at £60 a pop make binning the motors seem much less extravagant. With most RTR coaches costing £30+ these days, at that price it's like the 2-BIL motors are free anyway !  

[Xerces Fobe2]

My Blue 2BIL has arrived really pleased with it 

 

 

 

 

XF

Edited September 5, 2014 by Xerces Fobe2

[phil-b259]

Due to lack of space, until recently, I could only collect locos for my display cabinets. Now I have the room for a layout I find my lack of 'working layout knowledge' a tad daunting.

 Sorry if this question sounds stupid but can I run two 2-BILs coupled together for a more prototypical working ? Will having a motor at each end of the formation cause electrical problems with power, points or isolated sections. If so, can one of the motors be removed or replaced with a non powered bogie ? The reason for asking, is the SR units from Kenrow Models at £60 a pop make binning the motors seem much less extravagant. With most RTR coaches costing £30+ these days, at that price it's like the 2-BIL motors are free anyway !  

 

There is no reason why two motorised units can be coupled together and run under DC or DCC control (Just like you can have double headers with both locos motorised) - The only thing is that because you are now using the same electrical power to supply two motors rather than one, the controller will have to be wound up a bit further compared to if you are only operating a single unit. True if you have DCC then various things can be tweaked to try and 'match' the performance of each motor boogie which will give smoother and less jerky running but ultimately it is not a requirement to run two units together if you wish

Edited September 4, 2014 by phil-b259

[SRman]

Due to lack of space, until recently, I could only collect locos for my display cabinets. Now I have the room for a layout I find my lack of 'working layout knowledge' a tad daunting.

 Sorry if this question sounds stupid but can I run two 2-BILs coupled together for a more prototypical working ? Will having a motor at each end of the formation cause electrical problems with power, points or isolated sections. If so, can one of the motors be removed or replaced with a non powered bogie ? The reason for asking, is the SR units from Kenrow Models at £60 a pop make binning the motors seem much less extravagant. With most RTR coaches costing £30+ these days, at that price it's like the 2-BIL motors are free anyway !  

 

Mine are on DCC but see my post #977 above with a link to a video of two of my three units running as a DCC consist. In this case I have them running with the motors towards the centre of the unit but when I have run three together, at least one unit has to have the motor bogie end separated by at least one coach from the rest of the train - I have experienced no problems with this at all.

 

As Phil said, on DC they will be sharing the same power feed from the controller but most of these units have the same motors and characteristics as each other so no problems should be encountered. If you make sure all units are well run-in, that should also help with smooth multiple running.

[brushman47544]

Sorry if this has already been asked, but is the blue 2090 correct for BR service prior to withdrawal or only as it operated once preserved? Thanks.

[John M Upton]

I run two 2-BILs in multiple, the NRM 2090 green version and the other BR green first release with Kadee number 19 couplings fitted on DC no problems whatsoever.

[Bulleidboy100]

 Kernows appear to have this in stock  R3257 Hornby 2-BIL 2 Car Electric Multiple Unit BR £130.25. This is the one with yellow warning panels on the front. It would appear a number of Hornby items were routed via Calais!

Edited September 5, 2014 by Bulleidboy100

[toboldlygo]

 Kernows appear to have this in stock  R3257 Hornby 2-BIL 2 Car Electric Multiple Unit BR £130.25. This is the one with yellow warning panels on the front. It would appear a number of Hornby items were routed via Calais!

 

According to Kernow's Facebook page it was Carlisle lol 

[Phatbob]

Just picked-up my R3257 2BIL, green, SYP, from my local model shop.  Very nice, lovely paint job etc, but annoyingly it still has the errant motor bogie under the trailer cab.  IIRC we were told by Hornby that this would be fixed for this batch.
Oh well......................

[Bulleidboy100]

According to Kernow's Facebook page it was Carlisle lol 

 

Your right - my mistake. Carlisle, Calais - it's all double Dutch to me.

[Ceptic]

Just picked-up my R3257 2BIL, green, SYP, from my local model shop.  Very nice, lovely paint job etc, but annoyingly it still has the errant motor bogie under the trailer cab.  IIRC we were told by Hornby that this would be fixed for this batch.

Oh well......................

 

I don't beelleeeve it !!....Hornby's blurb / spiel, definitely, stated FYE with correct Trailer pick-up bogie........I dooooo despair !

[Ian Abel]

So I did it - the Hornby special was running soooooooooo long I broke down and ordered another one - 39 QUID after the VAT was taken off AND a voucher I had Is that a deal or what?!?!

Of course it's 20 QUID postage to the US, but still an absolute bargain at 60 QUID delivered by DHL 2-day All things being equal I should get it by mid-week, here's hoping!

 

Questions;

i) I see various suggestions as to how to run them in a consist - which I'll probably do always - is there any preference? Motors innermost, motors on outer ends, I was thinking the latter so there would always be a leading motor no matter which way the consist ran? Or just motor leading on each pair, i.e. motor-dummy-motor-dummy?? This'll be DCC with TCS DP2X-UK decoders in both and Kadee #19s to connect.

ii) Due to the fact BOTH are the R3162A variant, what's the preferred decal source to re-number? - probably be a while but it'll only be ME that will know, too hard to see the numbers for the casual observer to notice they are both the same...

 

Can't wait for the second set to arrive and run a 4-car - whooppeee!!!  

Edited September 7, 2014 by Ian Abel

[SRman]

For renumbering and adding yellow panels on mine, I mainly used Modelmaster and HMRS pressfix or methfix ones, the latter particularly for the black end unit numbers on the full yellow end one.

 

The first class '1' numerals for the doors on the green NRM one were from HMRS.

The first class yellow stripes were from the HMRS BR coach stripes and lining sheet but had to be largely hand-painted for the corridor sides.

 

When running in multiple, I prefer to put motor bogies in the centres of units (ie with motorised coaches face-to-face). Likewise, with kit-built units from DC Kits and Bratchell Models, I prefer to use motor units in the centre coaches of three or four car units but even so, Bachmann's 4 CEPs run fine with motors leading or trailing.

Edited September 7, 2014 by SRman

[Phatbob]

I've renumbered a number of green BR(S) Hornby 2BILs using Modelmasters sheet No. 4318. (yellow). I've also added SYP and the black triangle using the same decal sheet.  I've seen the same pack in white with black unit numbers for blue FYE units.  I'd imagine that they've also made one for SR green units as well.
HTH,
Bob.

Edited September 7, 2014 by Phatbob

[SRman]

The new blue BIL has now entered service on my layout and has been running as part of a six car formation. Unit 2134 in green with the small yellow panels and first class yellow stripes added leads, with 2086 next (straight out of the box Hornby), with unit 2147 bringing up the rear. 2147 is the unit I showed a few posts back, renumbered from a second 2134, with full yellow ends and first class stripes added.

[Andrew F]

Does anyone know what colour the seats and interior were in the blue 2-bil?

 

Cheers

 

Andy

[Pete 75C]

Does anyone know what colour the seats and interior were in the blue 2-bil?

 

Cheers

 

Andy

 

From memory the interiors were wood panelled with off-white ceilings and the seat coverings featured a typical BR small chequer pattern in red/black/grey.

if my memory is truly as bad as my wife keeps telling me, ignore the above...

[brushman47544]

From memory the interiors were wood panelled with off-white ceilings and the seat coverings featured a typical BR small chequer pattern in red/black/grey.

 

I think so too, with the off-white quickly getting yellower from the cigarette smoke. That seat covering is/was called Trojan moquette. Just about every SR EMU built before the 70s had it. The first change I recall was with the later build CIGs (7337-7428) and BIGs (7049-7058) and the VEPs had the new blue based moquette from new.

[Gwiwer]

Trojan upholstery appeared in the late 1960s if I remember correctly and was widespread across BR from Penzance to Thurso

 

However not all Bil / Hal units ever got retrimmed so late in their lives. While some sported Trojan (and some others gained random Trojan cushions to replace lost or vandalised ones) the earlier scheme remained in many units

 

This was a mustard based scheme in second class non-smokers and red in the smokers both of which had horizontal black stripes almost as wide as the alternate bands of colour. First class featured an ochre / black chequer pattern with ochre woven one way and black the other and which included "half and half" squares as well as the plain colours. In the first class non-smoker the ochre was replaced (again if memory serves well) by a greenish-blue

 

A few units retained even earlier schemes until withdrawal during the 1960s. Hal driving motors had bench seats across full-width compartments which may have required greater downtime to retrim. A few retained an early golden yellow and red woven pattern which I have seen described as resembling leaves

 

The interiors were mostly dark-stained wood panelling and white ceilings which soon became yellowed in service. These were times when most accommodation was "smoking" so nicotine contributed to the dulling effect. The initail batch of Bil units which differed in many respects are are not represented by the Hornby models included some cream-painted interior panels along the corridors

[Oldddudders]

As one who is happily buying the Hornby EMUs in SR colours, but has noted they are "on offer" here and there, I am a trifle surprised to note a further version, R3161B, will be with us soon. Hornby tells us http://www.Hornby.com/sr-2-bil-2-car-electric-multiple-unit-train-pack-r3161b.html the unit # is 2147, but sadly their pics still show the wrong bogie on the dummy end. Still, that enables the RTR modeller to run an 8-car Southern Railway BIL/HAL train without renumbering, which is probably longer than most have space for. Remarkable!

[trevor7598]

A few observations on the Hornby 2BIL,

i bought a 2BIL in Feb.2013 when they first came out, since then, until last month, it ran on it's own.Now I have the latest BIL

unit 2019 and a HAL and it is noticeable that the new units are faster and have a slightly different motor noise to the earlier unit.

Have Hornby used different motors in the later units?. However all units run very sweetly.

   Hornby have used the heavy type buffers on unit 2019, surely this is wrong. Another point concerns the window frames

here Hornby have modelled lots of screw heads on them, they should not be there These frames had a flush surface.

I for one am glad that the manufacturers are now spoiling us Southern electric fans after so long!.

My moans are minor ones!!

 

 

.

[JSpencer]

If you leave them in storage, they become a little stiff. Nothing a bit of extended running will not sort out.