[KODIAK BEAR]

ok gang, saw a class 153 for the first time today and though i am not into the modern stuff i was intrigued as it reminded me of the old class 121 single cars.

reading up on the internet it says these were converted from class 155's and i got thinking, can a class 155 / 156 model be converted to a 153 ?

any ideas ?

 

[cig1705]

QUOTE (KODIAK BEAR @ 10 Jul 2007, 11:47) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>ok gang, saw a class 153 for the first time today and though i am not into the modern stuff i was intrigued as it reminded me of the old class 121 single cars.

reading up on the internet it says these were converted from class 155's and i got thinking, can a class 155 / 156 model be converted to a 153 ?

any ideas ?

Certainly. Hurst Models (www.hurstmodels.com) and A1 models (from www.mgsharp.com) both offer conversion kits to turn a 155 into a 153. Even better, you can make two 153s out of a 155 (one powered and one dummy), plus the can be seen not only on their own but with 158s, 156s, 150s etc. Electra Railway Graphics (www.electrarailwaygraphics.co.uk) produces some excellent transfers for some of the more complex post-privatisation liveries.

 

[ozwarrior]

It's a shame there's not a r-t-r one. With those liveries surely they'd sell by the bucket load!

 

[spongebob]

Aye well for reasons best known only to themselves hornby seem unwilling to adapt the class 155 tooling for the 153. So we're stuck with one very obsolete version in early regional/provincial or whatever it is and the still carried WYPTE metrotrain liveried one. Had they remained paired up rather than converted you may have seen something like this.....

Not a class 155 of course but 2 class 153's working together at Doncaster a couple of years ago.

 

[KODIAK BEAR]

Ok, thanks all.

yes a RTR would be great.

Hurst site, had a look but they dont have a conversion kit for 00 scale, only N.

I agree spongebob, shame hornby did not make a 153 as you say because they have the moulds for the 155. Does Donny have alot of 153's like in your photo?

I think a 153 would look great if you had a small layout and had little space.

 

[Ravenser]

There was /is an A1 Models conversion kit. Not quite as good as the Hurst one, by all accounts.(Hurst stuff can come into and go out of stock)

The old Dapol 155 is mediocre - allegedly they cloned a built up MTK kit. Hornby have not tooled up a DMU of their own in 25 years - the Pacer and 110 were the last home grown , the rest were acquired from Lima and Dapol.

I'd certainly replace the mechanism with a Black Beetle for each

 

[spongebob]

That's the only time I've seen a pair working together around these parts. I was only in Donny en route to and from Scunthorpe (by coincidence on a single 153 outbound!) and took the opportunity to do some photographing. Usually I see the 153's around Leeds either singularly (a bit disconcerting from road level as they can look like runaways) or working with 156's and occasionally 150's and I'm sure I've even seen one or two with the pacers though that could be my brain playing up.