[Gary]

Heljan surprised all those present at the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition by announcing plans for a Class 17 Clayton diesel locomotive which should be on sale at the Warley 2007 show. This often requested loco up until now has been considered to have had too short a life for a major manufacturers to add it to their range.

Heljan also announced that they are to produce a Class 58 Diesel and also Falcon, a prototype one off experimental loco that many say was the forerunner of the Class 47 diesel:-

It really is now up to railway modellers to put their money where their mouth is and if these models proove to be a success then we may well enjoy further releases of locomotives from Heljan that other manufacturers consider have limited interest such as the Blue Pullman.

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[dcroz]

Excellent news - hopefully Heljan will have listened to reviewers / critics and avoid some of the mistakes that have happened with the 47 (width) and 33 (roof). It's great to see a manufacturer looking at some of the classes that I'd never expected to see modelled.

David

 

[pedromorgan]

i am looking forward to all of these. but i would have prefered kestral to the falcon.

Peter

 

[darobi]

The 58 I can see being well supported from myself living in the middle of the Notts coalfield!!

Darren

 

[dwilson9]

Marvellous news indeed - I never thought I'd see a Clayton. It should sell like hot cakes - if it's good enough! The others will also grace my layout. Well done Heljan.

 

[Oakydoke]

Very brave move with the Clayton and Falcon.
I won't be buying either but the class 58 is a must.
I'll have to start practising my weathering techniques.

 

[7113]

QUOTE (Gary @ 3 Dec 2006, 21:51) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>[Heljan surprised all those present at the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition by announcing plans for a Class 17 Clayton diesel locomotive
Heljan also announced that they are to produce a Class 58 Diesel and also Falcon, a prototype one off experimental loco that many say was the forerunner of the Class 47 diesel:-

Nice to see a 17 at last. I'm sure that they will manage to track down the sole remaining one for examination.
However, the class 53 " Falcon" was a devolopment of the 47 noit it's forerunner.

Regards

John

 

[Cambrian]

Good news that a Clayton is being introduced-I'll be very tempted by one no doubt!

 

[mifsit]

the clayton and 58 are on my shopping list for 2007

 

[coldcarpaccio]

I reckon I can fit a clayton into my new layout; Parkend..

Wouldn't have been there prototypically but I think it will look okay.

What were the working years of this class ?

Jonathan

 

[dcroz]

Hi,

According to Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org), the class was introduced between 1962 and 1965, and all were withdrawn by 1971:
________________________________________________________________________________
__
"Class 17 was a class of British Railways diesel locomotives. It was ordered as a successor to the pilot scheme Type 1 locomotives, fitted with a centre cab. This class was probably the least successful of any type, as the long bonnets in each direction gave the driver poor visibility and the Paxman 6ZHXL gave unreliable performance (overall reliability was around 60%). Withdrawals started in the late 1960s and the final locomotives were withdrawn in 1971.

The engines were two Paxman 6ZHXL (except for D8586-87, which had 2 Rolls Royce 'D') with 7" cylinder bore and 7 ¾" cylinder stroke. The traction motors were 4 x GEC WT421, nose suspended with single reduction gear drive. The Main Generator was a GEC WT800 for D8500-87 and a Crompton Parkinson for the remainder. The Auxiliary Generator was a GEC WT for D8500-87 and a Crompton Parkinson for the remainder.

One loco, D8568, went on to see industrial use at Hemelite, Hemel Hempstead and at Ribblesdale Cement, Clitheroe, and then went for preservation. It is now (2006) at the Chinnor & Princes Risborough RPS, Oxfordshire."
________________________________________________________________________________
_______

Best wishes,

David

 

[7113]

I was browsing through some of my older combined volumes and discovered that back in the 70's Derby had three Claytons on the research fleet, along with a Warship, two Hymeks and a baby Deltic!!

Someone out there may find this of interest.

Regards

John