Heljan Class 14 Review

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Commissioned by Hattons, the Heljan class 14 finally arrived at the begining of February 2010 and what a lovely model it is too!

Prototype Information
The British Rail class 14 diesel hydraulic locomotives (known as 'Teddy Bears') were built by Swindon Works and introduced to the BR(WR) in 1964. 56 locomotives were built for the purpose of yard shunting, trip work (between local yards) and short distance freight trains where their 40mph top speed gave them advantages over other shunters of the time. The original order in 1963 was for 26 of these 0-6-0 locomotives, however, this was increased to 56 in mid-1963, prior to work starting on the first order.

The locomotives were powered by a Paxman 6 cylinder Ventura 6YJXL engine producing 650bhp (484kW), connected to a Voith L217U hydraulic transmission and Hunslet gearbox. The axles were connected by coupling rods and driven by a jackshaft located under the cab, between the second and third axles.

The Class 14's had an extremely short life with British Railways, most being resold for industrial use, where the vast majority had a working life of two to three times that with British Railways. Most went to the National Coal Board (NCB) at Ashington or British Steel Corporation (BSC) at Corby. The rest went to different locations with the same companies except 8 which were scrapped. Unfortunately the industries in which they were employed, such as coal mining, declined during the 1970's and the class again became surplus to requirements. 19 or the class have found a further lease of life on preserved lines where they are ideal for both light passenger work and permanent way and maintenance duties.

The Model
Historically, Heljan have delivered their models suspended in foam, however, this model is a departure from this. The model is now held in a transparent plastic assembly like those used for Bachmann wagons and this is then held in foam as before, but in a very solid box this time. This results in a good level of protection against breakages.
There are two small packs in the box: one contains the brake rigging to be fitted by the user and the other contains NEM couplings.
The buffer beam at each end has a hole through which an NEM coupling can be fitted. I would have liked to have seen a 'blanking piece' supplied which fits flush to the buffer beams, covering the holes, for those who use alternative coupling systems.

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On the subject of couplings, this model must be a first: it must be the first model available which comes supplied with screw link couplings fitted as standard which are actually capable of being used. Hornby were the first to supply such couplings on their class 50, however, they could not be used because they had no flexibility for sideways movement.
All pipework is pre-fitted to the buffer beams.
As supplied, there is very little to do to the model except to fit the brake blocks. These are supplied on a sprew and should be cut, filed and glued - the locating holes on the model don't actually 'tight fit' hold the parts - glue is required. The parts do fit together squarely. Once fitted, the brake pull rods can be clipped into place on the brake hangers. I would not recommend glueing these in place otherwise this will prevent removal of the axle keeper plate should the wheels ever need removal in the future for pickup cleaning.

Pickup is on all 6 wheels via strips on the backs of the wheels. Drive is via the centre wheel axle, not the jack shaft. The strips can be clearly seen and could do with darkening down. A little paint can fix this:

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One thing that is really noticeable is the amount of sideways movement on the axles. With the exception of limited movement on the centre axle, there really isn't any justification for any sideways movement on this model: it is quite capable of negotiating sharp curves by virtue of its short wheel base. For 00 gauge modellers, this sideways movement probably should be limited with washers. P4 modellers wil need a lot more washers!

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The jack shaft has the same sideways movement as the axles. It does clear the brake hangers without any problems.

Dismantling the Model
Dismantling this model in order tp fit a DCC decoder is not as straightforward a process as perhaps, it should be.
To gain access to the internals, the cab must first be removed. To do this, hold the cab on both sides and wobble it side to side until it starts to move. The cab prises off fairly easily:

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Care should be taken when removing the cab because there is much body detail which can easily be broken.
When the cab is removed, there are two cowels adjacent to the cab ends which house the horns. Be careful as these may fall off when the cab is removed. They will need removing anyway to gain access to the screw which retains each bonnet:

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Once the screw is removed, the cab backhead must be removed. If you do not remove it and you try to remove the coweling, it may break off. It should not be necessary to break parts off in order to disassemble to access the mechanism or fit a decoder! A gentle backwards and forwards wobble removes it easily:

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Once the backheads have been removed, the cowelling can be removed:

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The circuitry is now revealed and a decoder can be fitted.

Fitting a DCC Decoder
In this instance, a TCS-MC2-UK was fitted:

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The decoder is located in the void underneath the circuit board. There isn't a lot of space inside here and the wiring is a bit untidy, however, it must be packed back in carefully otherwise the cowelling will be difficult to refit. Make sure that no wires are trapped under the cowelling edges.

Fitting the Headcodes
While the loco is dismantled, it makes sense to fit the headcodes. These are supplied on a sheet in the box. It would be very useful if the meanings of the headcodes were documented in the instructions, however, here they are:

Headcode	Details
8J19	Unfitted through freight for Shrewsbury district
7J10	Express freight, ballast or empty train, unfitted freight for Shrewsbury district
2A11	Ordinary passenger or a breakdown train not going to clear the line for London district
3B53	Parcels, empty coaching stock or Freightliner train for Bristol district
7M25	Express freight, ballast or empty train, unfitted for the Midland Region
0B01	Light engine or engines with or without brake vans for Bristol district
0x00	Light engine or engines with or without brake vans (all excursions, military and special trains within the WR, irrespective of destination)
8J03	Unfitted through freight or mineral train for Shrewsbury district
8J02	Unfitted through freight or mineral train for Shrewsbury district
8D85	Unfitted through freight or mineral train
9B06	Mineral or stopping goods train for Bristol district
9C74	Mineral or stopping goods train for Exeter and Plymouth districts
0Z22	Light engine or engines with or without brake vans
7Z74	Express freight, ballast or empty train, unfitted
9H07	Mineral or stopping goods train for Birmingham and Gloucester districts

Select the required headcodes and cut along the thin white lines adjacent to each pair of digits. A small pair of tweezers will enable them to be fitted:

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Re-Assembly
Re-assembly of this model is where it is challenging! Several attempts may be necessary to refit the cowellings in a way that they fit snug on the footplate. This involves tucking the wiring into various slots, groves and cavities. It can take a while to do and there is great risk of breakage during this process, indeed, I managed to break one of the bottom steps off of one of the end steps. Re-assembly and completely reassembled:

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Running
Even though this model only has a 3-pole motor, it runs very smoothly even at slow speed. It's top end speed is more than the 40mph capability of the protototype, although not much, however, DCC users will be able to adjust this with speed curve CV settings or top voltage CV settings. Even as default, all speed settings are more than acceptable.
Because of the large amount of side-play in the axles, there is some wobble, however, it is only noticeable at higher speeds.

Modifications
There really isn't much modification required to this model except filling in the buffer beam NEM hole and a little weathering.

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Conclusion
This is a superb model and would be a suitable addition to most 1960's period WR layouts.

Graham Plowman (23/02/2010)

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