My L268 experimental livery and L271 Interail sound versions arrived in the mail today.  Only had a quick look so far with the models still in their protective cradles, they do look every bit as good as my ATN versions with crisp paintwork around all the fiddly bits and super fine detailing items.

The DCC access hatch areas on these two locos does stand out far more than it did on my ATN's, my gut feeling is the hatch simply isn't seated fully - either just needs a bit of pressure to click into place or perhaps a small burr is catching somewhere.

L268 (model) has an all orange pilot, photographs indicate the pointy bit near track level was  possibly painted black. In service it quickly picked up road grime, as did the rest of the pilot, so I'll weather mine accordingly.

L271 Interail and PN versions have used the original style handrail on the long hood, however the left hand side handrail of the prototype was modified slightly to give access via a step on the front bogie. Won't be hard to bend a bit of wire to make the handrail correct, although I will probably leave it as is.

Hobbyco in the Queen Victoria Building has had the SRM Ls since atleast Liverpool (I hadn't looked before then) so they should be out and about?

You're right GT, some versions of SRM's excellent L Class have indeed been here since Liverpool but others, including the Pacific National examples that terrified my credit card this morning, have only just come in.

Cheers, Steve

Ah so I guess the container might have arrived already, as I did not notice the PacNat ones at Liverpool.
That means I should wait a while longer before interrupting the packing and posting
Cheers
Rod

Status update re L class mailout at https://www.facebook.com/southernrailmodels/posts/556968627786461

Poath Junction; I want to get both of the Interail L's, however, can you tell me if your production run models still have the FRONT on the dynamic brake blister?

By "FRONT" you mean???

Believe there was a raised lettering section on the dynamic brake blister part that said 'FRONT'.

Ah ha. Finally found a sample pic that had it. Rest assured "FRONT" is no longer on the L's blister.

Awesome, I was hoping that it was only a preproduction issue. Thanks.

http://www.southernrailmodels.com.au/article/25th-november-2015-epping-market-day-2300-class-new-sscc-release

After noting that "Victorian" L257 was sold out, and that my model had failed to arrive, I contacted Southern Rail to find out why not. Well the "why not" was easy to work out. Southern did not have my order recorded  at all

With a pretty hefty price hike I decided to accept that I was going to miss out on this iconic Locomotive, which incidentally, I had the pleasure to operate on several occasions during its lease in Victoria.

Unfortunately I took a "half empty" approach and decided it was a done deal. Particularly when I received a slow response from Southern (my time scale of course )

This morning I got a phone call from Simone of Southern, to tell me they found my original order from Feb 2015, and would honor it for me. Now that is pretty good, because it was complicated by the fact that the loco was now nil stock!

So what did they do? They arranged for a sound equipped L257 to be shipped out of China just for me, and it should be ready to mail off December 6th!

Now how good is that  Thank you Simone and Rocket. Really appreciate this. Its much easier to whinge about things, hopefully my message of appreciation cancels a little bit of  that out

Notes:
Undoubtedly most would pick up that something went wrong, however I don't get paper bank statements, and forgot my p/w for on line banking on a card I use rarely.  I just plain missed it until it was almost too late. Orders to both Austrains and Eureka go without any acknowledgement and Auscision sometimes wait months to send a receipt and extract their money. (once even having to ring me up for a new Visa expiry )
Cheers
Rod

That would support my view that the silver fans were introduced in the mid 1980s, since my earlier photos don't show them.

Possibly the locomotives used on lease in Victoria preceded this change.

I'm sure I saw these but didn't pay much attention. I did pay more attention to the red and silver GM class...

I do remember the VR "Radio Equipped" decals...

Well I was curious so I grabbed the April 1989 AMRM in which Joe Moir describes the L class.
Looking through the article it is clear that they had silver fans fan from the get-go. There are photos of two-tone blue Ls with silver fans, one of the experimental orange locos has silver fans plus 256 in the first Westrail orange scheme (without the white pinstripes) also clearly had silver fans when newly painted.

Not only that, in the article he actually specifies that the silver fans are common to all of them. I would hazard a guess that any photos which don't show them are probably simply showing a well-weathered locomotive, and that the fans are covered in grime (of which some photos in the AMRM and in my collection most definitely are).

Regarding my earlier comments on the locos with lit-numberboards, I was wrong about some of the 3109-3120 batch.
In fact three of those, 3113, 3116 and 3118 have never been repainted from Westrail orange, but have lost their blue 'vees' and only gained ditch-lights and gps/new radio's etc. on top of the late 80s early 90s mods (aircon).  All have very faded and decrepit paintwork (and are all stored now of course I believe). 3118 did gain an 'ARG - A QR Company' patch logo on top of the faded orange, but the others did not.

Re the above question on L271, I have not yet seen the sample of that, but my understanding is that it will have the John Douglas Kerr lettering.

Regards

Toby

Indeed after much checking of old photographs I have found a few locomotives from 1975 and later that have silver painted fans, but by no means all locomotives had them.

While L255 in International Orange and yellow does appear to have silver fans, D1561 which was painted in the same scheme in the same workshop at the same time (with one yellow stripe instead of two to show the narrow gauge) definitely has orange fans. For thos who don't realise, these fans are identical and interchangeable with those on the L class.

I've never met Joe Moir but I can't support his claim that fans were ever silver prior to the 1975 colour scheme, and he could only have made that claim in retrospect looking at photographs.

I do recall talking to Bob Gallagher about the AMRM article before it appeared and lobbying (successfully) for the Comalco Weipa locomotives to be included. Apparently one of the photos in the article shows Bob Gallagher driving an L class....

Checking my photos of locos in the Two Tone blue scheme introduced with L274 and L275, neither of those locomotives as painted when new had silver fans, the fans being clearly light blue to match the body. L254 and L258 repainted in that scheme had light blue fans. I can't recall how many units carried that scheme but that must be most of them...

I have yet to check photos in the original blue and light grey.

L254 in orange and blue Westrail with white lining definitely had orange fans matching the body

L256 in the orange and blue Westrail scheme without white edging did have silver fans.

L263 in orange and blue Westrail with white lining definitely had orange fans matching the body.

L265 in orange and blue Westrail with white lining did have silver fans

L269 in orange and blue Westrail with white lining had orange fans with silver top covers

L272 in orange and blue Westrail with white lining had orange fans matching the body.

Now for the orange body with two sizes of Westrail Lettering...

L260 with large Westrail lettering definitely had orange fans

L262 with small Westrail lettering had orange fans with silver top covers

L268 with large Westrail lettering had orange fans with silver top covers

(which for HO counts as silver) Most locomotives with silver fans had orange dynamic brake fans with silver covers, while the radiator fans could be either silver or orange on the sides with a silver top.

It seems possible that some older locomotives may have been fitted with silver fans or silver fan covers after 1975 when the original fans were exchanged for maintenance, but I don't believe any blue L class received silver fans at an overhaul and repaint. It is quite likely that NO L class were ever repainted in blue and light grey anyway.

I'll check for the blue and grey locomotives as time becomes available

But clearly there were prototypes for both silver and orange fans in the Westrail blue stripe scheme so both Haskell and Southern are correct depending upon the road number in question.

M636C

After noting that "Victorian" L257 was sold out, and that my model had failed to arrive, I contacted Southern Rail to find out why not. Well the "why not" was easy to work out. Southern did not have my order recorded  at all

With a pretty hefty price hike I decided to accept that I was going to miss out on this iconic Locomotive, which incidentally, I had the pleasure to operate on several occasions during its lease in Victoria.

Unfortunately I took a "half empty" approach and decided it was a done deal. Particularly when I received a slow response from Southern (my time scale of course )

This morning I got a phone call from Simone of Southern, to tell me they found my original order from Feb 2015, and would honor it for me. Now that is pretty good, because it was complicated by the fact that the loco was now nil stock!

So what did they do? They arranged for a sound equipped L257 to be shipped out of China just for me, and it should be ready to mail off December 6th!

Now how good is that  Thank you Simone and Rocket. Really appreciate this. Its much easier to whinge about things, hopefully my message of appreciation cancels a little bit of  that out

Notes:
Undoubtedly most would pick up that something went wrong, however I don't get paper bank statements, and forgot my p/w for on line banking on a card I use rarely.  I just plain missed it until it was almost too late. Orders to both Austrains and Eureka go without any acknowledgement and Auscision sometimes wait months to send a receipt and extract their money. (once even having to ring me up for a new Visa expiry )
Cheers
Rod

Mate that is great news Rod.  Well done Southern.

This morning I got a phone call from Simone of Southern, to tell me they found my original order from Feb 2015, and would honor it for me. Now that is pretty good, because it was complicated by the fact that the loco was now nil stock!

So what did they do? They arranged for a sound equipped L257 to be shipped out of China just for me, and it should be ready to mail off December 6th!

Now how good is that  Thank you Simone and Rocket. Really appreciate this. Its much easier to whinge about things, hopefully my message of appreciation cancels a little bit of  that out

That is quite amazing (and nigh-on unheard of, in any industry) customer service!

This morning I got a phone call from Simone of Southern, to tell me they found my original order from Feb 2015, and would honor it for me. Now that is pretty good, because it was complicated by the fact that the loco was now nil stock!

So what did they do? They arranged for a sound equipped L257 to be shipped out of China just for me, and it should be ready to mail off December 6th!

Now how good is that  Thank you Simone and Rocket. Really appreciate this. Its much easier to whinge about things, hopefully my message of appreciation cancels a little bit of  that out

That is quite amazing (and nigh-on unheard of, in any industry) customer service!

Yes it was but we finished up avoiding that as it turns out. Someone (on here?) Reminded them that they had wrongly received Viccy L252 and it was being returned.  I got my L252 this morning. Really happy with it, and I don't have to fit sound  Woooooeeeeee!!  Sounds great.
The colour looks better to me, than the samples, it is a smooth runner and hauls more than prototype loads up my 1.5% Helix without slipping. I can haul 70 bogies up, much too large to fit my 900m loops Also it will crawl up just as well as it will power up.  So worth the wait
Thank you Rocket and Simone for caring about this customer
Cheers
Rod

stocking fillers - http://www.southernrailmodels.com.au/article/3rd-december-2015-christmas-promo

Received my L253 and L262 in WAGR blue/grey last week.

Finally, after so many years, a WAGR loco in factory made mass produced r-t-r!!!  


Took them both to AMRA (WA) and ran L253 on one of the layouts.  We were all very impressed.  Really smooth runner, and the sound was terrific.  Just like the real L classes we've known and appreciated for so long.

Well done Southern Rail!

Next time, I'll also take along some of the wagons and IP coaches I've been accumulating since placing my order.

when were PTV vlocities due?

anyone gonna get one?

when were PTV vlocities due?

anyone gonna get one?

2nd run including PTV livery due early 2016.  I expect it'll be a popular livery with at least one coming my way.

http://www.southernrailmodels.com.au/article/9th-december-2015-2300-update-l-class-goes-international

Southern Rail have just emailed this about sound equipped locos:

http://www.southernrailmodels.com.au/article/10th-december-2015-l-class-sound-locos-running-issues

Regards,
David Head

May not be a prototypical livery but sure does look spiffy. Then again perhaps Auscisions B65 might soon be joined by another model companies full sized loco.

May not be a prototypical livery but sure does look spiffy. Then again perhaps Auscisions B65 might soon be joined by another model companies full sized loco.

Can't see Aurizon painting an L class anytime soon, with 9 stored in Avon yard, 3 in Forrestfield and a couple in Goulburn, leaving only a handful operating in WA on the shunts and ballast working. With PN's gone that leave's only 277 and it's not an L class.

xmas discount offers 18/12 - http://www.southernrailmodels.com.au/article/last-chance-christmas-promo

New update with 2300 sample pics and QHBF/QHAF announcement.

http://www.southernrailmodels.com.au/article/8th-january-2016-2300-class-update-new-release-epping-mrc

Anyone considering making an interrrail coal train? I'd be interested to know what motive power was used on them.

Absolutely going to model the Interail coalie!

Btone - Motivepower for the Interail coal trains were generally 423/422/train/421 or L/EL triple header.

On my future QR layout that will a dual gauge section, in my world Interail ran coal to Fishermans Island!