Heljan has revealed plans to produce an all-new ‘O’ gauge BR Class 24 Bo-Bo diesel.
Unveiling details of the new models at the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition in Birmingham, Heljan's newly-tooled models are already well advanced with Engineering Prototype (EP) samples on display.
All variants of the BR Class 24 Bo-Bos are planned including ‘skinhead’ Class 24/0, Class 24/1 and ‘Scottish’ Class 24/1 with twin cab front headlights.
Authentic detail differences have been incorporated into the all-new ‘O’ gauge models’ tooling suite to represent the variations between sub classes with bespoke bogie and underframe parts, original skirts, no skirts, different roof panels, fuel/water tank arrangement, original or revised sandboxes, Scottish tablet catchers and twin car-style headlights for the 1970s Inverness based Class 24/1 examples.
All models will also feature drilled out wheels and bogie equalising beams, etched grilles, etched metal step covers and boiler grille covers, separate headcode discs and separately applied handrails and pipe runs.
The specification includes twin motors, flywheels, powered roof fan, separately switchable lighting, plug-and-play Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder interface and etched grilles.
Six ‘O’ gauge Class 24/0s and five Class 24/1s are planned for the initial batch of releases. Most are unnumbered, with the Class 24/0s appearing in BR green (Cat No. 2450), BR green with small yellow panels (2451), BR two-tone green with small yellow panels (2452) and BR blue with full yellow ends (2453), together with numbered examples as 24090 in weathered BR green with full yellow ends (2454) and 97201 Experiment in BR Railway Technical Centre colours (2455).
The Class 24/1 will appear in BR green (2470), BR green (NER) with small yellow panels (2471), BR green (ScR) with small yellow panels (2472), BR blue (LMR) with full yellow ends (2473) and BR blue (ScR) with full yellow ends and twin headlights (2474).
Prices are set at £649 for pristine models and £669 for weathered examples. Release of the first examples – Class 24/0s – is expected in early 2025.
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