Class 33 moves forward, but slower than expected

The ‘Cromptons’ are getting there… but slower than hoped. Heljan continue development but we are caught in a backlog at the Chinese manufacturing facility

OUR CLASS 33/0 project has advanced significantly since we made our last report with all the major improvements now incorporated, including the additional modifications to improve the look of the bogie sideframes and fuel tanks.

However, the testing of these parts and how they interact with the existing tooling (eg brake cylinders and cab footsteps) has been slower than hoped. We were also hoping to provide you with confirmation of a modified printed circuit board but this has not arrived to date. This would allow simple modification of the lighting circuits to provide prototypical tail light operation.

Despite all the groundwork having been completed long ago, it appears that we have been caught in a long queue at Heljan’s factory in China, with the Danish company’s own Railbuses, Class 22, DP2 and DPU in front of us. It is looking increasingly likely that the models will not be with us before the late-autumn at the earliest. We apologise for this and you can rest assured we are doing everything within our capabilities to speed the process up.

Although we are disappointed by the delay, we would rather accept this than compromise the models by rushing through the checking procedure and making a mistake. We think customers would prefer that we take longer to make sure all parts are as they should be, to the highest quality. Maybe the best things in life are worth waiting just that little bit longer for!

In the meantime, we are planning to announce a smaller (much speedier) project with a nice 2012 theme on April 3rd. We have also provided a report on Bachmann’s 2012/2013 catalogue launch (where the new models for the next 18 months are announced), so please come back and visit the news pages soon.