New Year’s Revolutions
Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Engine Shed. This month features running samples of the Class 423 4 VEP and the new British Rail Class 91.
A total of 194 Class 423 4 VEPs were built by British Railways at the York and Derby Works from 1967 to 1974 and all were destined for operation in the South and South Eastern regions of the UK. The British Rail Class 423, or 4 VEP were Electric Multiple-Unit passenger trains mostly assigned to the South London, Sussex, Kent and Hampshire services. The ‘VEP’ is a common nickname used for the Class 423, VEP being an acronym for ‘Vestibuled Electro-Pneumatic Brake’.
The VEPs possessed manually opening doors next to every row and were the last coaching stock built of this type by British Railways. After privatisation the units were operated by South Eastern Trains, South Central/Southern, South West Trains, and Connex with the Class having an eventual working life of 38 years.
Several VEP’s with varying liveries have been preserved by a variety of preservation bodies. One South Eastern Trains driving trailer from units 3545 and 3568 has been obtained by the National Rail Museum, while a complete Network South Central 4 VEP unit has been preserved by East Kent Railway. Finally, unit No.3417 wearing the BR blue livery together with painted aluminum window frames obtained from South West Trains can now be seen at the Bluebell Railway.
Announced in 2010 and released in 2011, the highly anticipated Class 423 VEP EMU Train Packs received mixed reviews with some complaining of poor running, inaccuracies in detail together with issues in respect of the internal electronics and the coupling of the units together. Also, assembly problems with the drive mechanism were cited with certain areas such as the 1st Class compartment windows not being molded, as well as criticism that the drive ends of the unit were not accurate. Strangely, even with this number of issues over the last few years, the demand for the VEP models has gradually increased resulting in the rising second-hand value increasing. Consequently, it was obvious that there was a strong demand for the VEP and that it was time for the Hornby Development team took a fresh look at the model.
Having looked at the failings of the original model it was decided that the following changes would need to be actioned. Firstly, the coupling mechanism which not only links the vehicles together but carries the power contact strips was redesigned to function much more efficiently plus making it simpler to use. A further benefit of the revised coupling is that the vehicles are now much closer together (see above) which is an added bonus when two VEPs are coupled together.
A further detail improvement includes the creation of the First Class compartment corridor windows as can be seen with the before and after image below.
Further moulding improvements include enlarged roof vents, as per the prototype and totally retooled cab fronts with the front windows now correctly shaped. The cab fronts now feature much finer windscreen wipers, correctly formatted jumper cables, improved corridor connections which are now correctly positioned.
Mechanically there have also been some major changes associated with the drive unit which is greatly improved from the original mechanism.
Firstly, the chassis on the driving coach which houses the gearbox will be produced in diecast adding extra weight. This additional weight will negate the use of rubber tyres which again was a key criticism of the original VEPs. Secondly, the motor driven bogie will be repositioned so that it can be hidden, to a degree by the internal panels that make up the Brake Compartment of the MBSO unit. In respect of the motor driven bogie the axles will now be pin point, while the gearbox will benefit with the addition of bearings sadly missing from the original VEPs. All these changes and additions have greatly improved the running of the new VEP.
In line with many of the future releases of the Hornby diesel and electric models the new VEP will include a 21 Pin decoder socket.
Finally, and to confirm the first of the Class 423 units to become available later this year will be in the Southern livery, while the second will feature the bright and eye catching colours of South West Trains.
Designed and built at the Crewe Works by BREL, 31 Class 91 locomotives were constructed between the years 1988 and 1991. Over the years the locomotives have carried numerous liveries including BR InterCity, GNER, National Express, East Coast, Virgin Trains and latterly, LNER.
The Class 91s were given the auxiliary name of ‘InterCity 225’ to indicate their hopeful top speed of 225 km per hour, or 140 miles per hour. It is interesting to note that a great deal of the engineering specifications for the Class 91 were derived from research and engineering feedback from the APT-P.
Class 91s continue to operate for LNER but after 33 years of service several of the Class have been scrapped although at least one is destined for the National Collection, that being 91131.
Previously tooled in 1990, the totally new Hornby model, first launched in 2020 features a number of additional improvements which have now been included in the model and were previously unannounced.
The new Class 91 models will now be fitted with 21 pin decoder sockets, improved LED lights, including switchable cab lighting, plus full control of the front and rear lights which includes the ability to switch the headlights facing the coach on or off.
The new Class 91 models will also feature twist and lock buffers on the No.1 cab end of the loco. The ‘front’ end buffers will be capable of both horizontal and vertical rotation. In the horizontal position the sprung buffers will still function, while in the vertical the buffers when twisted will retract and lock into position. This feature replicates the function of the Class 91 when driven from the No. 2 end. See diagram below:
Locomotive No. 91002 ‘Durham Cathedral’ was built in 1990 and is one of the 12 operational locomotives remaining today.
The Class 91 No.91118 ‘The Fusiliers’ is the current name of the locomotive kept in Belmont Yard, Doncaster. This is the third name the locomotive has carried since production. Other names that have adorned the side of 91118 are ‘Bradford Film Festival’ and ‘Robert Louis Stevenson’.
These upcoming Class 91 models will initially be available in GNER, LNER and InterCity Swallow livery.
Coming Soon:
Brand new for 2022 and newly tooled, the 0-6-0 Sentinels are on their way to us and will be in stock very soon!
You may recognise this steam engine from the recent Hornby: A Model World series, which will be heading into our warehouse soon. As part of the Railroad range it’s ideal for those who are starting off in the hobby and comes in an attractive bold blue featuring T. Brown Distilleries.
Message from Montana:
New Year – New Range
A New Year means one thing in the world of Hornby and that’s a brand new range! Most of you reading this will know that we launched the 2022 range on 10th January, including over 300 products featuring new tooling, new categories, innovation, range expansion and so much more. We’re looking forward to bringing you updates throughout the year on the development of some of these models but in the meantime, if you missed any of the news you can find out all the details here as Simon and I take you through the range.
Hornby Collector Club
For those of you who are Collector Club Members, you should have just recently received the first Collector Magazine of 2022 and we decided to start the year strong, with not only a range launch review summary and a whole host of interesting railway features but for the chance to win one of the amazing new Gresley ‘Hush Hush’ models. We have only a few Club Magazines left so if you’re interested in joining/renewing and would like the chance to win, sign up to the Club today by clicking here.
Trust News
We recently had the pleasure of meeting a team of professionals from the East Kent Hospital Trust, as they took us through the plan of how the recently donated £140,000, generated from the sales of the Sir Captain Tom Moore Class 66, would be used. It was a real insight to learn about the impact and difference that the donation was going to make to crucial research and we were thrilled to recently read the below feature in the Trust News.
Thank you again to everyone who helped make this happen by purchasing one of the Sir Captain Tom Moore Class 66 models.
Playtrains – Expanding the Range
In 2021 we introduced Playtrains and this year we are pleased to confirm that the Playtrains world is expanding as we introduce Builder+!
Children can now create a whole new adventure with the new Playtrains Builder+ accessories, which are simple, plug together structures and buildings and are perfect for young enthusiasts looking to practice their construction skills.
This initial range consists of four kits including a station building, Signal Box, Platform and a Tunnel which can be built to accommodate a double track as well as a single track. The kits include up to 18 chunky pieces forming buildings and structures which will fit perfectly on the Trackmat included in the Playtrains Train Set, featuring Flash the Local Express! The complete range including the new Hopper Wagon and Car Transporter & Ramp can be viewed via the Playtrains Portal!
Be sure to follow Hornby on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram to be kept up to date on all the latest news and product updates. Don’t forget to subscribe to the Hornby YouTube channel too!
Happy Modelling!
The Engine Shed Team
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