Class 58 joins Heljan range for 'O'

Visitors to the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition this weekend will be the first to see Heljan's new Class 58 for 'O' – a surprise addition to its range of British outline diesel locomotives.

The all-new model has been produced in response to strong demand from O gauge modellers and provides an appropriate follow up to its hugely popular Class 56. Six liveries will be available on general release via Heljan stockists, with a further locomotive in Mainline Blue available from Gaugemaster stockists as part of the ‘Gaugemaster Collection’. Two more versions will be available exclusively from O gauge specialist Tower Models.

Suggested Retail Price (SRP) is £729.00 or £749.00 for factory weathered models. Tooling covers both ‘Phase 1’ and ‘Phase 2’ locomotives with numerous authentic detail variations on the bogies and cabs, including sandboxes with transparent covers on ‘Phase 2’ locomotives. All models will be supplied with three alternative sets of cab door handrails or etched metal baffle plates allowing locomotives to be tailored to specific liveries/timescales.

Standard features will match the demanding requirements of today’s O gauge modeller, including a ‘plug-and-play’ DCC interface (ESU LokSound XL #58515 decoder required – not supplied), powered roof fans (independently controlled in DCC mode) LED lighting with independently switchable headlight, cab interior and tail light functions, provision for a DCC-activated smoke unit and a large speaker, sprung buffers/couplings, detailed cab interior and bogies and much more.

Heljan Class 58 O gauge

British Rail Engineering Ltd (BREL) built 50 Class 58s in 1983-87 to a modular design aimed at the export market. For much of their career they were based at Toton depot near Nottingham and deployed on merry-go-round coal trains between East Midlands collieries and power stations. In 1994, the fleet transferred to Mainline Freight and quickly expanded its range across the south-east of England and to a more diverse range of freight traffic. In 1996, the fleet was absorbed by EWS and although it was expected to form a key part of the company’s long-term plans, withdrawal took place between 1999 and 2002. EWS and its successors exported many Class 58s to France, Spain and the Netherlands for further use.

Models to be produced are as follows: