I am making a purchase in mid Feb. And I am looking for a DMU but which one?

My Layout is 1959 - 63 period late crest, So my question is which class of n gauge DMU's are available at the moment?
Which livery - Speed whiskers? yellow panel?

Also fitment of DCC I have used Lenz silver mini in the past, will this fit? what with the coach interiors

Yellow warning panels came into being in about 1963, so really you are looking at the speed whiskers example...which would cover that entire period.

There's a reasonable choice of models now - Dapol offer the Class 121 and 122 single car DMU and Farish do the ever-useful Class 101 and 108 DMUs as 2 and 3 car units.

Quote from: Tom@Crewe on January 30, 2013, 07:21:56 PM
I am making a purchase in mid Feb. And I am looking for a DMU but which one?

My Layout is 1959 - 63 period late crest, So my question is which class of n gauge DMU's are available at the moment?
Which livery - Speed whiskers? yellow panel?

Also fitment of DCC I have used Lenz silver mini in the past, will this fit? what with the coach interiors

The Bachmann DMUs have a lot of decoder room enough in fact to do sound quite easily. Livery has been covered. The two Bachmann modelled ones are the class 101 and the 108.

The 108's were built 1958-1961 and mostly worked on the Midland and Eastern regions originally, later ending up elsewhere.

The 101's were a couple of years earlier and were quite widely spread.

Dapol have also released the class 121 and 122 single car DMUs. The 121s are a bit late (1960) but covered the Western region. The 122s (1958) mainly worked around the Midlands and London initially.

Note that the 101 has been released years ago as a Graham Farish model which is vastly inferior to the modern one. Make sure you are getting the Farish by Bachmann version.

Alan

Just to add Tom....i use lenz silver mini decoders and they will fit in all of the DMUs mentioned.
I did have to remove the black pin spacer on the decoder for the 122 though.

Right I have almost settled for which DMU I want - New and DCC ready but choice of two.

Graham Farish 371-875A  Class 108 2 Car DMU BR Green with Speed whiskers
Graham Farish 371-879    Class 108 2 Car DMU BR Green with Speed Whiskers

The only difference I can see is the livery. So is a regional or period differance.

Keeping in mind my layout is NW Cheshire area and 1959 - 63

371-879 is the short lived white cab roof livery variation (claimed to be for cooling or visibility  depending on who you believe...) As far as i know , it has only been released with one Midland Region identity so far.

The white does not seem to have been consistently applied either by region or class, but had mostly been dispensed with before yellow panels started to appear.

The A suffix on the other indicates a new identity from the original  release in that livery.  IIRC there have so far been a Midland and an Eastern region ID (can't remember which is which) and another is due this year.

Oh my now how did I miss this thread !!!

If you would like a picture or two of any W30, W32, 101, 108 121 or 122 in Brunswick with speed whiskers running at Hammingwell, give me a



From Left To Right, Class 101, Class 108, Class 122 and a BR 47 "Jessica Grace" in the Shed

Thats a terrific picture Swiss

I can confirm the 371-875A is a Midland Region one

879 is the Power Twins which used to run from Bidston to Wrexham, when I wus a lad.

As you are working with NW Cheshire that can't get any closer !

I got one of them to go with the 9f & Summers hoppers that I also remember from my days living in Bidston

Going for the Graham Farish 371-875A  Class 108 2 Car DMU BR Green with Speed whiskers tomorrow

Understand it may need 2 decoders!

Quote from: Tom@Crewe on February 14, 2013, 12:12:59 PM
Going for the Graham Farish 371-875A  Class 108 2 Car DMU BR Green with Speed whiskers tomorrow

Understand it may need 2 decoders!

My advice is to buy a digitrax dz125in for the power car and a cheap bachmann one for the dummy as it only needs to power the lights.

Now on order the TMC Graham Farish 371-875A ready weathered and Backmann chip fitted (from TMC and a digitrax dz125in (ebay) separately and will swap around when they arrive.

I know I have said above that I have ordered the second chip....But can't I just run three or four fine wires from motor car to dummy to run the lights it would make them permanently coupled but they will be a pair anyway.