Hi guys, I've got SSS's Severn Valley Railway up and running but instead of paying for £100's worth of DLC for their scenarios, I'm creating my own free roam with their route. I want a class 108 as that is the DMU they have on the SVR. I don't think the 108 is available wether it be official, freeware or a reskin of a 101/105. I do have a 105, so that's probably the closest I'm going to get? Is the 105 very similar to the 108? Then all this got me thinking of what DMU's (100 - 150) have been made for train simulator? I can think of: 101, 105, 117, 121, 142, 143, 144 (freeware reskin), 150 Any others? Many thanks.
There's a Class 111 but it's very old and really shows its age. Other than that, that's all I know of. I don't think you can realistically get away with repainting a 105 and saying it's a 108, mainly because the fronts are completely different.
Not even remotely. The Class 117 is the closest to the 108. Visually the only difference is that the 117 has a door for each compartment, and the 108 is a standard arrangement. Changing a 117 to a 108 would require the least amount of work.. from a modelling point of view.
However, having attempted to reskin the 117 from North Somerset (the only one available I know of), I can safely say if your livery isn't nearly identical to the included one, or a block colour, don't bother. Without having to resort to child objects, this is all I could do using the included textures when putting it in the NSE livery. That looks nothing like the prototype: British Rail (Network SouthEast) Class 117 unit at South T… | Flickr For balance, i could've painted the cab ends but by that point I'd lost the will to live. Also the number 117308 is baked onto the texture.
The class 108 would be extremely useful. They would be the dominant unit for the South Lancashire and Cheshire freeware route for the period it is set in as Allerton depot had a allocation of them and the Manchester depots had more 108's than 101's. I have been making scenarios from 1991 for the Riviera line and by then class 108's were very common in the area, more so than the class 101's. There are several other routes they could be used on, the ECML for example, Chester had a load of them so they could have been seen on the North Wales Coast, the certainly worked there from Manchester in the early 80's. The 80's version of the South Wales coastal would be another route for them as Swansea had an allocation of them in the mid to late 80's and Cardiff had a few knocking around and Bristol had a sizeable fleet of them. Sadly the class 101 seems to be the default DMU for everything! In TSW it is the only first generation DMU we have and I suspect, unfortunately that will remain the case forever. I would imagine the front of the class 117 on the Cravens body would be sufficient, I don't know anything about modelling so it is probably easy to say it rather than to do it! I think some of the 108's had the headcode box as per the 117, some had a two position headcode panel below the cab windows and a destination box above the cab windows. If there is someone planning on developing another first generation DMU, I would implore them to consider the 108 as they would be very useful, followed by the 104. However, I doubt a developer is every going to release another one unless they release a specific period route with it, maybe a freeware developer might. Loco's are much more headline grabbing yet the humble first generation DMU was the backbone of the non-electrified railways from the late 50's to the early 90's and there was as much variety as there were locomotives. Manchester in the early 80's would have seen class 100, 101, 103, 104, 105, 108, 120 and possibly the odd class 110, 111 and 119 as well as the 128 parcels DMU. I did seriously wonder how feasible it would be to try and crowd fund the build of one, but I have no idea how much such things cost. I notice there is a crowd funded GWR 47xx steam loco being built so it isn't an impossible proposition I suppose.
Don't get me wrong I would love a class 104, they are probably a little more interesting than the 108 and very useful too. I suppose the 108 was more widely travelled. The 104 would be very useful for the backdated North London Lines, especially the Gospel Oak to Barking line.
I think it was because it was completely broken, or perhaps something to do with it being an IHH thing? Am I right in saying it was IHH?
It was one of the IHH ones with newer sounds and maybe a couple of other tweaks. I have it and it works fine and to me looks fine. It is even better with the AP sound pack. There are two more IHH DMU's which have never been re-released a class 107 and what I think was a class 114, although he advertised it as a class 118 from what I recall! There is an all blue one too, not sure if that is still on the marketplace.
It's probably because it was an IHH model as to why it was withdrawn then, because DTG and IHH fell out with each other I think. DTG have the models so can redo them if they wish, as has been seen many times.
Ah, okay I hadn't realised that DTG and IHH had fell out, I remember there was some angst between IHH and UKTS. You can still get the 117 though with the NSR and some of the other models like the 45 and 56 are still available as far as I am aware.
Having just found an image of the class 118 from when it was available as the East Coast pack, it might actually be a class 108, I thought it was the heavy weight class 114 but looking again it could be a 108. Therefore, maybe DTG are sitting on a model of the 108, but as they stay silent every time the subject of releasing any more of his items comes up, I suspect it is a forlorn hope that they will release it.
The IHH unit advertised as a 118 was a 108 The Class 118 was a suburban design like the Class 117 Peter
Yes I agree. I think it was one of his last models, certainly post the class 117 so it should be as good and a good base for any upgrades.
A Class 120 (Cross Country) would be nice as these were quite widespread back in the day. Only issue would be none have been preserved so would have to be built from reference material. Sound wise, they had AEC engines but more throaty and less whiny (!) than the Metcams, with a lovely rasping exhaust on pull away. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_120
I would love to see one of these. Sadly I never got to travel on one but they are one of my favourites in terms of design. If I recall they were looking to preserve one of the last Scottish region sets but I assume there was an issue with asbestos in them so they never got saved. The AP class 117/121 sound pack has quite a rasp to it that might be suitable I suppose. What about the class 126 which is preserved, would they have sounded similar? A green one would be great for running alongside the hydraulics on the Riviera in the 50's and Glorious Devon routes. I can't understand why there is such a lack of DMU's they are just as important, if not more so than the diesel locomotives.
I never travelled on a 126 but the mechanical spec looks identical to the 120's. No rasp but very close... Get one of those in RW/TS, I might start route building again!
That would be great to see, have always wanted a Western Region cross country route, Bristol to Weymouth or Cardiff to Birmingham, something like that. Sadly I think there is me being installed as Archbishop of Canterbury than someone making a class 120 for TS1, or even any other class of DMU!
