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Class 14

Class 15 BTH

Class 16

Class 17 Clayton

Class 20 EE Type 1

Class 21

Class 22

Class 23 'Baby Deltic'

Class 24 Derby Type 2

Class 25 Derby Type 2

Class 26

Class 27

Class 28

Class 29

Class 30 Brush Type 2

Class 31 Brush Type 2

Class 33 BRCW Type 3

Class 35 'Hymek'

Class 37 EE Type 3

Class 40 EE Type 4

Class 41 'Warship'

Class 42 'Warship'

Class 43 'Warship'

Class 44 'Peak'

Class 45

Class 46

Class 47 Brush Type 4

Class 48 Brush Type 4

Class 50 EE Type 5

Class 52 'Western'

Class 53 'Falcon'

Class 55 'Deltic'

Class 56

Class 57

Class 58

Class 59

Class 60

Class 66

Class 67

Class 68

Class 70

Headcode Disc version of the Bachmann Class 20

Perhaps one of the most reliable and long lived locomotives, the English Electric Class 20 has always proved popular with enthusiasts, helped no doubt by the unusual 'chirping' of the exhaust! In latter years, they were often seen working in pairs coupled nose to nose on freight trains, notably coal.

Hornby Dublo offered a plastic bodied version of this locomotive for many years and needless to say, I had one of these. This model later carried on in the Wrenn range. Lima later offered their version in 1984, which although not too bad, did have some body and detail issues. The gearing of the motor was also a little strange with model abruptly taking off! Bachmann joined in with their version of the Class 20 and have produced a reasonable model in various versions to include original disc, four character headcodes and also with the cab cut out for the tablet catcher.

One feature of the original Bachmann models is that they did not feature any working lights. I have two models of the Class 20, disc and headcode, and set about to correct this. So, both my models have working lights, including the cab. An article on how I did this appeared in Model Rail and number of years ago.

Headcode box version of the Bachmann Class 20

One of the models features DCC sound, the other has yet to follow. The DCC sound version was the original Bachmann sound using an ESU v3.5 decoder. It just didn't sound right to me, like a lot of the Bachmann sound, so I had it re-blown by Howe's. Unfortunately, it still doesn't sound quite right to me. I think they used a preserved example when recording and it seems the locomotive never went faster than 25mph! So I will get it re-blown again by Legomanbiffo, who produces some excellent sound files.

One issue at the moment is the fact that although both models are DCC, only one is sound. So, when trying to operate in multiple, the non-sound loco is trying to move off before the sound version has let off the brakes! Obviously the cure is to fit the same sound chip to the non-sound locomotive and match the CV parameters and run them as a consist.

Hornby-Dublo produced an RTR model of the class in 1958. Wrenn released their version based on the Hornby-Dublo tooling in 1977. Lima produced a model of the Class 20 in 1984. Bachmann produced their first version in 2004. Hornby released their Railroad version based on the old Lima tooling in 2008. Bachmann released an upgraded version of their Class 20 in 2008. Bachmann retooled their Class 20 in 2021 to represent the modified DRS and HNRS Class 20/3's. In 2022, Bachmanns new tooling covered the earlier versions of the Class 20.