Sutton's Locomotive Workshop British Railways Sulzer Type 2 Operating Manual - Rail Exclusive
Special acknowledgement must go to my Personal Assistant and RAIL EXCLUSIVE’s
General Manager, Jamie Walsh, without which this project would have never come to
fruition. An able research assistant, she has provided valuable input, enthusiasm, and
much-needed cajoling whilst maintaining an efficient and smooth-running front office.
There are several others to thank for their assistance (you know who you are), having
provided invaluable advice, background information, and access, in most cases
completely unknowingly! This model is dedicated to ‘Hawker’, the office cat, who was
ever-present during the design phase, providing welcome company during long winter
nights in front of the computer screen, especially when it became hard going.
1. Preface
THE IMPETUS behind the launch of Sutton’s Locomotive Workshop (SLW)
is a long-running frustration with existing model railway products. This
project was initiated at a time when, in contradiction to the upward trajectory
of other hobbies, models of my interest period were actually in decline – in
quality, in detail, and in accuracy. With 30 years of railway modelling and
journalism under my belt, I have seen plenty of lame reasons offered for this
inexcusable situation. Having commissioned items from every mainstream
manufacturer in recent years, the general disinterest in product development
and detail enhancements has been readily apparent, with the frequent
response to requests of ‘Sorry, but that’s just not possible’.
For too long, enthusiasts of the diesel era have been pushed to the bottom
of the pile. My heavily critical, pro-diesel stance at manufacturers’ trade
presentations quickly marked me out as a source of irritation. That labelling
made me think. Next came a deliberate policy of dumbing-down models with
its attached ‘design clever’ tag line. Then the revelation came that the fitting of
detail such as sprung buffers was regarded as being prohibitively expensive. All
this was regurgitated as fact by the model railway media without question.
Was I the only one who translated what I saw as ‘marketing spin’ covering an
excuse to charge higher prices for less detail? That really did make me think
again. The final straw came with a dispute over a crucial commission and the
total disregard for accuracy and timescale by the contracted manufacturer.
There must be a better way.
Better design. Better fidelity. Better craftsman-
ship. Better quality.
Why not produce a premium model by pushing tried
and tested engineering principles to their limits and then introduce some
simple, long-wanted, innovations? By virtue of getting the basic shape
correct and making a ‘proper job of it’ the result should be a definitive,
value-for-money product that is effectively future-proofed. So, as the saying
goes: If you want something doing properly, then do it yourself. This is
exactly what the SLW team has done. Meticulously researched using only
primary sources and designed in England (by an enthusiast, not by committee),
we then searched worldwide and recruited the very best engineers and
toolmakers who, along with our skilled factory technicians, have brought this
model to fruition.
But enough of what some may interpret as a crusade. This model has, quite
simply, been made to museum-quality standard (and our engineers say an
obsessive level of detail) in order to satisfy the demands of the intelligent
RAIL EXCLUSIVE
Finescale Model Collection
SLW Class 24 Operating Manual
Page 5
Page 4
SLW Class 24 Operating Manual