Heljan's Badly Designed WM Railbus | Unboxing & Review 

Oh, man! The prototype is so different. How can they even say this is a model of that vehicle?

Heljan are such a mercurial company. Two of my own favourite models are the Heljan class 14 & 15, which run very well too. But there's no doubt that they do make some spectacular errors.

The photo of the prototype was of a Wickham railbus I think the Waggon und Macshinenbau ones went straight into preservation. Most of the British built railcars were less successful the Park Royal ones (the original Airfix model in the 1960s ) was full of asbestos and the last one was buried whole in a tip in Glasgow.

For the pulling power: based on the German prototype (Vt98) it should at least be able to pull 2 cars, with these cars being full size continental 2 axle ones.

Your videos are so awesome, I have spent the last half an hour waiting for you to upload!!

I have one of the original releases in Green. Recently it started to perform quite badly so I decided to delve into the model. The first thing that happened was that one of the roof mounted horns broke. Given the price, these could have been made from brass. When I looked at what else was needed to remove the body, I put the model back in its box. I think a rail replacement bus service is in the cards!

Interesting vehicle, especially for me as a german viewer. The base of the british railbus was the German "Schienenbus" in 2 classes (one with one engine, one with 2, hundreds were built and did service for many years. Withdrawn similarly like in Britain, still quite a lot are in service as historical vehicles. So for the remaining British rail busses the spare part supply should be still possible from Germany. Would be interesting to see a comparison between the Heljan model and a german model of the class VT98 for example from Märklin (great model!) - but be prepared, this is even more expensive!

The Wagon and maschinbau railbuses were not used in departmental use and I'm pretty sure this livery is fictional as it was applied to a whole different type of railbus produced by wickham

In the '60s, I had an unpowered, Airfix kit of this. Loved that the doors slid open. 12.5p, which was enough! BR green, with whiskers, would be my choice of livery but I don't need to spend £170, in order to revisit my past. Such stated, your reviews are excellent.

That photo is a Whickham built railbus. Entirely different design.

I guess in Denmark the smart engineers are employed designing funky HiFi and furniture and so it is not the "shiniest spanners in the toolkit" that are left to design model locomotives.

The small location at the top of the vehicle was used not for a Head Code, but for a destination blind with available destinations on it.

Good to see Heljan catering to our need to winge about something

A bit of trivia for you ... having guarded one of these many times in preservation I can tell that this model is based on the ones at the Worth Valley as it has an extre electrical socket at each end fitted by one of our members to enable tandem running!

The fact that it scored an F and arguably was still let off easy on Performance, Quality, and Value is... impressive in all the wrong ways.

Awesome video sam, typical heljan 😅😅 been waiting for a review of this for a while! Im in york at the moment - national railway museum here i come!

Couple of comments: The weight may be needed to prevent derailing. I had issues with a very light (inexpensive) HO 0-4-0 tank. On the 2nd radius chicane the flanges are probably binding between front and rear axles; as it is, in effect, a very large wheel base single bogie. The weight would help with overcoming flange binding on tight curves - the slight under-gauging of the wheels may be for the same reason.

Interesting review! About ten years ago I bought a Park Royal version of this Heljan railbus (same mechanism, structure and daft DCC chip location) - it is slightly better than your example in terms of performance and detail. The wheelbase is long and it exactly spans the insulated frogs on diamond crossings so it would stop dead. I fitted a stay-alive which solved the issue and prevented stalling elsewhere. The internal lights are very dim and strangely reduce the motor speed when they're switched on.

Excellent review. In 2012 I got 6 of these 1st batch railbuses in green with speed whiskas and yellow panel. 2 x WM 2x AC & 2 x Park Royal. The wheel set nylon gear split on a WM shortly after purchase. Spare thru Gaugemaster. Then later an AC one blew up a motor and decoder. I ordered spare motor from Londons who kindly swapped the worm gears over. Could not get it back together so it laid in bits for years till Olivia trains rescued it and put in better decoder. They have high amp draw like most Heljans. Mine are all stored till layout built but I dont think they will run without future trouble. Mind you if they ever do the rare Bristol railbus I couldnt resist a couple.

I think that the main reason that Helmand is still around is their class 07, as well as the ease of converting to P4 and EM. I don’t see that much else that they do better than anyone else, but I don’t model BR, so I probably wouldn’t know. Thanks as always Sam.

Great review Sam, I can't wait to see the review on Heljans 10800 class locomotive

Another great video 👍

Awesome video Sam's trains

We have 2 at KWVR

Awesome video today Sam what a really nice locomotive

I love the 'old tool' in the thumbnail 😂

31:56 derby lightweight looks good :D in fact the preserved 2 car set irl is not far off being operational again. Trailer car is complete and motor car is under restoration and from what I have heard and seen it is very steady

17:32 Sometime heljan, I really wonder. Cheers Jasper & Willow

They produced the wring Wagon and Machibou railbus for this unit, what plonkers. It looks alright to represent the 4 that survive, 2 of which I've seen at the KWVR. Great video Sam

Nearly all of the former east german Piko locos have similar pickups. And i do have no problems with that. I clean them every year or so. Cost me 10 secs per axle, mostly without the need to open the body. I have to do this with pickups from the inner side of the wheel, too. They do collect dust too.

I kinda like how it slows down on the curves.

Loved your honest presentation. Of my 383 locos in my collection, not one from Heljan. Your honest reviews of Heljan products helped in my decision not to buy

Hi Sam I do hope you are going to send the railbus back due to the cracked window and bodywork. Having watched your review I won’t be buying one - maybe in a few years time when people are selling them off!! The review is as informative and entertaining as ever, so thank you very much Very best wishes to you. Marc

I'm a huge fan of railbuses, I built a park royal railbus from the dapol kit (motorised too)& got a silver fox W&M bus. I'm curious about how the Heljan AC cars railbus holds up nowadays. Looking into the vehicle that this is meant to depict, it would appear to be a Wickham railbus, interesting because Heljan made plans for many railbuses including the Wickham bus however that, & the Bristol Railbus, seem to be the only ones they didn't make

Thanks for the review, Sam. You, have saved me 170 ,quid 👍

I got a BR green one the first time round they released. Still to this day it has the record in my collection of being the worst one to DCC chip. The BR green version also had ladder detailing below the centre door, of which one was damaged during chipping. I will never be going back into that model.

There appear to be problems with the corner windows cracking. Your one is the same as every example that I have seen, including my own. See at 13:07. It's quite significant. I assume the top assembly is being stretched to fit over the lower section.

these models deserve a separate channel called rip off trains

i see those all the time at the EARM at chappel, the horn is ridiculously loud lol

It’s a lovely little model. I think I might get one if the agent who does the August Modelling Extravaganza has one.

Quite an unusual item. A test you might have performed would have been to try it on a 1st radius circuit. A railbus like this is a suitable item for those with a very small 1st radius layout. Not everybody has the use of an entire loft like you! Thanks for uploading.

Had to laugh at the rant about the DCC socket photo!!

Agreed about the price and accessibility,but the slowing down on sharp curve,some might see that as a positive, makes it look realistic/prototypical. Also I'd say pulling away from a stand looks fine,it's not a shunting loco,or going to be coupled to anything,certainly doesn't pull away at "high speed". Also the price reflects its a very niche unit

I badly want to buy this model in KWVR red it looks really nice

The model you’re reviewing, Sam, is the Western Region permanent Way vehicle.

The first (no power) plastic models of these in UK where Airfix, later to become Dapol,.and they where fairly detailed models. In that time it did not matter that it had no power because you could get power rolling stock. Similar European types are seen with at least one flat or low sided wagon for goods, bikes, or skis which is pushed or pulled, so no running round.

This reminds me of the old airfix/dapol railbus kit

Lighting is decently accurate, even ER Driver I sar with in DMUs like them dark at night

Hey sam, can you link me the aliexpress loco youve placed at the bottom? Or is that video not out yet?

How much would a replacement 5-pole motor cost. It wasn't very noticeable whether it was a double-ended driver's cab model, is it? Can the floor level be lowered? I love the railbus, blood and custard.

The model itself is lovely sam hopefully accuscale will produce this down the line heljan have made a mess of it, great review 👍

Wherever I want to go back to model trains, I get as far as the price list.

Good Job

I recommend the heljan class 33.

It might look more like DB999507 if Heljan blacks out (yellows out?) the corner windows But after all, it is a Waggon & Maschinenbau Railbus in *fictional* Track Recording Coach livery

It’s a neat little loco.

When I saw the thumbnail for this video, I thought this was an O gauge model!

Apart from the passenger doors, it look more like the Park Royal railbus (which only had one window per door) rather than the ones built by Waggon u. Maschinenbau.

Heljan confound me, but I own a swag of their shunters in different liveries because they're gorgeous and unique. I never pay anything like full price either, but wait for sales etc.

Its cheaper to purchase a Roco 798 railbus with trailer than this single car. The builder was called WMD (Waggon und Maschinenbau Donauworth) and also built some of the 798 cars and trailers.

Awesome video production as always! As expected. This channel is just amazing, well done :)

This thing puts me in mind of Alan Sugar’s “mug’s eyeful” method of shifting complete tat for silly money. There’s one born every minute being the order of the day.

Hey sam you should look at the broadway limited rf16 sharknose

I have all the Heljan railbuses and they are all complete nightmares to get into, but sold out very quickly. My Park Royal had a faulty board and all Hattons could offer was a refund or live with it.

Crazy to think it would work, lighter. The unit,if it was light, with the over hang,too,would be off the track every 5 seconds, it needs to be heavy.

fun fact the engine in the german made railbus was a pancake diesel. the engine was flat head as in a normal deisel had a taller head. bussing used that type of engine in there truck range. in the late 60 ties bussing was bought up by m.a.n . thanks for a intresting video on heljan. 🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪👍👍👍👍👍👍

Anybody Notice In the Log Book in Last Place Was "Aliexpress Porter husler", wonder what thats about?

I think they've missed an opportunity here. Had Heljan taken the trouble to actually produce a proper Wickham railbus, not only would this model have been more accurate, but BR liveries would be available to give modellers a new railbus to collect.

I think it's profile is so high is that it was designed to go off road in the mountains !

Did W&M rail buses ever appear in anything but green before preservation era? I have three of the first release of this model. Excellent review. To add, (subject to any Heljan improvements in this release): The plastic axleboxes becomd detatched and are lost very easily. The original instructions do warn you to remove and care for the handrails. Unless they have changed, the horn mouldings break very easily, and they are/were not always easy to remove either. Excelkent review. I suspect they may not have fly wheel(s)? What do you think?

I cant wait for Sam to review the new Heljan Class 47. 🤣

good vid

Hi Sam. Your railbus was like mine from 2012 first batch. However after only about 2 hours of running it stuck fast and refused to move. On one end the gear train had so much play it had jumped out of the casting and broken teeth off. I just removed the gear and it runs OK on one powered axle. Not what you should put up with as I paid about £110 for my BR green version 12 years ago.

DB999507 (later Lab 2 of the RTC) is a Wickham built railbus, not a W&M built one. I don't really see why Heljan thought that the W&M railbus was suitable as a representation for the Wickham prototypes. Overall, Heljan have done the W&M, AC Cars, and Park Royal railbuses in 00, as well as the AC Cars one in 0, each design having 5 units built. I don't understand why they didn't tool up a separate Wickham one for this particular prototype, there being 5 regular passenger ones plus this track recording one. There were only 2 Bristol / Eastern Coach Works ones, and only 2 Drewry ones, so it's not surprising they haven't done those two.

Just watching the review Sam. I think the weight should help with current pickup as it is only a four wheel vehicle. That crack is bad. I'd return it for that! Wow...as this review goes on it really does turn into a horror show.

The Heljan AC Cars railbus got me back into model railways after 40 years away. (I’m told I’d travelled on the real ones in my pram!). I have two which are also heavy, have tiny detail parts which fall off -,though they pre-date Accurascale lol - look great and run fine. As ever, your review is mostly fair for what is a fake version of the W&M railbus. All I would question, though, is your comment about using screws to fix the body to the chassis: might these show through the interior which is designed to be very visible?

A long rigid wheel base round curves will drag a bit.

Perhaps the picture was of the British built ones?

I have had a look at the instructions that came with my Railbus, they do say to carefuly remove the hamdrails,! And there are about 6 poor quality photos to show you how to remove the body. Trust me even if you do manage not to loose either of the handrails, it is very difficult to get them back on.. that is why the ones for my model are stored in the box, and are not back on the thing!

Weight needed to keep it on rails in curves/points?

Well you can better oder a second one for spare parts, as Heljan spare part stock is very scarce. Got a simple cabin LED light broken on my London Metropolitan Electric No. 12, and this was two years ago, not available🤯. Replaced it with a generic one in the end. And this one, cut open with a knife🤯, lets me sound like Victor Mildred "I can't believe it"…

There's a small part of me that wants to buy a British engine and use the screw link couplers on a short train, but there's also another part of my brain that is normal and doesn't want to torture myself with couplings that small

The weight doesn't slow the model down unless it's going uphill.

Ridden on the real W&M buses that used to be at the North Norfolk Railway and they are certainly entertainment on 4 wheels. They rather rattle & bounce a bit while in motion & the power for the lights used to cut out sometimes. I only found out they used to work in Essex/Suffolk on the "doomed" network of lines, when saw someone winding around the destination blinds. One of those listed said "Acro Halt" & my father had a job at the Acro plant outside Saffron Walden, which did have a derelict concrete platform near the factory by a disused line. In reality the W&Ms are no better or worse than a Class 142 Pacer, only in a single car formation. FTR, the North Norfolk Railway did also have the prototype LEV1 Leyland bus, which was really just a Leyland National bus jammed on top of a chassis with 4 wheels.

Would you say it's a bit expensive then?

They took the chassis of a truck and put the body of a coach on it

I have a BR green version of one of these, and what a pig it is to get the body off. You end up causing damage to the horns, and then have to mess about trying to unclip the hand rails either side of the doors. So I'll have fun fitting a decoder into the thing

So cool review sam

In all honestly it’s good that Heljan did these models of very strange vehicles like this, I have thought about picking up the laboratory 20 version in the RTC livery, most likely will still buy one of those because I like the looking it.

It sems the model you received isn't worth much with that crack and to fit it with a DCC decoder you would need to damage it anyway. I don't think any engineer was involved in any aspect of the design because of basic mistakes made some of which you pointed out. It seems like it is a 20-ton bus with a 99hp engine, and the breaks are rubbing. Great assessment plus video and thanks again for taking the hit, (about $200.00), so we don't have to.

Interesting as we had no idea that WMD railbuses were even used in the UK. According to Wikipedia only 5 have been made for the UK, based at Cambrdidge, shipped from Germany by ferry via Zeebrugge - Harwich. It seems they were planned for extensive testing. The undercarriage is exactly as per prototype on all pictures on the internet Sam. Not sure where you have your picture from(?) Anyway, very overpriced isn't it, oddly bizarrely designed and the crack is enough to send it straight back. The dark at both ends of the cabs is prototypical for driver safety. Meaning, in railbuses interior lights were unevenly lit that way. Cheerio.

I'm not a train expert, but would you really _want_ the driver's cab illuminated? Wouldn't that make it difficult for the driver to see ahead?

Sam for a video can u rate the model brands

Ayo anyone notice the Aliexpress Porter Hustler at the very bottom of the ranking? 👀

Have long fancied adding a railbus to my fleet. Having watched this and viewed in shops there is no way I will pay the extortionate price asked when I can get new tooled large locos for the same. This is a £99.95 model in my opinion.

This model is extremely prototypical (more below) - but not in that livery. The prototype photo you showed is actually of a completely different vehicle. The real ones of this model used to operate through the town where I live and were two wheel drive; this caused problems on the route because it was on an incline and if they were facing the wrong way round they couldn't manage the journey in the uphill direction if it was damp. They literally had to make sure they were the "right" way round in order to use them, even though they were visually identical each end. So why is the model so prototypical? Because one of the axle gears split on my green version and turned it into two wheel drive - and - It wouldn't drive itself round my layout unless it was a particular way round due to very poor traction. Actually, it's not a bad model of the prototype and mine runs superbly on DCC (after fixing the split gear), but you can see that it rides very roughly over points and rail joints. Guess what? That was one of the main reasons that the prototypes were so complained about by passengers and led to early withdrawal.

Is there ANY model from Heljan that isn't a shoddy product?

I don't think any WM machines went into departmental use. Two went to the NNR, two went to the K&WVR and one was scrapped for parts,

Great unbiased video. Like the fact that you always pay for your models. Unlike some of your rivals and also some of the model kits reviewers. Considering Heljan had a big display video on the Rails site recently, they really have let themselves down. Keep up the good work.. maybe some of these manufacturers will take notice!👍

People must like heljan a lot. I hear some of their models sell out