Heljan A/S is a Danish

model railway Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...

company based in

Søndersø Søndersø is a town in central Denmark with a population of 3,319 (1 January 2022), located in Nordfyn municipality on the island of Funen. Business The town is home to the following companies: * KiMs * Heljan A/S * Tinby A/S * MT Miljøtekni ...

. Originally specialising in decorations and accessories for model railways, it has now also developed a substantial range of

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...

. It has diversified into modelling the British scene, and since 2002 has released several

OO gauge OO gauge or OO scale (also, 00 gauge and 00 scale) is the most popular standard-gauge model railway standard in the United Kingdom, outside of which it is virtually unknown. OO gauge is one of several 4 mm-scale standards (4 mm to 1 foot, ...

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

s, and several

O gauge O scale (or O gauge) is a scale commonly used for toy trains and rail transport modelling. Introduced by German toy manufacturer Märklin around 1900, by the 1930s three-rail alternating current O gauge was the most common model railroad sca ...

models. British Outline now forms the biggest part of the Heljan business and UK operations are run from Denmark through an agent. In line with other

model train Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...

companies and to keep costs to a minimum models are

manufactured Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a rang ...

in China.

Range

Heljan's current UK

diesel loco range consists of

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

Class 14s, 15s, 16s, 17s, 23s, 26s, 27s,

28s 28S ribosomal RNA is the structural ribosomal RNA (rRNA) for the LSU rRNA, large subunit (LSU) of eukaryotic cytoplasmic ribosomes, and thus one of the basic components of all eukaryotic cells. It has a size of 25S in plants and 28S in mammals, ...

, 33s, 35s, 47s, 52s, ''Falcon'', 57s, 58s, ''Lion'' and HS4000 ''Kestrel'. The

Class 86s are currently the only AC Electric outline models in the range. They have won praise for locomotive models in a wide variety of liveries. Several different models of the British Railways

Waggon und Maschinenbau A wagon or waggon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are immediately distinguished from ...

built

Railbuses A railbus is a lightweight passenger railcar that shares many aspects of its construction with a bus, typically having a bus (original or modified) body and four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies. Originally designed and developed ...

were released in February 2012. They also produce OO gauge British Rail Dogfish ballast wagons and Cargowaggon bogie freight vehicles. Their UK O gauge range currently consists of British Rail Class 03 shunter, Class 20s, 25s, 26s, 33s, 35s, 37s, 42s, 45s, 47s, 50s, 52s, 60s, 128s and a Class 55 ''Deltic''. The O gauge range also includes

British Railways Mark 1 British Railways Mark 1 is the family designation for the first standardised designs of railway carriages built by British Railways (BR) from 1951 until 1974, now used only for charter services on the main lines or on preserved railways. Follo ...

carriages in a number of liveries. O gauge models are typically supplied un-numbered and with separate detailing parts, allowing the purchaser to finish the model to their own preference. In the UK, a number of

limited edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

locomotives have been commissioned by model retailers. Heljan models of the British Rail Class 14 and Class 28 'Co-Bo' diesel locomotives as well as the LMS 2-6-0+0-6-2 Beyer-Garratt with twin motor design and working coal pusher are available through

Hattons Model Railways Hattons Model Railways is a British retailer and manufacturer of model railway paraphernalia founded in Liverpool, England in 1946 by Norman Hatton (1918-2005). After significant growth due to a move into online mail order the company relocated t ...

. Several different models of the

LNER LNER may refer to: * London and North Eastern Railway, a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1923 until 1947 * London North Eastern Railway, a train operating company in the United Kingdom since 2018 * Liquid neutral earthing resistor, a typ ...

EM1 and EM2 DC Electric locomotives constructed for use on the Woodhead Route are currently being produced for Olivia's Trains of Sheffield (terminus of the Woodhead line). A

Midland Pullman The ''Midland Pullman'' was the name given to a former express passenger train service operating on British Railways' old Midland Main Line between and via and Millers Dale. The train completed the journey in 3 hours 15 minutes. This servi ...

is also planned. Several standard Heljan models have been produced in special, limited edition, liveries for particular retailers or UK railway modelling magazines. Traditionally, Heljan has produced many Continental prototypes with H0 models such as the

Swedish State Railways The Swedish State Railways ( sv, Statens Järnvägar) or SJ, originally the Royal Railway Board ( sv, Kungl. Järnvägsstyrelsen), was the former government agency responsible for operating the state-owned railways in Sweden. It was created i ...

Class T21 and Danish State Railways class MY, MX, MO and P 4-4-2. Highly acclaimed, working

Turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, Traverser and

Container crane A container crane (also container handling gantry crane or ship-to-shore crane) is a type of large dockside gantry crane found at container terminals for loading and unloading intermodal containers from container ships. Container cranes consis ...

models are available in

H0 scale HO or H0 is a rail transport modelling scale using a 1:87 scale (3.5 mm to 1 foot). It is the most popular scale of model railway in the world. The rails are spaced apart for modelling standard gauge tracks and trains in HO.NMRA"Mod ...

and are also suitable for 00 operation. A number of plastic building kits are also produced in HO/OO, along with working

street lighting A street light, light pole, lamp pole, lamppost, street lamp, light standard, or lamp standard is a raised source of light on the edge of a road or path. Similar lights may be found on a railway platform. When urban electric power distribution ...

. In June 2022 Heljan announced plans to introduce a

British Rail class 31 The British Rail Class 31 diesel locomotives, also known as the Brush Type 2 and previously as Class 30, were built by Brush Traction from 1957-62. They were numbered in two series, D5500-D5699 and D5800-D5862. Construction of the first locomot ...

locomotive in TT:120 scale, with the possible production of a class 08 and a

Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST The Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST is a class of steam locomotive designed by Hunslet Engine Company for shunting. The class became the standard British shunting locomotive during the Second World War, and production continued until 1964 at variou ...

locomotive. Previous commercial ready-to-run British outline rolling stock had, in the 1950s and 1960s, always been made to a scale of 1:100. The introduction of TT:120 scale rolling stock was coincidental with plans announced by PECO and Gaugemaster to produce products in what is a new scale for British outline models.

Future plans

Planned models in

are a

British Rail DP2 DP2, meaning Development Prototype number 2, was a prototype Type 4 mainline diesel locomotive, built by English Electric in 1962. The engine and electronic systems trialled in DP2 formed the basis for the later , for which it was effectively ...

and several versions of the Class 128 parcels DMU. In

O Gauge O scale (or O gauge) is a scale commonly used for toy trains and rail transport modelling. Introduced by German toy manufacturer Märklin around 1900, by the 1930s three-rail alternating current O gauge was the most common model railroad sca ...

a GWR AEC 'Razor Edge' Railcar,

British Rail Class 31 The British Rail Class 31 diesel locomotives, also known as the Brush Type 2 and previously as Class 30, were built by Brush Traction from 1957-62. They were numbered in two series, D5500-D5699 and D5800-D5862. Construction of the first locomot ...

, Class 40, Class 56 and a Class 17 ''Clayton'' are all planned but production is dependent on enough customers placing advanced orders for them. It is hoped that these will mirror the huge success of the "Deltic" when it was released in 2011. Heljan recently admitted that they had been considering the possibilities of producing a Class 14 "Teddy Bear" in O gauge but this was not thought to be viable due to lack of customer interest.

Gallery

File:Heljan Class 27 in BR Green.jpg, British Rail Class 27 File:Heljan Class 33.jpg, British Rail Class 33 File:Heljan British Rail Class 53 Falcon.jpg, British Rail Class 53 Falcon File:20170721 140120 Richtone(HDR).jpg, D0260 LION

References

External links

Heljan (Denmark)
www.heljan.dk

(Accessed 2016-08-27) {{coord, 55, 28, 35, N, 10, 15, 53, E, type:landmark, display=title Manufacturing companies established in 1957 Model railroad manufacturers Toy companies of Denmark Model manufacturers of Denmark Danish brands 1957 establishments in Denmark