Electric locomotive BB 17096 R37

The overall look is well rendered. The bogies in particular outperform the Lima model, especially to the brake cylinder side. The roof is consistent with the subseries where access is from the inside (17051 and 17053 to 17105). There are therefore no small access railings at the corners of the body. The pantographs are quite slim, and have no central fixing screw: a good point! But the treatment of the upper reinforcements is not compliant.

One wheel on the end axle of each bogie is fitted with a tyre. This machine is not very heavy, compared with the LS Models’ BB 16500, which are at least 80 g heavier. I will look at the tractive effort later.

The markings are extremely fine: the end markings are perfectly legible, while their length does not exceed 1.2 mm.

However, there are some details that bother me, apart from the lack of plates. I think that, for the price, other brands such as REE have done better.

• the Sanor horns, which are not hollow and are fed by pipes that are too large and would have been better engraved on the body;
• the roofline, which is deformed above the skylight because of a boss that deforms this part in the box and which, even when corrected, passes too close to the skylight: risk of striking at 25 kV! Side photo.
• the HOM earthing switch not inserted;
• the windscreen frames far too prominent, and the windscreen wipers too thick;
• the white stripes too wide, particularly the one on the lower part of the body, but also the one framing the grilles.

In addition to two loop couplings, the parts bag contains: two complete air tanks to be fitted if the NEM box is removed; two protective plates; two articulated screw couplings; four brake hoses. That is all. No spare parts, then.

I am a bit disappointed that the instructions explain how to remove the “skylight” (in fact, the whole roof area enclosed by the gratings), which seems tricky, but not how to simply lift the body, which is actually quite easy. It gives a list of functions that can be used with a Zimo decoder, with or without sound; I would have liked to see a list of connections between the decoder outputs and the auxiliaries controlled, the lights in particular.

See the fLoco-Revue forum on R37 “dancers”.

• Yellow and white paint on the brake hose cocks (not done by the manufacturer here).
• Installation of a driver in the front cab, which is easily dismantled. However, the figure is too high.
• Installation of a Lenz Silver+ PluX22 decoder. The default values are unsuitable because, as with BB 63901, R37 has separated the white lights, which therefore take up four outputs. The correspondence between the decoder outputs and their use is supposed to be as follows:

However, with this list, the cab lights do not work.

The 17096 entered service in May 1968 at Lens (Nord). It was transferred to La Chapelle in 1977 and then to Achères (Ouest network — date unknown) where it was written off in December 2012. It is part of the 17038 to 105 subseries, with a slightly elongated chassis and a more visible buffer beam.