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So, to summarise:
- the steerable Y1a is a genuine variation,
- it is regarded as a pre-production model, and
- the turntable should be secured by a rivet/pin.
Correct?

Could some kind soul please post a photograph of an accepted genuine turntable rivet/pin?

Hopefully Mick will read this and post his.

Squid wrote:The listing was ended because the item is no longer available. I wonder if it was pulled because of its obvious alteration?

Or because someone, who didn't know better, made an offer the seller accepted.

This "steerable" Allchin realized £580 from an absentee bidder. If he'd attended the sale, he might not have bid, as this was it when I inspected it! The example on E-Bay was withdrawn, not sold.

With rivet
As can be seen here, the rivet was done pre spraying of the model as the green paint overspray covers the rivet head in exact alignment (more paint on front than rear of rivet head ). The front axle passes directly over the other rivet end and is crimped both sides as per rough R&D style ones. All this tells me it was done in the factory. I have seen so many screw versions and considering this section is easy to break presume they have all been repaired at some time. I only know of one other like this and mine was got for a minimal sum from a UK women who originally bought from a toy store for her kids years ago and found them one day again.

Thank you for the photo and explanation.
On a normal production model, is the turntable cast together with the boiler and therefore fixed in position, or is it attached in a different way so that it can't rotate?
Also, what does the other end of the pin look like ? it is crimped or peened over?

The front wheels were always painted all over. Railway people strip the paint off the rims to make them more authentic.

Idris wrote:Thank you for the photo and explanation.
On a normal production model, is the turntable cast together with the boiler and therefore fixed in position, or is it attached in a different way so that it can't rotate?
Also, what does the other end of the pin look like ? it is crimped or peened over?

The turntable is cast as one piece with the body, the only extra parts being the boiler door, flywheel and wheels. The rivet is very similar to the old Brev type rivets of years ago and both ends are exactly the same. Mine is getting a bit flimsy as the rivet tends to rust so I'm loathe to play around with it much more. The front axle runs directly over the centre of the rivet head underneath the turntable and has crimped (badly) both ends - typical R&D workmanship on these. Model has the 9slats in the cab floor so an earlier model as later ones had 11.
To date I have only seen pics of one similar and heard of another but not seen. Apart from the screw versions ( with all sorts of screws and nut and bolt going through I got in contact with Horace Dunkley who said he had one so I sent him pjhotos of mine for the MICA mag, guess what, it never got published as his was not like mine but he claimed it had a conical end to the turntable section which came to a point and was inserted into similar on the other half attached to the boiler body. There was no screw or bolt, just a push fit and if not held in by the paint would fall apart ( think the one posted earlier at auction was his ) so buyer would not be very happy.
I found it on Ebay and watched it for a wek and asked seller where it came from and she told me was bought years ago for her kids from a local toyshop now closed years ago. I didn't go into any detail about it with herand she wouldn't have known what it was so no value was placed on iyt and was happy with what she got, I suspect if the lower bidders knew they would be kicking themselves now.

"( think the one posted earlier at auction was his )"

Yes.

I would have thought that all pre-production steerable allchins would be 9 slats not 11