EL18 NSB from Roco
Introduction
EL18 is yet another model that is still seen in operation today. It's a locomotive that have had several different liveries up through the years. The above image shows two different liveries. The first one is the standard livery used by SJ Nord, while the rear one is a special livery that only existed a short time for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in 2025.
The model that I got hold of is an older Roco model with the NSB design, product number 70659. The model is discontinued at the time of writing this article. I belive that this model was relased in 2021 as it can be seen in the "New items" catalog for that year.
The model was still possible to get in my country in 2024, but the livery I wanted it in was completly sold out before I decided to buy it. I therefor had to buy it from a different country or buy it second-hand. I luckly stumbled across a store in a different country that still sold the model in brand new condition. They also had a different number of the model produced by Trix in stock.
There are mainly two reasons why I ended up with the Roco model over the Trix one:
- The decoders that ship with Roco locomotvies obviously works great with the Roco Z21 command station. That is not always the case for decoders used in Trix models. I have seen Trix models suddenly accelerate to full speed with no way to stop them other than cutting the power on the Z21.
- The pictures of the Roco edition looks more detailed than the Trix model. That was also the case when I got to see the models in the store.
Bellow is an image of the locomotive model in the box it came in.
The box itself looks decent enough, but there is one flaw with the box. There seems to be no room for the included additional parts in either end of the box. It might thus be necessary to modify the box slightly to fit those parts.
Fitting additional parts
This model comes with quite a lot of additional parts. Bellow is a picture of all the different parts. Some of them are spare parts, while other are supposed to be fitted to the model. Note that they have included "Flåmsbana" decals that you can add over some of the NSB logos if you prefer. Do note though that the running number of the model does not match any of the running numbers currently operating on the Flåm railway.
I decided to fit three different types of parts on my model:
- Handrails on both ends
- Windshield wipers on both ends
- Handrails for the doors
The included manual has some pictures showing how the parts are supposed to be mounted. The manual can also be found in digital format on the product page for the model. Bellow is a picture of what the bag containing the handrails looks like.
Fitting the handrails are done by sliding and pushing them into place. I used a combination of pliers and my fingers to push them into place. Bellow are a comparison of the model with and without the handrails.
The next parts I fitted where the handrails on the front and rear. Fitting them first was actually a mistake, since it made it harder to fit the windshild wipers. One thing to be aware of with the windshild wipers is that they go quite far into the model. It's therfor important to make sure that they are pushed all the way in. I then used Faller expert plastic glue to secure the parts into place.
Those of you that have read some of my previous articles might be aware that the superglue is one of my nemesis. The great thing about the Faller plastic glue is that it is much easier to apply to the model due to the applicator on the bottle and the slower curing time means that you will avoid gluing your fingers! This newly aquired plastic glue will deffintely be my goto glue for fitting parts on my models.
I then decided to look at how to fix the issue with the model box. There is aproximately 3 mm of space missing for the model to fit when the additional parts are there. I used a cable knife for gently shaving of the excessive material. Bellow is a picture after shaving of.
It was then once again possible to fit the locomotive in its box as shown in the bellow picture.
Note that the protection of the locomotive potentialy will be degraded when modifications such as this is done to the box. I would still say though that the protection is good enough for the locomotive to be safely transported in its box, which is important for me as I want to transport it with my bike to the clubs I am a member of.
Pictures of the prototype
I have pictures of three different liveries at the time of writing this article. The left image shows the SJ Nord livery, the center shows a VY livery and the right one shows the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships livery.
SJ Nord and VY both use a livery that is identical to the NSB livery on the EL18 model, except for the logos on each cab. Go-Ahead Nordics on the other hand has a completly different livery. Roco have actually created a model in that livery. Product number for the DCC sound version of that edition of the locomotive is 70674. That model is also discontinued, but there are more shops that still stocks this model. The reason for that is that this is a less popular model than then one in the NSB livery. One of the reasons for that is probably because it do not exist any B5 coaches on the market in a livery matching the only type of coaches that this locomotive typically hauls.
Lets do a comparision of the model I bought and the prototype. The locomotive number 2247 has the VY livery at the time of writing this article. It's currently used on Bergensbanen. The 2247 was actually in Bergen at the same time I was visiting, but my schedule unfortunately didn't have time for me to take pictures of it. The comparsion will therefor have to be with other running numbers.
I am actaully impressed by the similarities. The only potential discrepancies I am able to spot is the lack of two circular hatches along the bottom line and the incorrect color on the top grills. The different image on the side off the locomotive is realistic. Different running nummbers have different images. There are also different images on each side of the same running number. Bellow is a picture of the other side of the model.
The 2017 release of a book named Norske lok og motorvogner (NLM) contains an overview over which number had which image around that time. I have a copy of the book and I have compared the images in the book with the model and they seem to match as far as I can see. One of the images in the book is unfortunately incorrectly croped so that it only shows the center of the image. The reference table can be found on page 13 of the book.
Lets have a look at the front of the model.
The front is where the model is more lacking in details unfortunately. The most noticable one is the incorrect placment of the driver console. The swiss edition that this locomotive is based on have the driving console on the left side when seen from the inside. Thats not the case for the EL18 where the console is located on the right! This is a flaw that can be seen with all EL18 models from Roco as far as I am aware. The reason for that is that Roco is probably mass-producing the model in different liveries for different countires basing it on the same Swiss model. There are also some minor details bellow the handles that are missing.
Programming the decoder
I always use JMRI to reprogram my decoders. One thing I do to all of my models is reprogram the lights to be independent of travel direction. The decoder in this model is a Zimo decoder similar to the one in my EL16. Those of you who have read my article about the Roco EL16 knows how confusing I find the programming of Zimo decoders. The first thing I had to do with this decoder was to remove all the mappings except function 11 in the "Alt function mapping" tab. The default settings is shown in the screenshot bellow.
The next step was to re-add the mappings under "Swiss Mapping V36+". The mapping in Group 1 came with the decoder, while Group 2 and Group 3 is mapped up by me. Note how I used F0 to turn on lights for cab 1 and F22 for cab 2. Also note that "Front Light" is cab 1 white lights and "Rear Light" is white lights for cab 2. F0 2 and F0 3 are used for red tail lights.
Lights in either end can be switched off by using F12 or F13 which is a part of the default programming. That allows you to for example switch off the red tail lights when pulling coaches, which is realistic.
First run
The first test run went well. There where no issues at all, the model simply ran as excpected. Sound where working fine and the lights also worked as I want them to after reprogramming. I did also test the locomotive with my three B3 Flåmsbana coaches which also worked fine.
Final thoughts
I would say this is a decent model in terms of what you pay for. It runs nicely and have decent details for the most part. I do however find it annoying that you have to fit both the windshield wipers and some guard rails yourself. It's also sad that the console is located on the wrong side in the cab. The flaw with the box is also just stupid, but there probably is a good reason why they do it like that.
Superspeed500 2025