The creation of a Loco Model Reviews Page. has proven to be very popular and as a result, and so there will be two more reviews completed by the end of the week to bolster this page to make it a more comprehensive resource for locoyard followers.
So without further ado, here we have part one of a tale of two cities!. We start with a review of Hornby’s 00 scale rendition of Stanier’s streamlined Duchess class; 6235 City of Birmingham.
Class: Stanier Duchess/Coronation Class 4-6-2
Use: Express Passenger
Region: London Midland and Scottish
Era: 1937 – 1949
Preserved examples:
Streamlined Condition:
6229 Duchess of Hamilton – National Railway Museum York
Non Streamlined Condition:
(4)6233 Duchess of Sutherland (never had streamline casing) – Working mainline condition owned by The Princess Royal Class Locomotive Trust, based at Midland Railway Butterley
(4)6235 City of Birmingham (previously streamlined) – ThinkTank, Birmingham
Manufacturer: Hornby
Motor: 5 pole Loco-drive
Power: Heavyweight
DCC options: none on early versions, 8 pin dcc ready and sound on non-streamlined versions
Locoyard Review
Detailing:
4/5
No picked-out cab details (below) or opening cab roof. The motion/connecting rods are good, blackened representations. As you’d expect it has handrails and lamp irons and the riveting looks good; not that I’ve counted them though!
Outline/Looks: 4.5/5
The shape is excellent and the powerful poise of the prototype is captured well. More recent versions look better than the version illustrated as they have a fixed rear truck, however all versions suffer from a “skateboard” front bogey (below).
The tender is streamlined and it really looks the part (below).
Finish/Decoration:
5/5
An excellent finish, the red and gold is stunning; whilst the blue with white stripes are also very impressive.
Running Qualities:
4.5/5
Pick-ups aren’t perfect despite being on every wheel, but it is smooth, quiet and reliable on the whole.
Relative Power:
2.5/5
The prototype is big and very powerful, whilst the model is adequate without being exceptional. It slips a little with 5-6 carriages around Locoyard’s tight 2nd radius circuit. Unfortunately this means that there is a power gap between the 8P rated prototype and the model.
Specification:
4.5/5
Cab detailing is not as good as more modern models. If you’re not confident at using a soldering iron and are a DCC user, you must be sure that you purchase a DCC ready/fitted version, as early models (such as the one illustrated) were not DCC Ready.
Value:
4/5
Can be picked up quite cheaply for a large model secondhand as it has been around for a while. It isn’t fully up to date however, and you can pay a lot for a new version. Try not to spend more than £80 if you can help it as there are better models around for £100+.
Overall Locoyardometer Score: 4.1
A good model that’s slightly out-dated, but worth having all the same. An improved front bogey and a little more power would make all the difference!
Detailometer 4, Outlineometer 4.5, Finishometer 5, Motorometer 4, Powerometer 2.5, Specometer 4.5, Valueometer 4, Locoyardometer 4.1
