Top 5 locos in your collection

[centenary]

What are the top 5 locos in your collection?

Any scale, any make and why?

In reverse order, mine are all OO scale:

5, Bachmann Blue Midland Pullman. Always wanted these when I had my 3 rail Dublo as a kid but couldnt because it was Triang 2 rail. Treated myself about 12 months ago to the all blue ends Bachmann iteration and didnt pay a King's ransom either. It just evokes memories of a bygone if not all too successful era.

4, Hornby Dublo 3 rail Co Co imitation of the Deltic. Too short and basic but, was a great runner and could pull just about every bit of rolling stock I had all at once. Would likely need a good service before it could ever run again.

3, Dapol Western Class 52 in maroon. The front end of these locos always remind me of a Bloodhound for some obscure reason but I just love the overall look. Despite being a Co Co, the middle axle on each bogie almost seems to disappear given the design. Next on the list for sound fitting as I just love the sound of both the engines running together.

2, Hornby InterCity HST Executive livery with HM7000 SF decoders. Latest iteration Class 43 with 7 carriages. Looks amazing although had to change the sound profile from the Valentas to the MTUs because the 'scream' became an irritant. Disappointed Hornby didnt ship with replacement magnetic couplings like each individual carriage too.

1, Dapol Class 59 in Yeoman livery. Absolutely love this loco. Bought used but honestly, it is like no one had run it and was less than £110. Since fitted with a Loksound sound decoder, axle boxes rotate and dont fall off plus is an excellent runner. Pulls my 8 Yeoman JHAs with ease and Im in no doubt it could pull double. My only gripe is I have to mod the front lights to all come on as Dapol didnt do this from the off.

[aleopardstail]

Well I don't have all that many Locos here but I think in order

1st place is the Bachman G5, lovely model, sound fitted helps but its beautiful anyway
2nd is the Hornby Q6, wonderfully reliable, does its job of just plodding round in the background without complaints
3rd is the Hornby A2/3 with the unpronounceable name, again a really beautiful model

those three are the only "modern" high detail ones I have

4th is the J72, not yet DCC chipped and thus not on the layout but this was the first locomotive I bought for this project
5th is the A1 flying scotsman, has to be really, stock running and featured in many videos now, again a very reliable runner from Hornby's Railroad range, not as detailed as the A2/3 visually but to be honest when running she is perfectly good

[Dad-1]

Top 5 ?
For what reason ?? I mean to be top 5 it has to be more than accuracy, cost, most used ???
Emotional, something with a personal history ????

With around 90 to 100 pieces of traction I'm not certain I can slim down to 5. Which would I struggle to part with ?
These are all '00', I only have 1 'O' gauge Loco & nothing smaller.

No.1 would probably be 'Marilyn' a Hornby Blue 06, one of my first locomotives when I started. Cheap at £16 when
first purchased. Was one of my first DCC conversions, the blue lady has been high maintenance to work with, can
now crawl over insulated pointwork on the loft layout and with her ballasted body can haul 30 to 40 wagons.

No.2 The model type most certainly, a Hornby Hornsby & Ruston DS48, but which one 'Gower Princess', 'Anna' a re-paint
to Ukrainian colours from a Grant Rail version or, Dewars red & white. I suppose it would have to be the Dewars version,
whatever I couldn't be without one they are always in use.

No.3 Something I don't use much. My Bachmann NRM 'City of Truro', a trail blazer and something I've been hauled by when
I went the the NRM 'Gala' weekend back in 2012. At the time it was the most expensive locomotive I'd bought.

No.4 My Bachmann 57XX GWR green 32-215 5775 that has worked nearly all my layouts over many years including being the
stand-by when one of the club layouts goes out (Since the club's own 57XX went missing). Again quite difficult as I have
3, or 4 57XX locos.

No.5 Should be one of my heavy freights, but on reflection it would have to be my BR black weathered Bachmann Collet
Goods 2253. An early one with the simple peg arrangement for tender attachment. A brilliantly reliable runner that can
pull a surprisingly heavy train. It was certainly my favourite steamer at a time when I was running mostly diesels.

Not a single 2-8-0 ?? My Hornby 38XX, and 8F didn't quite make it, nor the Bachmann G2A and S&DJR 7F. It's obviously ones
for which I have a history with. Not a single Diesel like my Heljan Blue Class 47 'City of Truro', nor a more recent sound fitted
loco. I did consider my kit built 0-4-0 steam sentinel, but although I'm quite proud of the result it doesn't have any emotional
pull.

Geoff T.

[Phred]

I'm too fickle to have favourites. This week I'm into steam, next week diesel, then I spot something interesting in the cabinet and play with that for a bit.

I tend to lean toward the smaller locos though, because the big ones make my little station look a bit silly.

[SRman]

I'm too fickle to have favourites. This week I'm into steam, next week diesel, then I spot something interesting in the cabinet and play with that for a bit.

I tend to lean toward the smaller locos though, because the big ones make my little station look a bit silly.

I'm with you, Phred. My favourites change all the time, as does the time period/era I favour, and even the country's trains I run - I like Continental stuff as well as British, and also have a few Australian trains. Even within locomotive or unit types, I can have a particular favourite based on livery.

If I own it, I must have liked it enough to spend money on buying it!

[Bigmet]

The ones I truly rate are those which I know from past experience are challenging to achieve by DIY:
Stirling single from Rapido (reliable traction thanks to intelligent design)
Ivatt Large Atlantic from Bachmann (reliable traction thanks to intelligent design)
G5 0-4-4T from Bachmann (reliable traction thanks to intelligent design)
D16/3 from Hornby (reliable traction thanks to intelligent design)
9F from Bachmann. (all that round the driving wheels detail, very difficult by DIY)

[centenary]

Top 5 ?
For what reason ?? I mean to be top 5 it has to be more than accuracy, cost, most used ???
Emotional, something with a personal history ????


Geoff T.

LOL. No, just a bit of fun! Can be any reason, childhood memories, best buy, cheapest, whatever floats yer boat!

[Mountain]

Top five... The first five I have made, though is slightly difficult as some have not been finished yet and sit waiting to be completed.
Locomotive number 1 is just about finished though I will need to change its pick-ups to nickel silver guitar string offcuts which I was given but not done the alteration yet.
Number 2 is finished apart from converting of the couplings, though it temporarily has tension lock loops as I do have the occasional item of rolling stock that has them. They will all eventually be replaced with home made drop loop style couplings with the usual centrally mounted drawing pin buffer.
Number 3 is just about finished but has no buffers or couplings! Another job to get done. To be honest, setting up a workshop would be an idea as it would make things easier to do these tasks.
Number 4 (An 0-6-0 diesel) has no roof and needs chassis adjustments. The chassis was problematic when I first bought it (Somehow it's cogs were not quite inline?) as a Lima 09, but then after an hour or two of fiddling, I had it running so sweetly that it was lovely and it was really well behaved for years! Then slimming down the chassis to fit its new body and the origional issues returned leaving me puzzled as to the cause. I believe it is the alignment of the gears but visually they look OK. I will have to have a fiddle again as when I find that sweet spot, I know the chassis runs lovely! (I have other donor 09's if needed, at least two were new and have actually not been used, or rarely been used, but these will need their chassis cut down and motor size slightly reduced to make them fit the body which is why I decided to have a go (One day) at fiddling with the chassis that is already in there. I may also need to perfect a means to hold the body to the chassis (Why I have not fitted a roof yet) and paint up a driver for it. Loco number 4 also needs name and number plates to be made.
Loco number 5 will either be a diesel which will have quite a lot of alterations which have been planned to fit my railways preferred loading gauge (I have shown this Loco on my thread in its uncompleted state. It has a 3D printed body from "Budget Model Railways" (I think that is what they are called. They are found on YouTube and normally do 3D body conversion kits for small 00 gauge Hornby shunters. For me, as I love to alter things, the 3D print material is tough to work with, but it shows promise potential when I get it done. I bought two of these interesting body kits. The second kit I may build as it is or I may let another modeller have a go depending on how many projects I have on the go. Things for me were delayed due to a period of needing mental rest, but I am improved again now, so I am planning to get more done. (Depending on if I will need to work or not as the fear is if I launch back into a job I may end up back in a mental mess again. Not sure how best to deal with this yet, as I want to be back to how I was when I was able to do lots but I also do not want to mentally crash... Best not to think about it for now!))).
Loco number 6 is one my nephew built and is called "Chuff". He named the little saddle tank and built her up. He is not in a position to have a layout so he wanted me to have it back. (I let him make one of my kits when he had to stay over with us during covid).
I now have many more locos in various forms of build after being offered someone else's collection at reasonable prices when he was changing scale.

[Ken Shabby]

Most of my favourite locos are quite old. Over 80% of my collection is over 30 years old and are the sort of thing that until about 5 years ago cost around £25 2nd hand. The first locomotives that sprung to mind were practically all tender drive and made circa 1981-84. I've ended up rewriting this list to add a little more variety.
In no particular order.
Hornby Schools Class Repton.
My oldest surviving loco, Repton was bought for me by late father ,circa
1984. The loco was stored in a shoe box for 20 years, and ran perfectly after being laid up for 2 decades.
I keep promising myself I'll buy some proper Hornby Maunsell coaches to run behind it, instead of the old generic Hornby Southern coaches, which aren't even the correct shade of olive green.

Hornby Mallard BR green

Another tender drive loco. This was the one that started it all. Back in 1980, a friend brought the Hornby catalogue to school. There was a photo inside of a driver and fireman standing next to Mallard in the Hornby loco shed . This is what made me want to have a model railway. I finally bought an eighties Mallard about 8 years ago.

Wrenn BR Standard 4MT tank.
I bought the Bachmann 4MT tank about a decade ago, and although it looks really nice , it's never been a great runner. Not long after buying the Bachmann model, I bought the Wrenn version very cheaply. Although it's very chunky and crude, I much prefer it. I think the Dublo version dates back to around 1954. It must of seemed very impressive back then.
My Wrenn 4MT has seen a lot of service over the years , and the Bachmann version has only been run a handful of times.

Hornby Class 47 Mammoth
I own quite a few Class 47s , and nearly all of them are Lima models. I did used to like the old Hornby Class 47, until I noticed how high the loco sat on it's bogies. This was also the case with the ringfield motored Class 37. I'm quite forgiving with older models, but this was too much even for me. A while back I learnt how to do some minor surgery to the plastic bogie frames allowing the loco to sit much lower.
Having learnt this, Mammoth was built from bits from the spares box and a £5 body shell.
I was never keen on the light up headcodes, so these are covered over with headcode stickers, which I think came from a Heljan model.

Bachmann Class 205 DEMU BR green

This was a Kernow limited edition. It's one of only a handful of models I own which was bought new. In the eighties my tiny layout was Southern country station and I could only dream of owning a model like this. I've since bought the rail blue DEMU as well.

Ken

[Bigmet]

I'm too fickle to have favourites. This week I'm into steam, next week diesel...

Some recent mucking about with diesel operation on my own and a couple of friend's layouts has thrown the 'fickle' switch!
I am a fan of the centre motor mechanism, pioneered in RTR (HO) TTBOMK by Athearn over fifty years ago, which took a long time to appear in RTR OO - all credit to Bachmann - and consistently delivers all the refined performance that could be wished for.

Ironically considering Bachmann's bringing this to UK RTR OO, my faves go:
Heljan EE type 2 (TOPS 23) Looks just like the screaming thug it was; the sole model I have earmarked for potential sound fit.
Heljan NBL type 1 (TOPS 16) Oh that external styling, presumably the work of a chap with in depth experience in ventilated steel cabinets.
Heljan BTH type 1 (TOPS 15) The petite and curvaceous 'Marilyn Monroe' of BR's type 1s, and like her a really heavy smoker.
Dapol NBL DE type 2 (TOPS 21) It's those 'I'm so sad' cab ends, almost as if the stylist knew these would end up on the naughty step.
NRM Bachmann DP1 type 5. The body form, paint job and decor- look BR, you can have glamour - just so well rendered on this model. Back in 2007 I took mine up on Digswell South tunnel to assess the body colour against the cornflowers in the sunshine. Just right!

[Phred]

Bigmet wrote:
Heljan EE type 2

I like that no-nonsense workhorse look.

Bigmet wrote:
Back in 2007 I took mine up on Digswell South tunnel to assess the body colour against the cornflowers in the sunshine. Just right!

Still trying to figure out how to reply to that but I'm sure she enjoyed the outing.

[Bigmet]

Bigmet wrote:
Heljan EE type 2

I like that no-nonsense workhorse look.

Same here, and they were capable when operating, but demanding of engine maintenance and NOISY!. Apart from being a small class, (none more constructed after the 10 pilot scheme examples) with an 1,100hp prime mover, short of power output for a type 2: it was found that the EE type 1 'thousand horse' could perform the suburban service work when steam heating was not required in summer, and this probably told against the more expensive type 2; and then there was the very numerous Brush type 2 with its all round capability...

Bigmet wrote:
Back in 2007 I took mine up on Digswell South tunnel to assess the body colour against the cornflowers in the sunshine. Just right!

Still trying to figure out how to reply to that but I'm sure she enjoyed the outing.

This relates to the variability of appearance of the blue body colour dependent on the ambient lighting. In full summer sunshine it was cornflower blue, as seen growing at the location mentioned.'Cloudy bright' it was a paler blue, winter with heavy overcast if was grey blue, and on one memorable occasion with an intense 'red sky' sunset, purple. Such a difficult colour to get right by DIY on the old Kitmaster model.

[Phred]

Bigmet wrote:
This relates to the variability of appearance of the blue body colour dependent on the ambient lighting.

Aah - that explains my confusion. I'm not good with shades of colour. My wife despairs when showing me paint charts. Ocean Blue or Calypso Blue? It's all blue, missus!

[Bigmet]

Aah - that explains my confusion. I'm not good with shades of colour....

On a positive note, you are aware of this. Too many that are convinced that they can identify the 'correct' colour, seemingly unaware of the scale of the variables; starting with colour is purely an artefact of each individual's vision system interacting with the lighting and reflectivity: and there are more...