Steam loco choice ?

[rocketman]

I second that bigmet and would add 4-4-0s and 4-4-0Ts, Both H and B seem to have managed to work out how to make the wheel arrangement work on an oo chassis. There are several prototypes awaiting including preserved examples.
rocketman

[live-frog]

Bigmet , I think you are spot on with the Early Emblem statement , I think the reason is that a lot of steam era modellers like to mix in a few diesels which puts them in Era 5 and makes it difficult to justify early emblem.
I'm happy to run late & earlies together which many aren't so have picked up a couple of bargains.

[rocketman]

If I had the odd diseasel it would be more likely something like this from the 30's, though apparently it was built on a 3f chassis! (thanks Bachmann).
http://www.paxmanhistory.org.uk/paxrailt.htm
so,
if we could have some more chassis from regional pre-grouping classes to play with, who knows what might transpire?
rocketman

[bike2steam]

Play safe, and start with the class not yet rtr that covered the greatest area, railway wise ...

If we apply that rule to peak numbers in BR steam (the mid fifties onward is where the greatest interest in steam is, many customers won't buy early crest steam models, I am told) you will find that the commonest classes are largely covered now: the obvious next common loco crying out for a model is the MR 3F type as announced by Bachmann. Take a number like a 100 locos as constituting a 'large class', and therefore likely to cover a good area railway wise then no further GW classes will ever be required, and only one SR class, (C class 0-6-0) the third commonest SR class is the M7 (available, good call Hornby) just over the 100 mark. Apart from those two and the BB/WC class the SR only had very small classes. So it is non-stop LMS and LNER from there, lots of the pre-group 0-8-0s, 0-6-0s and 0-6-0T's that they operated. Oh goody...

Perhaps I should have explained it better, not large in numbers, but large in allocation. A class of 100 locos wouldn't be a good idea if all were allocated to one place, but conversely 100 locos all allocated to different sheds would be a better candidate for rtr sales.
Bachmann sussed the 'must have one of the first' market, by releasing the early BR livery first on a lot of steam releases.

[Bigmet]

The size of class thing, I didn't choose 100 for nothing. Classes of specialised locos built to do a very particular and therefore localised job; there may be 10, or thereabouts. (Think of locos like the LMS dock shunter, the SDJR 2-8-0, the LNER K4 or P2.) Locos built in 100 or more quantity, the number of classes drops dramatically; there are a huge number of classes (typically pre-group) which were standard for their original smaller company, and there may be 30, 50, 60 left by BR days.

Now, when we get to a class of 100 or more locos in service they couldn't be that localised for two reasons. Most steam sheds were relatively small, so that number of locos have to be spread out over a dozen or more sheds; and steam locos have to go for works overhaul regularly, typically every 2 to 3 years for the small to medium size locos we are talking about. What that means is that every single week one of the class members is likely to be off its regular round, either running to or from main works or on a test run following the overhaul (some weeks there will be two or more doing this), which helps make them a very regular sight around the system.


I love the dislike of the early crest. Cheaper locos for the massive effort of taking the old off and putting the new transfer on. Shouldn't really be sharing this earth shattering technique as more of you might do it and help keep the price of early crest locos stronger. And for locos that are getting BR's cheapest livery 'total filth for goods and LMR engines ', I just paint it out. You could not see the crest on many BR locos, and the number was often helped with chalk and still barely decipherable.

[ngresley]

Bigmet , I think you are spot on with the Early Emblem statement , I think the reason is that a lot of steam era modellers like to mix in a few diesels which puts them in Era 5 and makes it difficult to justify early emblem.

Yep, exactly the position I'm in.

[ngresley]

I love the dislike of the early crest. Cheaper locos for the massive effort of taking the old off and putting the new transfer on. Shouldn't really be sharing this earth shattering technique as more of you might do it and help keep the price of early crest locos stronger.

Thought had occurred to me before! What's the best way to remove the old transfer without hurting the paintwork and what brand of transfers do you suggest for the late emblem?

[Bigmet]

On Bachmann locos, a tiny dab of white spirit or meths will release the paint's adhesion to the underlying surface and it can be wiped off completely cleanly. On Hornby, the paint adheres very well. I scrape it off using a brand new scalpel blade, watching through a 10X magnifier under a good light. A little varnish touches in any tiny scratches before putting the new emblem on. It is also possible to polish off using T-cut or Brasso, but this does affect the paint finish, and is really only suitable if heavy weathering will subsequently be applied.

For the emblems, I use the HMRS sheet, a very good match to both Bachmann and Hornby.

[rocketman]

Like Bigmet, I love unpopularly logo-ed locos. If you want a real bargain and want a 2-4-6T have a look at ehattons where the LMS Fairburn is under £50!. There are often such anomalies, easily renumbered or badged.
rocketman

[Bigmet]

I knew there was a thread lurking here on this subject, if only it could be found!

Ten years on, and the RTR OO steam loco landscape is so very different. The choice must have comfortably doubled, and one consequence is that we now have a swarm of both the smaller locos and long surviving older classes available. This isn't utopia so the situation isn't perfect, but I would hope that the large majority now have a good model of a class from the 'I wish some model manufacturer would make that' category of circa 2010.

My own boat has come in so spectacularly that between what has been purchased, and what has been announced, there are now only five more classes of steam loco that I would definitely buy if a RTR OO loco was produced.

[Bufferstop]

The early emblem was around long enough that virtually every big four survivor will have carried it. I can remember seeing locos carrying the ferret and dartboard where it had been applied over the early emblem with very little other attention to the state of its paintwork. Shouldn't be too hard to replicate.

[Dad-1]

Hornby have done me proud. Not just steam, the little Ruston runs so well it tempted me to get
both the Pecketts, B2 and W4 and what superb little locos they are. Anything bigger than 0-6-0
is not on my might/will buy list.

Geoff T.

[Bigmet]

It's a good question where the manufacturers will go next in small steam and diesel, because these have clearly been popular. There's a long list of industrial types which until now have been the preserve of kit makers and scratchbuilders, and most of them able to carry owner's liveries and names, among which some are likely to be very attractive. And there's always room on many layouts for 'another tiddler'.

Once Hornby have got this year's 'monster' phase out of the way (three pacifics and a 4-6-4!) I should think some more small locos will find a welcome. And then there's all the other players...

[Bigmet]

The early emblem was around long enough that virtually every big four survivor will have carried it. I can remember seeing locos carrying the ferret and dartboard where it had been applied over the early emblem with very little other attention to the state of its paintwork. Shouldn't be too hard to replicate.

There's also options like the former Big Four company legend or numbers 'showing through' overpaint and later BR totems and numbering. Don't see that modelled very often either.

[BrightonMan]

With regard to 0-6-0's, the LBSCR C2X would be top of my list. Many of these lasted into the late crest era, with the last ones going in 1962. They never really ventured far from their home turf (South London, Surrey & Sussex) which would probably limit the interest in a model of one unfortunately. The other loco I have always wished for in RTR form is the Brighton mogul K class 2-6-0. Although only 17 were built, in their later years they did roam about a bit on summer inter-regional trains. Again they lasted until 1962. The trouble with both these classes is that none were preserved, which seems to sometimes have a bearing on the manufacturers choice of models to make.