[Lancashire Fusilier]

Brother-in-law was inspired after Sandown here in Victoria and wants assistance to get Percy back on the road.

I looked at percy last night and the crank pins, rods etc are missing from one side. Given the poor running qualities of this version I suggested a better option may be a repowered new chassis using the existing body.

I see that Branchlines does an 0-4-0 for the Hornby Caledonian Pug which includes the complete works. Anyone like to comment on its suitability or otherwise? At the price its expensive for a Percy but probably far more effective long term. Could always get a Pug body to attach on once Percy is no longer acceptable to the young modeller I guess.

 

[Wayne Rite]

Rather than doing up your Percy (assuming you are talking about the hornby version) why not have a look at the Bachmann version, I say this because I have made a nice little shunter out of a Percy, using bits from the scrap box, it runs very sweetly and for around the forty odd dollars it is a better buy than the Hornby one. I removed the moving eyes mechanism and chopped up the body so it would in fit an old Horny Caley Pug, but once it had some lead ballast and a coat of paint it fools a lot of people who think it is a kitbuilt loco. It runs very nicely and will haul about 10 wagons in it's modified form so the original should be able manage about six on it's own.

 

[34C]

For a RTR option I would join Wayne Rite in suggesting the Bachmann product. The wheels and chassis block are decent components, so it has potential for re-motoring and reuse under something more realistic in the future too. Unless the 'young modeller' referred to in the OP is an extremely careful type, an etched kit chassis is probably a bit delicate. A possible alternative to going the complete kit route, (and cheaper and more robust too) would be a fold up gearbox and can motor: the proviso here being that the axle diameter is either eighth inch or 3mm to accept available gears. It is usually no trouble to slot the chassis to drop a narrow gearbox through onto the axle.

Unfortunately the UK RTR OO ranges don't contain a modeller oriented compact 0-4-0; it's all train set fodder with a 0 to 400mph in 1.4 seconds mechanism. The smallest OO steam chassis currently available that offer the potential for decent performance are those in Hornby's Terrier and WD/J94 0-6-0s. There are good HO mechanisms, but these will come at a price...

 

[Lancashire Fusilier]

OK thanks for the advice. At the price indicated for a Bachmann version the Branchlines chassis and motoring solution mentioned in the OP is probably a non-starter. At this stage, junior modeller in question will not notice the difference and we can explore the re-worked option in later years.

I will persue this and revert.

Thanks.