[SimonBoulton]

I'm pleased that Hornby intend to produce this loco as its preseerved on the Great Central Railway and hauled the train I travelled on last year but AFAIK this was one of the class 20's that was built with a recess in the cab side for the tablet catcher equipment. This recess was later plated over but I doubt this occured whilst it was still painted Green. I presume this model is going to be an improved release of the old Lima model, did they produce a version with a recess or maybe Hornby intend to do a version with the tablet catcher recess? Maybe Hornby intend it to represent the preserved version, otherwise it would seem to be a strange choice. Does anyone know when BR started plating over the recesses?
Cheers, Simon

 

[Dinwiddy]

QUOTE (SimonBoulton @ 19 Jul 2008, 12:37) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I'm pleased that Hornby intend to produce this loco as its preseerved on the Great Central Railway and hauled the train I travelled on last year but AFAIK this was one of the class 20's that was built with a recess in the cab side for the tablet catcher equipment. This recess was later plated over but I doubt this occured whilst it was still painted Green. I presume this model is going to be an improved release of the old Lima model, did they produce a version with a recess or maybe Hornby intend to do a version with the tablet catcher recess? Maybe Hornby intend it to represent the preserved version, otherwise it would seem to be a strange choice. Does anyone know when BR started plating over the recesses?
Cheers, Simon

Hi Simon
Hornby dont seem to have done much in the way of improving the other ex Lima bodies, so I for one am not holding my breath.
Regards
David Y

 

[SimonBoulton]

Cheers David, if there going to compete with the Bachmann model their going to have at least the cast on handrails with seperate wire handrails.
Cheers, Simon

 

[Basil]

Simon

Absolutely right. The use of the wire handrails and other features on Bachmann, the decals and general detailing is very realistic and they are my personal favourite (along with TRIX, Lilliput). The more authentic the detailing(even if simple materials such as wire are used), the better (of course).

Hornby do some nice supe detail locos but the general ones are simply not as good.

Basil

 

[SimonBoulton]

Having done a bit more digging, it looks like D8098 still had its recess until at least 1979 so a green colour scheme for this particular loco would definately be incorrect. Interestingly, the Hornby website doesn't say which loco their class 20 in green will but several other websites including Hattons do list it as D8098.
It also seems that Lima did produce some of the Scottish class 20's but only in BR Blue so presumably they represented loco's with the recess plated over but don't know if they had the larger side windows that these loco's should have.
Cheers, Simon

 

[34C]

Hornby have done very little to the Lima derived models, apart from fit a drive bogie of their own design. The Lima 20 had wrongly positioned bodyside grilles among other deficiencies in the body moulding. The Bachmann model is significantly more accurate, better detailed, has the token catcher cab variation modelled, has a very sweet all-wheel drive. Your choice!

 

[SimonBoulton]

QUOTE (34C @ 29 Jul 2008, 07:22) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hornby have done very little to the Lima derived models, apart from fit a drive bogie of their own design. The Lima 20 had wrongly positioned bodyside grilles among other deficiencies in the body moulding. The Bachmann model is significantly more accurate, better detailed, has the token catcher cab variation modelled, has a very sweet all-wheel drive. Your choice!

Looks like the best option would be to get a Bachman version and renumber it.
Simon

 

[theallendalebranch]

Apparently Hornby are going to upgrade the old Lima model with the following : new motor, seperate windscreen wipers (instead of the moulded into the window ones), NEM coupling pockets plus a few other details. I'm going to wait & see what the model is like before I decide to buy one or not. You can bet that the performance will be super smooth & also it will have an excellent paint job. I guess that it wont have working lights but nor does the bachmann model. I have had a pair of bachmann 20's before & they struggled to run double-headed as one was a lot faster than the other one (I only operate on DC as I dont yet understand DCC or want to spend money converting everything). I'm more convinced that with Hornbys new super smooth motors that double heading will be a lot more easier. Should the models be a notable improvement overthe old Lima one then I will be adding a blue & a railfreight examle to my fleet. Once these are released you can bet that the old Lima ones will be worth next to nothing!

By the way - does anyone know when they will be released as they were scheduled for 2nd quarter 2008????

 

[john woodall]

I really do not understand this. What is Hornby's issue with putting directional lighting in its locomotives?

John

 

[34C]

QUOTE (theallendalebranch @ 20 Aug 2008, 10:09) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I have had a pair of bachmann 20's before & they struggled to run double-headed as one was a lot faster than the other one (I only operate on DC as I dont yet understand DCC or want to spend money converting everything). I'm more convinced that with Hornbys new super smooth motors that double heading will be a lot more easier.
There's no noticeable performance difference between Hornby''s 'black can' that is pretty much the standard motor on all the new introductions in their range, and the similarly dimensioned Kader can motor that Bachmann use in their diesel models. Model mechanism assemblies do vary quite significantly, and it is here that I would look for the cause: a tight gear tower being top of the list. Have you tried running it continuously for hours, to see if that helps free it up? The other alternative is to strip down the slower mech, identify the cause, and eliminate the tightness. It can be something really minor like a bit of flash on a gear hub, or the gear tower walls having a slight distortion, so that one gear is slightly clamped.

It will be interesting to see what Hornby do with the ex-Lima 20. In Lima's hands it had a centre motor driving a single bogie, and even with a 4:1 gear ratio could be a decent performer. (Lima put in several different types of can motor, one type they used was similar to the Hornby and Bachmann can motors and worked very well - although the gear ratio permitted a top speed scaling over 400mph.) If Hornby simply replace the motor with their black can, maybe adding a flywheel, and making the gear ratio something between 12:1 and 20:1 it will run nicely enough. If they really wanted to, they could alter the chassis casting and have both bogies driven. The other possibility would be the sad regression to a motor bogie...

 

[Purley Oaks]

QUOTE (34C @ 20 Aug 2008, 10:03) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Lima put in several different types of can motor, one type they used was similar to the Hornby and Bachmann can motors and worked very well - although the gear ratio permitted a top speed scaling over 400mph.

Presumably just gearing up for the planned high speed railway from London to Scotland, eh?

mal