The most reliable assessment of models is the general feedback online. You know up front that this covers a spread of owner expertise and expectations, and it is usually quickly obvious if there is a major problem or problems, some minor issue(s), or essentially trouble free: and this isn't restricted to 'at release' alone; emerging problems like mazak rot, wear out and other failures, are picked up over time. Better yet, the more informed participants typically analyse problems, and propose or even specify and/or demonstrate solutions.
Hornby W1 Hush Hush
Hi Everyone I have just bought my first Hornby model for over 45 years. I liked the look of the model and as i travelled a lot on the LNER in the 60's behind Deltic's I thought I would treat myself to a British Brand for a Change.
Has anyone have this model yet. I do know they have had issues with the smoke Deflectors breaking in Transit and they are addressing them as I phoned my order they assure me things will be okay. Babs
Has anyone have this model yet. I do know they have had issues with the smoke Deflectors breaking in Transit and they are addressing them as I phoned my order they assure me things will be okay. Babs
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Which I also want in BR green late crest. We will need to pester Hornby for that....along with the similar P2.
The W1 as it finished service, yes, that will be BR green late crest as it was when withdrawn. (To be succeeded on its regular London-Leeds return duty by the gorgeous Feench blue Deltic prototype loaned to ER by EE, while the production series order was processed and constructed, there was some quite significant redesign to meet BR(ER) requirements.)Good Morning Everyone, IIRC Hornby will be doing a green one in the near future I thought I saw it on the Hornby Website. Babs
But the P2's were all vandalised before BR was formed, so never saw BR green. What I want is a streamlined P2 as it might have appeared in a fictional BR lined green late crest livery. (I am prepared to put 9MT on the cab side sheets myself, or maybe 9P10F; as the mood takes me.
) Hopefully Hornby can be persuaded so I won't have to pay a specialist painter for this job.Oh you so must!
I first saw this machine as a boy in short trousers as it first announced itself by the rapid wa-ah-wa-ah-wa-ah engine beats, and then came into view in low strong evening sunlight which made the body appear deep lilac, and rather fabulously appeared to be floating, (the bogie frames must have been dirty) and woof! past it went on the way to KX. Subsequent sightings revealed that the body colour varied according to ambient lighting. I took the NRM model up to Welwyn tunnels to see if it matched the cornflowers there in morning sunlight, as the prototype did, and BINGO!
Magical, almost compensation for the loss of Doncaster's wide firebox traction; ER should only have equipped with Deltics for all express traffic, in a livery scheme devised by EE, rather than BR's boringness. Sigh.
I first saw this machine as a boy in short trousers as it first announced itself by the rapid wa-ah-wa-ah-wa-ah engine beats, and then came into view in low strong evening sunlight which made the body appear deep lilac, and rather fabulously appeared to be floating, (the bogie frames must have been dirty) and woof! past it went on the way to KX. Subsequent sightings revealed that the body colour varied according to ambient lighting. I took the NRM model up to Welwyn tunnels to see if it matched the cornflowers there in morning sunlight, as the prototype did, and BINGO!
Magical, almost compensation for the loss of Doncaster's wide firebox traction; ER should only have equipped with Deltics for all express traffic, in a livery scheme devised by EE, rather than BR's boringness. Sigh.
I am far to young for direct knowledge! The writings available are pretty consistent. Gresley went to Harold Yarrow, prop. of the engineering business of that name in 1924, and between them a water tube steam loco boiler design was secretly worked up and constructed over the three years to 1927, and patented jointly in Yarrow and Gresley's names: that was the 'hush-hush'* aspect. The complete compound loco emerged in 1929, and was constantly experimented with until rebuilt in 1937, emerging as a conventional Doncaster 3 cylinder simple with a fire tube boiler....I was always of the impression that the nickname 'hush hush' was something to do with the weird noise it made.
Others are now saying it was called 'hush hush' because its 'development was secret' - but this is highly unlikely given that plans were drawn up in 1927 or so, and it wasn't completed until the early 30s...
The water tube boiler was not scrapped, went to Darlington and was used until 1966 for plant steam supply. This suggests that as a static steam raiser it was a good performer.
*The term 'hush-hush' = secret, keep or kept secret,was much in vogue in the 1920s.
The incomparable Douglas Self can aid your relative assessment with his wondrous 'Loco Locomotives' compilation. The W1 appears in the section 'The Pressure is on, etc.' and for my money is one of the tidier design outcomes from trying to get a water tube boiler onto a steam locomotive.... love steam engines but some are just ugly it may be just me but this loco In my opinion is ugly ... any thoughts on this?
Loco Locomotives.
The Douglas Self Site, steam locomotive, Shay, Climax, Mallet, Garratt, Turbomotive, Reid-Ramsey
www.douglas-self.com
The other sections are worth a look too...
Be careful running the original water tube boiler versions of the W1 on a layout with platforms or other structure close to the track, as it is well over scale width. A slow speed test under observation wherever it is to operate would be a good plan.
For reasons known only to Hornby the cylinders are set too wide (unnecessarily, their Gresley pacifics have them correctly positioned) which in turn means the width over the valvegear is too great, and this prototype had the very awkward feature of the front footsteps to rear of the cylinders, and thus over the valve gear. This feature was never going to be possible at scale width in a RTR OO model, but having the model's cylinders and valvegear unnecessarily wide compounds the problem.
Hopefully Hornby haven't boobed in like fashion on the rebuilt W1, or the front end proportions won't be right, and while we no longer have this loco to look at, the A4 has the very same front end styling....
For reasons known only to Hornby the cylinders are set too wide (unnecessarily, their Gresley pacifics have them correctly positioned) which in turn means the width over the valvegear is too great, and this prototype had the very awkward feature of the front footsteps to rear of the cylinders, and thus over the valve gear. This feature was never going to be possible at scale width in a RTR OO model, but having the model's cylinders and valvegear unnecessarily wide compounds the problem.
Hopefully Hornby haven't boobed in like fashion on the rebuilt W1, or the front end proportions won't be right, and while we no longer have this loco to look at, the A4 has the very same front end styling....
Once upon a time Hornby interior construction was very predictable, but no longer; so it is a matter of exploration with the body off the mechanism. I have yet to see anyone showing what the interior of their new W1 purchase looks like. You would hope that this relatively capacious body shell would present some usable internal volume...... can I install a smoke Generator or is this not possible...
I see that the first of the BR liveried W1 (as rebuilt with a conventional boiler) are now with retailers. It looks generally right, no excess width evident.
I availed myself of the late crest version which other than the tender crest is as Kristopher1805's model in appearance. Definitely looks right, and everything I have measured is accurate; and the livery is good for a cleaned loco in service sometime after a works repaint. Coal in the tender and a light dusting of track dirt and exhaust in the right places and that's a good looking model.
Really pleasant surprise, Hornby have made a better job of the cast rear frames under the cab compared to their earlier arrangements on the A1/A3/A4 and Brit. No extensive carving required to fit the flanged wheelsets, just clearance for the tops of the flanges, and it would then run easily down to 30" minimum radius which is fine for my layout. (That's where the good news ends, it made the loco really noisy when running - rattle, rattle, rattle - but half a glass is better than none. Future project: chop out the axle mountings and make a 6' wb bogie to take the rear carrying wheels, which will then run silently.)
Had to fiddle with the front bogie to obtain upward travel, filed down the boss on the bogie top so it can now rise relative to the coupled wheels about 0.5mm. Took the ballast out of the tender, eased pick up 'brakes' away from tender wheelbacks, and made a replacement drawbar to bring the loco and tender to correct overall wheelbase. As ever 'closing up' loco and tender to scale really makes the most of an already good model; fall plate lies on the tender step and the cab doors fill the side gap.
Lastly, one oddity. Normally Hornby are good on NEM coupler pocket position, but the tender pocket is further inboard than standard relative to the buffers. As is needs a Kadee #20 for reliable magnetic uncoupling, fixing the buffers retracted on both tender and coupled on vehicle as appropriate would probably enable #18 or 19 to be used, owner experimentation to determine what's required on their layout.
A decent sized flywheel in the driveline with what looks like Hornby's standard 'black can' motor X4026 delivers this. Immediately good on resistance controller DC, and in went a Lenz standard decoder and the drive is all it should be. Traction is adequate for a dozen coaches; because I need mine to reliably restart a full train all standing on a gradient, mine has an extra 150g of lead inside. (Ample space inside to arrange this so that the model still balances on the centre coupled wheel.)...maybe the nicest out of the box performance I ever had...
Really pleasant surprise, Hornby have made a better job of the cast rear frames under the cab compared to their earlier arrangements on the A1/A3/A4 and Brit. No extensive carving required to fit the flanged wheelsets, just clearance for the tops of the flanges, and it would then run easily down to 30" minimum radius which is fine for my layout. (That's where the good news ends, it made the loco really noisy when running - rattle, rattle, rattle - but half a glass is better than none. Future project: chop out the axle mountings and make a 6' wb bogie to take the rear carrying wheels, which will then run silently.)
Had to fiddle with the front bogie to obtain upward travel, filed down the boss on the bogie top so it can now rise relative to the coupled wheels about 0.5mm. Took the ballast out of the tender, eased pick up 'brakes' away from tender wheelbacks, and made a replacement drawbar to bring the loco and tender to correct overall wheelbase. As ever 'closing up' loco and tender to scale really makes the most of an already good model; fall plate lies on the tender step and the cab doors fill the side gap.
Lastly, one oddity. Normally Hornby are good on NEM coupler pocket position, but the tender pocket is further inboard than standard relative to the buffers. As is needs a Kadee #20 for reliable magnetic uncoupling, fixing the buffers retracted on both tender and coupled on vehicle as appropriate would probably enable #18 or 19 to be used, owner experimentation to determine what's required on their layout.
Was there an attempt to find out why the first was a bad runner? Much of the mechanism design is based on what has been seen in earlier pacifics, such as your A4's; now improved by a superior motor mount design and better wiring arrangements. These are very simple mechanisms and it is always possible to determine just what isn't working as it should, down to component level: (I wouldn't for example expect a reviewer to open a can motor, 'motor not working, no circuit' is adequate.)...Sams Trains video of the 2nd W1 he received from Hornby. The first one he sent back as it was a bad runner...
(What finally finished any prospect of my making further purchases of UK model railway magazines getting on 20 years past was a review which reported that the loco stopped working, with no attempt to determine why. This after several previous reviews all similarly lacking in any penetration. No more money from me for such feeble stuff... A comparison to the reviewing of HO in German and North American mags reveals how it should be done.)
1 - 11 of 49 Posts
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