[Twiglet]

Well, I suppose they are by definition all old now.
What is the consensus on these lovely old machines? When I were a lad the Wrenn was the bee's knees and in my mind they still are. Do people believe that with the RTR models getting so good, the move to DCC and so on, that the Wrenn has had its day? I have a small collection - some tatty stuff to run/test (on my half-built layout) and some pristine models for 'best'. Nothing sits in its box doing nothing though.

 

[Twiglet]

I suppose you are right. Nostalgia is not what it was.

 

[Twiglet]

Having thought about this some more, nostalgia aside, I still maintain that some of the Wrenns remain pretty good locos. I agree they are not as finely detailed as modern machines but they do have several good points. Firstly, they are for the most part extremely robust. Secondly, the metal bodies make them heavy and this makes them excellent workhorses and extremely forgiving of less-than-excellent trackwork. My Wrenn 4MT is indefatigable in this regard, able to haul long sets up my unfeasibly steep (and curved) gradients. The pity is that Wrenn did not survive and that these excellent models were not developed further. The last of the Wrenns were actually pretty 'modern' machines and a glimpse of whatmight-have-been.