What locomotive would you most like to see in OO scale?

34C said:

(The tank access steps probably provided as 'user optional' parts as the Walschaerts gear might well foul on set track curves.)

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But the steps are one of the most recognisable and uniquely distinctive features of the class!!
6991

On Southern steamers the H15 would be interesting as it had an interesting shape to the footplate/splashers but as we have the S15 and N15 already I suppose it'll not be on shed anytime soon

6991 said:

But the steps are one of the most recognisable and uniquely distinctive features of the class!

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Then keep your fingers crossed that if a model is announced, the manufacturer involved has the design and production technique to deliver a model with this feature that meets the second radius requirement which is effectively standard for RTR OO; without making the model overwidth, or liable to the connecting rods fouling on the leading crankpins when on curves.

Caledonian Railway 439 class 0-4-4 Tank or Pickersgill 4-4-0.

Saint Johnstoun said:

Caledonian Railway 439 class 0-4-4 Tank or Pickersgill 4-4-0.

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Fingers crossed that the fairly recent NBR and CR 0-6-0s do the business - they should based on the standard of the J36 I now have - and that encourages the net to be thrown a little wider to take in some of the other really charming classes from St Rollox and Cowlairs. Those two you have nominated are such strong contenders, and I would add the NBR Glen; there isn't yet a RTR OO model of a mixed traffic 4-4-0, never a common type in UK steam practise.

If we are in Scotland then the River is on my list - the LMS spoilt for choice but the river had given the LMS a Black 5 in 1923 - sort of but they were fixated on the bigger railways whilst the smaller ones had nothing to contribute, I also would like to see a Crab 2-6-0 built into a 2-8-0 so that is a project

kristopher1805 said:

... the River had given the LMS a Black 5 in 1923 - sort of but they were fixated on the bigger railways whilst the smaller ones had nothing to contribute...

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With all those persons scrambling around to get the best career position in the new LMS group, the staff of the smaller companies were always going to be elbowed aside by the heavy mobs down South...

Another missing link is a GWR Saint Class.

Saint Johnstoun said:

Another missing link is a GWR Saint Class.

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The infallible 'rain dance' in my experience is to make it yourself from RTR parts. (My own BR(ER) 1956 - 1962 interest saw me bashing all sorts of RTR feedstock into 'other classes' and superior mechanism conversions to obtain reliable models of the core classes, of which now the last significant survivors working are my Brush 2 (class 30) 'Airby's', which will be duly replaced by Accurascale Brush type 2. Farewell the examples of Airmann, Bachby, Dapmann, Dubma, Hornmann, Limann, Repby, Repmann, traction 'bashes', all superseded by fine RTR models.)

Saint Johnstoun said:

This arrived today - undecided whether to use it as a conversion to a Saint? View attachment 20776

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Your duty stands before you plain...

34C said:

With all those persons scrambling around to get the best career position in the new LMS group, the staff of the smaller companies were always going to be elbowed aside by the heavy mobs down South...

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Added to which, Caledonian officialdom never seemed to warm to these engines (probably a reluctance to accept that a "foreign" railway could do something better than St Rollox) and the staffing of the new Northern Division of the LMS was heavily weighted in favour of the Caledonian, almost to the exclusion of the Highland and the GSWR, with William Pickersgill as Mechanical Engineer and John Barr as Superintendent of Motive Power. In Caledonian days, going back to when McIntosh was in charge of locomotive, Barr was the Locomotive Running Superintendent, and was described by OS Nock as the "power behind the throne". It was Barr who agitated for the inclusion of Caledonian designs in the locomotive trials and for the building of more Caledonian locomotives. His efforts bore fruit in the shape of the construction of Pickersgill's 60 class 4-6-0 and of Pickersgill's development of McIntosh's 439 class 0-4-4T under the auspices of the LMS.

Just an update to my earlier comments on this thread about the Heljan class 14: Heljan Class 14 Modifications - Model Railways On-Line

I contacted Heljan for an update on getting replacement gears for the class 14. Their response:

"Replacement parts for the Class 14 will be produced at the same time as the new batch of locomotives and will be sent to our spares agent, Gaugemaster, as soon as possible after the arrival of the shipment. Unfortunately we don't have an ETA for them yet. The factory working on this project (and various other new models) closed permanently at the beginning of this year and we were forced to switch production to another supplier. This will cause a delay, the extent of which is not yet clear, but we still hope to see them this year."

This is seriously concerning - looking like a wait until later this year. The chickens of the 'globalisation fad' are finally coming home to roost!

A brass chassis is beginning to look like the only realistic proposition.

Oh dear. And if they're coming from a different supplier, let's hope they are interchangeable.

Graham Plowman said:

...The chickens of the 'globalisation fad' are finally coming home to roost...

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Those chickens have had plenty of other perches these last 20 years! In UK brands alone, both Bachmann UK and Hornby made it known that they were cut off from former sources of supply, and Dapol's stop/go progress suggests much the same. It doesn't appear to be dissuading the players. (If anyone out there has ever had thoughts that a Hawthorn-Leslie 0-4-0ST would be just right for their layout, Dapol have announced one for OO...)

Mind with the new releases of existing popular models such as the V2 and Black 5 coming that'll be a target for me to upgrade along with a GCR A5 tank for sure and I will try the Jones goods in 1962 livery as I have a soft spot for Stroudley improved engine green from a visit to the York museum when they were in a side shed and you could climb all over them, I was impressed with Gladstone and decided the Midland 4-2-2 was incredibly primative.

so I will be selling quite a number of bangers (er mint pre owned locos to you mate) in the near future.

The new V2 is very good indeed. Just the estupido over complex loco to tender coupling to remove and replace with a simple fixed link in Bachmann's previous style, which is a simple mod. (I know there's a bit of a fuss about the cab to boiler joint, but you don't notice that when it's bombing along with fourteen on: it looks like a V2 doing the job.)

I'll be buying a Black 5 for the first time, assuming Hornby get it right this time around, as it's easily the most significant missing 'visiting' loco that was seen in the KX area.

While on the 4-6-0 front the significant missing LNER type is the Raven B16, which would undoubtedly have been multiplied beyond 70 in class had NER ideas dominated the LNER's steam programme. (The LNER was rather spoiled for choice for a heavy mixed traffic loco, Gresley's K3 2-6-0 and Robinson's B7 4-6-0 meant the new group had three proven designs in service, all of which BR subsequently rated 6MT.)

The B16 came down to Mirfield to work the Calder Valley as the Yorkshire L&Y sheds went to the North Eastern region, there were 3 types, Original, Gresley with silly conjugated gear and Thompson which was the best of these but they looked just like the B16/2 Gresley version, I have all 3 as kit locos. still as you say a worthwhile project.

To me the K2 would be more a priority and I think the V4 would go well as this was due to be a standard type had Gresley not p;assed on.