The Bad - Hornby's GBRf Class 50s

As well as the two Bachmann LMS 'Twins', I had planned to add the new twin Hornby, GBRf liveried, Class 50 to our fleet of English Electric Type 4s and, indeed, had managed to acquire them from Jadlam Models, in nearby Glastonbury.

Having seen the two full-sized locos in this livery, I was quite excited when Hornby announced that they would introduce models of the pair this year.

However, upon arrival, 50007/50014 first and 50049 two days later, I was extremely disappointed to see that, in both instances, buffers had come away and were loose in the boxes!

50007 / 50014 had two broken buffers plus another small piece of detailing that had also come away although, from where, I did not bother to find out!

500149, meanwhile, had three (yes, three) buffers that had come away from the buffer beam!

Furthermore, 50007 / 50014 had a piece of tape stuck to the cabside of the Nº 1 end and the flap of the inner tray was also split:

Notwithstanding the damage to both locos I was also very disappointed (to put it mildly) in the colour of the GBRf livery which, to me, is much too light and the edges, between the blue and the yellow are not crisp.

The yellow on the front of each cab is okay but, on the sides, this should be more orange, and the blue should be much darker - as can be seen on 50049's bigger sister below:

The picture on the sleeve of the box does have the correct colours, which makes it even more of a shock when you slide this back and are confronted by the paler colours of the actual model.

This picture, as used on the box sleeve, is much nearer the mark than the actual model.

So, what happened? 

Were Hornby in such a rush to get these models to market this year that Quality Control simply flew out the window?

Did GBRf not give permission for Hornby to use the correct pantone colours?

As for the damage, the potential is always there whilst these delicate models are in transit but the locos were well packed by Jadlam and to have two buffers damaged (plus some other detailing and the plastic tray) on the first loco to arrive and then three buffers damaged on the second one seems, to me, to be symptomatic of a lack of quality control which is merely compounded by the inaccurate livery and its sloppy application.

Besides, I have purchased quite a few models online this year, by both Hornby and Bachmann and from various sellers, including Jadlam, and these are the only ones to have arrived damaged.

I have contacted Hornby, together with these photos, and told them of my disappointment at the damage and the inaccurate colours and I now await a reply from their Quality department.

I have also returned both locos to Jadlam who have been excellent throughout, sending me a pre-paid label to print and stick to the parcel and offering me either replacements or a refund.

Sadly I have decided to ask for a refund since I honestly do not want to add these two locos to our fleet. The livery is all wrong and who knows what else might drop off, over time.

This is a great shame since the four older (much older) Class 50s that I have look and sound great and are extremely reliable and robust, making the comparison between them and these two new ones even more stark.

The Good - Bachmann's LMS Twins

I recently added these two beautiful Bachmann LMS diesel locomotives to our fleet of locos and, I think you will agree, they look magnificent.

For obvious reasons they became known as the LMS Twins and were introduced between 1947 and 1948.

They were fitted with an English Electric 16SVT diesel engine at 1600 hp., giving them a maximum speed of around 93 mph.

They were initially given this striking black and silver livery although were later repainted into BR green livery.

I believe they were to be designated as Class 34 under BR TOPs but were withdrawn and cut-up before this could be allocated, with 10000 being withdrawn in December 1963 and 10001 in March 1966 after each loco had clocked up over 1,000,000 miles.

This all taking place long before preservation societies were around, both locos were sadly cut-up but not after supplying valuable information to both builders and maintenance staff for future diesel construction and, in particular, those locomotives powered by the 16SVT range of engine.

Only one of our locos (10000) has been fitted with sound with 10001 soon to follow and the Catalogue Numbers are as follows: 31-998 (10001) and 31-999 (10000).

In the photos below we see the pair at Sueston, about to couple up to a northbound express and, in the following photos, they are seen passing Petersfield and, finally, standing outside Gunnmere. Junction.