Loco Crazy

After attending, for the first time, the Rotarail 2019 Model Railway Exhibition in Fareham on Saturday, I found myself coming away with a trio of locos, none of which, I must confess, I had planned to acquire!

The first loco is the Heljan Class 07, seen basking in the sunshine at Gunnmere, above. This is a superb model and I did think that, one day, the BR blue version might be added to the shunting fleet - I had just not expected that it would be quite so soon.

Anyway, the model seen here is, indeed, 07010 in BR blue with wasp stripes, Catalogue Nº: 29031, and I think she looks quite magnificent.

Currently she has no decoder fitted although we will definitely be fitting one in the near future.

The second loco is this Bachmann Class 47/7 - 47745 'Royal London Society for the Blind' in Rail Express Parcels Systems livery, Catalogue Nº: 32-817.

As evidenced by the photo above, she will be used, predominantly, for hauling Royal Mail and Parcel Express services and, again, I think she looks superb.

She does have a non-sound decoder fitted which will, eventually, be converted to sound.

However, at least, for now, she can still quietly go about her business!

And, so, to the final of the three locomotives - and I definitely had not intended to get this one!

However, she is such a magnificent looking beast that I just could not resist.

This is Hornby R2311 Duchess Class 4-6-2 6242 "City of Glasgow" in LMS black.

Unfortunately, as she dates from 2003 / 2004, she is not DCC Ready so will not be too easy to convert to DCC. So, for the time being at least, I have had to content myself depicting her, in full steam, heading an express across the viaduct in the photograph above.

As for the Rotarail event, itself, it was held at Fareham College, a ten minute walk from Fareham Station, and it is most definitely worth a visit especially if, like me, you have never been. 

This year there were more than 20 excellent layouts on show as well as many trade stands plus the college has a terrific restaurant, serving tea and coffee as well as hot and cold food.