Hornby Cl 37

The header should have read class 47

Sounds like one of the very first batches of "Silver Seal" Brush 4s, circa 1973. I believe these used an all-metal chassis, the switch to moulded plastic parts - as well as a slightly different design of Ringfield motor [1] - occurring a couple of years later to trim production costs. Said model was definitely offered in 2-tone green (one of the unnamed locos) - what livery is yours?

David Belcher

[1] My black 9F (92166, which had a very short production run) has this earlier type of motor in its tender, as well as being permanently connected to the loco (both physically and electrically); this feature did not appear on later Hornby tender-drive locos.

The colours are "weathered" BR Blue with small logo and it carries the no 47421 which is in all respects the same as another with the later plastic ring field. As you say , the motor is similar but screwed and soldered. my two mammoths are also of the later type. i have the 1970 spares list but it is not in it! I presume that it is not the original body.

Peter A

Sounds to me like a rebody as all of the Silver Seal metal chassis ones I have ever seen were D1738 in a quite glossy two tone green livery.

I had one of these myself - went like stink it did!

The headcode panels were reversible, they had domino dots moulded on one side and IV63 (I think!) moulded on the other and they never did look right!

When Hornby regressed to the plastic chassis version was when two tone green 'Mammoth' and the seemingly endless supplies of BR blue 47421 appeared.

They must have made thousands of 47421 over they years, possibly supplemented by ones bunged in Hornbys weird train sets of the period (TTA tank wagon hauled by an LBSC E2 tank? I don't think so!)

One think I cannot remember was the number of the later release of blue 47 when they dropped the irritating bodyside moulding strips, 475xx I think but I may be wrong.

Regards John M Upton

My Fotopic Collections: South Central/Southern, Model Railway & Other Rail Pictures:

Bus Pics:

Yes, sound svery much like the Hornby 'silver seal' Brush type 4, originally high gloss two tone green with silver radiator shutters(?) on the roof. I've still got mine somewhere, purchased in Luton Co-op around '75 IIRC, on double stamps day. This one does indeed 'go' much better than the later plastic chassis version. The headcode on mine is '1V03' but isn't reversible, as the headcode letters are transparent plastic set within a black plastic surround.

Yes, sound svery much like the Hornby 'silver seal' Brush type 4, originally high gloss two tone green with silver radiator shutters(?) on the roof. I've still got mine somewhere, purchased in Luton Co-op around '75 IIRC, on double stamps day. This one does indeed 'go' much better than the later plastic chassis version. The headcode on mine is '1V03' but isn't reversible, as the headcode letters are transparent plastic set within a black plastic surround.

wrote

This pancake motor was almost a direct crib of the quality Fleischmann unit of the same era. What a pity that Hornby did as you say, and cheapened the design into that dog of a thing that most people despised for the over thirty years. That pancake 'update' and some of their other cheap and nasty chassis designs probably did more than any thing else to put people off model railways in the UK. Fine for the non-using collectors, but abysmal for anyone actually wanting to run a railway.

I've always been of the opinion that the hobby here survived despite Hornby, not because of them.

John.

It was Airfix's introduction of their 2-6-2T almost 30 years ago that brought me back into the hobby, round about the time I had just moved into my first house and unpacked a box containing my old Triang stuff. It was so much better than anything in the box, and the carriages too with their flush windows and separately moulded ventilators. Then came the 14xx and the rest is history.

But Hornby weren't the only ones to use that style of motor. Lima (also rubbish) did as well, and even Airfix in their tender drives.

"Christopher A. Lee" wrote

Oh agreed, but there was no need for 'quality', Hornby were trying to convince us of that. Thank goodness that Bachmann eventually provided a lead for others to follow.

John.

G'day All, The early Ringfield Motor was made by the same Company that made Fleischmann. There had to be small changes made to the design so that most of the Hornby Parts could not be used in the Fleischmann Locos.

Personally I would say that it was Palitoy Mainline who started the upgrade in detail, and this convinced Kader Industries that there was money to be made in the UK if they upgraded the mechanicals. Thus Bachmann Branchline was born of course.

Dave W.

"David Westerman" wrote

That's fair comment, Palitoy were certainly the first to have quality bodywork produced, but they were sadly let down by mechanisms which would have been laughed out of court in the rest of Europe.

John.

And now Bachmann is trying to turn us all into Germans.

(kim)

"kim" wrote

Eh?

John.

It's a German name?

"Christopher A. Lee" wrote

And I thought they were originally from the USA?

John.

An American company set up by a German immigrant.

I was referring of course to Bachmann's attempts to market German outline models in the UK and also their unilateral classification of British railway periods using the German system.

(kim)

Is that better or worse than GM|EMD marketing British outline models[1] in Germany?

[1] 305mm/1" scale.