Hornby Q1

I have a photo in one of my Southern related books of a Q1 on a passenger service, offhand I cannot remember which book let alone which service, but definitely on passenger duties!

HTH

Mike K

The Q1 was primarily a frieght machine. However, they were used on railtours - especially in the early 60's judging by the photos which seem to exist. Since these railtours were not restricted to Southern metals, this is probably your best bet - so stock on Bachmann Bulleid coaches (and hope that Hornby really do bring out some high quality Maunsell coaches too).

"Mark Newton" wrote

I can't give you a categorical answer but the odds are pretty good that they'd work the occasional passenger turn, but not on the Midland Railway as suggested by the computer generated image in the current Hornby catalogue.

John.

"Mark Newton"

-- Cheers Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

There are many photos of Q1 on passenger trains, usually summer relief workings on various parts of the BR.SR. Speeds of 60+ mph were not unknow and apparently the loco rode well. You could put together a short 3-5 coach train to represent this if you wished. Backmann mk 1 stock will be easier to find for this purpose than Bullied coaches, these are becoming scarce.

Dont forget to weather it unless its on a railtour, these machines were usually dirty!

I was looking at one of these in a LHS the other day. It is the most god-awful looking loco ever designed. I (of course) immediately fell in love with it. I am now trying to invent reasons NOT to buy it. The need for a soon-to-be-released On30 Climax is winning, but the "I want to save to buy a Yellowstone if someone makes one" has been bumped down the list. At the moment, it is neck and neck with the purchase of the Eureka Models AD60 class Garratt when it is released next year.

Let us know how you go fitting a decoder, what decoder, how it performed, etc.

One question, is it tender-drive (shudder) or are the loco wheels properly driven?

Steve

Steve Magee wrote:-

I'll give you one. The Hornby model is far too perfect. If you compare the model with photos of the real thing you will see its lines are much too clean (even in 'factory weathered' condition). I remember the dodgy white metal kits which preceeded the Hornby model and to my eyes they looked much more realistic ie: bent, wobbly, distorted.

Then again I'm not a Southern fan and unlikely to ever buy one so it doesn't matter a damn what I think.

(kim)

These are great links - thanks Roger. :)

I think there are a few candidates for that title, but there's no doubt the Q1s are a strong contender.

Good luck! I was spared all that agonising - my wife saw it, asked for a closer look, and had decided to buy it all while I was in another part of the shop. By the time I saw it, it was a done deal.

Shall do. If at all possible, I'm going to try for a sound decoder.

It's driven on the loco wheels - when I get a chance I'll post a photo of the mechanism.

All the best,

Mark.

Thanks to all of you who responded to my question. You've given me some good ideas and inspiration as well. I bought a copy of John Scott Morgan's history of the class, and I have some coaching stock on order.

Thanks once again,

Mark.

They were not popular with crews on such trains if the weather was unpleasant, though - lack of splashers or running board meant that spray, muck, etc. tended to be whipped up straight through the windows and into the cab!

David E. Belcher

Yes, but it was always Sunny in the South according to the posters!!

Bournemouth shed were great believers in using six coupled locos on passenger trains and four coupled on pick up freight.

Bulleid's concept of eliminating weight, other than the boiler / motion in order to produce the most powerful six coupled loco, had one great downside. Whilst a Q1 could start anything, it's stopping capability was practically zilch. In normal conditions, a sensible driver wouldn't take out more than 30 wagons without a fitted head, on a wet and greasy rail it could barely stop itself.

In message , Steve Magee writes

The only problem is the Yellowstone or the Garratt will pull very much more than the Q1.

properly

I'm assuming then that they only had steam brake on the loco, and vacuum train brake?

(I haven't had a chance to read the book yet, only looked at the pictures!)

I must admit, I hadn't considered that. It would make conditions on the footplate very unpleasant, so I can understand the crews being unhappy. Any idea what the fitters thought of them?