Which A4 in OO

If you want a "model" the new hornby A4 is the one, its a superb model. Personally I would not even consider the others with the new loco drive hornby on sale. Put the different versions side by side and you will see what i mean.

"Piemanlarger" wrote

Agreed - they're really nice, with running qualities to match.

The only down side is that the valve gear is a little vulnerable to heavy handling, but keep you mits away from it and you'll be ok.

John.

Thanks for the unanimous recommendations for the new Hornby version. Not sure I'll actually go with one yet, it's hard to justify £100+ on a whim at the moment. Cheers, Bill.

"Bill Davies" wrote

An A4s not a whim - it's a loco! ;-)

John.

...or a motor car... or a sheet of paper...

Happy New Year, Steve

I'd have to work hard to explain it's presence around the rather short dockside setting in the West of England, which is our only currently operational layout. Then again I have seen pictures of Mallard broken down at Burbage, so I guess there is a prototype for everything! Cheers, Bill.

What was it doing there, and when was it?

Burbage is an odd place - a standard GWR small goods yard without a station, in the middle of nowhere on the main line.

This was part of the post-nationalisation exhange trials during1948. Mallard suffered a failure of some sort while working on the GWR and remained at Burbage for no more than a few hours awaiting repair. I used to rent storage for some of my cars at Burbage Wharf, I heard the tale back then and subsequently found an image online. Cheers, Bill.

Thanks. I'd forgotten that Mallard had failed in the exchanges.

Somewhere in my collection I have a picture of a Castle north of York from the same exchanges.

Savernake was a strange place to find a District line car but the owner of the old station kept one there. Can't remember his name but ISTR he did london Traffic reports on the BBC at one time. The car is somewhere else now possibly Quanton road.

G.Harman

How about a Hornby releasing a un rebuild MN, together with the alternate ex LMS tender that 3 of the class ran with?... :~)

":::Jerry::::" wrote

FFS don't let Simon Kohler hear you say that. I can just imagine Hornby's new releases for 2007 -

'Bulleid Merchant Navy in original pristine condition' - just think of all the smoke deflector variations they could put on that!

It doesn't bear thinking about. :-(

Anyway my money for 2007 is on a new Britannia! They've modified the existing model on at least four occasions and I can't think why they'd get it right in 2006. ;-)

John.

What is his address?....

I think it does need serious thinking about, considering that they already have the running gear (and the LMS tender !) and many people 'down south' are crying out for them just as I bet you want an RTR O1 or O4...

I've found online the photograph of Mallard at Burbage. I'm assuming it remained in substantially LNER liverys, albeit with BRITISH RAILWAYS on the tender, but what would the colour have been in 1948? As someone with little knowledge of NE matters, I find the variety of schemes used on the A4s somehat bewildering..... Cheers, Bill.

....and here's the picture:

Thanks. That photograph has to be rare.

Ummmm read the bumpf on the page, it tells you. "While the blue liveried loco lay there, a relief GWR engine from Westbury was summoned to take the rest of the train on to Paddington."

Mallard was replaced by another A4 for the rest of the exchanges.

The caption says "At Burbage's Savernake Low Level station". I have never heard Savernake (Low Level) referred to as Burbage before although it must be in the town(?) of Burbage.

There was also a goods only "station" called Burbage on the main line, in the middle of nowhere which consisted of a standard small goods yard shunted directly off the main line but had no passenger station.

That's where I initially thought Bill meant :-)

So was this the Garter Blue usually associated with Mallard, or the darker Blue seen on some other A4s in BR livery (at least in model form)? I would also like to know for certain that the locomotive was actally Blue at this time, the article in question is not written first hand, but as a recounted tale. As Mallard is usually portrayed in Garter Blue, the author "may" have embellished the recollection with this. During wartime many liveries were changed, did Mallard excape any change or was it's pre-war livery restored post-war? Sorry to be a pedant, but as I see it there are a few unknowns. Maybe obvious to those of you who know LNER practice, not to me I'm afraid, Cheers, Bill.