PROTOTYPE QUESTION OF THE MONTH

I recently bought a Hornby R2769 Class 121 in Chiltern Railways blue livery. A friend of mine says that the model doesn’t look right, but I can’t see much wrong with it. What’s your verdict? Lesley Brooks, Swindon

Chris says: As the first of its class, W55020 has an interesting history. Having sported the ‘standard’ sequence of lined green, Rail blue, Rail blue and grey, it was given Br-style chocolate and cream with a silver roof for GWR 150 in 1985. Once the year was over, it was selected to show off the new red, white and blue Network Southeast livery. Chiltern carried out extensive modernisation, including LED lights and destination displays. Visually, it was the fitting of central door locking and removal of the cab-front-mounted exhaust pipes that made the biggest difference – not present on Hornby’s model. The central door locking is visible as a square panel welded to the lower part of the door and overlapping the footstep. This allows the doors to be locked by an electromagnet operated by the driver. The exhaust pipes were re-routed through the guard’s compartment to a pair of small outlets on the roof, enabling the ugly pipes to be removed from the cab front.

CHRIS LEIGH Above: A modernised ‘121’; 55020 at Aylesbury depot a few days before it was withdrawn from traffic in May 2017, as the longest serving Br-designed passenger train, at 57 years old.