Hornby ‘Duchess’
Richard Foster gives Hornby’s new LMS 4‑6‑2 a once‑over.
◆ GAUGE ’OO’ ◆ MODEL Hornby R3553 Stanier ‘Princess Coronation’ No. 6231 Duchess of Atholl, LMS Crimson Lake ◆ PRICE (rrp) £189.99 ◆ AVAILABILITY Hornby stockists or www.hornby.com
Do you own a cat? Ever come home to a disembowelled bird on the kitchen floor, or vomit and furballs on your brand new sofa? The instant reaction is to turn said feline into a new pair of furry gloves, but you know that no matter how much destruction they bring, you love them dearly. Hornby’s new ‘Duchess’ is a bit like that. Let me explain… Its coupling hook pointed skywards and attaching Hornby coaches to it was problematic. We’d set off with a test train and, after a few seconds, the locomotive would detach itself from the train – and wouldn’t re-couple. It also struggled on our test track’s pointwork. These are standard Hornby items, but something caused persistent de-railing. It’s very possible that this was down to bad tracklaying. But there was a definite metallic sound coming from under the bogie. Unfortunately, as this sample had been kindly loaned to us from Kernow Model Rail Centre, I didn’t want to go prodding and poking around too much in case I broke something.
‘DUCHESS’ DILEMMA
The fact that I couldn’t use it properly meant that I really wanted to hate the Hornby ‘Duchess’. But I couldn’t because, like a cat, it’s just too gorgeous. It’s been a few years since we last reviewed a ‘top link’ Hornby steam locomotive, but the sample we received – No. 6231 Duchess of Atholl in full pre-war pomp – showed that standards are still as high as ever. Sir William Stanier’s massive ‘Princess Coronations’ have needed a ‘OO’ gauge model to contemporary standards for years now. These legendary locomotives, both in streamlined, non-streamlined and de-streamlined form, ruled the West Coast Main Line from 1937 until 1964, and No. 6234 Duchess of Abercorn recorded the highest tractive effort output of any steam locomotive built for use in Britain. Gresley and the LMS’ east coast rivals could afford to build graceful racehorses to gallop at high speed from London to Edinburgh. Stanier had to opt for great bulldozers to haul the LMS’ Anglo-scottish services, muscular monsters that combined power and speed to compete with the LNER, a railway that didn’t have the climbs of Shap and Beattock to deal with. Hornby re-tooled its ‘Duchess’ in 2002 and it was good for its time. It could produce de-streamlined and non-streamlined versions, but it had a few
There’s a wealth of pipework along the running plate, and the copper lubricator pipework is a joy to behold
hang-ups from the previous offering, which dated from the 1970s. A new chassis with fixed rear truck and flangeless trailing wheelsets, plus a DCC socket, came in 2005. But it still retained a ‘skateboard’ bogie without a NEM pocket. For this model, Hornby has developed a new model from the ground up. It can now produce single chimney, double chimney, de-streamlined and non-streamlined versions and, for the first time, the final two ‘Duchesses’, which incorporate modifications by H.G. Ivatt. A pre-production sample was unveiled at the 2016 Warley National Model Railway Exhibition and, less than 12 months later, it’s here.
SHE’S GOT THE LOOK
Hornby’s design team has done a great job in capturing the impressive bulk of the ‘Duchess’. It looks great from every angle. The ‘face’ is excellent, as that chunky smokebox door ring is really well produced and the door has the right amount of ‘dish’ to it. The only things missing are the rivets on the cover over the centre cylinders. It’s a job to figure out where to start describing the rest of this impressive machine. The boiler and cab shape look right, there’s a delicate Stanier hooter atop the firebox and the cab roof ventilators can be opened. There’s a wealth of pipework along the running plate, and the copper lubricator pipework is a joy to behold. The cab has a hinged metal fallplate, factory-fitted cab doors and a wealth of beautifully applied and painted backhead fittings. Nos. 6230-34 ran with Stanier
4,000gal tenders that had welded bodies. The shape is excellent, and all the details are present and correct. Highlights include the lettering by the water scoop handles, the legible plates on the rear and the Mk V coal pusher lurking under the removable moulded coal load. You know that you have a good model on your hands when the only things to criticise are the hard seams where the steam pipes meet the steam chest covers. There’s an oblong cover on the cylinder cladding. According to photographs in The Power of the Duchesses, this should be circular; the oblong cover only appears in pictures after No. 6231 received its double chimney.
CRIMSON CONTRAST
LMS crimson is a difficult colour to get right in model form, as photographs of the real thing will vary depending on the light. Personally, I feel that Hornby’s LMS crimson is a touch on the dark side and more akin to BR maroon. This feeling is not helped by the fact that the gold of the LMS lettering on the tender is dark – if it matched the brightness of the cabside lettering it might have made the whole livery look a lot brighter. The gold and black lining is, generally, very fine and beautifully executed. The cylinders, splashers, the running plate valance and the tender frame lining is very neat. It’s a shame that the effect was spoiled on our sample by thick lining around the rear of the firebox and an absolute mess on the tender bufferbeam, with the gold paint looking as though it was applied with a broom, rather than a brush. I’m also a little unsure whether or not the silver (plastic not wire) handrails, smokebox door dart and lamp irons are correct. I’m sure an Lms/‘duchess’ aficionado will be able to correct me but it’s a job to tell in black and white photographs whether these items have been burnished or if it’s just the way the light catches them. Pre-war colour photographs are rare, usually blurry, and they don’t really shed any more light – no pun intended – on the subject. Paint specs published in the new RCTS history on the class offer no assistance either. Beneath the running plate is a standard Hornby 4-6-2 arrangement. The wheels look quite fine, although the flanges are a little on the deep side. The motion is refined too, although
there is an erroneous hole in the connecting rods where, on the prototype, a sort of knuckle joint should be. The trailing truck is fixed, to enable that distinctive rear frame to be modelled correctly. The trailing wheelset is flangeless but, for those with generous curves or who simply want to display the ‘Duchess’, a flanged wheelset is supplied in the bag of extra bits.
SOUND CHOICES
There’s an eight-pin DCC socket in the tender, plus provision for sound. Sound-fitted de-streamlined No. 46235 City of Birmingham, in BR lined green, is part of the range (R3509TTS). There is a tension lock coupler fitted in the NEM pocket on the tender. The bogie arrangement is a tad different: in the bag of extras there’s a tension lock coupler plus the box that it plugs into, which itself plugs into a pocket on the bogie itself. This is a beautiful model but the £189.99 recommended retail price does make the eyes water. Sadly, this is the price a model of this quality commands nowadays, although the poor tender bufferbeam paintwork and the coupling hook issues are inexcusable when you’re paying this amount of money. That said, these issues could be isolated incidents but it might pay to check your ‘Duchess’ before you hand over your cash. These issues and the question marks over the paint shades and silver areas means that the ‘Duchess’ falls a little short of the superlative ‘King Arthur’ or Thompson ‘L1’ and thus doesn’t achieve full marks. But, like the cat, I can forgive these little indiscretions for it’s a wonderful thing. Can we hope for a Stanier ‘Princess Royal’ to the same standard? I do hope so!