Hornby Railroad GWR ‘14XX’
◆ SCALE ‘OO’ ◆ MODEL Hornby R3692 GWR ‘14XX’ 0‑4‑2T No. 1424, BR lined green, late emblem ◆ PRICE £59.99 ◆ AVAILABILITY Hornby stockists or www.hornby.com
Iused to have an old Airfix ‘14XX’ when I was a kid and it ran like an absolute pig. It might never have been one of Airfix’s best models to look at, but Collett’s classic branch line 0-4-2T is one of the GWR’S most famous designs and, as a GWR enthusiast, I had to have one. Its dismal performance always meant that I was intrigued to compare it to one produced by Hornby. The body was the same but the mechanism had been ‘breathed on’. It’s now 2018 and I’ve finally got my hands on a Hornby ‘14XX’. Does it finally lay the ghost of my old Airfix one to rest? Er… Hornby first produced the ‘14XX’ in 1997 after it had bought the tools from Dapol the previous year. It’s been in and out of the range ever since. Its return for 2018 is a bit of a paradox: it was a surprising return and yet not that surprising at the same time. Surprising, because this is a model that dates back to the 1960s and its looks are somewhat compromised in places; not surprising because Hatton’s has brought out an all-new version (MR233), so it makes sense for Hornby to offer one in its budget Railroad range. No. 1424 arrived in the Model Rail office in its Railroad box. It carries BR lined green but, as a Railroad model, there are some omissions and simplifications, so there’s no black in the lining on the tank sides and the green extends onto the cab roof as far as the gutters. Happily, Hornby has painted the chimney top and not left it as shiny metal. Commendably, the numerals on the smokebox numberplate are the right weight and size. Visually, the ‘14XX’ is just as dated as I remember. I’ve always felt that the smokebox door looks like something Samuel Johnson might have penned for the Midland Railway. There’s a solid block under the boiler, and the less said about the cab spectacles the better. There’s a huge amount of moulded detail, as one would expect from a model of this age. The turned metal buffers are a neat touch but they only go so far to compensate for the poorly fitting cab roof and hints of flash on some of the mouldings. If you’re familiar with this old model then you pretty much know what you’re getting. But how has over 20 years of Hornby ownership affected its performance? Hornby has been known to tweak the chassis on older models, installing DCC sockets and suchlike. But there are no such modifications here. There’s no DCC socket, nor NEM pockets. Applying power on our sample resulted in a most horrific whining noise but it settled down after a few minutes running-in. Haulage power turned out to be prodigious, no doubt helped by a pair of traction tyres (remember them?). No. 1424 managed 13 Hornby and Bachmann bogie coaches on level track and even managed to pull seven coaches over our 1-in-30 gradient, which is a superb achievement. The biggest issue, I feel, with the Railroad ‘14XX’ is its price. Hornby’s Smokey Joe has a retail price of £40.99 and if the ‘14XX’ sold for this, that would make good value. But it doesn’t – you’ll only get 1p change from £60. If you’re buying a model for fingers not suitable for the fine detail on contemporary models, the ‘14XX’ is ideal. But if you’re buying it because it’s cheap, I’d really urge you to fork out the extra £39 for one of Hatton’s models. The latter is far superior in every way and, at just £99, it really offers fantastic value. Surely it’s finally time to let the old ‘14XX’ shuffle off this mortal coil?