Heljan GWR ‘Large Prairie’
SCALE 1:43.5 MODEL Heljan HJ6102 GWR ‘Large Prairie’ No. 6144, BR unlined black, early emblem PRICE £699.00 AVAILABILITY Heljan stockists
Don’t be alarmed when you lift Heljan’s new GWR ‘Large Prairie’ from its box. It may look as though you’ve received an 0-6-0T by mistake, but the pony trucks are in there! The ‘Large Prairie’ comes fixed to a wooden plinth. You can see why Heljan supplies the model like this because the plinth’s securing screws fix into holes on the chassis that would normally be obscured by the pony trucks. With the initial shock over, you can now take in what is a really superb model. It’s easy to forget, amid the seemingly endless variations of pannier tanks, that the GWR’S mid-sized tank design was just as distinctive to look at and just as useful. As with the panniers, there were numerous versions of ‘Prairie’ – that is a locomotive with a 2-6-2T wheel arrangement – to suit different tasks, but all with a common DNA.
‘PRAIRIE’ PRAISE
Heljan has really captured the look of the ‘Large Prairie’ to the point that you’d think they’ve been making ‘O’ gauge steam locomotives for years. Of course, the Danes’ 7mm:1ft scale diesels are already highly regarded, but this is Heljan’s first steam model in this scale and it’s a cracker, especially when you consider the slightly hit and miss results of its ‘OO’ gauge steam models. What we have here is the 2-6-2T introduced by Charles Collett in 1929. Unlike most of its diesel models, Heljan has given its ‘Large Prairie’ numbers and has selected five locomotives in the ‘61XX’ series. This batch was introduced in 1931 with boilers pressed to 225lb/sq in for improved acceleration on services from Paddington out to the London suburbs. They were outwardly similar to the ‘5101’ version from two years earlier, so Tower Models offers ‘Large Prairie’ in the ‘41XX’, ‘51XX’ and ‘61XX’ series. We received ‘61XX’ No. 6144 in unlined BR black, complete with 81A (Old Oak Common) shedplate. You don’t always need to compare a model with drawings and photographs. Sometimes it just looks right and the ‘Large Prairie’ is one such model. The ‘face’, the lines of the tanks, the curves of the bunker – it looks spot-on from every angle. Heljan has clearly done its homework too, for No. 6144 features the correct combination of details, although a photograph of No. 6144 at Old Oak Common in 1956 also reveals that the model lacks the trip-cocks that the real thing had for working on London Underground. The model also appears to lack the tank-top lubrication system.
LOOKS THE PART
There’s a good blend of separately fitted and moulded parts. The cabside shutters are moulded but are very convincing. The only place where this doesn’t work is on the tank tops, where the lifting eyes look rather crude. Given the work quality elsewhere, these details are a little disappointing.
This model has so many good points that it’s difficult to pick out particular highlights. The driving wheels are very effective, the rivet detail is crisp, the screw couplings look as though they actually screw, the cab is well detailed, with doors in fixed, posed positions, and even the cylinder release valves have been modelled. The ‘Large Prairie’ isn’t perfect however, as there are one or two small problem areas. The base of the chimney should extend further around (to align with the leading washout plug) and the connecting rod should fix to the back of the crosshead, not behind it. There’s not a lot you can do with BR unlined black, but Heljan’s ‘cycling lion’ is well rendered and the cabside numberplates are actually pretty good for plastic (etched brass would really add a touch of finesse). The smokebox number is also particularly good, although the numbers appear to be very slightly stretched. Only the brass, copper and brown wood finishes are a little toy-like. DCC is an area where Heljan’s ‘O’ gauge diesels have, traditionally, been somewhat problematic in that you had to hard-wire the decoder in place. The electronics were arranged to make this as easy as possible, but it did mean that you had to break out the soldering iron. The ‘Large Prairie’ has a decoder socket in place, which is designed to accept the
You don’t always need to compare a model with drawings and photographs. Sometimes it just looks right and the ‘Large Prairie’ is one such model
Loksound XL V4.0 decoder, with its two banks of pins (does that make it a 38-pin decoder?). You can use the ESU 51959 adapter to use other, non-sound decoders.
ACCESS DIFFICULTY
Decoder access is arguably the ‘Large Prairie’s’ biggest issue. You need to remove the front pony truck, then remove the five screws indicated in the instructions before prising away the handrails, steampipes and front bracing bars. Once you’ve negotiated all this, you have to spread the tank sides apart and pull the smokebox forwards to reveal the decoder socket. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? It’s certainly easier to describe than it is to do. The handrails and steampipes are tight-fitting and removing them requires some force. Handrail knobs disappeared across our workbench, never to be seen again (hence why they’re missing in our photographs), and it was impossible to avoid chipping the paint on some components. Reassembly requires care, patience, some glue and a few choice Anglo-saxon phrases. Given how easy Heljan’s ‘OO’ gauge ‘47XX’ was to dismantle, it’s a shame that its larger cousin couldn’t have been similar. The ‘61XX’ is a wonderful model. It really captures the essence of these big GWR tanks, plus it’s refined and has the feel of a quality product. Its biggest issue is the difficulty in accessing the DCC socket, which shouldn’t be an issue if you’re not a DCC user. The ‘Large Prairie’ shows a lot of promise for ‘O’ gauge steam, and ‘O’ gauge GWR steam in particular. Bring on the ‘43XX’!