Hornby ‘Lord Nelson’ 4-6-0
Hornby’s ‘Lord Nelson’ rounds off its Southern Railway express ‘set’, but is it the pride of the fleet?
Most of the major model manufacturers plan their release programmes years in advance. So you can imagine how frustrating it might be for a manufacturer to have a competitor snatch away a prototype that you had plans to do in two year’s time. That said, even the big boys can get tired of waiting… Bachmann Branchline’s ‘ Lord Nelson’ was a prime candidate for a re-tool. It was the only Southern Railway express passenger design not available ready-to-run to 21st- century standards. But the ‘ Lord Nelson’ seemed a long way down the list of Bachmann’s ‘re-tool subjects’, along with the original ‘ Royal Scot’ and GWR ‘ Manor’, so Hornby stepped into the breach and announced its plan to produce the big Maunsell 4- 6- 0. It actually makes sense for Hornby to produce the ‘ Nelson’. After all, it produces every other Southern Railway express design, from the mighty ‘ Schools’ 4-4- 0 to Oliver Bulleid’s advanced ‘ Pacifics’. Can you believe that Hornby’s ‘ King Arthur’ is 12 years old? It’s widely hailed as one of Hornby’s best steam- outline models. “It is difficult to visualise how Hornby’s Maunsell ‘ King Arthur’ could be improved” is how we describe ibt riintain’s Model Trains . The same could definitely be said about the ‘ Lord Nelson’. Richard Maunsell’s ‘ King Arthur’, heavily based on the Urie design he inherited, is a slender beast. Its shape disguises the fact that it’s capable of some prodigious feats of haulage. There’s nothing slender about the ‘Lord Nelson’. It’s a big bruiser of a locomotive that suggests power like a clenched fist. That huge, 5,000gal bogie tender balances the shape, perfectly complementing the large, tapered Belpaire firebox, 5ft 6in diameter boiler barrel and 6ft 7in diameter driving wheels.
BIG HITTER
Hornby has captured the ‘LN’S’ bulk beautifully. It’s nigh on perfect throughout, matching published weight diagrams and
Of particular note are the injectors and their associated pipework that goes through the running plate and on to the top of the firebox
F. J. Roche’s drawings. We’ve scoured both published photographs and those online to find a discrepancy but to no avail! Wsire Frreacnecivise d No. 851 Dinr aask- eb uilt condition. If you’re familiar with preserved clloarsds pioneer No. 850 N, Neols. o8n51 looks a little odd at first glance. That’s because it lacks smoke deflectors and sports the original short smokebox.
ON FORM
The ‘face’ is excellent and the point in the smokebox door catches the light in the same way as that of the prototype. That big Belpaire firebox, with its sculpted sides, really looks the part and the cab shape is spot on, complete with its gutters and little visors over the spectacle glasses. There are the faintest mould lines on the boiler’s shoulders, but the fact that you can barely see them is testament to the tool maker and assembly team’s skill. There are so many wonderful areas of detail to talk about. Personal favourites include the raised cover over the expansion link and the reversing equipment, which complements the curve in the outside edge of the running plate just fore of the cylinders. And of particular note ➤
are the injectors and their associated pipework that goes through the running plate and on to the top of the firebox. And then there’s the footplate detail, which is to Hornby’s usual high standards, with full backplate detail and controls and complemented by a hinged metal fallplate. The area around the firehole door is particularly good. In fact, the only thing we can criticise is that there are two holes in the running plate, either side of the smokebox. Clearly, No. 851 shares the same running plate tooling as other models, for these holes are where the smoke deflectors locate. The tender is every bit as good as the locomotive. Just as the real ‘ LN’S’ tender shared very little with that of the preceding ‘ King Arthurs’, so Hornby appears to have only carried over the bogie frames. The body shape is an excellent rendition of the original style (not self-levelling and without the additional side raves, as on No. 850’s tender). The auxiliary vacuum tanks immediately catch the eye but it’s worth putting the axleboxes under your magnifier – you’ll see the lettering included in the covers, just like the real thing. It’s an exquisite piece of tooling. Happily, the finish complements the superb looks and detail. The green is perhaps a little on the dull side but it works well in model form. The white lining is very fine throughout and it complements the primrose numbers and lettering, which are the right weight and size. There’s the small ‘A’ (Urie power classification) just behind the bufferbeam too. Finally, we must talk about the nameplate. It’s printed but it’s printed so well that it looks as though it’s an etched component. Throw turned metal sprung buffers, NEM coupler pockets, fine plastic handrails and full DCC provision into the mix and you have one of the finest