Hornby ‘B12/3’ 4‑6‑0
◆ GAUGE ‘OO’ ◆ MODEL Hornby R3545 Gresley/holden ‘B12/3’ 4‑6‑0 No. 61556, British Railways lined black ◆ PRICE £160.99 ◆ AVAILABILITY Hornby stockists or www.hornby.com
There was a story circulating that when Hornby was moving its manufacturing to China, it sent an old Tri-ang ‘B12’ 4-6-0 to the new factory and asked the Chinese engineers to copy it. They did… including the ‘sandpaper’ sound function.
Having what was essentially a piece of sandpaper rubbing against a cam to make a ‘chuffing’ noise may have been innovative in the 1960s but was laughable in the early 21st century. It got even more ridiculous as the years passed when you consider the development in electronic sound functions.
Hornby delighted modellers of the Great Eastern with the ‘J15’ 0-6-0 and then the ‘D16/3’ 4-4-0. It was only a matter of time before the old Tri-ang ‘B12’, with its sandpaper sound, was replaced with an all-new model to contemporary standards that would finally do justice to the GER’S premier express design.
The ‘B12/3’ is a bit of a favourite of mine thanks to the work the class did on the former Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway. GER purists will probably disagree, but I really like the combination of Stephen Holden’s original inside-cylinder design with the big, bold Gresley boiler and modernised cab. I also think that it’s a design which really suits BR lined black better than LNER green.
It was a tad disappointing, therefore, that the new ‘B12/3’ was released at a period when Hornby had stopped sending us review samples. Pre-production samples suggested that Hornby’s design team had done another sterling job and it remained on my wishlist until funds allowed me to finally get my hands on one.
Happily, that day finally came in mid-march, three years after the model’s initial release, when a parcel from Hornby arrived containing ‘B12/3’ No. 61556 in lined black with British Railways emblazoned on the tender.