Ellis Clark Trains Wickham Type 27 trolley

◆ GAUGE ‘O’ ◆ MODEL Ellis Clark Trains • E1022Z Wickham Trolley and Trailer, black with ‘wasp’ stripes • E1016S Wickham Trolley and Trailer, BR maroon with DCC sound ◆ PRICE £150.00 (£280.00 DCC sound) ◆ AVAILABILITY Ellis Clark Trains Tel 01756 701451 We

They’ve taken a couple of years to arrive, but Ellis Clark Trains’ Wickham Trollies are now here and will, no doubt, be adding charm to many a 7mm scale layout in the coming months.

The model’s handbook suggests that these may be the smallest self-propelled ready-to-run models in ‘O’ gauge, and I’m not one to argue. They’re certainly tiny, and the models are completely dwarfed when sat beside a Type 3 or Type 4 main line diesel!

Emerging in the late 1940s, Wickham’s motorised trolleys helped to mobilise track gangs, offering great savings and convenience to railway operators. Hundreds were built and operated in Britain and abroad, with examples remaining on BR’S books into the 1990s. Powered by Ford car engines, which were cheap to maintain, they allowed permanent way staff to patrol wider areas and perform light maintenance in far-flung areas.

It’s a great choice for a RTR ‘O’ gauge model, providing something a little special and appealing to those of us with very limited room. Perhaps we’ll see a few tiny 7mm scale layouts emerging, based purely around this little locomotive…?

Offered in a variety of liveries that cover their entire British Rail careers, with regional colours and later high-visibility schemes, each motorised trolley comes supplied with a twin-axle trailer, in a complementary colour scheme. Extra plank-sided and flat-bed trailers are also available separately.

Supplied for review is an un-numbered trolley in black with ‘wasp’ stripe ends, which is a depiction of the preserved unit that resides at the Mangapps Railway, plus a BR maroon version numbered B14W, complete with DCC sound installed. Each model is packaged beautifully, in a sturdy foam-lined box and the Mangapps black version is accompanied by a limited edition certificate.

First impressions are entirely favourable – these are really very cute. And yet they’re more than a mere novelty, with an impressive amount of detail and engineering knowhow invested into the design. The interior is reproduced in its entirety, with no ‘false’ floor concealing a bulky mechanism. Instead, a low-profile coreless motor – just 9mm in diameter – sits below the floor and powers both axles via twin worm gear outputs.

We’ll come back to the mechanical and electrical elements shortly, as the cabin interior is one of the highlights, with bench-type seats made up of individual slats atop a ‘steel’ framework made up of injectionmoulded plastic components. The driver’s position features throttle and clutch pedals, plus gear stick and handbrake lever arranged close to the engine enclosure, while the small console is adorned with dials and gauges.

The glazing is neatly installed, with no unsightly excess material