Models Past

 

As is undoubtedly apparent, I'm going through one of those phases when both the inspiration and inclination for posting here is low.  Everything I do post has the feel of a place holder until I can get my posting mojo back.  It undoubtedly has to do with my current non-working situation where not only do I have too much time on my hands, but I'm actually doing little with it, leaving me with little to write about.  What I need is to get into some new daily routine and things will improve, I'm sure.  But right now I'm feeling a little directionless.  In the meantime, I thought that for today's post, I'd go back to the model railway and look at a couple of vintage locomotives that I have had in store for years.

Both are ex-LMS machines, so actually have no real place on the current layout.  Like the Black Five I profiled on here a few months ago, they were part of a previous layout based around the long-defunct Somerset and Dorset route, where ex-Southern, LMS and Western Region locos and stock rubbed shoulders.  For some reason, I've been loathe to part with them.  Not that either is worth much, anyway.  On the left, we have a 4F 0-6-0, one of the most numerous freight types produced in the UK.  This model is the old Airfix version (complete with original blue box) and was, back in the day, a fantastic runner compared to its Hornby contemporaries - it was also far more detailed than them.  Hailing from the late seventies, it was part of a new wave of detailed, Hong Kong manufactured, models that appeared in the UK from two new entrants to the model railway world.  Airfix, of course, had been making plastic kits for decades and decided to branch out into model railways.  Its range of rolling stock was never as extensive as Hornby's, but the quality was high.  Most of its locos, like this one, were tender drive, with both tender and loco chassis being composed mainly of plastic.  After a while the range was marketed as GMR (Great Model Railways) rather than under the Airfix brand, but was eventually sold to the other new model railway manufacturer and rival, Mainline Railways.

The loco on the right, a Rebuilt Patriot class 4-6-0, is a Mainline product.  Again, it is far more detailed than its Hornby equivalents of the era.  Unlike the Airfix model, it has loco drive, employing a heavy die cast metal split chassis. While giving excellent running performance, over time the weight of the chassis had a tendency to crack the plastic axles of the driving wheels, rendering them unusable.  Unfortunately, there was no easy way of rectifying this fault (I speak from experience).  Mainline, owned by Palitoy, built up a bigger range of models than Airfix, rivaling Hornby, especially after incorporating the Airfix range.  Many of its steam locos were ex-LMS designs, using common parts.  This Patriot, for instance, was an economical model for them to produce, sharing its chassis and tender with the existing Rebuilt Royal Scot and Jubilee models, while combining the Scot's boiler with the Jubilee cab to produce the body.  Despite its success, the Mainline range was eventually discontinued when Palitoy's parent company decided to divest itself of various non-core businesses.  The ex-Airfix items were sold to Dapol and eventually re-sold to Hornby (who still produce a version of the 4F).  The Mainline moulds reverted to the Hong Kong, (now Chinese) factories that produced the models for Palitoy.  A few years down the line Kader (owner of several US model railway brands), licensed them to produce some of the ex-Mainline range, first imported to the UK under the Replica Railways banner before being launched as the basis of their new Bachmann Branchlines range.  This, of course, is now Hornby's biggest competitor.

Both of the models still run, despite their age, although the Patriot's valve gear sometimes sticks.  They have some historical significance as they represent the first generation of the new, detailed models that revolutionised British railway modelling, forcing Hornby into upping its game (and eventually moving production to China).  Without them, the super-detailed models people now take for granted wouldn't exist.