Gone Loco?

 

I bought another locomotive recently - this one is a Bachmann Standard Class 5.  It represents one of the second batch allocated to the Southern Region from new, sporting a large capacity tender and carrying the name 'The Red Knight', (transferred from one of the Urie N15s it replaced).  The real locos of this class featured very prominently in the last days of steam on the Southern Region in the sixties, with some running right up until the end in 1967.  Even second hand, the Bachmann Standard 5s still seem to attract premium prices, but I got this one extremely cheaply.  Mainly because it needs some remedial work: the linkage between the locomotive and tender is broken and it runs rather wonkily.  The first problem is relatively easily fixed, but the latter will require some further investigation (although I already have an inkling as to what might be wrong after observing it running at low speed).  

This is actually the second Standard Five I've bought over the past twelve months, the first being an entirely different kettle of fish:

This one is, as far as I can discern, constructed from an MTK kit and runs on a modified Hornby chassis.  As is, it represents one of the first batch of Standard Class 5s, with the original BR1a tender.  Again, I got it very cheaply because, according to the seller - on eBay - it didn't run.  Just a look at the photos on the listing told me why - it sports homemade pick ups made from brass strip, which weren't contacting the backs of the driving wheels.  When I got it, I was able to bend them around to make contact and it has subsequently run extremely well.  It still needs some cosmetic work - there is some light damage to the tender chassis frames and it currently sports a Westinghouse brake on the right hand side of the boiler, which was only fitted experimentally to the real loco for a trial period.  It will also need renumbering to a Southern Region loco, probably 73043, which was transferred in from the Western Region in the early sixties and stayed until the end of steam, plus the BR totem on the tender will be changed to the later 'ferret and a dartboard' type.

So, there you have it, two locos, ostensibly models of the same class but by different manufacturers and from different eras.  The Bachmann version is obviously far more detailed and accurate (just compare the valve gear on the two), but the MTK derived loco is extremely robust, conveys the overall impression of the real thing, despite a relative lack of detail and, to be honest, fits in a lot better with my existing collection of predominantly sixties, seventies and eighties models.  Of course, I do have a third Standard Class 5, a green Trix version from the late sixties, which is a great runner, but less detailed than either of these two, (it is also underscale, being made to Trix's curious 3.8mm to the foot version of 00).  But hey, there were a lot of this type of loco running on the Southern Region in the period I model and between them, these three cover most of the livery and tender variations that could be seen in that era.