New Hornby Locos

[C37]

Been on a little bit of a spree, what with nothing to do, the only problem is I now have all these locos and just a small run them on! Hey ho.
The locos purchased over the last few months are:
Hornby
King Class "King William IV"
Castle Class "Aberystwyth Castle"
GWR Large Prairies, BR Early Black and Late Green editions.
Gresley B17 "Leicester City"
Stanier Princess Royal Class "Queen Maude"
Gresley LNER Railroad "Flying Scotsman" with TTS sound.

Most of the locomotives are in BR Green and the colours are consistent and look the part. The detailing is great, I should imagine practically everything is captured. This does make me nervous to handle as some parts are very delicate, but overall beautiful. I have not opened any of the little detailing packs.

A difference can clearly be seen with the Railroad loco, but even so, it is as good as most the Hornby and Lima locos that I had in my youth.

Performance is good across all locos. I have had 7 coaches on an even gradient and each loco has handled them comfortably. Even the Prairies take the load with no problem. I would expect the Express locos would comfortably handle a full load of coaches.
The other thing I notice is that the motors are so quiet, an imperceptible whir as they go around the track. Such a far cry from the screeching Lima and Hornby locos I used to have.

The Flying Scotsman which has sound (when operated on DCC) is great fun. All the sounds are there, the whistle and chuffing (much to my daughter's delight). The only downside is that once it gets to a cruising speed the sound can't be heard over the sound of coaches on the track. Maybe this would be solved with cork underlay?

Queen Maude has a flickering firebox which I think is fantastic.

One downside for me is the packaging. I don't much like the plastic container that the loco sits in, it is difficult to get tender locos back in the container as one hand is on the loco, one on the tender, with no hand to hold the plastic still and open. Much preferred the polystyrene.
I do like the description and history provided on the outside box.

Overall:
Plus points:
-Reliable and strong performance, especially compared to the products I was brought up on.
-Fabulously detailed (almost to the point of over detail!)

Downsides:
-I would like to see more features such as the flickering firebox. Its a little thing, but if it can be done on the Princess Royals, why not other locos too? Headlight would be a nice feature too, they are standard for most diesels now, so why not steam?
-Variety of TTS, would be nice to see a few more options
-Variety of Railroad, I would personally prefer to gain some features like glowing firebox and headlamps at the expense of some of the minute detail - delicate hand rails, etc. I suppose now we have this level of detail it is difficult to go back, but a few more options in the railroad range would be nice.
Packaging- I just don't like it!

[Walkingthedog]

Glad you are pleased. With regard to steam loco lights. The problem is that the lamps are positioned in different places depending on what the loco is pulling. Express loco, fast goods, stopping good, local train etc, so if you like things right then the lamps would need to be able to be repositioned.

A small example.

[C37]

Many thanks for the information, I am pretty ignorant about steam workings, brought up modelling late BR/EWS diesels at a time when I didn't have enough money for any sort of collection, so that is useful to know.

I just like beautiful locomotives!

[IanS]

Most of the locomotives are in BR Green and the colours are consistent and look the part. The detailing is great, I should imagine practically everything is captured. This does make me nervous to handle as some parts are very delicate, but overall beautiful. I have not opened any of the little detailing packs.
...snip...
One downside for me is the packaging. I don't much like the plastic container that the loco sits in, it is difficult to get tender locos back in the container as one hand is on the loco, one on the tender, with no hand to hold the plastic still and open. Much preferred the polystyrene.
I do like the description and history provided on the outside box.

Overall:
Plus points:
-Reliable and strong performance, especially compared to the products I was brought up on.
-Fabulously detailed (almost to the point of over detail!)

Downsides:
-I would like to see more features such as the flickering firebox. Its a little thing, but if it can be done on the Princess Royals, why not other locos too? Headlight would be a nice feature too, they are standard for most diesels now, so why not steam?
-Variety of TTS, would be nice to see a few more options
-Variety of Railroad, I would personally prefer to gain some features like glowing firebox and headlamps at the expense of some of the minute detail - delicate hand rails, etc. I suppose now we have this level of detail it is difficult to go back, but a few more options in the railroad range would be nice.
Packaging- I just don't like it!

I totally agree with your comments, not just for Hornby locos but all the locos I have bought recently. The delicate parts always seem to be in awkward places and inevitably end up removed or broken off. I recently bought a Hornby Class 71 - the pantograph came apart too easily and one part has vanished!

I too don't open the detailing packs, except to add the bits that fall off!
Packaging does seem to be much more plastic than I remember - cardboard was good enough in the past for delivery and in my case they never go back into the box. I have a lot of them now and storage is becoming a problem.

[C37]

I put them back into the boxes as I also have storage problem and no significant layout to put them on.
Plus it keeps them safe from the hands of a clumsy toddler!
I might make a a display diorama for them with sides and a lit to keep them safe.

[IanS]

I put them back into the boxes as I also have storage problem and no significant layout to put them on.
Plus it keeps them safe from the hands of a clumsy toddler!
I might make a a display diorama for them with sides and a lit to keep them safe.

I have a large (unfinished) layout - and no toddlers visiting or living here so we're in a different situation.

[Mike Parkes]

I like the plastic wrap packaging as you can use it to support the model whist working on it upside down. Hornby do let themselves down with poor material choices for fine / delicate / prominent parts and given the choice of a model the one in a red box wil remain in the shop. Interesting the comment on the consistency of the colour as BR /GWR green is something that Hornby often struggle with strange blueish green shades inflicting KIngs and Rebuillt West Countrys while the new Thompson Pacific's are a strange washed one shade with equally odd lining

[C37]

Thanks for the packaging tip, that will come in hsndy when I come to chip them.

[Simon_100]

I put them back into the boxes as I also have storage problem and no significant layout to put them on.
Plus it keeps them safe from the hands of a clumsy toddler!
I might make a a display diorama for them with sides and a lit to keep them safe.

What a splendid idea!