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Worst model locomotive.


Robin Brasher
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I still think the worst ever was the Lima N gauge BR 2-6-4T. Truly awful. Their class 86 was more presentable and ran well.

 

At least with Hornby tinplate/early Trix and the like they were toys and should be viewed as such.

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It was a repaint of a Swedish prototype, which basically shares being steam and a 2-6-4T. Other examples of such things exist (Dublo's surplus Atholls passed off as Canadian Pacific 4-6-2s for example), but I don't think any are quite as bad. (Trix's model of a German electric (itself rubbish) rebranded as a Metropolitan Bo-Bo is a possibility.)

 

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/candt-auctioneers/catalogue-id-srct10072/lot-0619f688-a430-44a2-ac0b-a89700fa6bc3

 

and

 

https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fthumbs1.ebaystatic.com%2Fd%2Fl225%2Fm%2FmORKQopGqv5rBNBuWc6P3Xw.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fbhp%2Ftrix-twin&docid=fRIjLpfGutxyJM&tbnid=1MgaYL9NAAxw6M%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjPvq_burfbAhWCKsAKHVneC6EQMwg-KAcwBw..i&w=225&h=169&bih=653&biw=1304&q=trix%200-4-0%20electric&ved=0ahUKEwjPvq_burfbAhWCKsAKHVneC6EQMwg-KAcwBw&iact=mrc&uact=8

 

The 'toy' excuse does apply here of course.

Edited by Il Grifone
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Mention has been made of the triang '08' on 3f chassis.

I do wonder if is actually supposed to represent a Jackshaft loco rather than the later ones as it has more of a look of a jackshaft one

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I still think the worst ever was the Lima N gauge BR 2-6-4T. Truly awful. Their class 86 was more presentable and ran well.

 

At least with Hornby tinplate/early Trix and the like they were toys and should be viewed as such.

 

It was a repaint of a Swedish prototype, which basically shares being steam and a 2-6-4T.

 

Sorry, but the BR 4MT only shared the chassis with the Swedish loco, as did both German and American models, though I would agree they veer more to the toy than scale end of things.

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I still think the worst ever was the Lima N gauge BR 2-6-4T. Truly awful. 

 

I can just about remember the review in (I think) Model Railway Constructor when it first came out. The text was fairly noncommittal, but I seem t remember a photo in broadside view blown up to the maximum possible size and occupying the full width of the page. I had the impression that it was calculated to assassinate.

Edited by Andy Kirkham
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I can just about remember the review in (I think) Model Railway Constructor when it first came out. The text was fairly noncommittal, but I seem t remember a photo in broadside view blown up to the maximum possible size and occupying the full width of the page. I had the impression that it was calculated to assassinate.

That said, I seem to remember that they could at least, keep their motion in place....

Edited by rockershovel
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Mention has been made of the triang '08' on 3f chassis.

I do wonder if is actually supposed to represent a Jackshaft loco rather than the later ones as it has more of a look of a jackshaft one

 

It has the number (13005 originally) and general shape of an 08, but I would agree the result looks more like a jackshaft locomotive.

 

 

Sorry, but the BR 4MT only shared the chassis with the Swedish loco, as did both German and American models, though I would agree they veer more to the toy than scale end of things.

 

It is even worse than I remembered  :O . I remember at the time putting it firmly to the 'horror to ignore/forget about' category. (With the honourable exception of the Peco/Rivarossi 'Jubilee')* it took a long time to get a decent N gauge British steam locomotive model.

 

* There may be others but this is the only one I remember. The only N gauge models I have are American (not counting Lone Star which are (allegedly) 000 anyway).

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That said, I seem to remember that they could at least, keep their motion in place....

 

It also had a photo of an Arnold N gauge loco at the bottom of the page to show how good the Arnold loco was compared to the Lima effort. a brave effort from the late SW Stevens-Stratten.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The strange red colour?   

Everyone knows engines are supposed to be green!  :)

 

(Even yellow ones were stated to be green.   :scratchhead: )

 

It looks like a good source for cheap models to be repainted when they get sold off in due course. (It could even be 'collectable in the future?)

Except when ,Silver, or Garter Blue!

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Yes when they painted a couple, BR experimental blue?

 

An experiment that failed due to the blue fading and failing to do its job properly, necessitating its replacement with green. :)

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Sorry, but the BR 4MT only shared the chassis with the Swedish loco, as did both German and American models, though I would agree they veer more to the toy than scale end of things.

That German model, despite its crudeness, does actually look quite representative of the original though, see: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/DB-Baureihe_66

 

Back when I modelled N gauge (a long time ago), I hated that models from the same company, Lima were in different scales, I was particularly unimpressed by the 2-6-4T but the Minitrix 'small' locos were never very good either.

Everybody remembers the Tri-ang/Hornby "08" with missing o/s frames but what about the Farish N gauge one? That was just as bad and had an overscale width body to boot.

Cheers,

John.

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Everybody remembers the Tri-ang/Hornby "08" with missing o/s frames but what about the Farish N gauge one? That was just as bad and had an overscale width body to boot.

Cheers,

John.

Ah, but it did have the correct wheelbase (Sorry, I've now run out fo good thngs to say about it).

 

Oh, and it made a reasonable chassis for the J94 later. OK, two goodish things. Three if you compare it to the Lone Star version which was a half-sized Triang copy...

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