The contents of the train set are the track, DCC controller, two locomotives and four wagons.

The locos are a BR J83 0-6-0 steam engine and a BR Class 08 diesel. From a train set point of view they are pretty much the same size engine. In real-world terms, though, the J83 is an engine that would have been used on short freight runs but mainly used as a shunter, while the 08 is very rarely anything other than a shunter.

Not knowing anything about the J83 I looked it up and found it was an engine built by the North British Railway in Scotland and the edges of northern England, then used by the LNER, and finally in the northern region of British Rail. They were built at the very beginning of the 20^th Century (the first ones were delivered in 1900-01) and the last one was withdrawn in 1962. Most of them travelled over 1 million miles in their working lives. The 08s and other Diesel shunters replaced them in the 1950s.

The 08 diesel is a very familiar loco. 996 engines were built between 1952 and 1962, making it the largest class of engine used on the railways. Not many are used on the main line these days as trains rarely need to be shunted. The days of ‘pick up goods’ trains being put together in little stations are long-gone. There are a lot in industrial use – one can be seen occasionally on a steelworks site in Cardiff – and they are used on a lot of heritage lines as they are reliable and can run in all weathers. Apparently, over 60 have been ‘preserved’.

The actual models are OK. They look pretty basic, with most of the details moulded onto the body. But they are both DCC chipped and as ‘practice trains’ will do the job. The 08 has some fuzzy printing on the wasp stripes on the front, which is a bit disappointing. The steps up into the cab are very thick mouldings as well, so they look a bit over-large.

The four wagons range in quality. They are:

· Iron ore tippler wagon

· 7-plank open ‘private owner’ wagon – Breedon and Cloud Hill Lime Works

· 10-ton box van in BR bauxite (brown)

· Red TTA tanker wagon with a ‘tank rentals’ logo on the side

One area the rolling stock could have been improved would have been the inclusion of a brake van. Fortunately I have some brake vans, so that’s not a problem.

The wagons are very plain and generic. I wasn’t impressed with the TTA wagon as the mould lines are very pronounced on the ends and the finish is a bit poor. Also, it’s a bit too late for this kind of ‘mixed goods’ train. From what I've read, TTAs started to be used in the 1960s, when the J83s were pensioners.

The iron ore tippler is very basic with no internal detail. The box van carries the bare minimum of transfers, but is an OK model and would look alright. The ‘best’ wagon of the bunch is the PO wagon. The livery is bright, bordering on garish, but it’s the right location – this lime works was near Worthington in Cumberland, so it fits with the former NBR locomotive. The only quibble I’d have is that PO wagons stopped being used in the BR era.

So, what have we got all told? A rather odd train pulled by either a shunting loco that just made it into the BR era or the diesel shunter that replaced it. It’s highly unlikely that such a train would be seen as PO wagons pre-date BR, TTA wagons post-date steam locos, and I can’t imagine you would ever have one wagon with iron ore in being moved anywhere on its own. The box van is about the only wagon that should be in this set.

I’m not sure why Hornby don’t do starter sets with an actual train. Why not three plain opens and a brake van? Or three box vans and a brake van? I guess those aren’t as interesting or exciting for the children getting the train set. Plus they might have a few random wagons to shift, although the PO wagon in this set was only ever released in the train set according to the Hornby website. This makes it even more annoying because it means it’s almost impossible to put a train of these wagons together.

Anyway, here's what the trains look like 'on track'.

One final point to consider is that the rail vehicles in this set all have large style Hornby couplings. My other rolling stock is a mix of the wide couplings and the narrower Bachmann ones. It doesn’t really matter, although they don’t work that well together, so I might need to replace the couplings on either this stock or some of my other stock at some point.