Class 66: Hornby existing, Hatton's new, Bachmann and Hornby 2019 offering

[Damo666]

As a relatively new returner to the hobby, are there any reviews on the various Class 66s coming available? I have a Hornby GBRf 66751 and a Bachmann EWS 66040. The class is quite growing on me, and I'd be interested in getting another later this year, maybe two if I can sneak it past the post mistress.

 

I've read that the new Hornby 2019 range is the old Lima tooling, so can I assume my GBRf Hornby is also an old tooling?

Therefore is it from the same Lima mould or would it be an 'old' Hornby mould?

 

With hugely different prices, is there any analysis on the various models, ie: Which are accurate but not very detailed, Accurate & highly detailed, so bad it's just sheer fantasy? Whilst I like great detail, it's not a major selling point if the price difference is huge, so it would be great see the comparisons over the 3 major players.

 

And whilst I see references to the mould used for the tooling, what about the motor. It's rarely mentioned. Is this because all models on the market now have excellent motors with dual bogie drives? I'd hate to buy a £90 model and find it's got a ringfield or pancake motor in it.

 

Interested to head any feedback.

 

Damo

[Pete the Elaner]

I admit I have skimmed over the Hornby 66 but if it is less than £120, it will be a Railroad version so older tooling. I believe the Hornby Railroad models no longer have a Ringfield, but it is only 1 bogie which is powered. I am not 100% about this though.

 

A 66 would usually be too new for me, but occasionally a model comes along which looks so exceptional that I can't resist. Hattons' 66 is such a model.

Having seen pre-production examples, it looks very highly detailed including details like rotating axle boxes, which is an unusual feature of the prototype. Expect all wheel drive on this.

It also has space in the chassis for an 'EM2' speaker as marketed by DC Kits/Legomanbiffo. Fitting these usually involves cutting the chassis so it is nice to see they have thought of it. DCC sound fitted models will be provided with these & an updated project from Legomanbiffo. If DCC sound appeals to you, then the Hattons model will score well on this.

[SRman]

Hornby use the Lima body moulds, but a revised chassis now, which is DCC-ready and has a 5-pole motor driving only one bogie. I don't have a Hornby 66, but I did fit the very similar Hornby class 59 chassis into a Lima class 59 body. The motor is very smooth, and has reasonable amount of power but not much traction - there is a distinct lack of weight in the chassis. Neither Lima nor Hornby have working lights.

The Bachmann one has a solid chassis with a central can motor and flywheels. It also has working lights but the marker lights don't illuminate, meaning you don't get the distinctive triangle of lights, with only two of the three vertices illuminated. Haulage  and smoothness are good. Early examples didn't have pickups on the leading axles, to the detriment of running on uneven track.

The new Hattons one promises to be like the Bachmann but even better, with the weaknesses of the Bachmann model eliminated. As it isn't on the market yet, we can only go on the promised features. However, having said that, the previous Hattons branded locomotives and rolling stock have been very good (P class and Andrew Barclays, and Beilhack snow ploughs) .

[JohnR]

You pays your money, you takes your choice.

 

Hornby 66s - available for around £70 - old Lima tooling, albeit with new DCC ready chassis. No lights.

Bachman 66 - available for around £140-£170. Tooling dates from 2005. Lights (albeit not all combinations). 

Hattons 66 - available for £150. Latest tooling with detailings. Full lighting options. 

 

I suspect the Bachman 66s will have to come down in price, but I think there is a gap in the market for them at the right price.

[Mark Saunders]

You pays your money, you takes your choice.

 

Hornby 66s - available for around £70 - old Lima tooling, albeit with new DCC ready chassis. No lights.

Bachman 66 - available for around £140-£170. Tooling dates from 2005. Lights (albeit not all combinations). 

Hattons 66 - available for £150. Latest tooling with detailings. Full lighting options. 

 

I suspect the Bachman 66s will have to come down in price, but I think there is a gap in the market for them at the right price.

The market has now been split three ways!

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

... I'd hate to buy a £90 model and find it's got a ringfield or pancake motor in it.

 

 

It's the Bachmann or wait for Hattons then. My thought for the day would be that if the Hattons model is 'an easy winner' as the specification suggests, then there may be a good s/h stream of Bach 66 a sa result.

 

The Hornby is motor bogie only, a regular can motor instead of a ringpiece 'tis true but only a motor bogie, and traction tyre dependent with all the downsides that go with that. If you want a 66 to pull any sort of real load the Bachmann certainly will, and the Hattons product is specified to do likewise. The complete superiority of heavy all-wheel drive and pick-up mechanisms...

[John M Upton]

The Bachmann one is good but benefits from a little work. The Hattons one looks like you will get a lot for your money and could be the definitive version

 

The Hornby ex Lima one is so inaccurate that no amount of work will get it to a decent standard and the RRP is similar or more than you can find a decent second hand Bachmann one for. I think Hornby are wasting their time releasing so many of these for the price they are wanting. One basic Railroad version for under forty quid was all that was justifiable in my opinion.

[Damo666]

Thanks for all the replies, certainly helped me put the range into perspective.

 

With the lack of traction on the Hornby, do you think it feasible to double-header a Bachmann / Hatton's 66 with a Hornby, so that the image of double-heading looks right but the Bachmann/Hatton's is doing all the real work, compensating for the weaker Hornby traction?

[Damo666]

One basic Railroad version for under forty quid was all that was justifiable in my opinion.

I don't think you are, but are you saying that the Hornby 66 is a 'Railroad' range? Or just commenting that it's equivalent to their Railroad range due to the lack of detail and inaccuracies, and the Railroad branding would be more appropriate (in your opinion)?

[John M Upton]

The Railroad range was originally meant to be for low cost models from old Lima Hornby and even some Triang tooling and the ex Lima 66 fits in that category only Hornby seem to have forgotten about the low cost bit recently.

['CHARD]

Thanks for all the replies, certainly helped me put the range into perspective.

 

With the lack of traction on the Hornby, do you think it feasible to double-header a Bachmann / Hatton's 66 with a Hornby, so that the image of double-heading looks right but the Bachmann/Hatton's is doing all the real work, compensating for the weaker Hornby traction?

 

66s don't double-head all that often in reality, though, do they?

[Wickham Green]

............, do you think it feasible to double-header a Bachmann / Hatton's 66 with a Hornby .......................

Only if the multiple-working jumpers are compatible !

[John M Upton]

Or one of them has broken down...

[JohnR]

Seen a bit more top and tailing recently with the Aberdeen Cement traffic. 

[Matt]

If money is no object then wait for Hattons one. If working on a budget and absolute detail not as important, get a second hand Bachmann one. 

 

As said previously prices are already tumbling on s/h Bach 66s with some falling into the sub £80 bracket on ebay and the like.  The Hornby one is way behind Bach in detail and technical spec and doesn't make sense vs s/h Bachmann to me.  In turn the Bach one (at normal retail new price) doesn't make any sense new against the Hattons one. 

 

If looking for Bach s/h 66s watch the first batch which has some deficiencies in pickups and i think may also only be 4 axle drive rather than 6 axle drive on later versions.  For reasons i never understood there are certain models that seem to be unloved and consistently available at good prices - this includes a few DRS ones.  Kernow also have "soiled box" brand new unbranded DRS 66s for a very good price at the moment.

 

M

[Damo666]

If money is no object then wait for Hattons one. If working on a budget and absolute detail not as important, get a second hand Bachmann one. 

 

As said previously prices are already tumbling on s/h Bach 66s with some falling into the sub £80 bracket on ebay and the like.  The Hornby one is way behind Bach in detail and technical spec and doesn't make sense vs s/h Bachmann to me.  In turn the Bach one (at normal retail new price) doesn't make any sense new against the Hattons one.

Having read all the comments above, this makes good sense and one that I think I'll follow.

 

If looking for Bach s/h 66s watch the first batch which has some deficiencies in pickups and i think may also only be 4 axle drive rather than 6 axle drive on later versions.

Noted.

 

For reasons i never understood there are certain models that seem to be unloved and consistently available at good prices - this includes a few DRS ones.  Kernow also have "soiled box" brand new unbranded DRS 66s for a very good price at the moment.

Yes, seen that too. It's a bit of a boring livery though IMO.

 

Wonder if I could pop the Stobard static Class66 body onto the Kernow chassis?

[ruggedpeak]

Indeed, the Atlas Stobart is the fourth option, and there's a thread on it

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/93854-atlas-editions-stobart-class-66/&do=findComment&comment=3418440

[ruggedpeak]

66s don't double-head all that often in reality, though, do they?

Not that common but also not that uncommon to see positioning moves with 3+ 66's plus plenty of top and tailing on RHTT's, excursions etc.

[SRman]

Kernow Model Rail Centre have had some Bachmann de-branded DRS class 66s with soiled boxes going for £74.95 (http://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/p/59810/32-976Z-Bachmann-Class-66-Diesel-Locomotive-SOILED-BOX - no connection apart from being a satisfied customer). Even for a repaint or hack, this is a reasonable price and I have been tempted but am resisting at present ... I really don't need any more class 66s. 

[Midnight-Freight]

I personally have ruled out the Hornby altogether based on what I have seen and heard about them. Not that it has changed my mind but I have seen some forthcoming releases in some of the more interesting liveries at a reasonable proposed price. I would still rather opt for a secondhand Bachmann one though.

I only own one of the older Bachmann releases and whilst I can't comment on the other differences between the old and newer models adding additional pick-ups is fairly straight forward and cheap to do.

I too am keeping a close eye on secondhand prices in the hope they drop to a more reasonable level although I do wonder if many people will have the same idea and thus the demand for secondhand ones increases and prices stay roughly the same. Hopefully Bachmann will do the honourable thing and drop the price of their own model and all three manufacturers models will become available both new and secondhand at suitable prices.

[David62]

 Hi  The Hornby 66 only has one powered bogie the Bachmann has two driven by driveshafts..  the Hornby 66 is not worth the £75  i paid for it!    I now have Bachmann Period! although i paid a small fortune for the 3x 66 sound editions and the 37 sound edition & the class 20 sound edition BR green.. all magnificent! and the sound from the Bachmann locos is way far better.  the Hornby TTS sound is not very good  the BM has the start up sound plus all the  bells and whistles  the Hornby has   a different sound shall i say.  

[Pete the Elaner]

Ooh, old thread. The last comment is the only one made since Hattons released their 66, so let's start with that one:

 

Hattons' 66 was intended to be a market leader, with finer detail (including rotating axle box covers), better haulage, more lighting options (day/night lights, turning the rear off for hauling a train...) & better sound provision that betters its rivals.

It has space for a large speaker, marketed by DC kits as an EM2, so if want DCC sound, it wins in this column.

But there were problems:

Some models had lighting issues & others had wobbly running. Hattons' customer service have dealt with many of these issues & many repaired locos have been sold off at a discount.

Rotating axle boxes have caused wobbly running. Some have resolved this by re-fitting them, others have shipped them up & fixed them as non-rotating. Axle boxes have been known to fall off & never be found.

The first batch has nearly sold out now. They have not yet announced a further batch. Will they? If so, will many of the issues with the first batch be resolved?

 

Bachmann's is around 15-20 years old & is good for its time. Detail is good but bettered by the Hattons. Lighting is front & rear with no option to turn off the rears when hauling a train. There is less space inside for a speaker. Production issues have been largely ironed out so you would be unlikely to buy one which runs poorly.

 

Hornby's model is an older tooling. Because of the competition, theirs has been marketed for their budget Railroad range, providing a significantly less expensive alternative to the Hattons & Bachmann models.

 

 

[letterspider]

A Hornby TTS sound chip in a good second hand Bachmann, all coming in around £90, not much to complain about..

[Hilux5972]

7 hours ago, Pete the Elaner said:

Bachmann's is around 15-20 years old & is good for its time. Detail is good but bettered by the Hattons. Lighting is front & rear with no option to turn off the rears when hauling a train.

Actually that’s not true. My model of 66779 has a switch that can turn off tail lights. I think a cab light switch too. May just be the most recent releases that has this feature but it’s definitely there. Still no match for the Hattons model of course in terms of detail. 

[David62]

 I have three Bachmann 66's whcch are absolute belters of Locomotives sound built in  all sound absolutely Brilliant!