Recommend me a REALLY good RTR model...?

[Colin]

I’d also recommend the Bachmann Standard 4MT 2-6-4T and Class 5MT 4-6-0. I have a few of each on my BR/SR layout and all run very well, although the 5MTs can be a bit light-footed on trains of over 7 coaches.

[Mel_H]

On 15/08/2020 at 16:43, Philou said:

Is that 4mm? Crikey!!

 

Philip

No, 7mm. Nice, isn’t it?

[ROSSPOP]

The last $mm RTR loco I purchased was this one.

 

In my opinion the best Bachmann ever produced.

 

So good , I changed it to P4 gauge

 

 

[ikcdab]

I find that online reviews are very helpful. The best I think is sams trains. https://www.youtube.com/c/SamsTrains

He seems to have reviewed most things and gives honest and open info.

Recommended.

[flockandroll]

2 hours ago, ROSSPOP said:

The last $mm RTR loco I purchased was this one.

 

In my opinion the best Bachmann ever produced.

 

So good , I changed it to P4 gauge

 

 

Wow

I have to ask: which decoder, which speaker and which sound project?

[97xx]

Lots of good suggestions.

 

Very tempted by the 3MT but grabbed a mint (at least described that way...) 5658 in BR lined green which, assuming it runs well, I will detail:

(a) OHLE warning flashes (due to Tyseley 84E allocation, which I believe they carried)

(b) ATC cable on RHS

(c) Decent coal (probably PVA on top of existing given not easy to remove)

(d) brass plates

(e) Weather - level to be decided...

 

Thanks to all the interesting and inspiring suggestions.

 

Oh, and Dublo couplings...

 

Edited August 17, 2020 by 97xx

[Right Away]

Bachmann E4 0-6-2T 

Hattons P 0-6-0T

Dapol B4 0-4-0T

Hornby A1X 0-6-0T (latest release)

Hornby M7 0-4-4T

Hornby H 0-4-4T

 

Yes, they’re all Southern, they’re small and not all that imposing compared to bigger offerings, but what they lack in size, they more than make up in detail. Mine (all DCC) run superbly.

 

[The Johnster]

12 hours ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

Hornby's B12/3. (Members of the class worked over Southern and Western lines during WWII, so perhaps it can have a pass?)

I imagine they ventured on to the LMS as well.  B12s got about a bit in WW2 because they were fitted with air brakes, and allocated to depots on the east coast of England.  The hospital trains which serviced the advancing front in Europe following the D day landings were also air braked to run with locos in Europe, and worked through to hospitals in the UK from the field hospital railheads on the train ferries, which berthed at Harwich.  These locos were thus available to work through to wherever the train's destination was.

 

One such was Whitchurch Hospital to the north of Cardiff, a mental institution which was much needed during the war dealing with shocked and disturbed casualties.  A B12 turned up at Cardiff on one occasion shortly after VE day (the wounded were still being transported on the hospital trains for many months after the war in Europe was over), and with no suitable loco to take it forward was run into platform 6 and the loco run around to take the train tender first to Coryton, where hospital staff were waiting with trolleys and beds to take the patients the 200 yards or so to the hospital.  

 

It is almost worth building an exhibition layout of Coryton at this period just to see the punter's faces when the B12 turns up, tender first...

[The Johnster]

4 hours ago, 97xx said:

(a) OHLE warning flashes (due to Tyseley 84E allocation, which I believe they carried)

 

4 hours ago, 97xx said:

(d) brass plates

You won't regret it!  Best vfm steam loco on the market IMHO.  Plenty had OHLE warning flashes in South Wales towards the end; everything did.  Don't forget they were red in those days, the modern yellow ones are incorrect.  Brass plates are one of the cheapest and easiest improvements to any GW model, but you may want to make your own white numbered smokebox door plates as the ones supplied with etched brass numbers are, well, etched brass!  If it's a mint 5658 it will have this anyway.  

[97xx]

The 56xx is, almost to my surprise, nearly superb. detailing excellent, very well executed in accordance with the prototype, and runs extremely well forwards and 95% as well backwards.

 

A little bit of 'wobble' is noticeable, but no more than anything else I have and certainly a massive advance over the truly terrible split-chassis Mainline Manor I had to rebuild, or the stuttering Airfix 14xx. What longevity will be like will remain to be seen.

 

The detailing will now commence.

 

Thanks for all the input.

[The Johnster]

Told you.  Baccy’s 57xx and 8750 are pretty good as well, as are the small prairies, but IMHO, the 56xx combines the qualities you mention with an excellent ‘bang for your buck’ factor.  My oldest, of 3, has been in almost daily use for nearly 4 years and is showing no signs of wear yet, and I should hope so too, but I’m confident it’ll outlast me.

 

About the only improvements you can make are real coal, crew, and etched brass number plates; the lily is supplied factory gilded!  Real 56xx wobbled a bit; big cylinders, even inside ones, and small wheels will do that to a loco. I remember them plugging away up the bank on the Rhymney route out of Cardiff with 50 or so empties; they always put me in mind of terriers straining at the leash, nose to the ground and wagging their tails behind them...