Hornby NRM Flying Scotsman Wartime Black Review

[Coldgunner]

Hornby R3080 NRM Flying Scotsman 103/502 Wartime Black

 

History

 

Well, what can be said about the history of the world’s most famous locomotive that we don’t already know?

• Third member of her class, after 1470 Great Northern and 1471 Sir Frederick Banbury.
  
• Displayed at the British Empire Exhibition in 1924-25, temporarily coupled to a K3 tender and sitting opposite 4079 Pendennis Castle. It was here Alan Pegler first laid eyes upon her as a young boy.
  
• First locomotive to officially do 100mph. Please, can the GWR fans sit back down, thank you.
  
• Another A3, Papyrus briefly held the record at 108mph, the often forgotten record breaker.
  

Like many locomotives, after her twenties and thirties heyday, she was drafted in for war service. The companies that owned them, they were pretty beaten up by the time VE day came to pass. Subsequently she joined her sisters with the coming of nationalisation. She was rebranded as a British Railways locomotive and continued in regular service on the ECML, spending most of her service at top shed, with brief stints at New England and Leicester.

 

Time passed with little change and a somewhat docile life. That was until the BR modernisation plan of 1955, which was the call for last orders at the bar for steam. In 1959 and 1960 she received two major cosmetic changes that were to spark debate decades later. In 1959 she was fitted with the Kylchap double chimney and trough style smoke deflectors the following year.

 

In 1963, she was brought into private ownership by Alan Pegler, and under agreement with BR she headed rail tours in the LNER Apple Green livery, with no deflectors and a single chimney. She was brought by Alan Pegler as a result of her omitting from the preservation list. Fortunately, 4468 Mallard and 4771 Green Arrow were chosen for preservation as a representation of Gresley’s work.

 

Steam was completely gone from the BR network by the end of 1968, all except for Flying Scotsman, as a result of the ten year agreement Alan Pegler had with BR.

 

In 1969 she did what only a handful of British locomotives have done before, she was taken on a tour of the United States, with varying success, that ultimately saw Alan Pegler bankrupt and Flying Scotsman under lock and key at a US army base.

 

Flying Scotsman had a second knight in shining armour come to save her, Sir William McAlpine. She was shipped back to the UK before the creditors could get their hands on her and sent straight for overhaul when she arrived.

 

She came back to a changed BR, with steam tours allowed back on the mainline. In 1988/89 she circumnavigated the globe on a successful tour of Australia. It was here she broke the record for the longest non-stop journey by a steam locomotive. This was a very successful tour and returned home a heroine. She was a heroine who desperately needed overhaul. She underwent her most radical change since the 1960’s when she was out shopped in BR Brunswick Green, double kylchap chimney, smoke deflectors and BR late crest, to represent her final years of BR service. She toured many preserved lines to help fund her massive overhaul.

 

She was once again sold, to the late Dr Tony Marchington. She underwent a massive overhaul and was to be the star of Dr Marchingtons latest business enterprise. The business ultimately failed and Flying Scotsman was once again for sale. After a massive public campaign she was brought once again into public ownership under the custodian of the National Railway Museum at York. After leading the Scarborough Spar express for two seasons she entered the NRM workshops for her lengthiest overhaul to date.

 

This brings us to the present day. She was unveiled in LNER wartime black in May 2011, of which this model is a representation of. She is still under overhaul due to further issues discovered since her official unveiling. She is expected back on the main line in 2012.

 

 

The Model

 

Flying Scotsman has been in the Hornby range ever since the Tri-ang days, and prior to that as an ‘O’ scale tinplate model. This premium model is available exclusively from the NRM.

 

This latest model is based on the modern 2004 super detail mould. She has the option of installing a DCC decoder in the tender. Notably, the locomotive came out the box without smoke deflectors fitted, but the owner can fit them as they are supplied as a detail part in the box. Other detail parts include brake rods and vacuum piping.

 

• Please not the loco is a little dusty as she’s been sitting on my shelf for some time, a blast of compressed air and a duster will sort that. I also lost the smoke box door handle, which I’ll replace when I get around to it.
  

Performance

 

I don’t have DCC, so I can only give my opinions with regards to DC operation. Like the previous super-detail model she has the high end chassis, I’ve personally had her pull 15 carriages on the flat. The motor is very quiet and unobtrusive. She is reasonably weighty, causing little issue with traction. Action is smooth, and slow speeds on DC are fantastic

 

Detail

 

As previously mentioned, the model is based on the latest tooling from Hornby, supplied with the standard additional detail for an A3, including optional smoke deflectors. Bear in mind that she is a model of the 2011 rendition of Flying Scotsman, rather than an authentic representation of her war years. As with the real loco, she has ‘103’ printed on the left, and ‘502’ on the right. The tender also displays NE. There is a slight discrepancy in the lettering and numbering as the real loco has them printed in matt yellow.

 

 

 

And for comparison, here’s a photo I took last summer at the preview weekend.

 

 

 

This is a bit of a nause up in the detail stakes, but it isn’t too distracting.

 

 

The buffer beam numbering is also in gold leaf, with the York shed designation. As with the tender and cab side, the numbering should be matt. She has very fine motion, to which I always describe Walschaerts valve gear as pure poetry in motion, almost mesmerising. She has a legible builder’s plate and a double chimney as described earlier.

 

 

Working back along the loco is the famous nameplate and the distinctive matt black boiler. When seeing this loco in person she is gorgeous.

 

 

Working further back and into the cab, the cab detail is painted on. Gauges are legible and the attention to detail is sublime. This being a premium model is to be expected, such detail is not usually included in the Railroad models. The additional detail is worth the cost.

 

 

Onto the tender, there is the various fireman controls, warning labels etc.

 

 

The tender is a good representation of the A4 (?) pattern corridor tender currently paired with the locomotive. The black finish matches the loco well. This is one of the most obvious changes from the previous moulding, which originally housed a tender drive mechanism. The original was noticeably wider and did not have a removable coal load, unlike this latest version.

 

 

Last picture here is to display the rear detail of the corridor tender. She is NEM equipped and comes with standard Hornby narrow hook and bar couplings. Due to the NEM socket, she will take any suitable coupling arrangement. There is also a dummy knuckle coupling.

 

 

Personal Conclusion

 

I love this model; she stands out well amongst the cavalcade of LNER and BR liveries in my collection. She looks great in front of a long passenger train, but additional fun is to be gained in this model in that she can realistically haul long goods trains like her war years. She was an expensive model, much like many NRM releases; the price comes at a premium. But if you want the modern iteration of the long lived line of Flying Scotsman models, you can’t go far wrong with this. Until the real loco is back on the main line, this model is certainly a good substitute to watch thundering by on your layout.

 

Note: There are further images available in my gallery.

 

 

This is the first review I've ever done on the subject, I hope you like it. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. I wrote this as I found there was no current review of the model. I'm no expert and one or two of my fact may not be correct, as I worked mainly from memory. My grammar isn't great, so forgive me if I tend to waffle and seem a little non-sensical!

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Acknowledgements

 

This review could not have been done without the help of my trusty lamp, for when I wish to read, it is always ready to stand by me.

 

The empty part of Greslington, for providing the open facilities to store and photograph the locomotive. This was also in collaboration with my laziness, for which without I would not have an empty part of Greslington to work on.

 

My phone, the only damn camera I’ve got, a trusty and reliable aid. Until of course I get something better.

Edited March 18, 2012 by Coldgunner

[scots region]

No critque of the review in general, but the smokebox dart is missing.

[Coldgunner]

Yeah I know, I just need to get around to replacing it. It popped off when I first opened it and was consumed by the carpet monster.

[Captain Kernow]

Yeah I know, I just need to get around to replacing it. It popped off when I first opened it and was consumed by the carpet monster.

Markits probably do a nice brass replacement.

[robmcg]

A lovely review, thankyou, and I fully understand the sentiments expressed... the photos are actually very nice. It's also very nice to be reminded of the history of the loco.

 

When I have had a smokebox 'dart' or handles fall off I too have had trouble replacing them. Good luck! Last time it happened to me was with Hornby's new LNER B1 and they had broken off in the plastic packaging, and fell on my tile floor twice before being cornered and glued back on. Everything in the house had to stop until the tiny part was re-captured!

 

typo edit

Edited March 18, 2012 by robmcg

[S.A.C Martin]

A very nice effort all round

 

Have to say, it does look very swish in that livery.

Edited March 18, 2012 by S.A.C Martin

[Trainmaster64]

A very nice locomotive indeed, and one I would definitely buy if I could - there's only one problem I have with it. I can't verify it for myself, but I am fairly sure that No.103/503 does not have a knuckle coupler on its tender in reality - this only being applied to No.60010 and No.60018 in preservation (the two extant A4s). Otherwise a fine and well-done model, that would look stunning in any collection - as I have said and firmly believe, every British layout, no matter what it is, must have a model of No.4472 and/or No.4468 in the collection - the Scotsman's just too historic and important to leave out of a collection.

 

Very nice indeed.

[69843]

The LNER Gresley 8 wheel tenders had drophead buckeye couplers on the back, as shown in this picture:http://www.flickr.com/photos/43956756@N08/7030347249/in/photostream/, and Flying Scotsman's tender is 1928 built Corridor type #5325.

 

I am very tempted to buy the Apple Green Version of this, but I have at least 5 other things on my list, and simply can't afford it at the moment (although there is always birthdays...)

 

Fantastic review, and I can't wait to see more.

[scots region]

I'm tempted to do a really wethered version of it.

[69843]

Or even better, do a kit version!

[Stormbringer]

I've just laid my paws on one of these. It doesn't look as though it's ever been run. What I would like to know is, has anyone successfully fitted the smoke deflectors? and if so how?

 

    Pete

[DonnyRailMan]

On 02/11/2019 at 17:17, Stormbringer said:

I've just laid my paws on one of these. It doesn't look as though it's ever been run. What I would like to know is, has anyone successfully fitted the smoke deflectors? and if so how?

 

    Pete

I have heard of black tack being used and tacky back it is a clear & sticky . 

I nearly got myself , but had the A1 version of 4472 transformed into a War Time Black Flying Scotsman.