Worst model locomotive.

[Titan]

Where did you find the Deltic dimensions from Titan as I have both as 69' 6" in length. The prototype being 1/2" wider and with 3" smaller wheels.

 

TBH I have never seen DELTIC quoted as being 69'6 in length, and bearing in mind I am somewhat of a Deltic enthusiast I have read most of the books and other information available besides what is found on the web.

 

One of the more definitive Books is Brian Webbs 'Deltic locomotives of British Rail' which will have it correct, although I can't quite remember the exact figure I think it is around 67 foot something for the prototype.

 

Edit - Just got home and checked, 67' 9 inches according to the above book, As well as 'Deltics at Work' by Allan Baker etc. etc...

 

Going searching I did manage to find a train simulator site that had it at 69'6" but so far no where else...

Edited October 10, 2016 by Titan

[Golden Fleece 30]

Oh well 21" is not much really as you say compared to the Dublo version which is about 2/3 what is should be, thanks that's one little issue cleared up.

 

Garry

[Il Grifone]

That loco's got more wheels than my O gauge A4 pacific Silver Link. That has got an 0-4-0 3-rail electric mechanism, (and a key hole in the side, presumably a clockwork version was also produced) It does have an 8 wheel tender though, two 4-wheel inside frame bogies, even though it has holes for two axles in the tender side frames. It originally belonged to my aunt and uncle and apparently it was produced as a "souvenir" when the LNER introduced the full-size Silver Link. There's no indication of the manufacturer. It had two carriages with it when new but they had disappeared, as had the cab roof and the chimney, before it came into my possession around 50 years ago. I recall it ran, after a fashion, at first but my Dad threw the controller out when it started putting mains voltage through the handle on the front. He regretted it afterwards as we then had nothing to tell us what voltage it was supposed to run on. There was an oval of track and two turnouts. They had red boxes on the sides with lights to show which way they were set. I bet the whole set was quite expensive when it was new.

 

Hornby made this one, but I'm not sure there was an electric version.

 

http://collectionsonline.nmsi.ac.uk/detail.php?type=related&kv=212208&t=objects

 

EDIT

 

No electric version of this - the set cost 7/6d. A more substantial model was planned (possibly using the 4-4-2 chassis), but never put into production. 20 volts was a common operating voltage at the time.

 

A book I have gives 66' for the prototype Deltic and 69' 6" for the production units.

Edited April 28, 2018 by Il Grifone

[rockershovel]

Re voltages and connections, don't forget that the US also (mostly) uses 110v, as do quite a few other countries, which is unpleasant but not lethal.

 

My mother used those light-socket connections well into the 1960s

 

I love Hornby tinplate, it has so many associations..

Edited October 10, 2016 by rockershovel

[Titan]

 

 

A book I have gives 66' for the prototype Deltic and 69' 6" for the producion units.

 

Would that be British Rail Main line Diesel Locomotives?

[kevinlms]

My vote for worst loco goes to the Minitrix class 27. I have never seen such a disgustingly distorted 'model' in any scale, and the motor sounds like a bag of spanners. Makes the Lima N gauge seem pretty decent by comparison. 

Not an N gauge fan, but from what I remember at exhibitions, every British N gauge layout seemed to have at least one. Presumably on the basis that regardless of looks, it at least RAN reliably and with a reasonable load.

[andyman7]

There's plenty of candidates for this award but as a kid in the seventies, the following offering from Life-Like made every other BR blue liveried 00/H0 model a finescale effort by comparison:

 

 

 

[PatB]

I think the Minitrix 27 was so common because, in the early days of British N, the diesel choices available were Lone Star Baby Deltic, Lima 31 and Deltic, and Minitrix Warship and 27. Not much chance of doing anything coherent with that little lot.

 

The Warship was powerful and smooth so it surprises me that the 27 didn't perform particularly well.

Edited October 11, 2016 by PatB

[Il Grifone]

Would that be British Rail Main line Diesel Locomotives?

 

It would indeed.  It could of course be wrong - it's not unknown in books....

 

There's plenty of candidates for this award but as a kid in the seventies, the following offering from Life-Like made every other BR blue liveried 00/H0 model a finescale effort by comparison:

 

 

images.jpg

 

I've got one of those! - Scheduled for a repaint into something more likely (SP black widow maybe). I seem to recall a 4 wheel Plymouth switcher in BR blue as well. Models of this tend to suffer from dimensional errors I understand

Edited October 11, 2016 by Il Grifone

[PGN]

The Minitrix Ivatt 2-6-2T dating from 1974 was a good model and may be better than the present offerings for durability, haulage power, ease of maintenance and ability to stay on the track. The other thread was about the Bachmann 2-6-4T in which I compared it with the Lima N gauge 4MT. This thread is about the worst model locomotive and I submitted the Lima 4MT as a candidate.

 

Haulage power? Minitrix 2MT 2-6-2T? Every one I ever owned would have struggled to pull the skin off a rice pudding. The only N gauge locomotive I've known to be less capable of shifting stock was the Dapol M7 0-4-4T

Edited March 31, 2018 by PGN

[PGN]

 

What else did you have in the late 1960s? Not much. I think that Grafar had just about released the 94XX, J69, a few wagons and coaches.

 

 

 

The 94xx and Holden Tank were released late 1971.

 

The only British outline RTR locomotives you could have had prior to that were Highfield hand built models running on Minitrix or Arnold chassis.

[NCB]

Haulage power? Minitrix 2MT 2-6-2T? Every one I ever owned would have struggled to pull the skin off a rice pudding. The only N gauge locomotive I've known to be less capable of shifting stock was the Dapol M7 0-4-4T

 

I had a Minitrix 2MT 2-6-2T. It was fine. Until I tried to modify it to fit a Chivers Vale of Rheidol cast body. I still have it somewhere. The 2-6-0 had a poor reputation.

 

The worst locomotive was undoubtedly a Hornby O gauge bottom of the range 0-4-0T which I was encouraged to play with rather than my brother's Hornby Dublo. It was several times worse than the standard Hornby 4-wheel tanks; think it might have been part of a starter set. Come to think of it, it might not even have been Hornby.

 

Anyway, after a concentrated campaign I got my hands on the Dublo, which my brother, strangely, wasn't interested in.

Edited April 1, 2018 by NCB

[rockershovel]

The Triang “Canadian Pacific” 4-6-2 was pretty dire, so a vote for that one.

 

I quite liked the “Davy Crockett” when I got one as a hand-me-down from an older cousin, including a couple of the clerestory coaches.

 

I also very much liked the Transcontinental diesel stock, including the Vistadome and Observation coaches...

 

 

Surely the inside frame, Jinty-chassis 08 is a classic piece of toy design? Instantly recognisable, down to a price and with no protruding pieces to break, bend or jam when crashed or dropped?

Edited April 1, 2018 by rockershovel

[BernardTPM]

The 94xx and Holden Tank were released late 1971.

 

The only British outline RTR locomotives you could have had prior to that were Highfield hand built models running on Minitrix or Arnold chassis.

 

The Farish 94xx was reviewed in the August 1971 RM, though first advertised as imminent in the January 1971 issue (out 20-12-70) with the J69 reviewed in the February 1972 RM (first advertised as coming October 1971 issue), however prior to this there were R-T-R British outline models from Wrenn/Lima, Minitrix and Peco (RM review dates given):

Wrenn/Lima: AL6 December 1967, BR 2-6-4T January 1969

Minitrix: BRCW type 2 March 1967, Warship September 1970 Britannia June 1971

Peco: Jubilee January 1970

Of course, if you count the two Lone Star 000 British outline diesel (Derby type 2 and Baby Deltic), those were in the shops for Christmas 1960.

[Il Grifone]

The Triang “Canadian Pacific” 4-6-2 was pretty dire, so a vote for that one.

 

I quite liked the “Davy Crockett” when I got one as a hand-me-down from an older cousin, including a couple of the clerestory coaches.

 

I also very much liked the Transcontinental diesel stock, including the Vistadome and Observation coaches...

 

 

Surely the inside frame, Jinty-chassis 08 is a classic piece of toy design? Instantly recognisable, down to a price and with no protruding pieces to break, bend or jam when crashed or dropped?

 

The first Pacifics did at least look like the real thing. The less said about the later ones with a Gresley tender the better!

 

'Davy' is quite good but overscale and has a weird colour scheme - now very collectable - I need a headlight for mine. I did see one on eBay, but they wanted more than 3 times what I paid for the rest of the model....

 

The 08 steps manage to break themselves off....  and the cab back splits, if when the fixing screw is overtightened.

 

They could just as easily made it a model of one of inside frame shunters, which wouldn't have been nearly as bad.

 

Probably the worst ever 0 gauge clockwork 0-4-0 was the Brimtoy Royal Scot sold by Woolworths (for 7d IIRC). AFAIK Woolworths never sold the tender, though track was sometimes available. 

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/wells-brimtoy-tin-royal-scot-7171-134183562 

Edited April 1, 2018 by Il Grifone

[rockershovel]

I see what you mean about the Gresley tender http://www.hornbyguide.com/item_year_details.asp?itemyearid=5683

[kernowtim]

Not the worst model, but possibly the worst livery!!!

For the American O Gauge market, by Lionel

Matching red and green mk1 coaches also available

Edited April 27, 2018 by kernowtim

[kevinlms]

Not the worst model, but possibly the worst livery!!!

For the American O Gauge market, by Lionel

Matching red and green mk1 coaches also available

What's wrong with that?

[GeoffAlan]

The very worst models I've owned are the Lima class 31 and the GF J69.

 

Both would almost disassemble themselves if I picked up a screwdriver. I had them apart that often! The class 31 would, when running gallop along at a scale 200mph. The J69 was particularly fickle dropping connecting rods, pins and even the screw that held the body on neither were worth the money.

[Il Grifone]

What's wrong with that?

 

The strange red colour?   

Everyone knows engines are supposed to be green! 

 

(Even yellow ones were stated to be green.   )

 

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?)

Edited April 28, 2018 by Il Grifone

[drgj]

I was at a car boot sale the other day and there was a large three rail set with a picture of a majestic express loco and coaches on the lid but inside was one of those horrible trix 0-4-0 locos and some equally disappointing coaches. A lot of track, though.

 

I also dislike the old Tri-ang style 08 shunter with no outside frames and too long a wheel base. 

 

 

 

Dave

Edited April 29, 2018 by drgj

[trevor7598]

Kernowtim's red Hall is quite nasty, a bit Lord Westwoodish.

[hallmodelspares]

Worst for me was the playcraft class 22, I had one with brass gears and a huge black incased motor. it ran well but it used to free wheel long after power to the track was cut!

[detheridge]

Worst for me was the playcraft class 22, I had one with brass gears and a huge black incased motor. it ran well but it used to free wheel long after power to the track was cut!

A primitive form of inertia control?

[NCB]

Had one of the early Farish GP 0-6-0 tanks. Poor runner, and everything fell off. Probably still have it somewhere.