Hornby J83 loco

[SteveyDee68]

Many years ago, my late father built me a OO layout in my bedroom for Christmas, designed to hinge up when not in use and supported upon bespoke cupboards/desk unit that he also designed and built. I can't remember which year it was, but I do remember the first two locos - a Hornby J83 in LNER green and a Triang Hornby class 31 diesel in two tone green which had built in sound (well, let's just say that the growl of the motor was loud enough to represent hard at work diesel engines!).

 

The other thing I remember was my dad apologising for the loco - he told me he wanted to get me a Mainline J72 loco but that they had sold out in all the model shops - it was when they were first released, and it really was a ground breaking model for detail at the time. I also remember him telling me that the J72 had correct buffer height, unlike the J83 which was a couple of mm taller than the Graham Farish LNER teak finish suburban coaches he had bought me. (Why didn't I keep hold of those?!)

 

Anyway, more recently I picked up an older J83 off eBay for my cousin's boys to use, remembering how bomb-proof these older models were. An older Hornby GWR pannier tank and a Lima J50 also joined the stud, so the boys had a loco each. All three have the higher buffer height I remember from my childhood.

 

Looking at the more recent version of the J83 from Hornby, I wonder if anyone can tell me if the model now has the correct buffer height? I assume it is in the Railroad range, given the amount of moulded handrails visible plus the arched spectacle plate windows, but those features can be corrected whereas an incorrect ride height makes the project more problematic.

 

(I could ask the same question of the J50, but that appears to have been updated from the original Lima model so I assume that it would be at the correct buffer height.)

 

Many thanks for any information.

 

Steve S

Edited July 5, 2023 by SteveyDee68

[mossdp]

I think the buffer height is still to high. 

[Steamport Southport]

The J50 was all new and an absolute beauty. Some decent bargains on them at the moment, try Model Railways Direct.

 

The problem with the J83 was it came out just as Hornby was changing with competition coming from Mainline and Airfix. It had the old chassis from the 1960s whilst others such as the Jinty had the new chassis. It wasn't in the range long and was replaced by the GNR J52 0-6-0ST.

 

Then it reappeared a few years back with a new chassis. But it does seem to still suffer with the old Triang problem of being too high in the buffer beam department.

 

 

Jason

[SteveyDee68]

1 hour ago, Steamport Southport said:

The J50 was all new and an absolute beauty. Some decent bargains on them at the moment, try Model Railways Direct.

 

Thanks, Jason, for that information. I thought the J50 was based on the Lima moulding, but looking at photos it does look so much better. I'll take a look around, as you suggest. My only worry is that it might be a bit big for a micro layout based upon Ipswich wet dock.

 

I'm part way through building a Y6 0-4-0 tram loco and also a skirted drewery 0-6-0 loco, both of which are small locos, and am about to order myself a J67 body shell for a surplus Terrier chassis. That's already three locos outside my main area of interest, four if you include my sadly defunct Mainline J72! I thought the J83 might be a smaller loco than the J50, although I have no idea yet if either were seen around Ipswich - chance to dive down another rabbit hole, I think!

 

HOURS OF FUN!

[Compound2632]

The too-high buffer height was actually a rather clever dodge on Triang's part - it allowed for bogie swing (both horizontally and vertically, the latter to cope with classic train set up-and-over gradients) without compromising the body. One defect Triang bodies don't suffer from is the over-large splashers found on many more recent and much-lauded RTR models, especially 0-6-0s.