I took delivery of Yeo yesterday, and am severely disappointed, having built my first 009 layout for these locos and waited years for
them finally to appear. Not to mention spending a lot of money on the loco and the layout for it. The worst problems, which others have
also noted:
1 - The loco will not run over Peco 009 pointwork: it derails and shorts out. I've coaxed it over some points at s snail's pace, but at
realistic speeds, it is hopeless. My Minitrains works engine (the Baldwin 2-6-2T) copes happily with my pointwork.
2 - The loco will not couple to Peco rolling stock - the coupling bar is too high.If I make it couple, it lifts the front wheel of a
wagon or coach off the rails.
So the model makes a very pretty static display item in a siding, but is useless as a working engine.
I've reminded myself of the rave review in the April Railway Modeller, which said that Heljan and Peco had liaised to ensure the engine
would run on Peco code 80 009 track. The reviewer also said that the couplings provided a "perfect match" to Peco rolling stock. Do these
reviewers actually take the loco out of the box and try to run it on a proper layout with a train? I'd expect a proper critical review,
not a mere advertising puff, misleading at that, for a manufacturer trying to flog an ill designed product.
