Looking to buy new locos. Help needed.

[d-a-n]

Best bet is for OP to find a mate(s) who have these locos and judge for themselves.

This is a good shout - are you part of a model railway club? If not, you could go to a show or a train fair to have a hands on look, especially at the older out of production stuff - the camera is unkind to these older models!

[Train Waiting]

Being relatively new to modelling n gauge, after modelling OO for too long, I'm looking at buying some more locos. Could you guys tell me who if anyone makes the best 9fs, Black 5s, a4 and and a3.
Many thanks in advance.
David.

Hello David.

Like you I am new to British 'N' gauge, but not to model railways.  I have been accumulating locomotives and having fun playing with them.  You wrote 'anyone who makes' so I'll confine myself to current models.  I think it is fair to say that all are good but there can be a variation between models.  Manufacturer 'Swoosh' might make a 4-4-0 and a 4-6-0.  There might be something approaching a consensus that the 4-4-0 is a better model.  But some 4-4-0s might not be as good runners as others.  Likewise, there are likely to be some well-running 4-6-0s with particularly happy owners.  Manufacturer 'Glug' is not likely to make the same models (although it has occurred - Graham Farish and Dapol both made a 'B1' 4-6-0), but might well make models of similar classes.  There is likely to be much debate about which manufacture's products are better!  In my limited experience, for running quality, the biggest variation appears to be within the same manufacturer's models of the same class rather than between different models or manufacturers.  You are likely to find that modellers generally (well sort of!) agree that Glug is usually the better manufacturer but its 2-8-0 is not a good-running model.  You'll then meet someone whose best-performing model is a Glug 2-8-0!  These little models have a lot of hand-assembly and there is considerable scope for variation in quality.

So, there is not a lot of duplication between the manufacturers and there is variation in quality between supposedly identical models.  It's likely that you will run models from different manufacturers happily together on your layout.

Graham Farish tender locomotives fall into two categories: tender drive and locomotive drive.  The very latest ones tend to be locomotive drive.  Dapol tender locomotives have the motor in the tender which drives the locomotive's wheels via a drive shaft with a universal joint.  Both manufacturers make highly-detailed models, mostly from moulded plastic, although there is a recent move to some diecast metal in models such as the Graham Farish LMS '3F '0-6-0T' (sometimes called a 'Jinty').

Union Mills models are all diecast inside-cylindered prototypes with tender drive.  They are good for basic detail but lack the fine detailing of Graham Farish and Dapol.  They are, in my experience, an exception to my own rule of 'variation between identical models' as I have found that they are always very good indeed.

Probably the best course of action is to choose the locomotive you want, buy one and then run it in carefully following the manufacturer's instructions.  If it runs well keep it and enjoy it.  If it doesn't, then return it to the retailer.  Hopefully, the replacement will be fine.  It has in the three instances when I have returned a poor-running model.

Finally, for your examples, Dapol manufactures the 'A3', 'A4' and '9F'.  Graham Farish make the 'Black 5'.

I hope this has been of some help and is based on my very limited experience.

With best wishes.

John

[Bealman]

Excellent response. Thank you!

[Newportnobby]

The thread itself is a bit of a waste of time as the 'Review' section will give everyone's views (particularly owners) and some pics too. All that's happening here is some more recent views and a lot of regurgitation.
I'd really suggest just looking at reviews of Bachfar steam and Dapol steam.

[ntpntpntp]

Not forgetting that Minitrix also made A3 and A4. As with the 9f they're long out of production but still worth a look

[IkBrunel]

Thank you for the replies guys. I should have gone into more detail in my original question. I meant who makes the best running ready to run model. My layout is dcc so I would prefer if they where dcc ready. Thanks for the help so far guys. I really appreciate it.