Next Sonic steam loco

[Conor1410David]

Does anyone care to speculate on what the next steam loco from Sonic will be? Any nets on a N gauge version of the GCR A5 pacific tank? They already produce it in OO, and it doesn't have complex external valve gear. We could do with a RTR passenger tank for the LNER!

[mojo]

That would do nicely, or a V3

[Ensign Elliott]

Having done a few tank engines, I'm hoping they will venture into larger locos - I'm holding out for a King or a County

[ntpntpntp]

Sorry I just cannot read the name Sonic without thinking of a certain blue hedgehog   

[Bigmac]

isnt it a large prairie ?

[icairns]

Any bets on a N gauge version of the GCR A5 pacific tank?

That would do nicely, or a V3

LNER Class A5 No. 69839, Class V1 No. 67664, and Class L1 No. 67733 on shed.

Any large LNER tank locos by any manufacturer would be welcome.

Ian

[Bob Tidbury]

Yes its supposed to be a Large Prairie but it seems to have got lost at the moment ,If anyone has any info on whats happening can they post a message on here for all who have paid a deposit .
Bob

[Newportnobby]

Last update from @martyn was here @Bob Tidbury
https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?msg=819004

[Roy L S]

Does anyone care to speculate on what the next steam loco from Sonic will be? Any nets on a N gauge version of the GCR A5 pacific tank? They already produce it in OO, and it doesn't have complex external valve gear. We could do with a RTR passenger tank for the LNER!

After the Large Prairiue?

Well that's a difficult one as the Newton Chambers car carriers came right out of "left field". What we do know is that Sam has said he produces models he "likes" and I recall it was said he has a thing about Great Western locos. I believe it was also said he would initially be concentrating on tank locos with simpler motion, but precisely what "initially" might mean is open to interpretation.

GW is actually pretty well covered, missing just a few larger classes including the King. My personal view is that the King has been tarnished by the DJM debacle, followed by the KR Models saying it was on their radar and then stopping. The County is an interesting thought, especially with one being reproduced by preservationists, but I doubt it would be that either. Panniers done to death by Farish and Dapol, Small Prairie and 14/48xx in Dapol's portfolio and candidates for upgrade following the Ivatt - Sam will doubtless be aware of this so I very much doubt one of those either. I doubt 0-6-0 tender types would be entertained as UM did the Dean Goods until recently and both UM and Peco have done the Collett 0-6-0. So my conclusion is it won't be Great Western. Edit: and of course Dapol have a 43xx Mogul in the works too.

The A5 certainly appeared a popular model in OO and sold well, albeit of course we don't know how many were produced in total. This loco does have certain factors in it's favour including R&D already having been done, simplicity, large cab/tank area making layout of chassis/DCC interface relatively simple (possibly even room for a speaker in the bunker). It had a long service life, carried a number of liveries including (importantly) BR early and late crest, it was found over a reasonably large part of the LNER (BR Eastern) network. Against all this, as a main line passenger tank loco it's duties were relatively limited, and aside from Dapol Gresleys (Farish BR Suburbans at a stretch?) not much available for it to haul and this same limitation would apply to other LNER passenger tank locos such as V1/V3 and L1. In fact as an aside, some LNER suburban coaches would be very nice 

I don't know very much about Southern, but with Dapol already having the West Country/Battle of Britain in the works, Farish doing a lovely Unrebuilt Merchant Navy, N Class and C Class, Dapol the Schools, M7 and Terrier I would think the basics are covered.

LMS (BR London Midland) we have Dapol already upgrading the Ivatt 2MT tank loco, Farish doing/having done Jinty, recently upgraded Fowler 4F and Ivatt 2MT, Fairburn Tank, 8F, Black Five, Jubilee, Scot and Duchess fairly recently. The obvious gap would be a Mogul, the Farish Crab never made it into Bachmann's retooled range and nobody has ever done a Stanier Mogul or Ivatt "Flying Pig" ready to run, but I an not sure whether either would be strong enough sellers in N 

BR Standards have been comprehensively covered by Dapol and Farish with the only "gaps" being Class 2 tank and tender locos (too similar to the Ivatt 2MTs they were based on?), 3MT tender loco, 6P "Clan" and of course the singleton 8P Duke of Gloucester. Of the BR Standards a 9F to modern standards would be nice, but Dapol have done a run of theirs fairly recently so I doubt that.

LNER wise, we have already had the J50. These are still freely available at Rails, and have been discounted for a time to £89.99 (£20 off original list) so a good supply available and I doubt Sam would do another small 0-6-0 tank just yet especially given the EFE J94 recently launched. That said, coverage of LNER types in general is fairly limited, especially now that we have lost the more niche models Union Mills provided. From memory, on top of the J50 and J94, relatively recently available have been just a Farish J39 (another batch being made), Farish B1, Farish A1 and A2, Dapol A3, A4 and "Footballer". Missing is a heavy goods loco like a Robinson "ROD" 2-8-0, or a mixed traffic Mogul type like a K3 or K1. BUT how about an LNER B12 to modern spec done with the proper small GE tender? Yes, UM did one, but with the wrong tender. It is a relatively simple model, with a large boiler/firebox to hide a mechanism and even in rebuilt form as the B12/3 had a decent innings through to BR late crest with one preserved on the North Norfolk Railway (currently undergoing overhaul).

So, after all that head scratching, what I can say is that I think it will be another relatively simple design, possibly with outside cylinders but I'd say forget outside Walschaerts valve gear. Maybe the A5 isn't too far off the mark after all, but in some ways a B12 or Robinson "ROD" would tick a number of Sam's boxes too I would think.

Roy

[Newportnobby]

With Sam's predilection for Western locos, the 42xx/52xx 2-8-0T and 72xx 2-8-2T could be possibilities but are limited area wise to mainly S. Wales.
I'm sure some would welcome a nicely detailed 2P or 4P 4-4-0.
Plenty to go at for SR modellers such as S-15 and N-15 although class numbers were small.
A K1 would be very nice

[martyn]

@Roy L S

a well reasoned piece, and I'd love a B12/3 or two.

As a small aside, the big LNER tanks (V1/3, L1, and A5) worked 'main line' sets on the ex GE area, especially around Norwich on the through coaches from Liverpool Street to Cromer, Sheringham, Yarmouth, and Lowestoft, etc, loading up to 11 corridor coaches at times.

Martyn

[PLD]

@Roy L S

a well reasoned piece, and I'd love a B12/3 or two.

As a small aside, the big LNER tanks (V1/3, L1, and A5) worked 'main line' sets on the ex GE area, especially around Norwich on the through coaches from Liverpool Street to Cromer, Sheringham, Yarmouth, and Lowestoft, etc, loading up to 11 corridor coaches at times.

Martyn

The big LNER tanks were also common around Hull, everything from branch workings (BR MK1 Suburbans certainly appropriate) to stoppers on the main line with almost any corridor stock. Several A5s got to Hull, often used as Station Pilots at Paragon.
V3s even worked the Hull portion of the Yorkshire Pullman from Doncaster, so a V3 with 4 or 5 of Revolution's K type Pullman's when they arrive would be perfectly prototypical.

[Steven B]

As far as tender locos are concerned the biggest "holes" in steam era models are  (in my opinion):

SR: 4-6-0 hasn't been done at all. LSWR N15 (SR King Arthur) would be top of my list.

LNER: Missing 4-4-0 and 2-6-0. D11 would be my choice of 4-4-0. I'd option for the Thompson K1 as a 2-6-0 - decent number built and one preserved (although I'd prefer a K4 for my 1980s steam specials)

LMS: like the LNER it's missing 4-4-0 and 2-6-0. Fowler MR 2P and Stanier Crab are my locos of choice.

GWR: 2251 class 0-6-0 would go well amongst the models already produced. Made several years ago by Peco with a rarely used tender but never re-run. Otherwise, an outside frame 4-4-0 could be fun - 3200 Earl or 3600 City would be my choices (one of each preserved).

BR: I can't see any of the missing locos being done any time soon. I'm not familiar enough with the prototypes but would a new boiler on the Dapol Britannia give you a Clan? Duke of Gloucester would be nice but the unusual valve gear could be tricky to pull off.

Personally I'd like to see a 0-6-2 Webb Coal tank and a L&YR Class 5 (2-4-2 tank) or Class 27 (0-6-0 tender)

Steven B.

[PLD]

Some logical reasoned suggestions from some contributors but very quickly descending to yet another "wish list" from others.

Looking at what we know of Sam's preference and history:

We can be 95% sure of it being a Tank loco.
Maybe 60% chance GWR, 35% LNER, 5% Others.
Most likely 6 coupled with or without leading and/or trailing trucks.
Inside cylinders & valve gear or outside cylinders with inside valve gear (simple o/s motion)

So what fits that tighter criteria?

[Roy L S]

Some logical reasoned suggestions from some contributors but very quickly descending to yet another "wish list" from others.

Looking at what we know of Sam's preference and history:

We can be 95% sure of it being a Tank loco.
Maybe 60% chance GWR, 35% LNER, 5% Others.
Most likely 6 coupled with or without leading and/or trailing trucks.
Inside cylinders & valve gear or outside cylinders with inside valve gear (simple o/s motion)

So what fits that tighter criteria?

Not sure about another GW being quite such a high prospect, as far as I am aware the principal tank locos are pretty much all taken apart from the 42xx/72xx series which were very limited both in terms of duties and geographically.

Thinking LNER one tank loco I forgot earlier which would be logical as it is technically quite similar to the 56xx and fits many of those tighter criteria would of course be the LNER N2 tank loco  . As well as use on suburban passenger trains in and around London they could latterly be found much further into East Anglia and some even in Scotland. Of course one is preserved too.

Regards

Roy