On the one hand it was said the intial V2 was so poor, but it was poor for it's time not a poor loco.

Had it been released when prior to Bachmann owning the company it would have been a popular loco, but expectations were rising and what we got was lazy.

Perhaps we needed that loco to kickstart Bachmann treating the N range seriously alongside what Dapol at the time were offering because what we've had since has been very good and continues to get better.

@Hailstone
Any chance of a close up so I can see the weathering better please, Alex?

I ordered a black V2 60845 weathered by Rails and it arrived yesterday. my first impression was that it is light years ahead of its rather dissapointing predecessor



after an hours running in, I gave it a 20 wagon fish train to see what it was like on a load and it walked away with it (I will have to try a heavier van train that usually finds out the poorer haulers)



Finally, I put it on a passenger train, the leading coach having been aquired from @Pedanticmongrel which arrived the same day (a beautiful job Dan) with Green arrow on the fish vans heading in the opposite direction.



I look forward to the arrival of 60964 "The Durham Light Infantry" after which, the 2 existing V2's may be sent abroad for further use. 60845 has since been fitted with the cab doors, a crew and real coal in the tender

Regards,

Alex

Quote from: Newportnobby on October 31, 2025, 08:43:18 PMI do transition era so have almost equal amounts of steam and diseasels

Yep, one of the attractions of that period - you can run both.

Personally whilst I do model modern era so have a few diesels and electrics, I still appreciate steam era rolling stock and have a number of which, all of which I try to run every year on my home layout to ensure they are in full working condition. For the rest of the year they sit in a display cabinet.
For some reason I like running modern, but prefer to see Steam in a display cabinet.
Yes I am a bit strange like that.

I've created a document from all of the wonderful parts of John's series. I don't think I'll print it though, there are 307 pages! What a super effort and such an interesting and informative series.
Cheers! 

Personally I stick to mostly steam and LNER, of which I have gradually acquired a decent wide variety of types ( I would like to see more pre-grouping, esepcially NER liveried    ) - however I have allowed a selection of diesel and electric over the threshold, mostly non-British types that I have like dth look of in my travels...
Colin.

John,

I must add my thanks for this truly wonderful series. I have looked forward to each new "episode" and learnt so much - what I wonder comes next?

(one also is also left to consider if there is a simple way to extract all the page posts in sequence to create a single document which would then make a wonderful mini book to have on hand as a reference work).

BTW - I am now trying to explore the technical details of the last Chinese steam mainline locomotives which ran mainline expresses on the Jitiong railway until 2005, the QJ class LINK as I would like to know how many of the innovations you have described were included in these engines (I recently purchased an N gauge model of one which I have posted pics of elsewhere on our wonderful forum which set me on this path).

Colin.

And a heartfelt thank you from this little Durham lad in self-imposed exile in the Antipodes. A wonderful series and a valuable addition to the forum.

Thank you!

I had a little more to add about the use of Kylchap chimneys on the LNER/ER, but John has more or less covered my material.

I think the subject has been extremely well explained.

Thank you for the thread, and I hope my additions have also added to the information.

Congratulations.

Martyn