Decision to be made

[bbdave]

Ok following my previous thread and funds being made available i have a decision to make, to re-cap i have 3 Dapol GW Collett coaches and looking for a loco to pull them i seem to have the following choices. which is the highest recomended?

Dapol/Ixion Manor
Dapol Hall
Dapol Prairie

Peco Collett

Farish Prairie

i am using DC but will make the leap to DCC when finances allow i am looking for reliability my own personal view is tending towards a Manor but open to other suggestions.


Dave

[brbluewill]

peco collett or dapol hall for me just buy them all that way you can alternate them

[bbdave]

I wish

Dave

[bbdave]

Also probably a dumb question but whats the differences between the Hall and Manor?

Dave

[Newportnobby]

Hi Dave - I still don't know what your budget is. The most expensive will be the Peco Collett, and you could probably get 2 x Prairies for the same outlay. IMHO the Farish Prairie is best as it has more pulling power than the Dapol version but is not as detailed. Something to think about if you add more coaches. If you're just going for the one loco and the spondulicks are available, the Collett would be my choice.

Basically the Hall weighed in at 75 tonnes and had 6ft driving wheels, whereas the Manor weighed a tad under 69 tonnes and had 5ft 8 inch driving wheels although the tractive effort of both was very similar. The smaller driving wheels and lighter weight of the Manor made it more suitable for secondary lines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GWR_7800_Class
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GWR_4900_Class_4953_Pitchford_Hall

[bbdave]

Thanks i have seen the collett for £140 so can stretch to that i  am not 100% i prefer the looks over the Hall/Manor but i have heard it is a very good runner.

My future Layouts may lean towards GWR as i can model my local line so that is also a consideration but thats a long way in the future (the house would need changing first).

Dave