Help me out please??

[austinbob]

OK - so I've put my purchase of a Dapol Grange on hold because I had problems with the one I had delivered from eHattons (resolved amicably as usual) and quite a few problems reported by others. BUT... so now I have £100 to spend on another loco. Must spend it soon before funds get allocated to less important stuff like soap and shower spray and food and diesel.
I quite fancy a Dapol Brittania. Any votes on whether its a good or bad runner? Done a search and it was not conclusive.
I have quite a few Dapol locos and whilst they are not generally very quiet runners they have generally worked well and they definitely look the business (this is from someone who said they would never buy anything from Dapol after rubbish experience of their collectors club).
So - good choice or not? I would like to hear the good experiences as well as the not so good as people tend to report bad rather than good (including me)
Help please...

[Gyppy101]

Bought a Brit recently ... extremely noisy and then started running erratically.   Got a replacement which ran very smoothly until the connecting rods on the starboard side fell off.  Have now put the rods back in place and keeping my fingers crossed!   Have  a 9F which runs faultlessly and an A3 and A4, both run without any problems and are reasonably quiet.  Hope this helps.

[austinbob]

Bought a Brit recently ... extremely noisy and then started running erratically.   Got a replacement which ran very smoothly until the connecting rods on the starboard side fell off.  Have now put the rods back in place and keeping my fingers crossed!   Have  a 9F which runs faultlessly and an A3 and A4, both run without any problems and are reasonably quiet.  Hope this helps.

Thanks for your input.. I'll wait for a few more responses before I decide. I have 3 A3's and an A4 a Manor and a Hall which are all passable!! but not perfect. If the Brit is based on these designs it might be worth a punt.

[Newportnobby]

My Dapol Britannia (note the correct spelling, Bob ) is a very smooth runner and traverses code 55 small points (12" radius) with no issues. It does not like 9" curves and does rattle a little through the tender. It's a great looker apart from the silly grey wheels and was one of the first batch ref ND-095G 70022 Tornado - the proper one

[austinbob]

My Dapol Britannia (note the correct spelling, Bob ) is a very smooth runner and traverses code 55 small points (12" radius) with no issues. It does not like 9" curves and does rattle a little through the tender. It's a great looker apart from the silly grey wheels and was one of the first batch ref ND-095G 70022 Tornado - the proper one

Thanks Nobby - I'm very tempted to spend my cash on a nice loco. I'll wait for a few more inputs, but I'm very tempted. Oh.. by the way, I was never too good at spelling some things. SWMBO is a language teacher and was (until we stopped paying the fees) a member of the Institute of Linguists. She is always pointing out my spelling errors. So now she's obviously got an ally in you. You can go off people you know...

[Kettle]

Bob, you need to buy a UM Dean Goods and its under £100, so money left over for food etc

[D1042 Western Princess]

Of course you could always get some decent locomotives - KMRC still have their Westerns  at under £80 each.

OK, time to leave....

[Dr Al]

The Brit has the same drive style as the A3, A4 etc, same motor, so performs largely similarly. They do seem more prone to Dapol-surging-motor-syndrome, but this is likely due to motor batches rather than any design issue with the Brit itself (I've had same problem on other Dapol models including A3).

There are a few various issues, and there's a long thread here:
http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/20828-dapol-britannia/

Also, might be of interest was a haulage test I did back in the day (39 coaches in tow):
! No longer available

Cheers,
Alan

[austinbob]

The Brit has the same drive style as the A3, A4 etc, same motor, so performs largely similarly. They do seem more prone to Dapol-surging-motor-syndrome, but this is likely due to motor batches rather than any design issue with the Brit itself (I've had same problem on other Dapol models including A3).

There are a few various issues, and there's a long thread here:
http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/20828-dapol-britannia/

Also, might be of interest was a haulage test I did back in the day (39 coaches in tow):
! No longer available

Cheers,
Alan

Thanks Al - very useful review.

[austinbob]

Of course you could always get some decent locomotives - KMRC still have their Westerns  at under £80 each.

OK, time to leave....

Quite nice loco but where does the steam come out?

[colpatben]

Mine ran perfectly from day one, easy to fit DCC sound (follow YouChoos instructions).

A bit fiddly if the drive shaft becomes dislodged but this will not happen unless you handle the tender/loco indifferently, just remember to keep the tender and loco in line when positioning on track or removing it for storage.

If it comes with cross head screws for crank pins then invest £4.00 for hex headed ones, blacken wheels and it will look good.

Traverses 10inch curves at low speed with no problems.

IMO a good buy with exceptional hauling power.

70014 'Iron Duke'


Britannia (Golden arrow topic )
http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=24152.msg256480#msg256480

[D1042 Western Princess]

Of course you could always get some decent locomotives - KMRC still have their Westerns  at under £80 each.

OK, time to leave....

Quite nice loco but where does the steam come out?

From the Spanner boiler outlet pipe located on the buffer beam and, usually, the colder the weather the bigger the steam leak! 

[railsquid]

Of course you could always get some decent locomotives - KMRC still have their Westerns  at under £80 each.

OK, time to leave....

Quite nice loco but where does the steam come out?

From the Spanner boiler outlet pipe located on the buffer beam and, usually, the colder the weather the bigger the steam leak! 

Did they boil the spanners for hygienic reasons?

[D1042 Western Princess]

Of course you could always get some decent locomotives - KMRC still have their Westerns  at under £80 each.

OK, time to leave....

Quite nice loco but where does the steam come out?

From the Spanner boiler outlet pipe located on the buffer beam and, usually, the colder the weather the bigger the steam leak! 

Did they boil the spanners for hygienic reasons?

Normally, but sometimes it was just for fun!