Username

Tom Davidson

 

Version

43097 Midland Mainline HST Train Pack R2376A (Chinese made, 5-pole motor bogie)

 

Appearance

Although the recent retool has massively improved things in this area, with a much improved headlight fitting and body moulding, the excellent finish on my model was really brought to life with a bit of dry-brush weathering. The model captures the attractive Midland Mainline livery well, and buffing up the sides with a felt brush can help replicate the semi-gloss finish of the real thing.

 

Detail

No additional detail was supplied with the loco, with very few finely moulded parts. This did give the model a degree of robustness, but I did notice that the loco uncouples a little too easily from the mk3 coaches included in the set – very frustrating when running the model for any length of time.

 

Performance

The Chinese-made 5-pole bogie runs very smoothly, and with pickups on all 8 wheels of the power car electrical connectivity isn’t a problem. However, it seems a little noisier and less powerful than most modern OO gauge locos, something that is doubtless improved on the retooled version.

 

Maintenance

No DCC socket was fitted, meaning that a decoder had to be hard wired in. No other maintenance was required other than a wheel clean, and the body easily unclips from away from the chassis.

 

Comments

The top quality finish, augmented by some weathering, means that this loco really looks the part. Performance was less assured, particularly given the frustrating uncoupling issue.

 

Overall ranking

7/10