Originally announced by Hornby in December 2013 the ex LSWR Drummond 700 class 0-6-0 locomotive models have now arrived. I outlined the history of the class in my Talking Stock #29 Black Motors, Drummond’s 700 class here so I will not repeat the detail in this post. Click on any of the pictures below to enlarge.
The Hornby models depict the class in their superheated form. Number 316 was modified in 1919 by Urie that changed the look of the engines including extending the smokebox, the frames, raising the boiler pitch by 9 inches and modifications to the cab design. The rest the class of the class were similarly modified and superheated in Southern Days between 1923 and 1929. Therefore it is only number 316 that could potentially be re-liveried into an authentic LSWR livery for pre-grouping modellers.Originally paired with 13ft wheelbase tenders a number of the class gained 14ft wheel base from members of the T9 class (so that the T9s would fit on the smaller central section turntables of the time) Hornby have correctly tooled both tender types.
So far released are the following variations:
- R3238 No. 695 – SR lined black livery, 14ft wheel base tender, open coal rails, capuchon lip on chimney and smokebox snifting valves
- R3239 No. 30315 – BR livery late crest, 14 ft wheel base tender and correctly no builders plate
- R3240 No.30693 – BR livery early emblem, with 14ft wheel base tender
- R3304 No.30316 – BR weathered livery early emblem and is the only release to date paired with 13ft wheel base tender
- R3302 325 SR unlined black, part of 1940 Return from Dunkirk train pack, 14ft wheel base tender and with smokebox snifting valves
The first three, R3238,9 & 40 were originally announced as 2014 releases with the last two announced last December for release during this year, however all versions are now arriving together.
The model has a cast metal boiler and cab, to give weight whilst the running plate is plastic. The 3 pole motor does not have a flywheel, although there is technically space for one to have been fitted, perhaps this is a slight hangover from the Hornby ‘Design Clever’ phase, and is therefore a slight disappointment as originally from memory a 5 pole motor and flywheel was listed on the specification, which now shows on the Hornby website as being a 3 pole motor with flywheel, the motor sits neatly in the bottom of the cast boiler section driving the rear axle via a worm gear and two gear wheels. Hornby have advised that the 3 pole motor without a flywheel was a result of the narrow diameter of the boiler in which it is neatly mounted. This high position of the motor within the high pitched boiler allows for a cosmetic representation of internal valve gear on the top of the chassis block. This is a nice and welcome simple but effective addition. The external brake pull rods are nicely moulded however unusually for models these days the cross rods are omitted, nor are they supplied as separately non factory fitted parts. Electrical pick up is through phosphor bronze wipers bearing on the rear of the wheel tyres on both engine and the tender with the wiring passing through to the tender via the semi-permanent plug and socket, where the pickups run neatly along two grooves within the tender chassis, to an 8-Pin DCC socket.The paint finish and level of detail is what we have come to expect from Hornby, the green lining on the SR version is particularly fine and represents the livery as applied pre 1936 when the use of the green lining was stopped in favour of unlined black (almost a shame that my version will be repainted into post war black!). On the SR version the cab side number plate is however a simple printed representation of what is in reality a cast plate.

A view of the cab detail, note the commendably thin cab sides considering they are part of the metal casting
The chimney is a separate moulded part to allow for the variations of chimney and tooling allows for the smokebox snifting valves fitted variants, that on some samples I have seen has led to a slight tooling slide mould line being visible on the top of the smokebox either side of the chimney. The boiler handrail knobs, like their recent J15 release, have been incorrectly mounted to be parallel to the footplate rather than positioned radially from the boiler, which is a slight let down on an otherwise excellent looking model although both issues are perhaps from a normal viewing distance not too noticeable.

A view showing a comparison of the loco to tender coupling distances: standard setting top and close setting bottom
The tender also has a removable plastic coal load revealing a fully detailed empty coal space below, being a plastic moulding it is, I feel, a better representation of coal than the cast metal coal load seen on some Bachmann models (although I always add real coal to my models anyway). The brake shoes on the tender are in line with the wheels rather than simply moulded as part of the frames as has been disappointingly seen on some recent Bachmann releases such as the C Class. The tender coupling does appear to protrude quite a distance from the rear of the tender and I will probably look at modifying that in due course.

A view of cab end of the tender. The 13ft wheel base tender was essentially the same just with a foot longer rear overhang from the last axle.
Unlike some of the other recent releases the tender does not have an obvious / pre defined location for a DCC sound speaker or apertures for sound to escape. Separate tender metal weights are fitted inside the tank area and these might have to be removed for some speaker / DCC chip combinations.
Although delivery of the first three of these models were been delayed, it has been worth the wait and these are a great addition to the fleets of Southern and Southern Region modellers alike.