Hornby P2

[DonnyRailMan]

What will the planed 2007 P2 by the A1 Steam Trust be called though.

[Guest Belgian]

'Hen of The South'?

[robmcg]

In my opinion the problem with Caprotti valve gear is that it doesn't LOOK SO NICE when running.... as Walschaert's, or even Baker.

 

Just thought I'd add some objectivity....

[Sam Moss]

The loco's bark more than makes up for it though

[melmerby]

'Hen of The South'?

Or if it's a long time coming - "Hen's Teeth?"

 

Keith

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

looks like it's not just the exhaust that's soft...

 

[gr.king]

I'm surprised no-one has raised the issue of the gearbox/motor area being clearly visible ahead of the firebox,

 

That is regrettable, although perhaps not as obvious and hideous as it might have been. An inevitable consequence of fitting a fat Can motor according to the current RTR commandment of "thou shallt only mount thy motor horizontally, on top of thy chassis". The Bachmann G2 and O4/ROD suffer the same problem. In each case it could be entirely avoided by mounting an equally burly Can motor steeply inclined within the firebox with the drive gears acting on the rear of the final coupled wheelset instead of above it. I've built similar locos that way, keeping the drive completely invisible. It works on a wide-firebox Atlantic too, eliminating the need to have chunks of boiler missing in the undercut areas adjoining the splashers. Bachmann might want to consider that in connection with the recently announced "Brighton" (Doncaster copy) Atlantic.

Edited October 8, 2013 by gr.king

[melmerby]

 An inevitable consequence of fitting a fat Can motor according to the current RTR commandment of "thou shallt only mount thy motor horizontally, on top of thy chassis".

Bachmann's 2251 has the motor mounted vertically in the firebox area.

 

Keith

[Steve O.]

Hi,

Apologies if this is a duplicate link,,,

Pathe newsreel of COTN on the French rolling road:

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/giant-engine-in-france-for-tests/query/Lner

Cheers, Steve.

[melmerby]

Hi,

Apologies if this is a duplicate link,,,

Pathe newsreel of COTN on the French rolling road:

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/giant-engine-in-france-for-tests/query/Lner

Cheers, Steve.

Another one here:

http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//BHC_RTV/1934/12/17/BGX407190928/

 

Keith

[Andy Y]

I had the opportunity last weekend to take some close-up snaps of the decorated running sample. It's fair to say it's had a few knocks on its travels with a bent buffer and disappearing slide rods on one side but we will be letting BRM readers have a detailed appraisal of the model in the next issue.

 

It's not a prototype I'd have normally been drawn to but it's really a very impressive model.

 

 

 

 

 

[Nelson Jackson]

Simply beautiful, no other words.

Can't wait to get mine.

[Oldddudders]

Simply beautiful, no other words.

 

Quite. No-one who likes steam locomotives could avoid giving that a second glance, surely. Looks like a great rendition of a fabled prototype.

[Coldgunner]

I think I just had an accident...

[will5210]

Wow!

[The Stationmaster]

The biggest problem I can see with it is that even at the 'detailed' price I won't be saving very much by not buying it     It does look nice but it is simply too 'way out' (of my areas of interest) for me to justify. 

[coachmann]

     It does look nice but it is simply too 'way out' (of my areas of interest) for me to justify. 

You could always make out Collett borrowed it to see if Gresley had learned anything.....

Edited October 26, 2013 by coachmann

[bluebottle]

You could always make out Collett borrowed it to see if Gresley had learned anything.....

 

 

Another swap? Would have been interesting to see how a "King" got on between Dundee and Aberdeen.   

[melmerby]

Interestingly in the films the loco is referred to as "giant"

 

Putting it in perspective the wheelbase is only 2.9" more than a Princess. (and it includes an 8 wheel tender)

It only weighs a couple of tons more and the Princess would have only slightly less T.E if it had 6'2" wheels

( A Coronation with 6'2" wheels would have had 43,568 lbs TE - slightly more!)

 

IMHO the impression of outstanding size is given by the 8 exposed driving wheels and long almost parallel boiler.

 

What do others think?

 

Keith

[bluebottle]

Interestingly in the films the loco is referred to as "giant"...

 

...IMHO the impression of outstanding size is given by the 8 exposed driving wheels and long almost parallel boiler.

 

What do others think?

 

Keith

 

Indeed, the boiler casing with the integral smoke-deflector wings give a long clean straight line from cab to near the front buffer beam "with head held high" as the Coach aptly put it, and the fully exposed wheels add a rakish touch. On the other hand, perhaps if the people writing the script for the media had had the experience of seeing any loco of comparable size under those circumstances they would have been thus awe-inspired. I can remember vividly standing on the ground a few yards from Peppercorn's A1 "Holyrood" as it steamed into St. Margaret's mpd back in the 60s. What must it have been like to be indoors near "Cock o' the North" doing 85 m.p.h. standing still?!

Edited October 26, 2013 by bluebottle

[melmerby]

Indeed, the boiler casing with the integral smoke-deflector wings give a long clean straight line from cab to near the front buffer beam "with head held high" as the Coach aptly put it, and the fully exposed wheels add a rakish touch. On the other hand, perhaps if the people writing the script for the media had had the experience of seeing any loco of comparable size under those circumstances they would have been thus awe-inspired. I can remember vividly standing on the ground a few yards from Peppercorn's A1 "Holyrood" as it steamed into St. Margaret's mpd back in the 60s. What must it have been like to be indoors near "Cock o' the North" doing 85 m.p.h. standing still?!

It is very impressive loco, I really like the look of it and always have done since seeing photos in books many many years ago.

Whether I would call it "giant" compared to the biggest of other companies efforts, I'm not so sure.

 

Even the LNER W1 in rebuilt form, I imagine would produce more horsepower than a P2, an LMS Coronation certainly did.

 

I mentioned an LMS Princess which I believe (although I cannot currently find the source) is quoted as the longest conventional (non garratt) loco in the UK buffer to buffer.

 

Keith

Edited October 26, 2013 by melmerby

[bluebottle]

It is very impressive loco, I really like the look of it and always have done since seeing photos in books many many years ago.

Whether I would call it "giant" compared to the biggest of other companies efforts, I'm not so sure.

Even the LNER W1 in rebuilt form, I imagine would produce more horsepower than a P2, an LMS Coronation certainly did.

I mentioned an LMS Princess which I believe (although I cannot currently find the source) is quoted as the longest conventional (non garratt) loco in the UK buffer to buffer.

 

Keith

 

Is, then, the P2 not a giant?

Is Lhotse not a mighty mountain because it's over 600 metres shorter than Everest?

Which was the more powerful, Collet's “Castle” or Gresley's A1? Which the larger? (all right, GWR fans, stop jumping up and down saying “Me! Me! Ask Me!”)

The “Princess” may well be the longer, but I suspect that the P2 has a greater average height.

Enough! The P2 was - and will be – a giant among giants. But there's more to this than mere statistics: “Sometimes we select a perceptual hypothesis that is actually incorrect; in this case we experience an illusion” (Hilgard and Atkinson and Atkinson; “Introduction to Psychology”). You know, the perspective drawings of railway tracks with two sleepers: which is the longer? Even when we know that they're the same length, our eyes still tell us that the farther one is the longer.

I've only ever seen photographs of 2001 “Cock o' the North”. It may be an illusion, but in those photographs it looks the biggest and most powerful locomotive ever to run under a British loading gauge. I look forward to seeing how far the model and (please God!) the newbuild 2007 sustain that illusion.

 

Edit: typo

Edited October 26, 2013 by bluebottle

[Dick Turpin]

I think the fact that it was a beast built to do a specific job requiring plenty of adhesion makes it look so powerful, in that getting as much power onto the track north of Edinburgh with huge loads in adverse conditions a pressing issue at the time. Either way this looks a super model.

 

I really feel for those who have absolutely no need for one, weak resistance levels and a little too much money.

Edited October 27, 2013 by Dick Turpin

[mow]

Compare it with the front of the Star, the P2 has a moulded smoke box dart, handrail, and whistle which spoil the looks, How far Hornby might have considered a separate smokebox with unmoulded details is a moot point, but in my humble opinion they have missed the opportunity to produce an outstanding model. 

[davidw]

Of the Hornby 2013 releases, there's not much that got my attention. However, the 'design clever' does cause me concern for future models. I've expressed this before - it's the Marmite principle