Having pre-ordered this loco more than a year ago, I was pleased to receive an "It's in the post" email from Kernow yesterday, and it duly arrived today. SR Man and possibly others have already posted about 10201/2, but I was waiting for 10203 in BR Green, and I have to say, it seems worth the wait and the cost, a not inconsiderable £169 in the UK. As expected, it comes well packed in the usual Bachmann/Heljan/Hornby style clear plastic clip together case, slid into a clear plastic sleeve, all in a foam lined padded box with the Kernow logo's. Supplied are alternate bogie weights to use if the loco is for display only (without couplings), and headcode display blanking discs, to be user fitted. First impressions are it's quite a heavy beast and feels solid in the Heljan style, very nicely finished, though the 'Primrose Yellow' roof will need weathering soon as it stands out like a sore thumb......yes, apparently 10201/2/3 and the "LMS Twins" all had their roof's painted in this colour for a time! Anyway, onto my rolling road for the suggested 30 minutes 'running in' in each direction, and it's a smooth as.......well, silk, I guess, especially on DC and from my rather basic Hornby controller. Once the running in is done, it's time to upend it in my maintenance cradle, 4 screws, 2 between each bogie, and off comes the body to reveal circuit board etc, and surprisingly, a fitted speaker for DCC sound, cab lighting being a small circuit board at each cab, only functioning on DCC using F1/2, loco lighting is forward direction end only with no red rear lighting, as per the prototype. Here's what the chassis looks like.
My DCC decoder of choice is a Lenz 'Silver' 21 pin, which can be seen fitted in the pic above, the work of a few seconds to fit, and I took the opportunity to fit crew at the same time. I won't bother fitting sound to this loco as I have over a dozen sound fitted loco's already, but as can be seen, it should easily be possible to add an extra speaker at the right hand end and maybe by removing the plastic moulding holding the fitted speaker, a larger one might be 'shoehorned' in. Anyway, after programming, it's back on with the body, "Kadee's" fitted (No 18's just right!), and at some future point, I'll fit suitable headcode blanks and weathering (especially that pesky roof!).Here it is on the track, and it runs even better on DCC than on DC. Keith.
I must admit that of late, I've not done much modelling as I'm currently waiting for parts for my PDK "Q" Class loco, and the heat of our somewhat rare hot (by UK standards) "Summer" means I prefer to be outside rather than in, both of which have sent my 'Modelling Mojo' down the pan somewhat, but hopefully with this long awaited loco and with luck the delivery of my "Rails" LNER Dynamometer Car shortly, I may just get back on track a bit! Keith.
Looks good Keith (for a SR loco!)! I know what you mean about the weather, it was 104'F in the shed earlier!! Ron
104 degrees over there, I suppose it does happen occasionally We still have it warm down here in parts http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-05/melting-road-in-far-north-queensland/9942800
It is the middle of winter in dear old Sydney. 24C yesterday and 25C today. Wonderful to be out in the man cave doing some sustained modelling. I think I will finally get the spaghetti wiring under some sort of control. Cheers Richardg