Hornby Dublo 4MT 2-6-4T

When Meccano Ltd changed their models from the "Big Four" liveries to British Railways, it was early 1953, and the decision was also made to introduce a new model of one of the new standard British railways designs. The initial speculation was that they would produce a Britannia but, when their new locomotive was released at the beginning of 1954, it was a model of the 4MT 2-6-4T. Initially available for three rail only, a two rail version appeared with the introduction of Dublo's two rail system. Later examples, of course, had the final BR steam emblem rather than the "cycling lion".

The chassis was fitted with an adjustable magnetic shunt behind the magnet, which was adjusted through a hole in the rear of the bunker. This was supposed to assist in improving the slow running, but was only much use on very early controllers, which were verging on becoming obsolete when the model was introduced. Meccano Ltd planned to do away with this mechanism and the attendant hole in the rear of the bunker, but levels of unsold stock were such that it never happened. The model was reintroduced by Wrenn, without the magnetic shunt and without the hole in the bunker.

I bought one early on in my days of accumulating Dublo, but hardly ran it at all. Recently, however, I brought it out of storage, got myself a couple more, and they are now threatening to multiply.

Here's the first one I bought, an original, but not quite mint, early example:


Here's one repainted to represent 80135, as preserved, but I got two of the numbers the wrong way around:


A Wrenn LMS red example (they did Southern and GWR ones too) but sitting on a Dublo chassis:


And last but not least, a Wills Finecast Stanier 2-6-4T body I picked up cheaply on eBay (it wa quite well put together, although the same can't be said of the paint job). One of the few whitemetal kits designed to be fitted to Dublo three-rail chassis. I still have a bit of work to do on this one before it can enter service: