For anyone who hasn't got it, Hornby have upgraded their N2 model with a new DCC ready chassis, and have included a surprising addition of sprung buffers and a few other cosmetic changes to bring the N2 up to a reasonable standard.
I managed to get a few of these packs from Model Railways Direct, which had them for £59 each - all 52 of their packs sold out within 24 hours!
Overall I'm actually very happy with it. Having got a few of these at so cheap a price with the post nationalisation teak coaches, it was well worth holding on until now to buy it. At full RRP I don't think Hornby went far enough in their retooling to justify the high price, but in the end the model itself is more than adequate and will probably produce a very nice model when renumbered and weathered.
I don't think this model is that different from the Hornby N2s I have apart from the fact that it may now be DCC ready - everything else looks the same, including sprung buffers and accounts for the couplings.
Perhaps there is some confusion here with the Airfix/Mainline original which when running sounded like a washing machine.
It always was a nice model - Airfix set the standard for what was to come in the future. Mine get used a lot and a little work can produce the non condensing variants including one with the taller chimney which harks back to the original Hornby Dublo version!
As these models are now available at a decent cost, those with a few modelling skills can produce any variant at a budget price!
Hi SJ - perhaps it is! However having checked my older N2, it very definitely says "Hornby" on the bottom plate, and doesn't have sprung buffers. Perhaps my older one is older than I first thought!
Your set of N2s look really good. Take your point about modelling entirely, it just seems a shame that with the DCC upgrade no attempt was made to change the couplings for NEM compatible ones, which is my major quibble, against the motor placement, which is my minor quibble.
For the price I paid, the N2s were definitely worth it.
Checking my N2s - two of the BR liveried ones have sprung buffers as does the GNR liveried one, but one of the BR liveried ones does not. I suspect that the upgrade to the body was done some time ago but the first Hornby examples used the original tooling.
The chassis is basically the same as the Mainline/Airfix/Dapol one but rejigged to take a better motor.
I've often wondered how easy it would be to produce an N1 out of an N2?
I've thought about that one to, I didn't think it was worth the effort, tanks cut back, boiler lowered, new bits to be fitted to fill in the hole in the boiler, and I think the rear bunker would need to be modified, and after all that would the body still fit the chassis with the motor in it ?
Saint Johnstoun wrote:I've often wondered how easy it would be to produce an N1 out of an N2?
Andy J off RMweb has a kit for that very purpose, see it here. It builds up into a very nice model.
I plan on purchasing a sample to have a go at, when funds are a little more flush and I have some time to devote to such a project. That, and getting hold of enough N2 chassis to fill my stocklist...!
I've been strongly tempted to get one of AJ's N1 bodies to bolster my stud of "older" locos, but for the area that I claim to model it would be yet another loco with no "basis in reality" for being there!
Most subjects, models and techniques covered in this thread are now listed in various categories on page1
Dec. 2018: Almost all images that disappeared from my own thread following loss of free remote hosting are now restored.
The eventual plan I am mounting is to have a selection of bodies to swap over for my various layout shenanigans with the N2 chassis.
Speaking of which, is anyone else having trouble finding potential renumbering/branding for Gresley N2s? I'm going through Yeadon's and RCTS 9A but am finding it hard going. Ideally I wanted ones in unlined black with British Railways branding for 1948/50ish, in the King's Cross area: but photographs to show this livery seem to be remarkably rare.
The only one I have found thus far suitable for renumbering the Hornby N2 I have is 69522 (pictured in Yeadons), but it was based at Hornsey in the time I'm modelling.
Theres a few photos in Townsend's book "Top Shed". Just had a look- those without lining visible are 69527,69544, both with ferret on a monocycle emblem and 69586- with the very early BRITISH RAILWAYS on the tankside. He makes the comment that at one time N2s were overhauled at Stratford and were not lined out, so there may have been more unlined.
ten ten wrote:Theres a few photos in Townsend's book "Top Shed". Just had a look- those without lining visible are 69527,69544, both with ferret on a monocycle emblem and 69586- with the very early BRITISH RAILWAYS on the tankside. He makes the comment that at one time N2s were overhauled at Stratford and were not lined out, so there may have been more unlined.
Terrific - thanks Ten Ten. 69586 looks like a good choice! Just looking through Top Shed now.
69586's pic is a good one, but I am struggling to work out if has curly sixes on the bunker or not. It certainly seems to have them on the smokebox numberplate.
One number I have found which works is 69522, which I have chosen for this particular model as Yeadon's showed it would be a fairly straightforward conversion by changing two digits and moving the smokebox door handrail
So I've got 69586, 69522 (modelled) and two more to sort for the stock list. We're getting there...weathering to follow.
S.A.C. Martin wrote:[snip]Speaking of which, is anyone else having trouble finding potential renumbering/branding for Gresley N2s? I'm going through Yeadon's and RCTS 9A but am finding it hard going. Ideally I wanted ones in unlined black with British Railways branding for 1948/50ish, in the King's Cross area: but photographs to show this livery seem to be remarkably rare.
The only one I have found thus far suitable for renumbering the Hornby N2 I have is 69522 (pictured in Yeadons), but it was based at Hornsey in the time I'm modelling.
I have a photo (Hanson/1674) of N2/1 69490 so liveried (but without 'RA6' marking) on 19 Sept 1949 in the loco yard ("Bottom Shed") at Kings Cross. The photo is of the right-hand (i.e. driver's) side. The '6' and '9's are curly ones and it strikes me that the numbers are LNER Gill Sans as the figures appear larger than the lettering of the branding. I think I can just make out the edge of a smokebox numberplate but the smokebox handrail is above the top hinge strap and there is the usual plumbing on the front of the sandbox that is missing on the Hornby model. Other details I can see are vacuum pipe run from front to rear under footplate, Doncaster works plate on front splasher, external regulator rod, trip cock extending below bottom step of front footsteps, two footsteps on the front of the tank, Ross pops, cut-out for toe hold in cab doorway plated over, guttering above doorway, diagonal short hand grab above doorway, two footsteps on rear bunker. I can't make a call on the buffers - they could be GNR originals or LNER GS. Overall condition pretty grimy and grubby.
If you can put your hands on a copy, there was a good article by Alan Sibley in MRJ No 20 which ran through the major and minor variances of the various N2 parts and chronicled his own conversion of a Mainline body (he used a Perseverance chassis) to N2/2 (i.e. no condensing gear) 69552 as might have been running into Pampisford from Stratford in the mid-50s (unlined black with early emblem).
If the resin-casting boys get to read this far I am sure there is a market for the later type condensing pipes, both long and short, that graced the N2/4s. The other request is for a decent after-market steam dome - the big drawback of the original Airfix mould is the most un-prototypical (ghastly!) smoothing of the skirts of the dome into the boiler cladding.
Be gentle! Returning to the hobby after more than 20 years away...
, no drooling smileys, pity.
