Silver Sidelines

My last Post looked at Dapol County engines. These models appear to me to be essentially the same as the latest Hornby Rail Road models. At one end so to speak the models come with a working fall plate, at the other there is a lack of detail – such as no lamp irons. Dapol County and Airfix Castle fitted with lamp iron s To my knowledge the earliest ready to run models that came with lamp irons fitted to the front foot plate were the Airfix 14xx models. Recent Hornby 14xx showing stubs for lamp irons The body shell moulding for the 14xx with its stubby lamp irons appears to have remained unchanged, from its early Airfix origins, through the Dapol era, right up until the most recent Hornby models. I would say that the only change made by Hornby to their recent models, is an improvement to the front vacuum pipe – and this is really an ‘add on’ to the body shell, rather than a change to the body moulding itself. Early Bachmann Hall (Wraysbury Hall)

Some time past I had the good fortune to ‘win’ Dapol County of Merioneth. It came from that well known auction site. The engine was ‘new’ and would need ‘running in’-this is some thirty years after it was made Dapol County of Merioneth – complete with original lacquer finish. In due course the model arrived through the Post. It looked splendid –provided you like a lacquered finish. Oh and it was not a happy mover. As I suspected – no amount of ‘running in’ would improve matters. This was not the first Dapol County that I have owned and as I had guessed, the main drive gear was cracked where it had been forced onto the driving axle. Cracked drive gear I bought my first Dapol County, County of Stafford now renamed Count of Hants, back in 1984. It came Mail Order from the Oxford Publishing Company for the princely sum of £34.50. It never ran well and I think it probably had a cracked drive gear from new - one of the hazards I feel when buying by post.   I solved th