No.135 North East Medley - including Q6, L1 and V3

Not so long ago Hornby released their new Q6 models. Having been brought up in Middlesbrough there was no question about it, there would have to be a Q6 or even two on my layout.

First a picture from the past, the location is just to the south of Thornaby Station which provided visibility of all the lines from Middlesbrough and Thornaby before they diverged to Stockton (for the north), Redmashall (west) and Eaglescliffe (to the south).

Q6 63445 – Thornaby 1960 or 61

63443 was the first Q6 to arrive on the layout. It had an Early Emblem and shed code 51G for Haverton Hill. It is pictured below on a train of ICI tank wagons, the sort that originated from Cassell Works, ICI Billingham.

Haverton Hill shed along with a number of other small Teesside sheds closed around 1960 with locomotives concentrated at the newly constructed Thornaby depot. 63443 appears not to have gone to Thornaby and instead was reallocated to West Auckland for coal and coke traffic.

Hornby Q6 Early Emblem – 63443 – a Haverton Hill engine

The second Q6 to arrive on the layout was numbered 63429. It had a Late Crest and the shed code 52F for North / South Blyth. Presumably it was used on the local coal traffic. I am thinking that an engine based north of the Tyne would have been a rare visitor to south of the Tees.

Hornby Q6 Late Crest – 63429 – a Blyth based engine

Hornby are to be congratulated on their Q6 locomotives. I am most impressed and cannot fault my two Q6 models. They run smoothly and quietly – and slowly, as shown in the video below. (Apologies for the ex GWR bogie bolsters and brake van).

The arrival of the Q6s has prompted me to have a ‘North East Season’ and I have unpacked some related rolling stock. I have been encouraged by the recent availability of Hornby’s Gresley and Thompson suburban coaches which were purchased in the Christmas Sales.

Northeast Medley

The view above shows a Hornby L1 on a rake of Hornby Thompson coaches and a Bachmann V3 on rake of Hornby Gresley coaches.

Hornby L1 – 67777 – a Darlington engine

67777 was a Darlington engine and I can remember seeing it at Middlesbrough Station in the early 60s. By this time passenger traffic had been taken over by Diesel Multiple Units so my guess is that the L1 was being used for parcel traffic.

Bachmann V3 – 67628 – a split chassis model

To complement the L1 I have included a Bachmann V3 a ‘bargain’ purchase from back in 2011. There were a number of V3s allocated to north east sheds, although I don’t recall many around Middlesbrough. 67628 was a Helensburgh engine which would probably have been displaced with the introduction of the ‘Blue Electrics’, so might have found its way south. This Bachmann model still has a split chassis. 

Whilst it runs very smoothly there seemed to be something wrong with the geometry of the pony trucks such that the couplings pointed upwards and would not engage with other rolling stock. One explanation might be that Bachmann increased the size of the carrying wheels after completing the design for the bottom plate and pony trucks.

Bachmann V3 – packing to lower the height of the coupling

My cheap and cheerful solution was to cut some packing from thin plastic sheet to place between the coupling the pony truck, with the aim of lowering the height of the coupling. I also swapped the original Bachmann Mini Long type couplings for the Mini Short variety to close the gap between the engine and its train.

Hornby Thompson coaches close coupled with Hornby R8220 couplers

Whilst on the subject of couplings I have used Hornby’s R8220 couplers within the rake of HornbyThompson coaches.

Hornby Gresley coaches close coupled with one Hornby R8220 and one Roco 40270 types

For reasons best known to Hornby the geometry of the Gresley suburban coaches is different to the Thompsons' and the R8220 couplers used on their own do not bring the coaches close together enough for my liking. For the Gresleys' I have fitted alternate coaches with Hornby R8220 and Roco 40270 type couplers.

Roco Couplers top, Hornby R8220 bottom

It was only whilst putting this Post together that I realised that Bachmann had introduced a DCC ready V3, running number 67646, a Heaton engine.

Bachmann V3 -67646- DCC ready – a Heaton engine

I have included a couple of comparison pictures highlighting the updated chassis/running gear. One of the biggest improvements are the reprofiled carrying wheels.

Bachmann V3s – split chassis left, DCC ready right

I would say that the bodyshells are identical, but that the lining and numbers on the new model are less yellow than on the older model.

Bachmann V3s – split chassis left, DCC ready right

My new model runs really very well. I have not looked inside but I have compared the weights of the old and new versions. The split chassis model weighs 310g whilst the new DCC ready model is only 278gm. I doubt that this difference in weight will be an issue on my layout with three of four coach trains. Time will tell!

Addenda 15/08/16

After some interest on the RMweb Forum I have added a picture comparing the old and new V3 chassis.

Bachmann V3 chassis, upper old, lower new.


The new one has a shelf / cutout to fit a 'sugar cube' speaker in the smokebox. The old model had strong springing for the two pony trucks. The new model has a very lightly sprung front truck and a 'swingy axle' arrangement for the rear truck as used by Bachmann in their ex GWR 56xx range. It is my guess that with the less springing the newer lighter chassis will outperform the older chassis.