Hornby Black 5s

Stanier's Class 5 mixed traffic locomotive of 1934 must surely find its way into the 'railway hall of fame' as one of the most successful and influential designs in British railway history - an honour rarely bestowed on a locomotive not designed specifically for pulling expresses. The fact that 842 were built between 1934 and 1951 meant that they were a common sight on the LMS network and later in the LMR and Scottish Region. As they travelled further afield they probably became the most widely distributed British steam locomotive in history. Much of the design lived on in the production of the Riddles Standard 5MT locomotives in the 1950s.

It was strange that little interest had previously been shown in the class by model railway manufactures. Graham Farish, however, chose the class for their first 00 scale locomotive model in 1949, but by standards, even at that time, it was a rather crude affair. It was not until 1973 that Hornby produced a reasonable looking 00 scale model, if you could avert your eyes from the Britannia valve gear. The latter was replaced by more accurate valve gear in 1976.

Not surprisingly, with such a large class, built over a 19 year period, there were design changes and the first Hornby model was of the domeless variety. This was replace by a new body (domed) and more accurate chassis in 1987. Up until 2001, the model had tender drive but, in 2002, the current loco-driven, highly detailed, retooled model appeared. Since then, there have been 19 versions of it released by Hornby and two more are expected this year. This super-detailed model is made from a suite of tooling which takes account of a number of design variations, including both domed and domeless boilers and different positions of the top feed. Here we illustrate three of the most recently released 'Black 5s'.

R2857is numbered 45458 and is a lined BR version with late decals and no warning flashes, setting it around 1960, give or take two of three years either side. It has a domed boiler with a forward top feed and all the excellent detail we expect today. The brake rods come separately packaged for fitting, as do the front coupling and front steps. Thankfully the sand pipes come ready fitted these days!

R2804XS, as its catalogue number tells you, is fitted with a sound chip, which brings alive the model and unlocks memories of the real locomotives. Well done Hornby! In true Hornby tradition, the model comes with a detailed sound operating manual. All we want now is a capsule of coal smoke essence to complete the picture. Numbered 44875, the boiler on this model has the top feed close to the dome. It is again lined but has early BR decals on the tender sides.