Hornby BRc Maroon Princesses
Two BR maroon versions of the Hornby 'Princess' locomotive have been released. These are 46207 Princess Arthur of Connaught (R3015) and 46208 Princess Helena Victoria R2990XS, the latter containing a sound chip.
The 'Princess Royal' Class contained only 12 locomotives and was succeeded by the larger 'Princess Coronation' Class. The smallness of the class means that, by necessity, names have had to be repeated on the models. Consequently, this is the third time Princess Arthur of Connaught has appeared in the catalogue - in 2001 in LMS crimson lake and in 2005 and this year in BR maroon. However, it is the first time that Princess Helena Victoria has been used on this super-detailed version of the Hornby model but it had appeared on the previous model in 1994 (BR Express Blue) and 1997 (LMS Crimson Lake).
The current 'Princess' model replaced the earlier one in 2001 and it is interesting to compare the current model with the earlier version. The current model was based on the 1984 one, as far as the body moulding goes, but with numerous improvements. It also has a new chassis with the 5-pole motor in the loco rather than the tender. Detail improvements effected the dome and top feed, whistle, handrails (now all separate and blackened), buffers (now sprung), boiler surface detail, shed plate, frame detail above the front bogie, front lamp brackets (now added), brake hoses and the provision of cab glazing and cab back baffles. .
The tender has a well detailed plastic chassis with brake rods and scale wheels. When the model first appeared in 2001, the most noticeable thing about the tender was that the lining was correctly on the edge of the tender sides and not shrunk down, as had been done on earlier models, for ease of application. The tender also has metal handrails and sprung buffers and the tender front is well detailed with separate handles fitted.