As usual, a little history.
Originally designed by Wilson Worsdell of the North Eastern Railway (NER) in the 1890's, and classified as an E1, after the Grouping of 1923, in which the NER was amalgamated into the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), it became the LNER's J72.
Designed for shunting, with inside valve gear, the little 0-6-0T tank engines, of which 113 were built, were constructed between 1898 and 1951. These are possibly the only locomotives built, unchanged, by pre-grouping, post-grouping, and British Railways (BR).
Under BR control they were once again reclassified, this time into the "2F" class, 2 being the power, appropriate for a small loco, and F for freight.
My example, BR 68696, was presumably scrapped sometime in the late 50's or early 60's.
One has been preserved, 69023, which apparently is operational and based on the Wensleydale Railway.
Info on the end of the box.
Some detail parts - lamps, brake hoses, etc.
And the loco.
Very well detailed cab interior.
This is a very small loco, with a concurrently small cab, which means, you can't really see into the cab, even close up, but still, this type of detail is really great, truly a "model" and not a toy.
The relatively boring, but nicely constructed and detailed front.
Much the same story on the rear as the front, but perhaps even better detailed.
My thoughts:
Good
Paint, lettering, and details all look very nice. Not a lot to the paint and lettering, but what's there is done well.
Fully detailed cab, with a DCC enabled firebox flicker! You can turn this feature on and off; it's not particularly noticeable, but it is visible if you know to look. I'd assume it'd look good in the dark, too.
Good quality construction, runs smooth, good weight, and the DCC features operate correctly.
Bad
No list of CV codes was provided. I, like most people, want my locos to run just as I want them to, and I have no problem adjusting CVs, but the manufacturers have gotta provide a list! So far both my British Bachmann steam locos have had no DCC/Sound setting info, other than a little list of the sounds/features available.
This is somewhat unavoidable in such a small loco, but the sound is a little on the thin side. Volume is okay.
Cuts out on switches, not every time, but often. This is a common problem on locos with such small wheelbases, they just can't quite get across a switch's dead area. I've found a sort of work-around for this - always run the loco fast, preferably with a train. The speed will usually get it across the dead zone, and with a train, when/if the loco cuts out, the slack action of the train's cars bumping into each other from the sudden stop will basically push the loco over the dead zone. So, essentially, if you have switches, you'll have to run the loco light engine practically full throttle, and with a train less, but still faster than one would prototypically be moving. And seeing as this is a shunting engine, cutting out on switches becomes a rather more serious issue. It would be frustrating attempting to shunt over switches in a layout's yard.
Verdict - I do recommend the J72, of which there are several different paint schemes available from Bachmann, but the cutting out is a minor annoyance. Basically, if you have switches on your layout, you'll end up running it pretty close to wide open all the time, just to avoid the annoyance of a dead stop in an inaccessible or awkward spot.
And the coaches.
First, this.
With lots of details.
And this.
With details.
My opinions:
Good
Paint, lettering, and details are all great
Sturdy with good weight
Incredibly free and smooth rolling
Handle well in a train
Bad
Not a real issue, but occasionally, especially around curves, they'll uncouple from each other. They stay coupled to the loco and any cars attached, but every once and awhile they'll randomly uncouple from each other.
Well, that's it for this round, thanks for looking!
Firebox flicker - I’m impressed!