1975

A couple of years earlier, readers of the German magazine 'Modern Railway' voted the Minitrix 51-2051-00 SchleppTenderLok the model of the year. The link will open a new tab or window with a Google Search for pictures of this loco.

Why was this significant ? Well, because it was a 2-10-0 steam locomotive, and it is perhaps an exmample of how Hornby may have worked with the German manufacturers to identify suitable existing models which could be modified slightly for a much smaller N-gauge market in Britain without incurring prohibitive tooling and manufacturing costs.

In 1975 both Minitrix and Hornby Minitrix listed the new British Class 9F, 2-10-0 steam locomotive as a new model.

N207 - The Black 9F - #92018   -  51-2058-00

Purists will complain about the Hornby 9F - for as many reasons as they care - the horizontal pistons, the large flange on the centre drive wheel, the over large valve control mechanism and rods - but without these compromises, Hornby most likely would never have introduced the model at all.

The body shell is a Britannia body with a slight modification above the rear most driven axle, and the tender is the same design as the one from Britannia, but personally, I don't care. I have 2 of them on my small layout, both converted to DCC and they look and run just fine. The 5 axle coupling rod is made of two sections, and the axles can slide in their brass bushing to allow this loco to negotiate the very tight first radius (195mm) Minitrix curves. All 5 main axles are driven, the front 3 pairs of driving wheels have electrical pickup, the 2 rear pairs have traction tyres. The Britannia tender also has 2 pairs of electrical pickup. It is geared low, has great low speed and impressive hauling ability. Put any number of carriages behind one of these, put it on a standard 2% gradient on a bend and this loco will get to the top. My Farish North Eastern can barely manage this by itself.

I have just two real issues with the Minitrix 9F. The cross head or the crank pin breaks. I have another 2 models of the 9F awaiting repairs. Why on this loco and not the 2MT? Well the quick answer is that if you are not aware of a problem and you place this model on a 'normal' N gauge layout, it will collide with the platform. The valve gear and rods are quite exposed, (which is a polite way of saying that they stick out a bit), and with the extra lateral axle movement, the gap to the platform has to be much larger than is required for most models. They will run perfectly for lap after lap and then on one lap it will be riding a little further to the left.

The second issue is that the lower part of the valve gear linkage for the steam flow reversal, runs extremely close to the top of the rail. It's not a problem unless your point motor drive pins are left a little proud of the tie bars. A layout really has to be constructed with these two thoughts in mind. But Pat Hammond reports that around 19,000 of these models (9F and Evening Star) were sold through Rovex, so they were extremely popular. Goodness knows how many were sold direct from Minitrix.

1979

Class 42 Warships

N208 Warship Class 42 - D825 Intrepid - Green 51-2943-00

N206 Warship Class 42 - D823 Hermes - Blue - 51-2942-00

Other changes reported by Dave to for the new Warship - one axle now has traction tyres, the buffer is no longer articulated with the bogies, the detail in the casting is much crisper. Also, the new improved design would be available on the blue Hermes. The following year, the photos in the 1980 catalogue confirm this change to both locos. This model is much nicer than the earlier Warships.

N209 BR Class 9F 2-10-0 'Evening Star' 92220 51-2041-00

The success of the 9F was not in doubt according to the sales figures reported in Pat Hammond's 'Story of Rovex' volume 3. The Evening Star is much rarer and a welcome addition to the range. The horrible green colour seems to be the colour used in the first half of the Hornby period, with an darker improved Brunswick Green used later on - I guess around 1981/2.

The 1979 2-10-0 9F 92220 Evening Star in its early Minitrix light green colouring

It is much less easy to carry out a renumbering job on 92220, since there was only ever one green 9F - the 'Evening Star' - painted in BR green as a tribute to being the last steam locomotive ever built in the UK. But those of us who model in a parallel universe have no problems running two locos with identical cab numbers.

What's that ? Oh. Just me then.

Later versions of Evening Star were painted in a much more accurate dark green.