I’ve been thinking about buying one of these sets to run at train shows and I’m wondering if they all are the same. Is there different manufacturers and if so what brand is the better one?
There are some Bachman’s still floating around and they are the cheapest. My son’s lasted about a month. Ohters had better luck. Marklin makes one. Hornsby is you best bet.
I have had my Bachmann one for about 2 or 3 years and still runs great! Like I just took it out of the box. Although, I only run it occasionally, so that may be the reson. Like Chip said, Marklin or Hornsby would probably be better.
I believe the Marklin is 3-rail.
The Marklin is indeed 3-rail (won’t run on normal 2-rail systems). Bachmann’s model is probably the easiest for you to get hold of but it does have problems - if you get a good one it’ll run and run, but the paint finish isn’t great judging by what I’ve seen, and the passenger cars are poor (they’re the old Mainline Mk1s but with no interior details and again with a rather plastic-looking finish). Bachmann steam chassis can be tweaked and tuned but it takes a while - I have a Jubilee class 4-6-0 that runs like silk but it took six months to get it tuned properly (Bachmann’s quality control seems terrible as it had the wheelsets out of gauge and the quartering wrong). Best of the bunch has to be the Hornby - it runs well and looks decent, if you superdetailed it it could easily sit on a top-level exhibition layout and go unnoticed for hours. The passenger cars are also a lot better looking than the Bachmann ones - a pity, as Bachmann have brilliant models of the MK1 coach but chose to use the old Mainline tooling for the Hogwarts set. Hope this is of use!
Great info, thanks guys. Now the search begins…
Cool.
ICMR
Happy Railroading.[swg][swg]
Hi from England, The best of all the sets is the Hornby (not Hornsby) one and they have made several sets with different boxes with the release of each film so each one could be a collectors item. The loco depicted as as “Hogarts Castle” (a 4 cylinder 4-6-0) is in reality, #5972 "Oulton Hall, a 2 cylinder 4-6-0 but they look similar. The set also comes with British Rail Mk1 coaches
Try www.ebay.co.uk as they usually have loads advertised but make you spell Hornby right. You will of course have to pay shipping and import duty. Hope thats of some help.
the bachmann loco is indeed a Hall class 4-6-0, (as used in the film), while the Hornby one is actually a Castle class 4-6-0 ! the difference can only be noticed by a true Great Western Railway fan and you only find them over here so you should be safe over there! ( I think the castle was a bit heavier) The paint scheme is an improvement over GWR anyway . . . . there’s bound to be a reply from a western man now, Long live the Southern Railway (the UK one)