Mallard R3173 or R2339?

[Bobby B]

Hi all,

which is the better model Mallard out of these two? I believe they’re both loco driven and DCC ready.

[ColinB]

I would probably say R2339. I think R3173 is a Railroad model so might not have pickups in the tender. I assume R2339 has. R2339 may have better detail.

[The Doc]

As Colin says, R3173 is a Railroad model, but an extremely good one - I am pretty sure that the early Hornby Railroad Mallard had a 5 pole motor in the loco (same as the superdetailed range) as well as tender pick-ups. However, the tender is based on the old tender-drive version (but without motor), which is wider than scale and has a rather unrealistic coal load. The loco body doesn't have separately finished cab handrails.

R2339 is the superdetailed version, with finer valve gear and more separately fitted parts such as cab handrails, and a more accurate tender.

My early Railroad Flying Scotsman has an almost identical mechanism to R3173 (I think the only differences are colour of wheels and different cylinders) and is an excellent runner.

[Anglia998]

R3173 was a Railroad Limited Edition. It was issued to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Mallard setting the world record for steam traction. This model never appeared in a catalogue. There is brief mention of it in "The Collector" No.91 (January 2013). The livery was LNER garter blue and the model came with a certificate celebrating its achievement.

It is likely to be somewhat scarce. The short paragraph describes this model as superb.

R2339 shows up in Cat. No.50 (2004).

It is described as having sprung bogies, and cab and tender detail.

Special features include a semi fixed rear bogie, DCC ready and NEM couplings.

The motor is 5 pole, skew wound with loco drive.

[Bobby B]

Thank you all for the detailed info. Taking all into account I think I’ll go for the R2339