Mallard R2059

[Ralphy51]

I’m looking at one of these second hand and if I bought it, it would be my first model not built in Margate.

It was made in China and I believe in around 1999- 2003 . Can anyone tell me please how good were the models initially coming out of China and how did they compare with English manufacture please ?

[ColinB]

You might be better off going for a slightly newer one. Reading the web it says this is still tender driven, so I assume it has more detailed valve gear, that the early China ones have. The later ones have the motor in the loco and mechanically are very sound. The trouble with tender driven locos is that quite often the loco slides rather than moving on its wheels if there are pickup or valve gear issues.

[Anglia998]

Hello Ralphy

Here is a list of all the "Mallards"

R2339 looks like a good bet.

[Topcat2018]

I have many tender drive locos, mainly LNER A1/A3/A4, but also various LMS ones including Black 5, Duchess, Princess and Coronation.

The only time I have ever had any of these locos slide is if the moving parts in the loco are gunged up. Cleaning and lubrication fixes this.

I actually prefer British-made tender drive locos because they are more robust, and the flimsy contacts on top of the drawbar in the Chinese ones almost invariably get damaged. Who thought those were a good idea?