60 Years Old, Still Made Today! | Hornby's New Dean Single | Unboxing & Review 

all honesty, i'm fine with the detail, long as it runs properly, it's ok in my book.

Definitely a blast from the past -- I had one in the early 1960s, and at the time it was the most stunningly gorgeous loco you could get in the shops. We were more tolerant of fudges and approximations then. Your 'Achilles' looks just as good in the Churchward livery with its black frames and painted dome as 'Lord of the Isles' does in the full glory of Dean livery, though. The 'toolbox' at 9.16 is actually a sandbox. Many British locos had their sandboxes integrated with the splasher shapes, but for some reason the Great Western generally preferred the separate 'trinket-box' style.

I really love the Victorian single engines. They're so pretty, so I hope they revise this model.

60 years old and still works better then the “COUGH COUGH” tango

I really dont like how the front wheels seem to float. But it looks nice, anything from the 1800s is what I'm after, the older the better!

04:30 That was a good "Single" pun here Sam......😂

“Triang ones could do about 8000 miles an hour” I dunno, seems about right...

I think the front o/s wheel of the tender was locking up in time with the jerking. Sterling Sam .

My Hornby Emily (which is based on this very model) has the same painted detail inside her cab, which as I've said before; makes her special in the sense that she was the only character Hornby ever released into their T&F range to have paint inside the cab. Her tender suffers from the same drawbacks as this new Railroad release does; lack of pickups and plastic wheels on the tender. My Emily's tender often derails when reversing over point work due to the lack of weight, so I plan on installing a 10g weight under the coal load when I start modelling again. Flaws aside, a really nice model that has aged well and still holds up to this day. Cheers, man.

Found one of these very cheap as a non runner, the Duke of Edinburgh. Turns out it was dcc equipped and a runner! I certainly got my money's worth. I am considering upgrading the handrail, it is such an eyesore.

Bought the Dean Single in a trainpack with "Achilles", two clerestory coaches for about €175,-- never out of the box and 2 clerestory couches. Very pleased with it. Not the best puller, but it can manage it. But yes "Lord of the Isles" was a better looking model with the red underside and brass dome.

Plastic wheels! That's unforgivable!

I've always love the Big wheelers and looks of the English locos, but as a Texan I love our old dramatic looking locos more so the transcontinental ones they used. Absolutely beautiful.

Great to see what's under the bonnet Sam. Thanks for your reviews. You provide a great service keeping the manufacturers on their toes.

What a fantastic engine! these have been one of my favorate engines!

I think you should get/make/beg/steal/borrow a camera wagon for running sessions. Getting a first person view of the trains would be very interesting!

We need more railroad engines like this; simple, robust bodies with updated mechanisms. The lack of exterior details make it ideal for young people to handle, the often more interesting designs (like the single wheeler here) to capture their imaginations and the ability to be controlled easier than the old models so they remain interested. Saying that I would prefer the livery from the triang ones but applied with today's improved methods. Also, there is something very nostalgic about the sound of the original models and the warm oily smells after running an X04 (or equivalent) type motor for just a few minutes, something I look forward to when they are brought out "to play." My only issue is that it could maybe be a little cheaper, but other than that it's a big thumbs up for Hornby.

I love this new model

Hey Sam Just a few little points for interest 👍🏻 The locos were changed from 2-2-2s to 4-2-2s after the class were found to be rough riding in their original state (and I believe one derailed from it) The boxes before the splashers are sandboxes GWR standard livery practice is handrails to match the colour of the underlying paint (black on smokebox, green for boiler) The crest under the name is called a Great Western garter crest The cab windows on the prototype were glazed, with brass frames, and hinged across the middle And the motor on the original triang ones was called the XT60 and it was also used in the TT scale merchant navy and Britannia classes And with triang motors, they have felt pads at each end of the motor shaft, if you put the tiniest dab of oil on each, they run far quieter 😊 Hope that’s of some use 😅

In 1965 I bought a set (track not included) of the Dean single Lord of the Isles, the box contained a signal box, plus 3 clerestory cosches for £7.00 from my local Co Op toy department!

It looked like the tender's wheel nearest the cab binds up at slow speed and gets dragged along. The first time I noticed it was around 15:30 and couldn't stop seeing it after that.

Well eight months have passed by since you reviewed this. I bought one in the summer, and mine crawls better than the one you have there. However, these cannot cope with a some points and baseboard joins, even with a gap of only a few mms. I have had it chipped with sound and this now glides to a graceful halt over about 10 seconds

Looks absolutely stunning for railroad items! And also are you going to get the new 2020 intercity? I heard that it has tilt mechanisms so it sounds amazing Great review as always, -Dj

Wow! As an American I have never heard of this locomotive. Amazing!

14:40 This Hornby Railroad Dean Single locomotive is filled with attention detail from Hornby. First we get a painted cab, then a removable coal shell, and now we have a proper set of bearings. For £89, that is nice attention to detail that was put on there since we don’t get Railroad locomotives with proper sets of bearings in them. I can’t think of any other Railroad locomotive that has bearings in the wheel set.

A good way to get the Dean Single is buy the “Flying Dutchman” train pack. The loco has the red framed livery and more detail, it’s DCC ready, and comes with three GWR Clerestories (the bigger detailed coaches). I got the set for £120 NOS at a train fair. Another good train pack is “The last single wheeler” with the Caledonian Single (DCC ready) and 3 Caledonian coaches. I got this set NOS from S&J for £90. I dread to think what these would cost from Hornby nowadays! 😵‍💫

Maple Leaf Rag is quite the appropriate song considering that the Dean singles were built around the same time it was written. Another rather interesting detail of that song is that Scott Joplin was recorded playing it once in 1916. It’s the only surviving recording of him playing his own material.

I have a 67 year old triang princess Elizabeth and it runs perfect!

Your reviews are honest reviews, you're not afraid to call a spade a spade so to speak. We've all seen the "fake paid for" reviews!

If I ever get one of these, I'll try to look for a more intricate livery. Such an elegant engine deserves such a scheme.

An absolutely fantastic loco. Great video. I really enjoy hearing your knowledge and the history on the class.

The original single had the XT60 motor which I believe was developed for Tri-ang's TT range. It was also used in some versions of the 00 turntable.

I have one and love it. I have done some detailing work and added some hand rails. It's a real improvement.

At first I thought this was a bit of a joke but I thinks it's actually refreshing its not the most detailed thing but it's just nice to look at and run. The only thing wrong is the traction tyres and the plastic wheels which don't seem to turn all of the time but the mechanism looks quite nice and the livery is amazing and it's just a hornby classic

With the motor, i've done testing on my own layout with 4 wheel trucks. An oxford rail dean goods can only pull 16 cars wheras a J83 (type 7 motor) has the grip to handle 20 (both 0-6-0s). Hornby railroad is good as you get a working loco, not just a loco your afraid to damage.

A wonderful loco at a reasonable price Sam...Sufficient detail for most people, , so thanks again for your unbiased review...Bob

That mold is the Lord of the isles mold

Sam great and fair review as usual. My kind of loco this one, a fair product at a fair price. With some locos in excess of £200 I think the railroad range makes a lot of sense to a lot of people. Take care mate, Terry.

Hornby used this tooling I think for their Emily model, and it was basically the only Thomas engine in their range with painted cab details.

love all of your videos. hope you get to 70k verry soon ♥️

I love great western steam locos. This one is a classic loco. Great video Sam:)

When I first saw this locomotive, I got it mixed up with the IronDuke class which are completely different classes of locomotives. The IronDuke class is way older than this which dates back to the 1840s while the Dean Single dates back to the 1890s. At least I know for sure it’s a Dean Single since it was made by William Dean for the GWR.

I would double check the wheels on the tender mate. When it was crawling the lead wheelset seemed to be sticking which isn't going to help with the overloading aspect! I love the singles, I have a few myself, including the Caledonian Blue that I got for an absolute song as a non-runner because one of the leads had come unsoldered. Beautiful engines, if a tad on the noisy side! Cheers, Dom

Great Video Sam And I've Always Wanted To Be A Flag Collector Ever Since I Watched Paranormal Camrine's Flag Collection Videos That Kind Of Inspired Me To Collect Flags Too And That Engine is Very Awesome Sam

love for rapido to do one to the standard of their stirling with locomotion

Not for me that one, lack of detail doesn't really do it for me. Just wanted to say, thanks a lot for recommending the Peckett to me a while ago. Got one myself and it went down an absolute treat, thanks again for the recommendation :)

I remember buying a dean single way back in the day. It's amazing horby are still selling a slightly changed version all these years later. I echo everything you said about the original. I still loved mine. Wish I still had it. Nice review.

Another Good video! I like how some railways have their own types of singles, is like an animal having multiple subspecies.

A very nice looking loco, also at 20:51 I have LMS liveried versions of those coaches :)

I have three of the 'new motor ' versions of these models in the form of ' Lord of the Isles ' ' Lorna Doone ' and ' The Flying Dutchman ' The latter has a weaker motor and has trouble pulling itself. Attempting to pull it's three coaches caused the tyres to rip off. The others run well. I think sometimes modellers lose sight of the fact that trains are just fun and these locos are fun to run. I intend to add ' Achilles ' to my fleet.

Sam, this Hornby RailRoad Dean Single detail wise, is exactly the same as R9231 Emily. The plastic tender wheels and the painted cab, is the same on this locomotive as to Emily.

I’ll give this Hornby Railroad Dean Single locomotive a “B”. I’ll also give it a thumbs up for the attention to detail that Hornby puts into this thing! 👍

11:45 What it is?! I don’t think we get a whole lot of Railroad locomotives with a removal coal shell. You’ll most likely get this feature with the modern locomotives. That’s nice attention to detail that they decided to make the coal shell removable on the Railroad tender of the Dean Single! :D

I can tell you were awaiting this one, I just saw a "now in stock" post from hattons on Instagram minutes before this review 😉

This train is beautiful!

It's a beautiful loco Sam. I wouldn't fault it for lack of detail character replaces that on this one. Mine is on way from rails. Great review. Bye for now basil.

The originals had Magnadhesion to add grip on Triang steel track. Still weren't great pullers and sufferred from poor pickup but went like a rocket!

I have a handful of the recent Railroad range trains (class 73, D49, Class 42 Warship) and they are all superb runners and each came in at under £60 brand new. Really happy with the range and the traction tyres don't bother me to much if they're easy to replace.

This locomotive would be pretty nice for a beginner who starts out buying his locomotives for his model railway! :)

Lovely! A bargain really and the only issue for me is the way the front of the engine seems to float above the bogie. But I think I will get one. I think the Triang Caledonian Single No. 123 had the same basic chassis.

Another model railway channel (Intercity82) made a review of one of the LMS single wheelers from the early 00s. He didn’t have a very good time with his; there’s one moment where the video cuts and the engine reappears without its tender, only for him to explain that he spent an hour in between takes trying to get it to run!

well despite the cheapness of the loco (which is kinda the point since it's a Railroad range model), after the events of the 1361 model I think everything about this is by far a massive accomplishment

Thanks for this one, Sam... But a comment on the supposed lack of rivet detail - the GWR tended to use countersunk rivetheads at this time so if there as rivet detail where you were looking for it on the frames, then it would have been wrong. I prefer the later livery as applied to 'Achiies' because my layout is set in the Great War and this is the main reason that I have ordered a DCC fitted one (also from Hattons) and would not have bought one if it had needed a repaint. One again thank you for your very balance review.

hello could you tell me what is the front boggy attached to and the wheel arches are not in line i love the painted cab thank you

Sorry, my WiFi has been down for a few days so I wasn’t able to watch the other video I will watch it now :) - loved the video Ollie

I really like this inexpensive Hornby RailRoad model locomotive. She is very beautiful.

It’s crazy to me how the front part of the loco is flying!

5:14 InterCity82 has the same problem on his Caledonian Single wheeler when the single large driving wheel is fitted with a traction tire. I guess the reason why it’s fitted with one is because there’s no pickups in the tender. I would prefer if they give it a little bit more weight. This is also another thing that the Caledonian Single wheeler should’ve had from the start.

Definitely a really good looking loco! I like it!

I think it would be a nice touch to add a crew to the model especially the more open cab type loco’s.

It would be cool if Hornby made a Railways version of this and detailed it up with modern features along with tender pickups. :P

Sam! It Just Makes Sense! the hornby Dean Class Was used for the Thomas and Friends Hornby Emily with extra detail!! Search Her On Google

Very nice model Sam. The 'Singles' were such elegant machines. Thank you, from a 'kid' of the 50's!!

I believe the updated Hornby Caledonian Single wheeler was the one that InterCity82 owned and it was a major fail for him. The locomotive was put in a box that has the “super detailed” advertisement. When he took it out, it wasn’t even super detailed at all. It’s someone you’d see in the Railroad range or Triang era. I don’t know if there was a Caledonian Single wheeler in the Railroad range for Hornby.

For a very basic model it seemed to run good. Nice train👍

Lord of the Isles for sure... Sam, that's the most fascinating Steam Loco I've ever seen!! 😳😎 SINGLE Axle Drive? Really?? Blimey!! I'd have one just for the conversation and shock value - amongst my American Railroad. 😜 I truly wish that I could afford one of those. Despite the idiosyncrasies and minor letdowns, I'm chuffed! 😁 Right, so how hard would it be to find and fit Metal Wheels to the Tender? Tender pickups aren't difficult (for me), and 2 wires to the Loco are straightforward enough.... With permanent wiring, there's no need for ugly, cumbersome Plugs. 😉 I am indeed fascinated!! BTW, I was born in 1964... 10 days from my 56th Birthday! UGH!! I wasn't insulted by your early remark. 😉 You're likely young enough to be my GRANDSON!! 😳😳😳 Carmine ✈🚂🚙

Oh, I spotted the Caledonian Class, one of MY favorite single wheelers... Another favorite of mine is, of course, Emily, from Thomas, heheh, yeah... Great review, love the content, keep up the good work, take care, Cheers from America -Jayse

Hello Sam!!! I honestly love these Dean Singles, perhaps even more than the Stirling Singles. But in the Discord servers I am in, they aren't liked much. Nevertheless, amazing video, I love it, and can't wait for the next video

Glad you got to do a good GWR review after the last one! :D I saw one of the R2828 non-railroad new ones the other day, wonder how it compares to that...

I know you've done some videos in Train Simulator, just wanted to point out that since you like singles, Caledonia Works, who did the wonderful Caledonian 123 Single and many others; are planing to put out a GWR Dean Single some time this year!

8:37 Wow, that’s nice attention to detail right there! We don’t get many Railroad locomotives with painted cabs. Usually, they’re just black with some little bits of detail inside. The cab looks fantastic! :D

I've got a bit of a soft spot for these. I have three. The 'Lord of the Isles', with magadhesion and cost a bit over a fiver new. Not a great runner. 'Duke of Edinburgh' and the latest, 'Achilles' at just over £80. The later ones do run a lot better. 😊

For a Railraod model this is absolutely fine. Though for me, it still has a "toy" look to it. Cheap and cheerful. Also interesting to note the Lima coaches behind it are actually continental Pullman stock dulled up as "Great Western" coaches.

Could you modify the tender with metal wheels and add your own pick ups , that would be a great video to see. Keep up the great work 👍

I've always liked the Single designs like these, and this looks like a nice model even if the molds are 60 years old! Some of the manufacturers over here in the US are actually making models even older than this one.

hello sam i think that for a very old model is still made today is incredible and I would 75% get one for myself and for a railroad model its a good model and heaps better the heljan 1361 or the tango and I also think that the old tooling is gone is a shame as well and love the video from david

There is a wheel sticking on the tender. I believe a small weight added to the front underside of the tender should cure this problem.

I love your vids Sam's trians

Surprisingly nice considering it is older than me! A bit disappointed with the plastic tender wheels and large D coupler, but other than that, thumbs up!

What I find difficult to forgive is the cantilevered front footplate and the huge amount of fresh air between it and the bogie

Hi Sam. If you like this livery, why not paint it yourself. If you make a mistake, you can always undo it and start again. The Edwardians and Victorians certainly knew how to decorate their locos in proper style, didn't they?

improvement if you want, place a spring on the front truck, tends to be top heavy

Just wanted to point out that around the 20-21 minute mark you had a wheel on the tender getting stuck sometimes. I wasn't sure if you saw that or not. Beautiful engine though.

Hey Sam. Loving the vids, you seriously lower my BP after a stressful day. Where did you get your full height foot bridge please?

This model does look mostly great, but that body floating 6 inches above the bogie 10:42 .. really bothers me, would have to add something in between..

Nice to see another review!

Great video Sam I think one of these is a perfect donor for making a midland Johnson spinner but it would need to be modified quite a bit

I have one of the reruns of the Caledonian Single, and it's certainly not bad at all! This one might be worth looking into, if I hadn't blown all my spare money on the Rocket. XD

My Dean goods had a dull some on it so I painted it in some brass-like paint. It wasn't bad to be honest. Thanks for the great review

It's based on the Lord of the isles from great Western railway