The Oldest Loco I've Ever Owned | 1949 Model Train | Unboxing & Review 

over 7 decades old and still of better detail than Heljan

Hi Sam. Being 73 years old, I can remember this type of loco first-hand. They came in a cheaper form than the one you have. Detail was printed on the tinplate instead of stick on handrails and buffers as I recall. This was not long after the second world war. Money was in very short supply.

( From Australia ) Hi Sam, I just turned 80. In 1949 my parents gave me a tinplate electric loco very much like yours. It had a tender, open goods car with LMS logo, and a guards van. The track was a simple oval. The transformer/controller was a brick with a series of contacts for speed control. My London origin grandfather told me what LMS meant. I went on to have a small Trix layout into my early teens. Thanks for the nostalgia.

The working lamp brackets were important features, because model lamps were avaiklable to fit them and owners could then run trains with the correct headcodes. Back in those days the emphasis was on operation, rather than scale detail -- even the greats like Edward Beal were fully aware of the non-scale nature of sharply curved layouts, but happily tolerated them if prototypical movements could still be made. Lovely stuff.

This exact loco, as a gift, I received in about 1960, along with wagons , LNER teak coaches and track. I obtained another engine in LMS colours and more accessories from a friend at school. Great fun indoors or in the garden. Sold with some regrets to fund my new N gauge layout a while ago. Teenage years got me started into modelling so thank you Hornby!

As someone who owns a electric loco from the same time period I can def say they are surprisingly durable for their age and loads of fun, maybe you could try and restore it lol

Hi Sam, I really enjoyed that review. Clockwork trains actually got me into 00 trains. I had become enamored of the the cast iron clockwork locomotives made by the Ives Manufacturing Company in Connecticut in the early part of the 20th Century, which then led me to Hornby clockwork and ultimately modern 00 trains. I find the 0 gauge Hornby trains charming and every time I pick one up, I can imagine the wonder and joy of a child 75-100 years ago. To those children of a bygone era, they were not primitive at all, but “just like the real thing.”

Many thanks for that - really enjoyable! My introduction to the hobby was a Hornby O-gauge clockwork train-set ... Actually these trains didn't perform very well on the grossly unrealistic tinplate track they came with - particularly the curves, which were either 12 or 24 inches (30cm or 60cm) radius! They performed reasonably on coarse-scale (but more realistic) track, and one quite soon became able to estimate how much wind to give each engine, depending on what rolling stock it hauled. The locos actually could be stopped - or sent into violent reverse - by setting a special fitting on the track, which hit a projecting lever under the engine. From my memories of model railway magazines in the 1960s, some O-gauge modellers actually preferred clockwork trains, as they gave a more realistic appearance of acceleration from, and slowing down at, a station (assuming you got the number of winds correct) than could be done with the electric motors and control equipment of the time.

I'm now in my 80th year and I have quite a collection of my original " 0 gauge toy trains" with wagons too. For your next test you must have the correct Hornby track, that will make a big difference to stability and running speed.

If you need to find O gauge track that has tall enough rails for those deep flanges, I'd recommend looking for O-27 "tubular" track from Marx or Lionel. I can usually find it for about 50 cents per ~20cm section or track. 8 curves make up a circle, so (minus postage), you could probably get a decent oval of used track for 10 or 15 pounds. Best part is that since your loco here is clockwork, the conductivity of the rail (or lack thereof) shouldn't be an issue if you find some really old track. Hope this helps!

Lovely, covering a vintage loco Sam, and even a clockwork one. How cute and how coincidental. As we've noticed, there are some vintage Hornby models and sets actually going for hefty prices at antique auctions Sam. The ones from limited production runs and bought by fussy collectors... We've seen it. However, what on earth were H thinking. Collectors aren't interested in new 'old' replicas... What market would then be left 🤷Indeed, quite off-key shall we say. What you have there is original and charming 😍 Cheerio.

For their replica, Hornby would have sold it with a pricing policy of 100 year - 100 pounds, just said... By the way Sam, it's a great idea to have some review of vintage rolling stock, and even historical like the one you show us now. And the tender connection to the engine is like what Hornby does today on their most recent models (yes, I'm sarcastic). And its nice to see this beauty running along !

There was a load of tinplate locos and rolling stock in one of the model railway shops i often visit and the average price was around £20. It wasn't in too bad condition either.

In fact Hornby did make some 'real model' trains in O-gauge, as well as the toy range. I think there was a beautiful Princess class; I had a Midland Compound - extremely realistic, and quite powerful (clockwork), but not long after I acquired it, the wheels developed mazak-rot, as I believe most of the original models will have done by now. Re the lack of coal for the tender, in the 1930s to 1950s, almost every house would have had a coal fire, so no problems there. I do seem to remember having an open wagon, though, which had a press-moulded coal load!

Possibly the most environmentally friendly loco you’ve featured!

Tell you what sam, she’s in good nick for her age. I have a 1920 lionel set that despite sitting in a attic unused for 50 years fired right up when placed on the track, after a good cleaning with soap and water and drying it off, she took off like a rocket she was in that good of nick, Now since the cars are not perfect her motley train has a 1917 made Lionel caboose in consist, tho the model’s design dates to 1904. These old models might not be the prettiest and the finest machines available, but they are well made.

If the loco is like most modern people Sam... it should be easy to 'wind up'! It was funny when the loco stopped on the crossover. Have we really advanced that far... every other loco you have does not get through that crossover without stopping! 😂 Nice video... refreshing change. It was built at a time when UK based skills were world leading and was required to construct the mundane through to the complex. We have certainly lost our way... in everything! Cheers from Oz mukka. Gaz

Oh yes!!!! I played with two of these 67 years ago when I was 10. That brought memories back!!! Can still 'feel it' in my hands. I remember there were 2 different engines. Only one family in our steets had a set and we kids used to be able to play with it. Nigel Moore.

What scares me is that the Triang Princesses are only 3 years younger than this

We had a huge 0 gauge Hornby train set, lamps, both red and white, were available to be fitted to the front and rear of trains. I'm pretty sure all our locos had lamp irons. We had home and distant semaphore signals, turntable , points, a diamond crossover and millk churns

I saw some of the old Hornby Model Trains and Clockwork Trains at my Local Carboot Sale and some of them were being sold for around £20-60 on many stalls, and some of them are in great condition.

It's a thing of beauty, Sam. Absolutely gorgeous. In 1949, it would have been terrifyingly expensive - the equivalent of what Hornby are charging for a new one nowadays. The UK was in a financial abyss following the end of the war, and there was far more important stuff to be doing than playing with toy trains. That this was made at all, especially in Liverpool, which the Luftwaffe pounded throughout the war, is a miracle in itself. But yes, it's an awesome object. Thank you for sharing . 👍👍👍

I bought one of the Hornby 2020 centenary O gauge locos, the red MR version for far less than half price although an additional cost was configuring a circuit of 3 rail track for it to run on. I used brand new Merkur track made to the original Hornby design but without the potential faults for shorting out etc. It is utterly charming hauling a rake of original early 1920s rolling stock, and much more controllable than a clockwork engine. Like the original 1920 locos the repro is made of enamelled pressed steel - not the tinplate of the later and cheaper Hornby originals. I am tempted to add clockwork to the layout, but for me it would have to be prewar.

Hi Sam - so nice to see you feature and enjoy this lovely old loco. You’re right in terms of complexity- Frank Hornby had a massive factory in Liverpool producing these toys alongside Meccano and Dinky Toys - they made all varieties of railwayana - stations etc. all the way down to lead figures including a shepherd, sheep and dog! A huge workforce - mostly women and girls grafted to create and test them all so he could say ‘British and Guaranteed’ on every box lid. Pre-war - Hornby made some ‘true to type’ 0 gauge locos including what would have been considered scale in the 30’s - the highlight being a 20v 6 coupled ‘Princess Elizabeth’ - ironically the same prototype as the Tri-ang 50’s example you show here. Your loco is post war when 00 was already ruling in the UK mainly due to Hornby’s Dublo trains, until the Tri-ang Princess represented a more affordable alternative and became the started point for future Hornby trains when they bought out the original Hornby company. The Hornby 0 gauge range reverted to simpler toys such as this by that period. I started collecting these ‘Hornby Series’ 0 gauge trains in the 80’s when I was 12 years old - always clockwork. I have 3 electric locos - one of which is a ‘Princess’… I had this type of loco - a very nice mech - it will take 18 turns (a turn being 180- degrees in in this context), though you need to run them in as they have mostly not been used in decades - and you’re dead right in terms of track. You could typically expect this on correct track to manage around 40 metres with its correct train of super lightweight tinplate coaches. A drop of oil and removal of fluff works wonders too. Like any toy / model railway system the track and stock are designed to work together. Hornby probably weren’t exaggerating when they said they said they could have covered the length of the British network - sidings and all with tinplate in the 30’s - so still plenty of very cheap clockwork track including points etc out there… You can have great fun building ridiculous layouts around the house and while these are crude in terms of realism - they are made of metal and smell of oil - and contemporary to the real thing 🤩

Lovely find Sam. My first train set was my Dads pre war Marklin set c/w wagons and signals. Later followed by this Hornby train in 1950. Had carriages etc but they all took a battering from my new Puppy who loved to paw at them. My Grandfather made extra long track from FREE aluminium channel from a coachbuilder into which the engine just fitted. To improve traction sandpaper was glued to the base! I well remember pushing and pulling those rods and hearing the clicking of the motion etc. Next came Trix 3 rail then 2 rail then modern stuff, which I still have. Post war toys were expensive and limited. My finest engine was an O4O steamer tank in Southern Green. Three and half inch gauge made by my Uncle when he was Gen Manager at Crewe works. I think it was part of an apprentice scheme. Lots of good memories here. Thank you for posting.

Old models sure are interesting. I found an old 3 rail Lionel train on the side of the road once and I took it home. It’s interesting how it changes directions. You give it power: it goes forwards. Bring it to a stop then give it power again, it doesn’t move. Give it power once more, and now it moves in reverse. This function can be enabled via a switch on the bottom of the loco labeled “Directional Control”

An interesting detail: your key has d.r.g.m. enbossed in it. That is a pre WW2 German patent registration (Deutsches Reich Gebrauch Muster). I have an identical loco but then in black with the BR crest so it must be post-1948. My key still has the same d.r.g.m. text. My loco (and another type) also has the different couplings. I presume the front one is to make it look a bit more realistic. Regards, J.W. Brier, The Netherlands.

HI Sam, I got quite a collection of these, Hornby was quite a late player in these, there where much bigger and older brands at the time, Bing, Bassett-lowke, Bowman etc, The most expensive ones you'll find are the live steam ones, the oldest I got dates back to 1900,. The Germans where the first to produce the early model trains, Märklin holds the record for the first production train set1891. Although there are older models, but those where floor crawlers without track, also got one of these from 1885. The biggest production at the time came out of Nurnberg, Germany, where printing on tin plate was discovered and several, mostly Jewish companies, like Bing, Doll, Ernst Plank, Falk etc.where the world wide biggest producers at the time. In the UK you had Bassett-Lowke, first a retailer for the Germans, but forced by the world wars to it's own production, and not to forget Bowman, who produced these crazy strong live steam models It was Ernst plank who produced the first electrical one somewhere in the mid 1890's. Bing was ones the biggest producer and in the end of it's existence invented of the HO/OO size track, which was strange enough called the table top range, nothing to do with what is TT now. Unfortunately a lot of these company's were liquidated firstly by the Wall Street crash in 1930 and those who survived by the Nazi's being Jewish firms. You better buy som old 0 gauge track as the wheel flanges of these old loco's where much bigger and don't fit modern O gauge rail, you can clearly see it bumping on the sleepers, not good for your nice old model. Good luck with it, nice you spend some attention to these grand fathers of model railway…

As a full asize 75 year old human that loco goes better than I do. My first model railway locomotive given to me when I was 5 was a green Princess Elizabeth locomotive by Triang.

I have pre war Lionel. But the coolest locomotive in my collection was very rare. I own a Lionel 1950 773 Hudson. My late grandfather found it in a junk bin at a hardware store in the 1960s. My father played Gomez Adams with it when he was a child. I had it cleaned up and lubricated in 2010 and my grandpa got to see it finally run around the Christmas tree that year for the first time. He was like that’s the one I got in the store and I was like yes. I’m turning 40 next month but she is my prime locomotive in my collection.

It struck me that the old Binn's Road Hornby got flak for hanging on too long to tinplate O gauge and three-rail Dublo, which eventually made it ripe for takeover by Triang, whereas Lionel in the US carried on happily with O gauge tinplate and 3-rail operation to the present (over time their models became more plastic and scale). Marklin in Germany likewise successfully persisted with 3-rail HO, with the third rail eventually morphed into studs.

What it lacks in intricate detail or realism,it more than makes up for in sheer charm. I’d have loved to have been given this to me as a kid of the late 80s and early 90s. I can’t imagine the joy that a kid of the late 40s would have felt upon receiving this, after the hardship of living through air raids, rationing and possibly the deaths of loved ones during the war years.

Hi Sam, I used to have one years ago (more than I care to admit 😂😮). The reason it won’t run through your points and has problems on your track is that it was made to O gauge coarse scale to run on the track made by Hornby at the time. Your track will be fine scale so it will never run well on it. It’s probably riding on the chairs 😂

I'm 70, and owned the 'real' thing back in the 1950s. You can still pick up a complete original set, including track and rolling stock, for a lot less than £250! Loads of fun watching it rattle around on the living room carpet!

Underneath, at the front of the chassis there is a little steel plate hanging down from a hinge above it. It is a rectangle with a smaller square extension which hangs a little lower. This acts as a reverser switch, and you could get a section of track with a matching lever which could be raised. When the train hit the raised track lever it reversed. Great fun. I too had a LNER and LMS versions. One of the teachers at my school had a huge old O gauge electric layout in a basement where there were numerous control stations. I can’t remember how many were needed to operate it, but it must’ve been about a dozen when fully manned. All this, of course, was in the fifties.

These hark back to the day when Father and son would have a loop of track around the Kitchen table and maybe have one or two coaches behind. You have yourself something special here Sam.

Sam I have one of the engines that you feature in the video. It was a present from my father who bought it with other Hornby items from one of his work mates. Then engine runs well and does about three circuits of my Hornby circle which consists of curves and two straight rails. The engine will pull four trucks with ease and is attractive. One could buy this engine also with a goods set and I bought one in splendid condition from an old gentleman. The trucks were LNER wagons and the whole set came in a lovely box featuring a picture of a passenger train pulled by an A3 pacific. Thank you for the good video. Perry

A great find, Sam, have an assortment of these and they're quite fun to run. If it helps, they run quite well on Lionel 3 rail O gauge track and points, as the rails are tall enough for the big flanges. If you can't find any Hornby O track, you might try getting some Lionel tubular track to make a loop for it to scamper along and pull some wagons. About 10 turns is a full wind, they go like the wind.

I found a similar 00 clockwork tender engine for £50 as well from a bric-a-brac shop on the Severn Valley Railway earlier this year. Considering that it also still works and is in stunning condition, I was very pleased! It baffles me that the original (and more authentic) engines made by Meccano are less expensive than the replica ones made 75 years later produced in factories in China!

In 1952 I had a fairly extensive Hornby train set, which was passed on to someone else when I left home (of course), and while the locomotive wasn't this one, it was of similar construction. I'll just point out that the rails were also pressed metal, which didn't take kindly to being trodden on by dad's ruddy great big clod hoppers, and which, because of their construction, had to be made much "taller" than today's rails (they joined together using metal sliding clips, which joined togetherthe "end" sleepers on each piece of rail. I had a load of wagons - mostly four wheelers, but including one ruddy great long 8 wheeler. The lamp holders, by the way, actually came with lamps - similar to the ones available today, but of course, non-working - just solid lamps. Unfortunately, these were too easy to lose. Ah, memories of childhood (I was about 7 when this railway set landed in my hands)

I have 4 of these on as old as 1920 something and still runs amazingly well and fast

What fun!, great of you to review an old tinplate train too! Over a few years in our house we've collected Hornby from 20ies to late 40ies and in the holidays the youngest gets it out runs it in the living room. When the little loco with its wagons gets going, it really zips along the clanky tinplate track :-)

What a wonderful little old loco. Well worth the money for its historical character :-)

I collect vintage Lionel trains and while I don't have any of their clockwork locos i do have a number of Lionel electric locos from the 1930s and they are a better value than current Lionel offerings as witnessed by your recent review of the lionel HO hospital train. Another interesting thing about these old trains is that spare parts are being reproduced (not by Lionel) and are easy to get.

Soooo interesting.... I got this Hornby loco when I was three years old (1952). Spring was soon broken by over-winding and 1842 was promptly dispatched to Hornby for a new spring. This in turn was broken again and is now removed. I'd love to see my engine run again and am considering trying my luck with "The Repair Shop"... (All other stock was lost in moves/clearances, etc., except the rather fine body of a cattle wagon with working doors and a single curved section of track!)

Hornby supplied packs of accessory loco lamps to go on the lamp brackets. The couplings are correct, tender locos having the older coupling on the front while tank locos had the later lifting loop coupling both ends.

I had a loco not unlike this. I used to run it on a circle of track on the carpet. I do remember the coupling vividly. Then I went onto Hornby Dublo 3-rail. Die cast and with pressed metal couches

That old model has better detail and personality then some modern models

Just to add that those tinplate locos didn't come with a coal load in the tender. Back in the day, British homes almost universally had coal fires for heating, and often for cooking too, so bits of coal were readily available to kids if they wanted to fill their tenders with the real thing. To be honest, I can't remember that either my brother or I ever bothered to go that far into realism, but it would have been an easy thing to do.

Hi Sam. At the risk of sounding a bit nerdy, you have the wrong key. The one you have isfor a prewar 4-4-0 loco which had a much larger mech, the key may have a J stamped on it and you need a H key. This will fit much better and won't slip when winding. If you can find a way of getting back to me I will sort you out the right one.

Hi Sam, Being 70, I can remmember my older brother and I having a very large Horby train set here in Australia, as it was brought over in a RN footlocker upon my Dads' demob here in Australia. One of the featured locomotives was an GWR 4-4-4 Tank with glorious tinplate Pullman coaches, 501s with various passenger cars, goods vehicles and such like, together with a large coach, with wooden body on metal sub frame, complete with glazed, opening doors! Bassett L?? Many hours of joy ( and fights over the best locos and trains, I usually lost...) I will never forget and will always be grateful for the intro to model railways.

Hi Sam, thanks for the video. After watching it, memories stirred from my childhood when living in an area that didn't have electricity, the only way to go was clockwork. My parents bought me a train set around the end of the 1940s or perhaps the early 1950s. It comprised of an oval of O gauge track, an 0-4-0 tender locomotive and two named Pullman cars, 'Aurelia' and 'Marjorie'. The loco was red and very similar to your latest purchase except that instead of having really nice brass tipped control levers, it had plain black painted levers. I looked online and i think it was marketed by Horby as an 'M1 Tinplate Passenger Train Set'. The greatest drawback with it was that it went too fast for the curves of the track and constantly left the rails!!

How delightful. Although I had electric trains in the mid to late 50s, I remember clockwork trains in catalogues. Somehow it brings it all back. Thanks!

I have the complete set in LMS livery but the spring in the loco has been broken for about 25 years, was my Dad's tenth birthday present in 1953.

Christmas 1964 our mum and dad bought us an electric Triang train set (double-ended diesel, baggage car, passenger car and a dome car) I think it was supposed to represent a version of CPR's "Canadian" or possibly a US transcontinental? That same Christmas our grandparents bought us a Triang 4 wheel diesel switcher, it was clockwork! I've wondered many times over the years how much mum and dad must've scrimped and saved to buy that set, the economy in the UK being what it was, dad was a truck driver for I believe Peterborough Brick and mum worked part-time at a plastics factory. Eight months later we immigrated to Canada for the second time.

Had one back in the 50s with carriages and trucks, ran well over points , turntables..lasted many years.

Wow, there's a blast from the past. How wonderful to see this fine example. I've still got mine, not in such good condition sadly. My sister got it for me in about 1975... and I thought it was ancient even back then LOL. You've inspired me t get it out from the display case and give it a run.... need to get some O guage track first though.

This is really cool and very vintage. Or shall I say ‘antique’? Definitely a throwback for the ages.

3d printed clockwork train incoming? You know you want to. 😁

In the mid 50's I bought some 0 gauge stuff; track, couple of locos, and several pieces of rolling stock off a school mate for a 10 bob note. 10 shillings, 50p. Bargain of a lifetime, although at the time was pretty much the going rate for wind up stuff. So passe when Hornby Dublo was the in thing for those who could afford it. Happy days eh Sam?

Excellent video and review. I would love to see you make videos and cover older model train such as this one.

Great vid Sam. Hold onto that key Sam, because it is rare and valuable even just on it's own. That loco is in very good condition and many that are still around to not work at all and the control knobs are long gone. Often back in the day the clockwork locos were given to the kids from their father or grandfather whom were just starting to run the latest and greatest 3 rail electric O gauge locos that were 19 volts (I think?). About 5 years ago I was given a clockwork, an electric and a live steam O gauge loco that were my Poppa's models decades ago. My Uncle and I have bought a bunch 2 rail track sections, points etc and made quite a nice layout under his house down in Brisbane. I rebuilt the live steam loco to working condition which blasts around the track at an alarming speed and I am going to put a battery and RC system into the formerly 3 rail electric loco. Beware that vintage O gauge and be found to be a bit addictive. Our layout started off as just a few bits of oval for me as a loco test track. Do contact me Sam if you would like a few pics and vids emailed to you? Regards, Jas. VK4FJGS Rocky Qld.

Nice to show us some classic tinplate Hornby. Currently, the oldest locomotive I have is a Lionel 248 O gauge electric locomotive made from 1927 to 1932. The oldest rolling stock I currently have is a Kalr Bub Shell tank wagon from around 1915.

It’s cool how much we’ve progressed is making model trains

Meccano never made 0 Gauge electric locomotives after the second world war, at least not for the home market. Clockwork track is often given away!!! There is an Association for those interested in these and the Original (and best) Dublo

My late grandfather was a collector of 3 rail Lionel locomotives, rolling stock, ect. He also had a decent amount of tin plate lionel, and believe me there is a charm to them , that is hard to describe , watching one go around a layout. I am envious of you , BUT IN A GOOD WAY.

As an engineer the wind up mechanism is really cool. Putting all the energy in at the start an letting it run just if the initial energy rather than constantly providing it with electricity. Also the low torque is probably due to the fact you can either have high torque and low distance or high distance and low torque. The only way to really increase both would be a stiffer spring (which I suspect they were when they first released) or to turn it more

That’s a great locomotive. And in excellent condition for its age. It does show that if they are looked after, they will last, unfortunately today is not so. How many models of 2000 will be in such a great condition in 70 years. Thanks for the video. Great value.

Like others of my generation, A Hornby clockwork set was my introduction to toy trains back in the mid-1950s. I received this loco and tender in LMS guise as a Christmas present and had much fun with it before selling the lot when I switched to Tri-ang 00/H0 in the late 50s. Thanks for the entertaining review and to all the folks who've provided so many interesting and nostalgic comments.

Hi Sam, I collect/run 00gauge LNER trains. I also have three 0gauge Hornby train sets, 1 dating to mid 1930's, & 2 dating to late 1940's. Really enjoy your videos.

I have a OO gauge Dutchess coronation class from 1944, it doesn’t run anymore but it has a note on it from the original owner, saying his name and the year 1945.

Mechanism out of the box ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Controller ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I absolutely loved that. They were the kind of toys Dad played with when he was a boy. (He born 1935 and still with us!) I didn't see a engine he had, however he had some planes which ran and flipped, a fish on wheels that wiggled as it ran and a smaller fish which had flames out of the top! Not quite sure how that worked, however, we thought it was 'cool!' All of them were clockwork!

That key is very impressive.👍👍 I like to think of the history of that loco and the children that played with it.

Love the vintage stuff, hope to see more

G'day Sam, It is funny how old era models can still give so much fun and enjoyment :) I would like to see some of the newer models in 75 years time and see how they par up! Cheers from down under, Wally

WOW I had one of these for Christmas in 1949 at the age of five sadly it diapered some years later whilst I was away in the RAF about 1962/3 thanks Mum

It’s absolutely beautiful! Thanks for shooting this video and showing us this piece of history in action :)

Brought back memories of playing with grandmother's sons'' trains. I would live to see a review of two track hornby dublo. My tank and Castle never, ever failed, but the Triang Pulman set never worked. As a child, I didn't look at the pickups or anything, but I hated Triang plastic compared to. The Hornby Dublo metal. Memories!

At last, a locomotive that is older than me. When other sites show digital and analogue there is something magical about something this primitive. It makes you wonder about the first owner and some child over seven decades ago, thrilled to get a train set!

I have a small collection of O gauge clockwork trains, and they can be a lot of fun with the right track. There's a huge variability in performance between brands, speed, strength, run time etc. Hornby were one of the last companies to make truly good clockwork train sets, and are reasonably cheap to get even today, so a good starting point for anybody interested in tinplate/clockwork trains. French Hornby continued making clockwork sets even longer than the English side of the company IIRC.

I ran my clockwork locomotive with a steam powered locomotive on the same tin plate track along the hall way. And I filmed it all on RU-vid. Properly this Locomotive means a lot to you. I enjoyed watching it because it's amazing to look at. Don't you? Great filming by the way.

Hi Sam, Nice review, Being a bit older then 75 yrs , yes when you wound it up it only went a short distance , but still enjoyable, that's how it was, All the best Brian 😃

My Dad had (still has) some clockwork tinplate O gauge. They're so basic but so much fun! :)

It's amazing to think this clockwork toy locomotive is older that all The BR standard classes.. as well as an assortment of others too! Also shocked the replicas cost more.. yeah.. they're gonna be dusting up shelves for quite some timee

There's levers on the bottom connected to the controls that can be actuated by paddles on the track, which are just stop, forward & reverse but if you operated it manually it actually has infinitely variable speed, never taken it apart to see exactly how that worked.

Hi Sam great video what you didn't seem to notice because you didn't mention it is that there's trips underneath the locomotive for a special track piece to reverse it and stop it so she may go backwards and forwards or stop at the station

That is an absolute dinosaur of a loco great video Sam keep it up

Very nice review, that’s a very beautiful engine. I have a clockwork engine but it’s not as old. It’s the Meccano Play train from the late 60s. It took me forever to find one to buy though.

Hattons bought the entire remaining stock of Hornby O guage from Meccano when production ended in 1964. Hattons were still selling it, well in to the 80s. See the Hattons adverts for it in Railway Modellers of the time.

I've just got one of these in really sweet condition from the Severn Valley Railway. It runs smoothly on my SM32 Mamod track on my outdoor Railway when pushed along. I just need a key to properly try it 😀

Wonderful. I would very much like have an OO-version if that were available. By the way, the model is really beautiful and I like the livery. Who cares it's not a representation of a real locomotive? It has plenty of character and I can see why people want to own such cool locomotive!

Hey Sam, Nice to see a beautiful model of its age added to your vast collection! I would definitely recommend getting some original track to run it on. It would be cool to see some more vintage models on your channel in the future as well!

Wind-up trains are fun especially when they go fast

Hey Sam it's me Loona and I have to make all my train videos again cause someone hacked my account. So I'll be making all my trains into one big video. So make sure to let others know about this. Ur the best my friend

This was nice to see! Kinda thought about getting some old tinplate stuff myself someday, they seem really neat! :) Maybe you can get some rolling stock somtime too!

Ah Sam, that takes me back to my boyhood when I had a clockwork diesel shunter train set with a circle of series 3 track (sigh). It was a great runner in its day. Nostalgia city. Thanks so much for this video, I really enjoyed it and put a bit of a lump in my throat. Best, Pete.

The new Hornby competitor that did so well , Triang , also had a much more realistic clockwork locomotive for their OO track. This was the now tare R.51 clockwork die cast bodied N2. This actually closer to scsle than the freelance 0-6-2T that most people called an N2 but Hornby Dublo never did.. Triang had the clockwork N2 when they purchased the Trackmaster brand early on. Triang later made a clockwork 0-6-0 nechanism that was available as a saddle tank or a diesel shunter. This was from a time when many people could not afford the transformer and controller to run an electric train set since these cost more than many sets. Some parts of the UK did not even have the AC mains power supply needed to use a transformer. Battery alternatives were only economical if you did not run the trains very much.

Nice review! Keep working hard Sam! 👍👏 I loved that Lionel review! You need to do some more! I think my first model locomotive was a Lionel! 👍👏

Nice Locomotive & great job