Who Makes The Best Manor Class Locomotive? | Dapol VS Accurascale 

The Dapol has a superior 5-pole motor, the Accurascale has a tiny piece of rubbish 3-pole motor in comparison....if you want a nice looking clock that doesn't give accurate time..?? I have two Acc's Manor class models and they are badly let down because of the absolute rubbish motors and bits that fall off or break off when you look at them. To strip and fully service the models properly...give me the Dapol Manor Every Time! The Acc's wiring is too long and badly routed and don't expect the firebox to stay in place-poor fixing, again and it's a female dog to keep the wiring neat and feed back through to the tender! As you stated, the wiring to the tender is also far too high and looks ridiculous. A few too many plastic parts on the Dapol that need replacing...do that and give the smoke box a coat of matt black and you have a better-looking Dapol Manor. A good video, well done!

Personally, I prefer the Dapol one Better tender connection Still made in the UK (Wales) When they came out, Dapol were the cheaper ones The Dapol one (in my eyes) has the nicer wheels Looking closely at both of them, I think the letters on the Dapol one are also better. the Accurascale one is lovely, but I'm not keen on any of their products just to how high they seem to mark up every model they have (apart from the P Class and Barclay, but they're Hattons locos, so my point still kind of stands)

The main issue I have seen with the Accurascale model is the motor strength, probably not something you're ever going to encounter - flat track, short trains. But when you add inclines (whether straight of helix) it appears to have problems, and if you lengthen the train to 5+ coaches it does begin to struggle especially on inclines. The Dapol motor is definitely superior, as shown by your crawl test. And personally, I do like Dapol's approach to DCC access through the smoke box door, very painless approach to install - wish more manufacturers would consider this option!!

I suspect that the "which is better" depends on what you want to do with it. I buy for running on exhibition layouts, and my stuff has a hard life. NOTHING from Accurascale in my collection (13 items so far) has yet failed to have bits drop off in use- to the extent my Accurascale Deltic has been sold on as I daren't run it. Dapol stuff is still in front line service- and that means well over 50 locos in two scales. Why not run them intensively and look for the better survivor?

As there are only two brands being compared, it should be "Who makes the better Manor Class Locomtive?" If you want to ask "Who makes the best.." you would need to compare the versons made by all brands that produce a Manor Class locomtive.

In terms of looks the Accurascale wins hands down as it looks like a manor - the Matterhorn boiler/firebox situation and the boiler looking too high in the frames kills the Dapol manor for me.

I have the Dapol manor and chuffed with it. Just too many new GWR locos available which is a lovely problem, so I couldn't get an Accurascale one as I have three more locos on preorder. Great review, cheers.

Interesting comparison. However, you have not mentioned the one glaring and obvious visual difference between these two models. The taper on the boiler of the Dapol version is exaggerated between the firebox and the safety valve bonnet and down to the smokebox completely ruining the appearance of the loco. Visually the Accsc. is the better looking model. That inaccuracy rules out the Dapol model for me. I also note that the tenders on both models appear to be unrivetted. The tenders on the Manors were left overs from Churchward designs are were fully rivetted, some being modified with slightly greater capacity. I have seen unrivetted Churchward tenders behind Manors on the West Somerset Railway but they look to have been complete welded tank rebuilds undertaken in recent years.

Dinmore Manor's firebox glow would have been brighter, if a certain Trusted Friend of mine hadn't slammed her hand down on the box before I took the engine to you. Also, my birthday, Sat. 6th July, is only one week away. I would like to see both Manors strutting their stuff on your railway, as I think Accurascale are just as good as Dapol. One of my newest models (Hunslet 16in 0-6-0 saddle tank engine) is of Rapido status, and she has a very bright firebox glow. The glow is just shy of matching Accurascale Hinton Manor's firebox glow. I've sold some of my other models in the Cash Converter Shop for a great price. This week, King Richard 2nd will join my new N Gauge fleet.

I've not played with the Dapol Manor. i have 4 Accurascale ones which all run really well on DCC, i've had no issues with performance and the crawl is good on DCC. the finish on the safety valve bonnet is purely down to preference. i hate the over shiny looking ones as they only ever look like that in preservation. anyone modelling BR era steam will not want a super shiny safety valve bonnet. Its my understanding the GWR used sand and oil to polish them so they would never be a high shine item.

Just a thought, slow speed running is important for shunters; High speed for mainline work. Yes, a good total range would be best, but that is not always an option.

What controller are you using?

I really hope one of them releases Foxcote Manor in BR green…whoever does first gets my vote!

Is the Accurascale one fully run-in in both directions? If not, the slow speed might well improve when running -n is completed and the mechanisms have loosened up and bedded in.