Tawe's Testing: The Hornby Lancashire & Yorkshire Class 21 0-4-0 Pug

It's rare that I buy something worth more than £20 on impulse. At Doncaster I'd originally intended to buy a Branchlines 0-4-0 Chassis Replacement Kit for one of my Hornby Pugs, but failing to find a Branchlines stand at the event, I decided to pursue other review material instead. It'll have to wait 'till London, but Desmond will get his new chassis yet!

But for now, more puggish pugs!

This Pug is a distinct exception, it's dumb buffers, tiny boiler and plates over the slide rods making a unique specimen among tank engines. Costing around £50, it's damn cheap, too – many points will cost you more than this! For that shellout you get an exceptionally compact locomotive ideal for the most compressed of micro layouts, the dumb buffers and truncated wheelbase making it a dyed-in-the-wool dock tank.

For such a cheap model, details are abound

I can only assume this locomotive is of 2010 production, since lettering is crisp and accurately positioned. The details don't stop there, either, there are many accurately moulded auxiliary parts and separately-fitted handrails, rivets are plentiful enough to make a convincing impression; even the plates over the slide-bars are well done, giving further charm to this already charismatic model.

Upon unboxing you get a very simple spread: The Pug, a man pointing, 4 lamps each of both LMS and BR design, and 4 indicator discs. Okay, I'm being facetious, the pointing man is the driver according to the excellent service manual, and his arm is intended to partially cover the motor; kind of like the set models of the old Thomas the Tank Engine TV series which had model drivers with pose-able arms. Getting him into the cab to position him couldn't be easier since the cab simply clips onto the chassis, a neat arrangement that saves a lot of screw trouble when running in.

It's rare that the instructions for budget things are this good

Speaking of screw trouble, my example came with the motor screwed in too tightly, causing the motor to lock up – a condition known as “stall”, and it's infamous in the R/C world for burning motors out or even starting fires in extreme cases! It should be said at this point that a tight gear-train is never a good thing, even if it runs; over time, the gears will be ruined. Thankfully there's only one screw holding the motor on, so it's a question of undoing the motor just enough to make it turn freely.

It may look loose, but it's infinitely preferable to a burnt-out motor

Me and my testing, you and your shed… So pipe down, you...

My test circuit is very rudimentary at present, since I've yet to build a layout (Folding Test Track? Hmm...), thus I'm using a hornby trainset with two track packs installed to test point operation. It should be noted that I presently lack DCC equipment, so I can only test the loco using a standard hornby DC controller from the trainset (nothing but the best at this house!). I'll be sure to add a corollary post once this situation is seen to.

I need a Gaugemaster DC unit at the very least, but it'll do I suppose

Once it is adjusted and run in, the 75g pug gives an amusing sight at full speed, as it's chihuahua wheels whirr and whizz whilst producing not all that much speed. Is this a deal breaker? Maybe for some children (I reckon Smokey Joe is an icon because of his Scalextric swiftness!), but for those who want a yard pilot, it's a glowing sign. The Pug delivers; it is adept at low-speed maneuvers even on DC power, although maybe not quite as glacial as DCC should make it capable of.

Trouble reared it's ugly head once points were encoutered, however. The 0-4-0 curse struck again with the train-set's insulfrog points, making low-speed shunting particularly perilous. Again, DCC can probably come to the rescue here, along with electrofrog pointwork. Those who stuck with insulfrogs should be prepared to reason that their driver is under training to explain the lurches necessary to prevent stalling, failing that the humiliating intervention of the “hand-of-god”. One saving grace is that the momentum of heavier wagons does help to keep the pug going through these momentary lapses of power, though you can't rely on that all the time.

Enough about how it runs by itself – an engine is useless with nothing in tow. Let us delve into it's pulling power, it's all important Tractive Effort. I have here a line-up of suitable wagons for testing:

Rolling Stock	Weight
Hornby L&Y Pug	75g
Lima Mk1 RBR	135g
Tri-ang Mk1 FK	100g
Tri-ang Mk1 BSK	100g
Hornby 4-Wheeler	45g
Hornby 7-up 7-plank Wagon	25g
Hornby Pepsi Tank Wagon	35g
Hornby Tango Box Van	35g

In pulling tests, we were greeted with a sad, but not entirely unexpected sight. The usual 3 carriage Mk1 rake I use to test new locomotives (Tri-ang Mk1 FK, Lima Mk1 RBR, Tri-ang Mk1 BSK; 335g in total) proved too much to even start; the two Tri-ang Mk1s (200g total) can be started carefully, but do show wheelslip under acceleration. Replace one Tri-ang Mk1 with the heavier Lima (235g total), and wheelslip is inevitable when starting. On the plus side, the Product Placement Train (Hornby 7-up, Pepsi and Tango wagons; 95g total), as well as a trio of 4-Wheelers (135g total) can be pulled without a hint of drama. Those who'd like to model a small preserved line not unlike the South Devon Railway or the Lavender Line will not be let down.

Childhood...

Branch Passenger, anyone?

You can't tell in a still image, but the pug is whirring away without result

All in all, I cannot recommend more than 200g with this loco in any case, much less when hills are involved. Then again, the pug was never expected to handle more wagons than can be counted on one hand, the real pug in preservation slips when pulling two wagons and a brake van:

The final thing I ought to mention is the couplers – don't get me wrong, they work just as well as you can expect any tension lock produced by Hornby, but this is a 2010 model, right? NEM Pockets? Surely these made it into 2010? Given the attentive detail on the model itself, it seems really out of place to omit these ever-versatile sockets; probably the one innovation of our time that did more to solve operational issues than any other, besides DCC. Maybe it won't be too hard to retrofit them, and with a £50 model not much capital is at stake, but it's a very simple yet curious oversight.

Those big hideous hoops characteristic of train sets...

If you want to know the exact procedure of my review scores, check back with the Maplin Pin Vice Review for a full summation. I shall now pass judgement upon this humble saddle tank:

Detail 5/6

Stellar for the money. Granted, it's only a little tank engine smaller than many trucks, but this isn't just the Dapol kit – this is the real deal with motor, couplings and details.

Quality 5/6

Another great score. I keep coming back to the money thing, but it is rather excellent that you can have a proper enthusiast's locomotive for just double the price of the standard Hornby 0-4-0.

Function 4/5

For precisely what it's designed for, shunting a handful of small wagons around curves almost too tight for them, it's ace! Maybe it'll be of limited use when carriages come into play, but if you've got the preservation scene in mind, you'll probably need another pug of some kind to double-head anyway.

Value 3/3

As I've said before, this is easily the cheapest way to get a proper enthusiast-grade locomotive. Not only is it detailed but it also runs well and slow. Ideal starter locomotive for getting into weathering or practicing fitment of DCC decoders to old stock.

Overall 17/20

When I found this little gem, only the wheel configuration reassured me that this wasn't another slot-car pug. I don't really know why I feared those tiny wheels could somehow propel it to warp-speed, but there are way too many scalextric-derived 0-4-0s on the market for me to feel safe.

Rest assured I feel safe now. This is an ideal locomotive for those who want a high-standard starting base for their first kit-bashing/Shapeways project – speaking of which, isn't there a couple of Peckett Saddle Tanks with roughly the same wheelbase out there? Perhaps we could gloss over the Dartmoor Gauge and Immortalize them in OO?

Tawe's Testing: The Maplin Pin Vice Set Review

Here it is, Review the 1^st, and it's a fairly ubiquitous tool for those who work with resin and etched body kits – the Pin Vice.  Maplin furnishes the reviewer with this device, being of all-metal construction and coming with a kit of microscopic drill bits, it seems we have been spoiled at first glance.

Even the Maplin lettering looks neat, no budget aesthetic here!

Upon inspection the unit shows great promise – The aforementioned all-metal construction lending a feel of dependability that is essential in any respectable tool, the knurled handles adding to the industrial ergonomics.  There is even a pen clip on upper side of the body to shove it into a pocket pouch, although doing this with a 0.45mm handrail-sized bit installed seems like asking for a punctured lung!  The collar is also suitably knurled and seems to have a snug hold on the chuck, though becomes quite irrelevant, as shall be explained in good time.

Odd though it is, the asymmetric nature of the chuck did nothing to prevent good use :)

There's a lot to like initially about this set, only costing a nice round £9.99 (leaving a penny for the copper box!); giving you a 20-piece bit set to pick from, ranging from the human-sized 1.5mm bits to bits so absurdly thin you could bend them with your breath.  Once I'd got a 1.2mm bit in, and gotten stuck into some plywood, the vice was very stable and made light work of drilling pilot holes 20mm down, making drilling parallel to the plys a much calmer experience than you'd expect, with no fear of splitting the wood.  It is here, though, that a rotating top would be highly appreciated, especially when you need to put some real pressure down.

The Pin Vice on test, looking quite at home burrowing into some 6mm plywood forming the top panel of my SLA 3D Printer.  Yeah, that chunk of aluminium and keys is my keyboard, I take my PC equipment very seriously indeed...

And this is only where the issues start.  Chief among the problems is probably the one thing that makes this set both cheap and versatile – the chuck; I do like the idea of not having to exchange chucks whilst reaming out different holes, if only for the sake of sheer expediency, however, if removing the bit becomes like playing tug-of-war with a German Shepard in an exosuit, that's where I draw a line the size of a country border.  Upon removing the chuck, you'll find a hexagonal end not unlike those found on interchangeable screwdrivers; sadly, hopes of being able to use a more comfortable handle are quickly dashed upon finding the end flopping hopelessly in the socket (you might argue that this arrangement has no collar, and you'd be right, but with a chuck as clenching as this, I don't think that's a major loss).

Not quite a decent fit, don't know why I expected this brassy metal to be magnetic, but there you go.

Then there's the Bit Box.  The bits themselves are decent, I've seen worse tools, but the box they came in seems like it was designed to aid in sapping POW morale; it's bad enough that there's no clips holding the bits into place, but whoever made the lid cling to the tray like a kitten to your jumper ought not to become a politician, as this design error will surely be his opponent's dream trump card!  As if the lid was not okay with just being clingy, it's not immediately apparent how it opens, and the best I've come up with is to use a Philips screwdriver to (valium in hand) prise it open.  Not a good job here, especially after the promise shown by the Pin Vice itself.

Quite a selection, even if they look like they don't damn well behave themselves!

The most precise and careful way I found of getting into the box, depends on how steady your hands are.

Since this is my first review, I ought to detail how my review scores work.  First off is Detail, pretty much the objective of out hobby, so it makes 30% of the score.  Quality is a close second, also taking 30%, since we all want a model that'll last, right?  Function takes 25%, maybe a little small, but if this is poor at least it can be made into a static prop.  Finally Value is at 15%, value is always welcome, but I reckon most would shell out for quality in other regards, wouldn't you?  The overall score is calculated with these in proportion, with each point being 5%, so Detail is 6 as is Quality, Function is 5 and Value is 3; the overall score is consequently out of 20.

So my summation of all this goes thus:

Detail 3/6

Probably a little strange that a tool gets a detail score, even so, in my mind it represents how much attention was paid to little additions that increase comfort, functionality, ease of use, etc.  This is a fairly average example since the pen clip is nice as are the knurled handles, but it could have done with more.

Quality 3/6

Another average score, the Pin Vice itself being worthy of a 4/6, and the Bit Box taking 2/6, this makes a mean of 3/6.  Pity.

Function 4/5

The Pin Vice works very well, as do the included bits, only that lid on the Bit Box lets it all down with it's steadfast refusal to part without showering you with swarf-laden fletchettes!

Value 2/3

While £9.99 seems expensive in this day and age, there's no getting away from the actual value proposition here; some may argue that you can get better at Poundland and eBay, but with both you take a chance – Poundland tools are usually only good when they are simple things like sanding blocks and hammers, while eBay deprives the customer of a direct, tactile assessment of the product.

Overall 12/20

Only slightly above average, not going to be used in Hornby's R&D Benches anytime soon like similar offerings from proper hobby suppliers, so it's probably best bought in the same manner I did – for want of a quick tool for pilot holes.

In other words, I'd recommend something proper such as this Expo Drills & Tools Pin Vice - £5 at a model show, several chucks made out of proper tool steel, and a more versatile handle to boot.