A New Locomotive

I have often considered buying another Ready to run locomotive as they are often more reliable that models that use older motors and motion. I already have the Bachmann Baldwin "590" which is one of my favourite locomotives. Hovever, two things have put me off buying anymore Ready to run and they are:

 Cost

 The cost of the average ready to run model is around £120- 130 which is considerable when you are trying to build a railway on a tight budget. 

 Choice

 It is apparent that 009 modelling is becoming more mainstream however choice, at the time of writing, remains rather limited to either a Heljan L&B locomotive, a Baldwin of some form or the Bachmann Thomas the Tank Engine range. There isn't yet a lot of variety to choose from, but that will soon change. 

 My mind was changed recently thanks to some very generous family members who bought me two very fine examples of RTR stock. I was given a Bachmann Baldwin in GVT livery and a new example of Skarloey to convert in the future. 

It is rather ironic that the models of the Baldwin are much more successful than their real life counterparts. I cannot fault the performance of these tenacious little locomotives. The GVT model takes everything I liked about "590" and elevates it with the amazing level of detail it possesses coupled with the reliability that has made these some of my favourite models on the line. 

The Skarloey has been run on the line and is just as good however, gauging issues on Platform 2 mean that I am once again needing to alter my platforms... I believe the term is Aargh!

Anyway here is a selection of pictures showing the two Baldwin's on the layout.





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