Jinty comparisons

 

My second ever model railway locomotive was a Hornby Jinty, all the way back in 1979 (I think). So, when the chance to have a look at the latest version sold as part of the 70 years in Margate celebrations, I thought it would be interesting to sit my old model next to the 2024 version. 

The first thing to say is that this is a long way from a modern RTR model. If you want a modern Jinty, the Bachmann stepped into the breach, and Hornby has so far, not bothered chucking money at tooling up a duplicate. No, this is firmly a nostaligic model, a market the big H is well placed to serve. 

Anyway, the body is exactly the same, or at least it is if you ignore the extra handrails, and bunker extension I fitted to mine. It's what we did in the old days. 

With the body off, there is a difference. My model has an XO4 motor, and the newer version has one of those tiny cheap motors. I don't think this is that new, I seem to recall that Thomas was so fitted, and the Class 58 - launched in 1996. I seem to remember that the 58 was considered underpowered, but Thomas was fine. Stick a set of gears on the end of a fast-revving motor, and it ought to behave. 

I haven't compared the running qualities - to be honest, I forget before packing the Rovex flyer off to the office, but I'm sure it's every bit as good as it needs to be. 

All this made me look up Bachmann Jinty's - blimey, they are cheap on the second-hand market!