1953- Hornby Dublo 0-6-2 N2 Number 69567 British Railways black livery
After five years of post-war production, it was decided to upgrade the locomotives and rolling stock and give it a British Railways livery. As Hornby always tried to keep up with modern developments within the railway world, it seems odd it took until 1953 to make this change. Perhaps partly due to the fact that they wanted to move remaining stocks of pre-nationalisation liveries first? The change-over was quick and complete.
The N2 was now only available in one livery, that of British Railways. The main change to the diecast shell was the removal of the word "HORNBY" from the firebox door. Of course the GWR variant based on the 66XX class, would no longer be available.
I dare say that there would have been stocks of the pre-BR liveries available at the factory and shops for several years to come and they were probably sold at reduced prices to clear stock.
The BR variant of the N2 is the most common and cheapest available of the Hornby Dublo locomotives. These are sometimes used in the last few years to make fake re-painted LNER and SR locomotives, which can go for high prices.
For the first year the numbers on the coal bunker were small and the locomotive had a gloss finish.
A view from the other side. The 3 rail pick-ups can be seen between the wheels.
Top view. The gloss finish can be seen and the orange boiler bands. Still no coal load in the coal bunker.
View showing the 3-rail pick-ups and the "EDL17" on the diecast edge.
Inside the diecast shell.
A clear view of the motor
Note the number 69567 on the firebox door, "HORNBY" has now been removed. The paint scraped away on the bottom of the firebox door is very common, caused by the screwdriver shaft when removing the retainer screw to open the model.
Although play worn,it still retains the HORNBY label.
A later variant, larger numbers on the coal bunker and the lion is more gold in colour.
This locomotive has been converted to 2-rail and they seem to have made a very good job of it. During the 1950s when most people built their own locomotives from kits, making a conversion would have been easy and very common.
The top locomotive has been converted to 2-rail, the lower locomotive is in its original 3-rail state. Anyone wanting to run locomotives converted for 2-rail running they are easy to find. I do have a Triang locomotive that has been converted for 3-rail running!
The large numbers on the left are the late variant and the small numbers on the right are the early locomotive variant.
