Written by Tony Richards
Pendennis Castle at Didcot. Photo by Gwion Rhys Davies
Last month’s brief newsletter article on ‘Spam Cans’ in OO appears to have been well-received judging by the feed-back. It was really put together as a bit of a filler in what was a dry month for news. However, I had been thinking for a while about something similar for A4s and Kings and so have decided to continue with early models of Kings, first. As before, I will only be looking at the ‘mass market’ models rather than anything exotic issued by Astor or Fulgurex for example, nor the much-vaunted but never produced King from the liquidated DJ Models. This is not a definitive history either, just a set of notes.
As with the Bulleid Pacifics, Graham Farish appears to have been the first company to produce Kings in commercial OO r-t-r. The first models were released in 1951 but the run seems to have been quite short-lived with production ceasing around 1953. The models shared some similarities with Farish’s Bulleids in that the models were somewhat hybrid, having the motor in the tender but driven via a shaft to the loco’s driving wheels. It is thought that the models were issued under five different names including – obviously – King George V and in two colours, ‘Western’ green and BR blue. They were also available in two or three rail versions.
The photo below shows a Farish ‘King John’ and the relative crudity of the model is immediately apparent. The shroud which covers the drive shaft can be seen protruding from the tender, the front buffers are particularly undernourished and the steam pipes are modelled incorrectly in copper [like the Farish Prairie]. All Kings had this and it is not known why Farish chose to model the steam pipes in this way. The name plates were riveted to the body and plunger pick-ups can just be made out under the tender, too.
The next photo was discovered recently on eBay during a search for a Grange kit. The model was described as being an ‘unfinished King body kit’, mounted on a Hornby Dublo Castle chassis. I have shown it because it illustrates another Farish King curiousity: all, regardless of their names, were numbered 6000, the number for KGV.
Whilst the tender is certainly a Hornby Dublo [or, perhaps, Wrenn] Castle unit, the loco chassis is not obviously so. The body is definitely Farish however and the ‘6000’ can be clearly seen in the cabside casting, even though an attempt has been made to erase it.
Good quality Farish Kings are very scarce and command a high price in auction. Damaged models, like the one above, appear more regularly but, unless you are a diehard collector, it is doubtful whether restoration is really worth the effort.
With production of the Farish King ceasing around 1953, no mass-produced r-t-r Kings appeared until the late ‘70s, when Lima entered the fray. Given the popularity of this Top Link express loco in real life, and the fame of King George V in particular, this is perhaps surprising. Not even Triang or, later, Triang-Hornby took the bait.
The Lima model is now somewhat scorned but, at the time, it was then state of the art and enthusiastically welcomed. Tender driven [with traction tyres] and the tender and body semi-permanently coupled, it was available under four names and three liveries: GWR green, BR blue and BR green]. The boiler was also in part undercut, showing daylight. Unfortunately however, a single body moulding across the range meant that the GWR versions had, incorrectly, a moulding on the smokebox door for a number plate.
The publicity photos above and below, from the 1978 Lima catalogue, are rather more impressive than the models were themselves. The GWR green Kings were modelled in obviously self-coloured plastic and some of the self-coloured blue editions were quite lurid. A number also showed themselves prone to the loco chassis seizing up, a consequence of the alloy ballast weight expanding laterally in time and jamming the motion completely. But as models went, at the time, the Lima King was well received and did, after all, provide access to an r-t-r King for the first time in 25 years. Lima also capitalised on the fame of the Cornish Riviera Express by releasing a boxed set containing a GWR King and three BR Mark One coaches branded ‘Great Western’. Not really convincing!
If you want one of these models, they remain plentiful and not expensive [at least, they needn’t be if you ignore the usual eBay cowboys]. The ‘pancake’-type motors in the tenders are pretty bombproof and, with occasional servicing, last well.
At about the same time, and seemingly in competition with Lima [or was it coincidence?], Hornby released their first King, Edward l, in GWR green and, again, self-coloured plastic. Like the Lima models it was tender driven but there the similarities end. The model was not well received and compared very poorly against Lima’s better-detailed model. So much so in fact that it remained in production for just two years [1978-80] whilst the model had been sent back to Hornby’s tool-makers for a complete redesign.
Above, from a catalogue of the time, that first Hornby release. The thick plastic skirt under the boiler is clearly visible, as are the over-scale slide-bars and grey plastic cross-head. Shiny plastic buffers don’t impress, either.
And below, taken directly from the Hornby 1981 catalogue, is the retooled version with its undercut boiler, finer wheels and slide bars, better livery, more accurate cab roof profile but still that plastic cross-head! An altogether better effort however and, now, superior to the Lima offering.
From this point on, Hornby had the King market to themselves and the model in almost continuous production, producing a great many variations on the name and a variety of liveries. Always a popular loco with collectors, tastes began to change however and modellers were demanding higher standards and a return to loco drive mechanisms. Following a move to China for production at the turn of the Millennium, a completely new, super-detailed King became available in 2003. This model featured a five-pole motor in the loco itself, darkened metalwork and, a little later, a DCC socket. It was well-received and, again, available under a number of names and in three liveries: GWR green BR blue and BR green.
In 2015, Hornby produced a yet more-detailed version of their King, this time with a detailed and painted cab back-head, greater body detail and, for the first time, some with TTS decoders. Shown below, two of the more-recent super-detailed Hornby Kings.
Whilst the King is not in the current Hornby catalogue – an example last featured in 2018 – many new models remain available from dealers or as second-hand examples in the usual places, priced to suit every pocket. This perennial favourite is sure to reappear in the near future, but can you really afford the ten or eleven coaches it requires to do it justice?!