Written by Richard Grigg

Introduction

Peter Sam was first introduced to the Railway Series in 1955 with the publication of the 10th book titled "Four little Engines". He later made his television debut in the episode "Granpuff", the first episode of series 4 of "Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends" (1994-1995), albeit under his original name Stuart.

Stuart was built in 1920 by Kerr Stuart & Co as part of their Tattoo class of narrow gauge locomotives and was delivered to the Island of Sodor the same year to work on the Mid Sodor Railway. After the closure of the MSR in 1948 Stuart, together with his friend Falcon (later called Sir Handel), went to work on an expansion project at the Sodor Aluminium Works at Peel Godred. Both engines were withdrawn in 1951 upon completion of the project and a year later were purchased by Sir Handel Brown, owner of the Skarloey Railway, where Stuart was given a new livery and renamed Peter Sam after the SR's controller, who was affectionately known too everyone as The Thin Controlller.

Peter Sam's working life on the Skarloey Railway wasn't always plain sailing, as in 1958 he was involved in a serious accident up at the slate quarry when some loaded slate wagons crashed into him resulting in a damaged funnel amongst other things. He would eventually lose his funnel 3 years later in 1961 thanks to a low hanging thick icicle inside Rheneas Tunnel. He would later be fitted with a special Giesl ejector funnel which he still wears to this day.

The Skarloey Railway's no:- 4 engine is the latest addition to Bachmann Trains' ever popular Thomas and Friends narrow gauge range and in this review we shall be taking a closer look at him.

Product code: 58604

RRP: $159.00

Packaging

Nothing has changed in 7 years as far as the packaging goes. It's the same 2-part clam shell plastic casing in a sturdy cardboard box. The only change is to the box artwork, which is now into it's 3rd generation. The model also has enclosed with it the usual paperwork which consists of the exploded diagram, the warranty form and a Bachmann catalogue order form.

Detail

Peter Sam is based on the Tal-y-llyn Railway's no:-4 engine 'Edward Thomas' and, for the most part, closely resembles the prototype. Any one wanting to convert this model into a full on Kerr Stuart Tattoo class will have their work cut out as Peter Sam isn't as close of a resemblance to Edward Thomas as Skarloey and Rheneas are to Tal-y-llyn and Dolgoch respectively. The place where this is most noticeable is by the lack of daylight under the boiler.

Never the less Peter Sam is a perfect recreation of his CGI rendering from the TV series and just like the others that have come before him his model is bristling with details.

Moulded details include:

Hatch doors moulded into the rear cab wall
Rivets on the cab sides & rear, buffer beams and behind the smokebox
coal load in the bunker
Pipework below the saddle tank on either side
Cylinder head detail
Water filler cap
Handrails either side of the smokebox
Separately fitted details include:
A tail lamp
Twin whistle valves

The BEMO style hook and loop couplings sadly rear their heads again but thankfully continue to come in pivoting NEM sockets allowing the modeller to swap them out for couplings of their choice. The open cab makes a welcome return, except for a small area in the center of the space but this is due to the way that Peter Sam is driven by his motor, which we'll come onto later in the review.

Livery Application

In the Railway Series when Peter Sam worked on the Mid Sodor Railway (and was still called Stuart) he was originally painted green and was later repainted into the scarlet red of the Skarloey Railway, however in the TV series he retained his green livery as part of the production decision to make the narrow gauge characters easier to tell apart.

The model sports a gorgeous deep green with red lining along the saddle tank, cab sides and cylinder casings and the cab windows are picked out in gold on their frames. The name and number plates are sharp and crisp in gold on red backing and framed with gold borderlines.

Performance

Peter Sam is fitted with a centrally mounted motor with twin worm gears and a flywheel at the front. This model is unique in how the motor is geared up to the wheels in that the front worm gear is connected to the front drive axle while the rear worm gear is linked to the trailing pony truck, hence the reason why the cab has a mound in the middle of it to allow for the gears to connect up. The rear drive axle is the only one not geared up to the motor but it's not necessary as the model's performance proves.

Peter Sam was a smooth runner even before the run in period was conducted and thanks to the die cast metal body (minus the plastic cab) the tractive effort is more than adequate. There's power pick up on all wheels as well as turned brass bearings on all axles.

As with all the Skarloey Railway models Bachmann have labeled Peter Sam's turning radius as 11 and a quarter inches however he's able to traverse 9 inch radius curved track with no problems at all.

Final Thoughts

Peter Sam has gained a reputation within the Thomas fan community as a favourite and beloved character, so when Bachmann announced their model of him in 2019 the news was understandably met with great excitement and anticipation. Sadly, no small thanks to the pandemic, we've had to wait a little longer than usual for his release but I can say without doubt that the wait was definitely worth it and I can see him selling fast like Skarloey way back in 2015.

The TV series accurate appearance coupled with the faultless performance makes this a stunning addition to most OO9 modellers' collections. Conversion into a prototypical Tattoo is a bit problematic but not impossible and I'm sure that several 3D printed body replacements will be available in due time.

At the time of writing this review Bachmann Trains have already announced that Sir Handel will be the next engine in the Skarloey Railway fleet to arrive. Given Peter Sam's warm reception, he's got a lot to live up to.