I have two DJM versions of this with DCC fitted and I have never had any problems with them. In fact I regularly double-head them. They don't stall on points on my layout and both are reasonably quiet. Keep up the good work!
I like the fact the photo in the instructions has the smokebox door installed upside down with the hinges on the right, rather than the left of the loco!!! Quality proof reading there!!!
A suggestion for a future Sam's Trains experiment: It would be cool to see you do a friction test on standard and split chassis designed pickups. Similar to your friction test on bearings. I'm not sure how much I should believe when manufacturers tell us wiper pickups cause loads of friction which decreases the performance of our models. They are only tiny little piece of metal rubbing against the wheels.
I think if Bachmann where to produce a batch of j94s at bachmanns quality then I think it would be a very good seller for Bachmann as no company has made a very good j94 in the past
Hi Sam. I think it is about time you starting singing, "The Plastic Loco Song". The first line is, "My loco wasn't quite fantastic, it was almost entirely plastic!" Thanks for uploading.
@@AbbeyYardyep, google "Hunslet Works No 3818 NCB East Fife Area No 19", should get you a photo. Granted, the colours on the model look more 'plasticky' but this horrendous livery did indeed exist 😬
Ideal loco for weathering. Ive never seen a clean NCB loco ever. Trying to remember the last one in South Wales which was based at Marine Colliery, Peckett 'Menelaus' which I passed daily on the way up to the Steel Works at Ebbw Vale, both Colliery and Steel Works no longer exist but the loco is preserved (from memory) Considering they were never main line locos, having them doing very little on an industrial section of a layout wouldnt be to bad for them. Crawling might be an issue though.
I fitted mine with a Train O Matic decoder coupled with a LaisDCC "stay alive" and it now works perfectly. I think the front coupling retainer is on upside down. On mine I had to invert it so that the springy bit fitted properly.
Hi Sam. Have an old Hornby J94 that I love. Wouldn’t swap! Just a Q: the thick rear windows at 14:42, are they by any chance fitted the wrong way round!? Is that why they look so awful?
As I've mentioned on many occasions, I've got a huge soft spot for anything that was used to haul coal wagons, so I watched the price on this example drift down and bought at 70-odd quid, after confirming that this was in fact a legitimate livery. I have to say, my example runs fine and is capable of pulling a reasonable rake of trucks, as it would have done in charge of trip workings from coal mine to mainline. Having said all that, I too thought £150 was an outrageous asking price and I would have certainly been extremely disappointed if I'd paid that price.
This locomotive used to run from Comrie Colliery to Oakley yards in Fife. I used to see this from my grans bedroom window. She is currently preserved at Bo'ness and Kinneil railway pained in Black.
Maybe powdered graphite would make a better lubricant on the axles? I've had some success (not with models) with powdered graphite, used as a lock lubricant, on electrical contacts as it's conductive.
Any small wheelbase loco should have stay alive fitted as standard by manufacturers as its not fit for purpose. The other problems also make it a bin job. Ive got an analogue Hornby J94 which is weighted to the max albeit with one of cheap motors. It does the job after I hard wired it. Comprehensive review
Hi Sam, how are you today? I was wondering if theirs a small capacitor that can be fitted to get over those open points a little better for loco's with small wheel bases? If so, maybe you could do some experiments with that and recommend a brand of capacitors or an alternative solution.
Nice video Sam very good camera work as usual I am really enjoying your lovely videos and camera work keep it up. I had spotted one of your other locos in a siding it was 68074 bye for now Philip
I've enjoyed revisiting this video, as I've long had a desire to own a J94 saddle tank. So I did another quick check on eBay, and they're still way out of my price range, even one with a slight bit of damage. It's always going to be the currency conversion rate to Aussie dollars, and high postage costs. So back it goes on my list of locomotives I can't afford, including the SDJR 7F, the GWR 2800 class and the GCR/ROD 2-8-0. It took me years for a Stanier 8F (tender drive) to show up on sale here in Australia at an affordable price.
Funny Story Sam, I bought one of these in the LNER verson and the motor burnt out within 1 year of owning it. Now it's just on static display. Cheers Jasper & Willow
Screw link couplings we’re ONLY used on locos which hailed passenger trains! I have explained before the whole point of them was so they could be adjusted to take up any slack and stop PASSENGERS from being bounced about. Goods wagons - particularly wagons of coal needed no such careful handling so if the locos were fitted with anything (and they may not have been in all cases when it comes to industrial locos - why fit a coupling to the loco when there is one on the wagon) it would be a simple 3 link type. I agree the loco itself isn’t great however….
EXCELLENT QUESTION ! For a J94, we have, nowadays, some DJM models end of stock or used, you told us what to think about them, the Hornby model second hand if you are into vintage rolling stock and don't care about NEM couplings and DCC, and this one... Split chassis and overdose of gears, that's enough for me to not buy it. And no LNER J94 available... Overall, it is an Hornby Railroad-like finish and conception, good one I shall admit, but I won't pay over GBP 75 for that. And even not over GBP 50. Anyway, the decoder installation is a complete joke, and that would have been enough of a no-go for me (the DJM one use a 6 pins decoder by the way). Like the drivetrain... For the dynamic qualities, they are correct, unless you factor in the cutout on points. So, who will manufacture a decent J94/Hunslet Austerity ? My bet is on Dapol or Rapido. and I'm happy to have not bought one of them, even if the dynamic qualities are less awfull than my DJM version. I'm waiting for another manufacturer to make one that's worth the buy.
I had exactly the same on my Hornby J94 models. I have a red and black one and Lord John, the green one that regularly visits the Epping Ongar Railway.
I bought two of the EFE Rail J94s and then the model you bought at the cheaper price you showed from Rails. All three of mine run really well. However, I have two of the older DJ Models J94s and they are crap in comparison. I did want a DJM Class 71 (Golden Arrow) but didn't want to risk it. Fortunately, I found a converted Hornby Class 71 and it runs really well.
The problem I’ve had with mine is it cuts out due to poor conductivity through the bearing pickups, particularly with oil based lube. Totally fixed it by using graphite lubricant - it lubricates and conducts. This totally transformef the running. A lot of heavy discounting on Bachmann models at the moment, indicating they’ve been priced way too high and stock not shifting.
Lovely little J94!! It looks such fun!! But the new Bachmann product in the EFE branding is probably a much better locomotive for the type of train you would want to run!!
Decent review here Sam, interesting livery especially for NCB, my dads n gauge j94 is in NCB but it’s a different NCB livery where the whole loco is in a dark blue colour and has no yellow cab, my most recent model was from EFE and you were asking how my 58 was and I’m happy to say it’s an excellent model, regardless of how this model is I may look into one of these in the future, I don’t have a j94 and in my opinion they are quite nice looking engines.
Wow those are three letter I thought had left the hobby! When DJM ceased trading I decided to pick up what I think was their only N gauge product (a mermaid ballast wagon) from a major retailer for a small discount. This was mainly to say I had one, original packaging and all (the model is now in the EFE range). For an n gauge wagon it’s quite nice, but a basic feature (the hight of the buffers above the rails) is noticeably wrong….
I'm wondering if the mototr could be installed into a DJM version to improve performance. It is one of the few spares available to buy. I would also like the drop in faux valve plate, as that was the plan for the DJM version, but you can't buy that as a spare.
“Well, I do suppose I have time for a short story.. there was an engine I worked alongside in a steel manufacturing plant, and his name.. his name was sixteen.”
My dad was a coal miner and all the locos where he worked - both steam and diesel - were filthy and very poorly maintained. However 1 Pannier tank (9600) that worked at the mine made it into preservation and even ran on the mainline for while.
Looking at the space inside the boiler when you had the body off, it looks as if there is enough room to put a small amount of lead weight in it, if y you were to wrap the decoder board in insulating tape.
The blue buffers on the yellow bufferbeam look smashing. I may just have to pick one of these up. This little J94 will look at home with my NCB B2 Pecketts from Hornby.
My twelve WD/J94 locos lead a hard exhibition life. All are DCC sound fitted and have stay-alive. The newest is an EFE, and the oldest an original Dapol that is pushing 40 years old. The EFE and DJM have the speakers in the smokebox under the chimney and were fitted through the smokebox. On a colliery layout the EFE and DJM locos are a bit more track sensitive than the Hornby. Otherwise little to choose between them. Four of my 5 DJMs are very quiet, considerably quieter than yours. For a noisy loco try the ancient Dapol, which growls when above walking pace. The big disadvantage of the DJM and EFE are that the handrails are very fragile. Advantage is that there is no heavy join line along the bottom of the saddletank as in the Hornby. Why 12?- the most appropriate for the collieries in the area.
Another informative and useful video. Personally, this particular livery does not appeal at all to be but it is different. I will stick with my Hornby, Dapol-derived J94s.
Just checked the EFE site Sam. 6 Liveries selling at £95.95 now, except the BR black one for £108.95. We're not very sure what to think about it tbh. This particular livery looks a tad cheapish which doesn't very much help. For a 2rail system, of course electrofrogs are the way to go to avoid loss of contact, but overall this loco should be priced at ~£80 max indeed and then still one has to accept quite some silly design choices and a faltering coupling... A score of 5.56 is well deserved in the end. Cheerio.
Mr. Sam Train I'm not trying to be rude (love the channel), but why don't you include photos of the real loco alongside the model? Just asking so maybe we can get a real time comparison.
Has anyone else noticed the gaps between all of the handrail knobs on the top side of the boiler ? Blue buffers and stocks ! Awful, I would not even give £50 for this model.
I'm sorry, RRP of £150 for a J94? That's insanity, for a split chassis model too, shocking how Bachmann can think they can just rip off their customers like that...
I've only tried one model from EFE- their recent Class 144 Pacer. On DCC it works really well, and many of the imperfections of the donor model have been corrected. The cheapest online is £200 though! Cost aside, it'd be fun to see a review...
Genuine question: what is the attraction of the Pacers? I remember bumping along in these constantly screeching bus/trains and hating every minute of the experience. I even stopped travelling by train in the South Wales Valleys for a while as I just couldn't stand it!
@@stephendavies6949 For me I never experienced them so have never had much care towards them. It's just because the model is the only one with the Valley lines livery that I know of.
Pay a small fortune for what was always a flawed model in design and quality and now outmoded by things like rapido’s hunslet and planet industrials victory. Even hornby 0-6-0 peckett is way nicer in term of finish and detail. In fact apart from the mould line down the side of the saddle tank and the separately fitted smoke box dart it’s not really better than the hornby ex Dapol ex airfix 1980s one in terms of detail and that’s got a screw in the chimney too! EFE must stand for for expensive f*cking effluent.
Tbh I'm still not 100% satisfied with the discount price. I'm more than happy enough to wait 5 years and buy a second hand one for £40-£50. Edit: actually with the constant cutting out I'm just going to buy an old hornby one and customise it to what I want. 😊
One of the things I do when I get a new engine out of the box, is to clean the wheels. Though they look clean, you would see a lot of dark "something" (oily grease due to machining?) I use isopropyl alcohol 91%. Good review though. Cheers.
They weren't all built by Hunslet...... They were built by builders such as Andrew Barclay, Robert Stephenson and Hawthorne, Vulcan Foundary and Bagnall also....
Here in America, some railroads like Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, and recently CSX that have what are called Heritage Units, those are locomotives painted and lettered in that railroad's predecessors, CSX recently started making their own, and there have been models of the Heritage units, you should check a few of them out
I think these engines look pretty good, i love saddle tanks but ive never bought one as ive always thought there over priced even at there discounted price
I agree that some of the features are you like however I don’t think that livery does the model any justice. Even though I know it’s fully intentional but to me it still just looks like EFE Rail neglected to paint 90% of the details! From any sort of distance the loco seems to lose some of its definition and it almost looks like the body is made of two large plastic parts that have just been taken out of the mould and glued together.
I bought this locomotive a year ago and it’s still been running very well!
I have two DJM versions of this with DCC fitted and I have never had any problems with them. In fact I regularly double-head them. They don't stall on points on my layout and both are reasonably quiet. Keep up the good work!
As usual an interesting and entertaining review. Any chance of reviewing the old Hornby J94 as a comparison?
Sam’s Trains - buying and reviewing models so we don’t have to!! (At least - you help us make good buying decisions - Thank You!)
I like the fact the photo in the instructions has the smokebox door installed upside down with the hinges on the right, rather than the left of the loco!!! Quality proof reading there!!!
No. 19!!! I’ve seen that engine at the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway alot of my time volunteering there!
A suggestion for a future Sam's Trains experiment:
It would be cool to see you do a friction test on standard and split chassis designed pickups. Similar to your friction test on bearings.
I'm not sure how much I should believe when manufacturers tell us wiper pickups cause loads of friction which decreases the performance of our models. They are only tiny little piece of metal rubbing against the wheels.
I do like the J94s, but if only someone would produce a properly good model of one! Great video!
I agree!! I guess the Rapido Hunslet is the closest we'll get for now!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
The ultimate Austerity; one Austerity to rule them all... that's what the world needs. Who's going to step up and make it?
What is the hornby one like is it better in either detail or performance?
@@SamsTrainsGreat looking loco. I've pre-ordered the black with yellow diagonal stripes version!
@@pooletrainboyI think so. I've got couple and they're very good, reliable performers.
I think if Bachmann where to produce a batch of j94s at bachmanns quality then I think it would be a very good seller for Bachmann as no company has made a very good j94 in the past
This is right up there with the "steampunk" ones they did
Hi Sam. I think it is about time you starting singing, "The Plastic Loco Song". The first line is, "My loco wasn't quite fantastic, it was almost entirely plastic!" Thanks for uploading.
Geez, that paint scheme is tacky. It's livery kinda looks like a stunt plane instead of a locomotive.
It looks like a toy train.
It’s authentic to a locomotive that was still in use in that condition in Scotland into the 80’s (albeit quite weathered) and is preserved I believe.
@@gc7820 Even the blue buffers? And garish paintwork, especially on the cab and buffer beams?
Tacky, but accurate
@@AbbeyYardyep, google "Hunslet Works No 3818 NCB East Fife Area No 19", should get you a photo. Granted, the colours on the model look more 'plasticky' but this horrendous livery did indeed exist 😬
Ideal loco for weathering. Ive never seen a clean NCB loco ever. Trying to remember the last one in South Wales which was based at Marine Colliery, Peckett 'Menelaus' which I passed daily on the way up to the Steel Works at Ebbw Vale, both Colliery and Steel Works no longer exist but the loco is preserved (from memory) Considering they were never main line locos, having them doing very little on an industrial section of a layout wouldnt be to bad for them. Crawling might be an issue though.
Thanks a lot for sharing - I can imagine this looking much better with weathering!!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Zoo wee mama! Look at the colours on that, Sam!
I mean honestly Hornby could takes notes from them on how to make unwarped plastic running boards XD
I fitted mine with a Train O Matic decoder coupled with a LaisDCC "stay alive" and it now works perfectly. I think the front coupling retainer is on upside down. On mine I had to invert it so that the springy bit fitted properly.
What a fascinating livery! I do love a bit of variety in liveries. Makes a change from just boring ol’ black
Me too - I do like unusual liveries too!!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Really helpful review - was nearly tempted by the current half price offers but this review has been enlightening. Thanks 😊
They are selling them for £50 at rails of Sheffield if that sounds better now 😊
Hi Sam. Have an old Hornby J94 that I love. Wouldn’t swap! Just a Q: the thick rear windows at 14:42, are they by any chance fitted the wrong way round!? Is that why they look so awful?
Small shunting locos don’t usually have-screw link couplings !
As I've mentioned on many occasions, I've got a huge soft spot for anything that was used to haul coal wagons, so I watched the price on this example drift down and bought at 70-odd quid, after confirming that this was in fact a legitimate livery.
I have to say, my example runs fine and is capable of pulling a reasonable rake of trucks, as it would have done in charge of trip workings from coal mine to mainline.
Having said all that, I too thought £150 was an outrageous asking price and I would have certainly been extremely disappointed if I'd paid that price.
This locomotive used to run from Comrie Colliery to Oakley yards in Fife. I used to see this from my grans bedroom window. She is currently preserved at Bo'ness and Kinneil railway pained in Black.
Your Gran or the loco? (Sorry, I couldn't resist it)
@@catinarage5538 LOL
Maybe powdered graphite would make a better lubricant on the axles? I've had some success (not with models) with powdered graphite, used as a lock lubricant, on electrical contacts as it's conductive.
Any small wheelbase loco should have stay alive fitted as standard by manufacturers as its not fit for purpose. The other problems also make it a bin job. Ive got an analogue Hornby J94 which is weighted to the max albeit with one of cheap motors. It does the job after I hard wired it. Comprehensive review
Three saddle tanks in the sidings, with a side tank being the odd one out
Excellent review Sam love the old NCB livery
Thank you! Yeah it's pretty cool isn't it?? :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Hi Sam, how are you today? I was wondering if theirs a small capacitor that can be fitted to get over those open points a little better for loco's with small wheel bases? If so, maybe you could do some experiments with that and recommend a brand of capacitors or an alternative solution.
Great idea! A stay-alive for DC locos
@@stephendavies6949 The trick would be for the mechanism to maintain the same voltage it drop at.
Nice video Sam very good camera work as usual I am really enjoying your lovely videos and camera work keep it up. I had spotted one of your other locos in a siding it was 68074 bye for now Philip
“these locomotives are absolutely adequate” -Dickie Dickson of Martin Mart Martinson 😂😂
Ironically, i was just looking at that locomotive yesterday.
I've enjoyed revisiting this video, as I've long had a desire to own a J94 saddle tank. So I did another quick check on eBay, and they're still way out of my price range, even one with a slight bit of damage. It's always going to be the currency conversion rate to Aussie dollars, and high postage costs. So back it goes on my list of locomotives I can't afford, including the SDJR 7F, the GWR 2800 class and the GCR/ROD 2-8-0. It took me years for a Stanier 8F (tender drive) to show up on sale here in Australia at an affordable price.
Funny Story Sam, I bought one of these in the LNER verson and the motor burnt out within 1 year of owning it. Now it's just on static display.
Cheers Jasper & Willow
Ahh dear that's very annoying - presumably just outside of the warranty period then? :(
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I have 3 efe j94s they all run flawlessly they all pull 7 pullmans without and issue and theyre very quiet too
Mine example of this one is a great little performer too. But Sam does makes some very good points about its shortcomings.
I can't believe it still has all wheel drive, that seems like the first on the to-do list to improve an old DJM model's reliability.
Anyone else notice the upside down smokebox door on the instructions?
The blue shirt 👕 is a good color for you, Sam! 👍🏼
haha thank you!! :D
Awesome video Sam's trains
Thanks Brian! :D
@@SamsTrains you're welcome 😊 buddy 😊
i need a j94 what do i get i use dcc also i think hornby would be best but idk
Screw link couplings we’re ONLY used on locos which hailed passenger trains!
I have explained before the whole point of them was so they could be adjusted to take up any slack and stop PASSENGERS from being bounced about.
Goods wagons - particularly wagons of coal needed no such careful handling so if the locos were fitted with anything (and they may not have been in all cases when it comes to industrial locos - why fit a coupling to the loco when there is one on the wagon) it would be a simple 3 link type.
I agree the loco itself isn’t great however….
EXCELLENT QUESTION !
For a J94, we have, nowadays, some DJM models end of stock or used, you told us what to think about them, the Hornby model second hand if you are into vintage rolling stock and don't care about NEM couplings and DCC, and this one...
Split chassis and overdose of gears, that's enough for me to not buy it. And no LNER J94 available...
Overall, it is an Hornby Railroad-like finish and conception, good one I shall admit, but I won't pay over GBP 75 for that. And even not over GBP 50. Anyway, the decoder installation is a complete joke, and that would have been enough of a no-go for me (the DJM one use a 6 pins decoder by the way). Like the drivetrain...
For the dynamic qualities, they are correct, unless you factor in the cutout on points.
So, who will manufacture a decent J94/Hunslet Austerity ? My bet is on Dapol or Rapido. and I'm happy to have not bought one of them, even if the dynamic qualities are less awfull than my DJM version. I'm waiting for another manufacturer to make one that's worth the buy.
Nice to see an NCB locomtive as most heritage railways in tyneside have!
11:08 why are the wheel counterweights so wonky and off balance ? ( I know they’re fake but still )
Ahh interesting - I hadn't noticecd that!!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
@@SamsTrains couldn’t even put the rods and wheel weights correctly, clearly cheaply made, anyway good review on this loco
They're accurate, J94s are weird!
They are accurately positioned for the Austerity
I had exactly the same on my Hornby J94 models. I have a red and black one and Lord John, the green one that regularly visits the Epping Ongar Railway.
Bachmann just made an announcement for EFE Rail. They have 2 train packs coming. It’s mainly coaches.
Can't imagine that yellow cab would look too yellow after a week working at the coal mine.
I bought two of the EFE Rail J94s and then the model you bought at the cheaper price you showed from Rails. All three of mine run really well. However, I have two of the older DJ Models J94s and they are crap in comparison. I did want a DJM Class 71 (Golden Arrow) but didn't want to risk it. Fortunately, I found a converted Hornby Class 71 and it runs really well.
The problem I’ve had with mine is it cuts out due to poor conductivity through the bearing pickups, particularly with oil based lube. Totally fixed it by using graphite lubricant - it lubricates and conducts. This totally transformef the running. A lot of heavy discounting on Bachmann models at the moment, indicating they’ve been priced way too high and stock not shifting.
Thanks for the mention for scunthorpe sam ! Have you ever visited our preserved group , the appleby frodingham railway ?
Love the NCB livery
The No.19 operated at Comrie Colliery in scotland and I believe still exsits as No.3818
Lovely little J94!! It looks such fun!! But the new Bachmann product in the EFE branding is probably a much better locomotive for the type of train you would want to run!!
Probably the weirdest livery a engine has ever worn, really adds to the irony of the model
Decent review here Sam, interesting livery especially for NCB, my dads n gauge j94 is in NCB but it’s a different NCB livery where the whole loco is in a dark blue colour and has no yellow cab, my most recent model was from EFE and you were asking how my 58 was and I’m happy to say it’s an excellent model, regardless of how this model is I may look into one of these in the future, I don’t have a j94 and in my opinion they are quite nice looking engines.
Thanks a lot David - I like the sound of the dark blue! Glad to hear you're pleased with the 58!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Awesome video today Sam really like the j94
Wow those are three letter I thought had left the hobby!
When DJM ceased trading I decided to pick up what I think was their only N gauge product (a mermaid ballast wagon) from a major retailer for a small discount. This was mainly to say I had one, original packaging and all (the model is now in the EFE range).
For an n gauge wagon it’s quite nice, but a basic feature (the hight of the buffers above the rails) is noticeably wrong….
For a moment there I thought the 3 letters to which you were referring were NCB.....!
@@stephendavies6949 ha!
Very good 🤣
I'm wondering if the mototr could be installed into a DJM version to improve performance. It is one of the few spares available to buy. I would also like the drop in faux valve plate, as that was the plan for the DJM version, but you can't buy that as a spare.
“Well, I do suppose I have time for a short story.. there was an engine I worked alongside in a steel manufacturing plant, and his name.. his name was sixteen.”
It needs to be really heavily weathered to make it look anything like they did in real life, NCB loco's were usually pretty grotty.
My dad was a coal miner and all the locos where he worked - both steam and diesel - were filthy and very poorly maintained. However 1 Pannier tank (9600) that worked at the mine made it into preservation and even ran on the mainline for while.
I love your content it has inspired me to build my own Little Reilway😊 called pinat Reilway
The counterweights on middle wheels look to be in position.?just looked at pics on net and there right.
Looking at the space inside the boiler when you had the body off, it looks as if there is enough room to put a small amount of lead weight in it, if y you were to wrap the decoder board in insulating tape.
Oh dear, the giant railway worker is back at the water tower!
Nice bright colourful loco 👍😊🤩
The blue buffers on the yellow bufferbeam look smashing. I may just have to pick one of these up. This little J94 will look at home with my NCB B2 Pecketts from Hornby.
haha yeah it's a very interesting look isn't it! Ahh yes it'd work great alongside those!!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
I wonder how the hornby j94 would compare against the bachmann and dj one?
Hornby much better IMO
Was that the missing magnet black taped to the smokebox door?
maybe get all electrofrog points that could help with cutting out. small shunters sometimes cut out on insulfrogs due to there been that dead point
My twelve WD/J94 locos lead a hard exhibition life. All are DCC sound fitted and have stay-alive. The newest is an EFE, and the oldest an original Dapol that is pushing 40 years old. The EFE and DJM have the speakers in the smokebox under the chimney and were fitted through the smokebox. On a colliery layout the EFE and DJM locos are a bit more track sensitive than the Hornby. Otherwise little to choose between them. Four of my 5 DJMs are very quiet, considerably quieter than yours. For a noisy loco try the ancient Dapol, which growls when above walking pace. The big disadvantage of the DJM and EFE are that the handrails are very fragile. Advantage is that there is no heavy join line along the bottom of the saddletank as in the Hornby. Why 12?- the most appropriate for the collieries in the area.
In our troubled times, this livery will sadly attract missiles like a pint of beer attracts flies ^^'
Love the livery myself. Very much accurate to the real loco it's based in, just too clean
@@plumtreeworks5225 weathering required!
*drop the loco in a bucket full of coal*
Any chance you could let us know if the hm7000 Bluetooth decoder fits?
17:52 I wonder if it was glued on?
Another informative and useful video. Personally, this particular livery does not appeal at all to be but it is different. I will stick with my Hornby, Dapol-derived J94s.
Livery is oddly striking but authentic when the loco worked at a coal mine in Fife, Scotland. Totally agree the Hornby version is superior.
haha that's fair enough - it certainly is a strange livery!!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Which one would be the best to get as I'm not sure which one to get
I won't be changing my old dapol 1 (for £25)
Which runs lovely when run in & lubed up.
Just checked the EFE site Sam. 6 Liveries selling at £95.95 now, except the BR black one for £108.95. We're not very sure what to think about it tbh. This particular livery looks a tad cheapish which doesn't very much help. For a 2rail system, of course electrofrogs are the way to go to avoid loss of contact, but overall this loco should be priced at ~£80 max indeed and then still one has to accept quite some silly design choices and a faltering coupling... A score of 5.56 is well deserved in the end. Cheerio.
TMC & Rails of Sheffield are selling them for under £80
Mr. Sam Train I'm not trying to be rude (love the channel), but why don't you include photos of the real loco alongside the model? Just asking so maybe we can get a real time comparison.
i think it would be a rather nice 65-75$ locomotive.
the looks of it though, great looking paint scheme.
The livery is a bit worrying. It makes the model look more like a prototypical mould than a working loco.
Super great video Sam’s trains maybe you should do a shunting video with a j94 and any other tank engines on your layout
That could be fun David, thanks for the idea!! :D
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Never heard Sam say plastic so much he’s gonna have a saw cough in the morning 😂😂
Has anyone else noticed the gaps between all of the handrail knobs on the top side of the boiler ? Blue buffers and stocks ! Awful, I would not even give £50 for this model.
I'm sorry, RRP of £150 for a J94?
That's insanity, for a split chassis model too, shocking how Bachmann can think they can just rip off their customers like that...
I find it hilarious that while you were complaining about the quality of the old J94 model the smokebox door fell off.
I've only tried one model from EFE- their recent Class 144 Pacer. On DCC it works really well, and many of the imperfections of the donor model have been corrected. The cheapest online is £200 though! Cost aside, it'd be fun to see a review...
Agreed and hopefully he does the Valley lines liveried one as thats the most interesting one in my opinion.
Genuine question: what is the attraction of the Pacers? I remember bumping along in these constantly screeching bus/trains and hating every minute of the experience. I even stopped travelling by train in the South Wales Valleys for a while as I just couldn't stand it!
@@stephendavies6949 For me I never experienced them so have never had much care towards them. It's just because the model is the only one with the Valley lines livery that I know of.
Yeah I did see those pacers, would be very interesting to try one!!
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
Realtrack are doing an updated class 142 Pacer as well.
Quite a very interesting color scheme on the tank engine
Yup the internal working engines of the coal board ended up in some pretty funky liveries
Pay a small fortune for what was always a flawed model in design and quality and now outmoded by things like rapido’s hunslet and planet industrials victory. Even hornby 0-6-0 peckett is way nicer in term of finish and detail. In fact apart from the mould line down the side of the saddle tank and the separately fitted smoke box dart it’s not really better than the hornby ex Dapol ex airfix 1980s one in terms of detail and that’s got a screw in the chimney too! EFE must stand for for expensive f*cking effluent.
The colour scheme fooled me into thinking it was a cheap plastic toy train for a split second 😂
Yet very much a real livery!
@plumtreeworks5225 really? Whoever decided that should be a livery needs to learn colour coordination
The train short a looks like a character from Tomas the tank engine
haha yeah it does! I thought there was a character of this class??
Thanks for watching - Sam :)
It looks like Wilbert and Sixteen’s multicoloured cousin? I think I’ll call him Norville. Watch the fandom create a story about him within a few days.
Tbh I'm still not 100% satisfied with the discount price. I'm more than happy enough to wait 5 years and buy a second hand one for £40-£50.
Edit: actually with the constant cutting out I'm just going to buy an old hornby one and customise it to what I want. 😊
“I’m trying not to prejudge” press X to doubt
That livery is…certainly something!
If you Google the engine you'll find a photo of it in that (albeit rather dirty) livery working at a Scottish coal mine
@@stephendavies6949 interesting! Thank you for that information.
One of the things I do when I get a new engine out of the box, is to clean the wheels. Though they look clean, you would see a lot of dark "something" (oily grease due to machining?) I use isopropyl alcohol 91%. Good review though. Cheers.
Could you do a review of the EFE Rail class 58?
Sams trains the model you had is a paint color green and light cyan
They weren't all built by Hunslet...... They were built by builders such as Andrew Barclay, Robert Stephenson and Hawthorne, Vulcan Foundary and Bagnall also....
Here in America, some railroads like Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, and recently CSX that have what are called Heritage Units, those are locomotives painted and lettered in that railroad's predecessors, CSX recently started making their own, and there have been models of the Heritage units, you should check a few of them out
The Bachmann Junior 060 saddle tank performs better im sure, you should compare the two.
Is this the same as a hunslet austerity? They look identical to me
J94 is the name that the LNER gave to the ones they got post-war
I think these engines look pretty good, i love saddle tanks but ive never bought one as ive always thought there over priced even at there discounted price
It looks like it belongs in one of those old My First Hornby train sets if anything.
I agree that some of the features are you like however I don’t think that livery does the model any justice. Even though I know it’s fully intentional but to me it still just looks like EFE Rail neglected to paint 90% of the details! From any sort of distance the loco seems to lose some of its definition and it almost looks like the body is made of two large plastic parts that have just been taken out of the mould and glued together.