My daughter spent a semester in London last fall. One day she texted me that she had stumbled upon the London Transport Museum in Coventry Garden and went inside to explore their gift shop. Here's what she found. Being a fan of passenger trains, light rail and transit, I had to have one of these for the layout. A bit shocked by the price, I did some exploring on the Internet but learned that this was an exclusive product that Bachmann made for the Museum only, and that was the only place they could be purchased. I asked her to to pick one up before the end of the semester and she did. Turns out she got the next to the last set at a close-out price of 20% off! It is OO scale (1/76), but is designed with a track gauge to run on HO scale track. Somehow she fit it in her luggage and brought it home. The set models the Metropolitan Line, one of the newest lines with its distinctive red, white and blue paint scheme. The prototype train sets, manufactured by Bombardier, are 7 or 8 cars, but the model set has just four. Additional cars can be purchased to create a longer train set. Even the four car set looks impressive, seen here gliding into the station at Pittsburgh. The model is nicely detailed with reversing LED headlights/tail lights, windscreen wipers, cab interior and even lighted destination boards reading: "Aldgate, Metropolitan Line." My daughter rode that route a few times when in London. Detailed interiors, roof and undercarriage details, and flexible diaphragms between the cars add realism. It was a quick task to add Lokpilot 21-pin decoders to the head and tail cars, priced at about $25 each. Sound could be added, but I could not justify the cost or the effort - subway trains make very little noise. And to sweeten the deal, my daughter brought me a poster of the underground system map and a "Mind the Gap" t-shirt!
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December 2023
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