THE AZUMA ARRIVES....!!!

Well, at nearly four years in the waiting since first announced and coming in with a hefty price tag to match, the Hornby LNER Azuma 5 car pack has now finally reached us, and Colcester has its very own unit for its fleet...

With the layout presently in pieces, i have not yet been able to run this locomotive to see how she handles but it has been fitted with two 8 pin decoders courtesy of Rob from Great Eastern Models in Norwich and he assures me it runs like a dream and has been tested on the shop test track.

The Azuma comes as a power car fitted with a five-pole motor and is quite weighty, that should provide the wheels with alot of traction especially if you wish to run 9 or 11 car trains. The application of the livery on my model is faultless and the detailing very crisp, i like the destination panels on the coach sides and the fact that the coach designation has been picked out on each door. The corridor connectors are made of a rubberised surround which ive never seen on a model before, this has nearly always been moulded plastic.

Now, ive seen some reports of "light bleed" issues which is obviously a problem for a lot of people and as your paying nearly £500 for this model it could be seen as unacceptable. For me its not a problem - i do not plan to be running my trains in the dark, i like to see them. Criticisms have also been levelled at the pantograph as well, many stating its too fragile and could easily break. Its true that on both the power car and the dummy car the pantograph does look like its a very weak, thin plastic one mainly for cosmetic use and i would surmise that its the type you would set at a level just below your catenary wire to avoid snagging and leave in that position. Since we do not have any working UK catenary system which provides power to a loco anymore, and given with DCC it would possibly be achievable but not recommended, the whole argument over the vtype of pantograph used is really down to just aesthetics and personal taste. For me it works fine as it is.

So, i now really need to get cracking on with the new layout and get some track down because i really want to see this EMU set in action, and more importantly i want to see if it will handle the split-level idea i have planned for the layout incline. I am certain most of my trains will cope without a hitch, the Azuma looks like it should do it too but the proof is going to come when we test it,

So, here are a few pictures of Colcester`s new arrival - The Azuma....