Hungarian Railways MAV 109.109 in HO

15 years ago, for the grand total of $20 I got to drive/fire / hang out on 109.109 on the mainline for a good 2-3 hours on a regular Sunday service run, a precursor to what became the museum operation that exists today.

At that time, thought of any Hungarian model railways beyond the odd coach or Piko East German model were distant "wouldn't it be good if..."

In late 2012 Roco got me all excited when they released an Austrian railways prototype (109.13) and announced they would make arguably the first true Hungarian prototype steam model by any company., 109.109


The prototype itself is well travelled across most of Eastern Europe and has been to Wolstzyn in Poland several times as well as events in Czech, Slovak, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, much of the former Austrian Empire to which this early example of a 4-6-0 was built.

The model is fantastic, though I do have to say for the first time, as a new outline model Roco has slipped behind the leagues if Hornby and Bachmann on details such as separate piping, cab fittings and sprung buffers... Who would ever have thought even 5 years ago we would be saying detailed models in the UK would be a higher standard than Europe ??
The model is however finished to an excellent standard and comes with brass plates for builders etc, as well as the usual bag of bits. It is 10 out of 10 for display box presentation finish and excellently detailed low profile wheels and motion. Not a flaw on it.

Hasn't much changed in 20 years, but either way I am a happy bunny..

Enjoy the pictures