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Ellis Clark	Ellis Clark
Unit 13 Baildon Mills	01756 701451
Northgate
Baildon	Email: ellis@ellisclarktrains.com
Shipley	Web: http://www.ellisclarktrains.co.uk
West Yorkshire
BD17 6JX

Bought and reviewed by Geoffrey Goddin

After a gestation of 5 years, the Black 5 has arrived with us. On opening the box you find a well packed locomotive securely attached to an acrylic plinth and surrounded by foam blocks. The manual provides advice on safely removing the plinth, and how to connect loco and tender. It is advice well worth following for this heavy and detailed model.

The loco weighs 1.5kg, which is spot on for the prototype’s 75 tons (I take 1 kilo = 50 tons as a guide). The tender weighs 0.53kg which is light for the 54ton prototype. You could add weight but wouldn’t you rather benefit from the haulage capacity? Cab detail is a pleasure, but if you want the DCC switchable ‘firebox glow’ to play on your crew, you need to open the firebox doors. The fall-plate extends back from the cab, but is not hinged and does not rest on the tender floor. The loco-tender gap is wider to allow for running on PECO radius 2 curves. (There is no Lionheart 43xx/Chrezo 140 variable drawbar type arrangement for widening the tender gap on sharper curves).

Before you actually place your Black 5 on your track, check you have fully pushed home the loco/tender connecting plug. I hadn’t and initially had a silent and immobile ‘5’.

Ellis Clark states that ‘the biggest challenge’ of the whole Black 5 project was to achieve good running on Radius 2 curves, and as per my photos, this has been really achieved. The manual suggests leaving off certain detail parts for R2 running, but in my experience this is not necessary. The other challenge was to engineer a quality product, so sprung axle boxes with ball bearings, Maxon motor, helical gearbox and all metal valve gear should all ensure smooth running and a long life.

Rather like the Dapol RTR terrier and 08 Diesel shunter models before, I believe the EC Black 5 could be quite a game changer for our hobby. Many of us have, or are building, smaller layouts. We accept that smaller engines and shorter trains are part of the bargain, but would like one large loco to grace our rails. This Black 5 model is well engineered and detailed and yet comes in at a very attractive price point compared to other RTR larger locos.

Optional DCC sound is available too. One thing to be noted is that the ‘DCC premium’ at £266 (currently) is more than the typical differential. However, a lot of care has gone into the DCC variant, apart from the authentic sound files, you get two speakers within the loco, so the sound comes from the right place, the Zimo chip is equipped with an effective ‘stay-alive’, the chip is configured to give a ‘drive, coast and brake’ experience, and synchronisation is spot on. You need only visit the programming track to enter your loco’s actual number. I have to say those 5 years spent researching and receiving feedback on this model have really paid off; this Black 5 is a real pleasure to own and operate.