In Railway Bylines, July 1998 there appeared an article about the Kerr Stuart Victory 0-6-0 tank locos. The article about the class of ten loco built in 1917 for the Inland and Dockland Waterways Department also included a 7mm drawing. There were dimensions of side, front and rear and I recall thinking that I might build a model of one someday. Half a dozen Prairies, Panniers and 1400s later it had not happened, when, towards the end of last year, along came the Minerva pre delivery offer. I decided to buy one and it was delivered in December.

The loco ran well straight from the box but had a couple of issues that were pointed out to the manufacturer. One of the coupling rods had a slight bend in it, and the rear bunker and cab assembly had sprung out of the footplate on one side. I removed the chassis and keeper plate and easily straightened the rod. The body joins to the metal footplate with screws at the front and tabs at the rear and carefully filing one of the slots allowed the cab/bunker assembly to mate correctly.

Minerva told me they checked each model and had not encountered such problems before but they would note my observations. I also spotted that one of the drive gears floats and can touch the chassis, but, if it is kept well lubricated with a plastic friendly grease, I don’t expect any problems.

I decided to fit a crew and add some coal. I used some clear Bostic to hold the coal in place but this caused the plastic bunker to soften a little. I smoothed out the bumps and touched up the paintwork with some home mixed paint to match the red of the loco. With a little weathering the problem is no longer noticeable.

The motor in the loco is fitted with a flywheel and the slow running is very good indeed. Fitments and works plates for all ten members of the class are supplied and I added some of these along with some homemade lamps. The photos show the loco on my layout and it carries the name CA Hanson, after the first Kerr Stuart loco supplied to the three foot gauge Redlake Tramway in 1911.

While running trials were taking place on my layout, the loco stopped suddenly on one of the crossovers. This turned out to be caused by the sandpipes which are quite long. Snipping off a millimetre or so cured the problem. I’d also had to do this with an Ixion Fowler and two Dapol Terriers which all suffered from the same blip.

All in all, I am pleased with the Kerr Stuart loco and can recommend it as being good value for money. I would consider the forthcoming pannier tank if it were not for the fact that I have made three myself already.

Chris Basten at Minerva Model Railways has added to Peter’s comments as follows: All Victorys are purchased directly from us, and we had heard of Peter’s issue with the cab. The moulding is only clipped on, which has been perfectly satisfactory for the 400+ we have sold so far. We think that his package was either dropped or kicked in transit, and the packaging failed to protect his model in this case.

Happily it can be easily clipped back into place, but we are very surprised that it has been glued back, not really necessary we think. However belt and braces always works, the glue Peter used is not recommended.

Minerva are delighted with sale of the Victory so far. The model is by and far more successful than the Peckett, and that wasn't bad either!