Model purchased from Minerva Models, £750 + p&p
Also available within France for around €895 + p&p SQL Server
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Purchased, reviewed and photographed by Geoffrey Goddin
Review in Gazette volume 22 issue 1 - Nov 2022

My layout Kew Green entertains a catholic range of locos and rolling stock of various company origins that could have visited a surburban South West line during its history. However, this loco is rather different, I’m working on a backstory, probably involving a cold tow of a visiting preserved SNCF loco through the Channel Tunnel, details to be posted on my Kew Green forum thread in due course.

In reality 340 of these mixed traffic 2-8-0 locos were built for the ETAT, EST and PLM companies between 1913 and 1920. All bar the first 70 (delivered in 1913), were built in Britain. The remains of six lurk off St Ives Head, Cornwall, as a result of a wartime torpedo. They had a long and useful life, eight are preserved, all bar one manufactured by the North British Loco Co.

This loco is a new venture by CHREZO SARL, planned since 2018. My halting French conversations at Guildex suggest 200 modellers have subscribed to funding this project. It is to scale 1:43.5, whereas 1:45 is more common with manufacturers such as Lenz.

Minerva are supplying CHREZO products in the UK, though of course you can order from French retailers. Minerva’s consignment failed to arrive in time for Guildex, but after viewing the model on Cercle Du Zéro’s Guildex stand, and my French conversations, I placed an order with Chris Basten for the OUEST version which safely arrived in Kew 28th September.

Dimensionally at 270mm loco and 170mm tender, with a 115mm coupled wheelbase, it is similar to RTR models of the GW 43xx, which operate well on my layout. It runs smoothly and quietly around my PECO R2 curves (other radii and straights are available on Kew Green.) The loco-tender gap is designed to widen on sharper radii. It has not caused havoc to my lineside fixtures, and at 1.3kg for the loco, (tender 0.5kg), it will easily handle four coaches, six or more on easier curves.

It comes with extra brake and steam heating piping to attach. Catenary protection bars and a cab grill are also supplied. (Post war these locos operated under a lot of overhead wiring.) All driver and tender wheels pick up. The front and rear 'parafin' lamps light dimly according to the direction of travel. DCC decoder installation instructions are supplied; the decoder and speaker are in the tender, I will be using them, but maybe not installing a generateur de fumée under the chimney.

On my ‘to do’ list will be to replace rather flimsy plastic cab handrails and spruce up the cab backplate. I am sure French enginemen burnished at least some copper and brassware! French locos do have a lot of plumbing. It is all there, along with a motor/flywheel drive that preserves daylight under the boiler. Rivets and lining are well presented. There is no plastic coal in the tender, so you can supply the real stuff.

Chris Basten tells me this is a really attractive price for French RTR, French Gauge O modellers pay far more for loco kits, and far, far more for other RTR. (I have checked that a suitable Lenz SNCF bogie coach or baggage car for my 140 C would be €400). CHREZO started planning a 1:43.5 ‘Picasso’ X3800 autorail in 2020, which may arrive next year. I do hope such moves give our hobby and scale a boost in France.