I’m the proud owner of two M7s. One is in BR black. The other is a rarer LSWR pale green. I’ve just ordered some LSWR genesis coaches so that I can run it with coaches in the correct livery. Very best wishes, Adrian

Unboxing Nightmares: E4 : Can Sam get THIS locomotive out of it's tricky tuck!?

What a beautiful loco. The amount of details is incredible - and a fantastic crawler it is too. I’m beginning to regret I didn’t choose a British layout, because these Hornby engines are fantastic 😍

Fun (if morbid) fact: A borrowed LSWR/SR M7 was the typical power for the London Necropolis Railway's funeral trains from its dedicated platform outside Waterloo to the massive London Necropolis cemetery in Brookwood, Surrey. The cemetery & its rail access were built because Victorian London was running out of space to bury its dead. The London Necropolis story would make for a great Halloween edition of Train Time!

I do love the M7, kind of sad I missed out on getting one in the Olive Green livery when they were first released. Definitely don't miss that style of packaging though. My Schools Class came in something very similar and it was a nightmare getting it out 😂

Certainly one of my favourite tank engines, especially in the malachite green livery! I was just flicking through a book on M7s, and apparently the real thing was a station pilot around Southampton during the 40's, so it was one of the few that kept this livery throughout the war and after into the early BR days. Must have been a great sight back in the day! :)

Beautiful model Sam! Very large tank engines indeed! We’re lucky to have two preserved examples, especially since most preserved 0-4-4ts are sole survivors of their classes!

3:13 Me: remembers when I unboxed my hornby 08 Also me: *shudders at the thought*

You should’ve got it in the LSWR mint and chocolate livery; it would stand out more and add that pre-grouping uniqueness. A very nice loco, one of which is rightfully placed in the NRM’s Station Hall.

What a beautiful model. I love the open cab portholes - a nice rush of cool air to counter the heat of the firebox. Were that model released today, then I'd take a guess at those portholes being movable - like the roof vents on other models - I have 1/76 scale tank models with movable hatches, so it's definitely do-able in 'OO' (1/76) scale.

Wow, a very smart engine, I'm looking forward to your stream

My West Country class Padstow came in the same style packaging. Even better trying to put a steam loco and tender back in.

0-4-4s are my absolute favourite wheel arrangement

Omg! I gust opened your channel and there was this notification there Keep it up!

Hey Sam love your vids keep it up. Over the past few months you’ve helped me save so much money by showing me what models don’t add to there price. Keep it up👍👍

Didn't realise you had done a review on the M7 , love this loco , and must get one for my layout , some were based in my town of Crawley , Sussex at Three bridges shed to work the branch lines around my area including the delightful and long closed Three bridges to East Grinsted and Tunbridge wells line ( closed 1967) will send you some photos of Rowfant station on the line that was built as a private station for the landowner who's house Rowfant House was used also in ww2 by Churchill I believe, and the station had a record for the less sold tickets of a English station as its in a remote part and the M7s worked this line push pull trains.

Great review Sam and thanks for the unboxing tutorial! A lovely loco, it’s a shame they don’t do that livery anymore but it looked superb with those coaches on your layout!

hi Sam first thank you for your very enjoyable video's on youtube, I am new to the hobby along with my 8yr old grandson, we both enjoy your unboxing of the models and your comments! the reason I am late on this video is today I bought a 2nd hand model from my local stockist, it was in mint condition and apart from the price looks equally as good as yours, I have it pulling a rake of 7 tankers, (all weighted) and it has no problem at all, I paid £72 for my model and after trying it out properly I am delighted!! please keep your unboxing going and the 'fun' runnings you do really enjoyable regards Ron and Alfie

I love the look of the M7! Especially in the beautiful southern green along with the 0-4-4 wheel configuration! 😃👍

That malachite green is beautiful

Always had a soft spot for the M7. Way back in the day I had the original 1970's M7 in lined BR black with 'firebox glow' and smoke box door opening. As I recall it was one of my best runners.

This is one of the best Southern Railway tank engines I've ever seen. I like it. If you want an HO diesel loco I recommend the Union Pacific Sentinel. They were the largest diesels ever built.

I just picked up one of these in the same livery at a train show, paid $100AUD(£55) for it without its box. Really blew me away when I put it on the track and saw how well it runs!

A fine example of what can be achieved when Hornby set their minds to it Sam. Excellent review as always, and a real joy to watch and learn....Bob

Beautiful engine! The 1532 class of Johnson P1 tank engines are my favorite tank engine, the Bachmann model of it is absolutely gorgeous. My second favorite tank engine is the SR USA class.

Hey Sam, thanks for the fine review. This was one of the first locomotives I purchased, when I began collecting British outline engines. I was fortunate enough to purchase mine used, but like new, from a seller in the States, for the equivalent of about £70.00. I have loved because it is simply beautiful. I agree that Hornby should make this available in it’s Pre-grouping livery. I don’t know why the manufacturers don’t issue all locomotives in their original liveries. I guess they think that they won’t sell, but that seems to be erroneous, since collectors like me clamor for the original liveries. Cheers to you from beautiful East Texas, where we are slowly emerging from our COVID Winter, into a promising Spring.

Sam I accidentally found out how old you are & it was a question while I was searching up stuff about trains on Google & I'm honestly amazed at how young & professional you are. I'm not going to say your age or real name in the comments for safety reasons but I'm just amazed at how young you were when you started your channel now. You've become a huge success over 7 years. Keep the model train content coming!

Great review sam, I have a class 60 from 06 and the quality plus finish is very good still looks and runs great after all these years 👍

Hey Sam great review as always. My fave tank loco is the GWRs 72xx. A real prime mover with the 2-8-2 wheel arrangement. I've got mine in the GWR green. Regards Terry.

Good review of a lovely loco. I had one of the original M7's, back in the day. It seems a shame that they didn't retain the opening smokebox door and the firebox glow...

Awesome video I really liked that m7 engine I am a big fan of tank engines. This is why a have become a big fan of British railroad trains Ivan not get enough of them, you could tell by how big my collection has become. Keep those great videos coming.

Great Video Sam And That's An Awesome Tank Engine Pal

Hi Sam, nice review, it's got some thing going for it.might end up on my list, All the Best Brian 🤗

This feels better quality than some of the more recent Hornby locos.

Hi Sam. I am not surprised you love that tank engine. The M7 has always been a favourite of mine and no railway related experience beats that of listening to to 30053 being put through her paces on the slope up to Corfe Castle on the Swanage Railway. I really hope we are lucky next time we go there and find she has returned to service. It was a bit of a heart-tug to see her in “mid-service” condition last time we saw her in 2019 (I.e. in bits with just the rolling chassis on a siding outside the workshop that is housed in the old goods shed!). I have to say that model is incredibly good for its age. I have a similar aged Royal Scot and that blew me away too! It is so smooth it almost chatted up my missus 😜 Shame the price is so high though. Kind of doesn’t make sense even commercially. Knock this out at £100 via retailer’s discount (I.e. about £115 RRP) and they would fly off the shelves I bet 🤷🏻‍♂️ Definitely going to have to acquire one now though...the temptation may well be too great! 🤔 Especially if I manage to bag a bargain as I occasionally do! 👍 Oh BTW, I decided to service my old Hornby 37 the other day and your service video on the Ringfield Motor saved me a lot of bother trying to remember how to bloody do it! It is now in my special folder for future endeavours! 😎 Cheers again matey, hope you have a great week 🍻🍀🤓

Ah yes i love the M7 too Love the liverie too Keep up the great work -TC5

Great review Sam it looks very nice one of my favourite tank engines too

I have to say this is one of my favourites as well, great review Sam. I personally favour the H class, quite similar. Please could you do another review on these, I know you've done one before but the early BR black model is absolutely beautiful, and the cab detail is amazing! My one has a five pole motor, never cuts out so I would recommend the newer BR black one. Also, I really enjoy your Locomotion playing videos. Btw, my 2 BIL took two people and 5 minutes to get it out of the packaging, much prefer the block o' ice packing. Thanks for making these, you give me great advice on buying the right locos. Stay safe, and thanks again. :D

Awesome video today Sam beautiful locomotive and I got my flying Scotsman working again

Hi Sam, The coal rails on many locomotives and locomotive tenders were often plated between the coal retaining rails to prevent the loss of small coal. Early methods of economy!! Keep up the good work.

Hi Sam I do like the colour and finish on this one. The way its finished looks pretty realistic. Great Review

These M7s are the spitting image of the North Eastern class G5s....I build one to EM gauge 18.2mm some 37 years ago from a Nucast kit.....things we used to do, before one could buy stuff like this nowadays....;-)...but it was fun....well sort of...it weighs a ton and runs silky smooth.....

Cool review I love it when you do stuff like this

Ah yes one my personal favorite tank engines from the Drummond era of the LSWR. Hope number 245 will come back into service one day 👍

Looks good Sam!

Looked amazing back in the day and still looks amazing today and I love these sort of locos

Very nice loco. Love the teasers in the sidings too. Perhaps you could do a video on successful Adam’s radial tank fixing?

These used to work the old seaton branchline. Nice to see them in model form

Nice engine Sam. Only the BR black is available on order from Hattons for £132.00 as I write. Great crawler and runner, not without a few disadvantages but a fabulous little loco all the same. Best, Pete.

I have to say that this style of packaging is better than the older style polystyrene tray still in use with the modern HST packs. Less likely to damage the locos when removing them from the packaging, however awkward the packaging is to get into. My M7 is number 51 in SR Olive Green, cost me £65 posted about 3 years ago which is a pretty good price. Except it is professionally weathered with real coal, and is sound fitted, although the body seems to be glued on and there's a lamp iron missing from the front I think. So an absolute bargain that I probably wouldn't have trusted had the seller not sold me a bachmann SR pill box brake van a few weeks prior. The loco does look fantastic, and runs very well, as well as sounding amazing. It seems quite heavy, so I dunno if its just a later model than yours or if it had extra weight added when sound was fitted or what, but still due to it being an 0-4-4T, it can't manage a 7 coach train around my layout decently. I do wanna get a H class, but I'm only gonna be looking for a 2nd hand one, and being very careful when buying, taking condition into account against the price (I wouldn't necessarily say no to if yours was available for sale, love a good fixing job...)

Such a adorable and cute train. I would totally buy

The M7, a strange but great engine! Also I got my own box of railway stuff today, wish me luck in fixing it.-Das Mann

It’s still incredible for 15 years old - 2006 it was introduced. Mine from 2006 still running well but the fine detailing now gotten very brittle with age.

It’s got a really beautiful locomotive, I will admit. Especially the malachite coloured one.

I have the BR black weathered one. it was second hand and came with two people in it runs great.

Great video, lovely loco. Odd one out was the LBSCR 0.6.2t on the turntable. (Not 4-coupled ).My own favourite tank engine...the Electrotren "AJAX ".(yes, really!)

Hi Sam. Nice to see a re-review of an old favourite. Wish Hornby would use that same gear ratio in their newer models. I much prefer to see a loco running well at slow to moderate speeds instead of only when fully cranked. Better for smaller layouts & shunting yards. Could you have a quiet word in Simons ear about that 😉. More of your older favs please.👍

I've got an M7 from a train show, and I fitted it with a Kadee coupler that can be installed on Honby engines so I could pull some American rolling stock with it

What a lovely loco, and the details are great!

Great vid again !!!! Thanks sam

Lol I just watched ur old vid on this one to see if I buy, pretty sure I will now

Beautiful loco can’t believe it is 10 years old time flies too quickly I wouldn’t mind getting it but RRP is a bit steep brilliant loco Sam 🙂🙂

It certainly is a splendid model. If that build quality was translated into a newer model with more modern features few could find fault. If they kept that standard with more pulling power and a more feasible incorporation of DCC it really would be something else. I was impressed with the smoke box dart. It looks like a good moving part even though it isn't. Many new models do boast nice modern features but striking that happy medium between the build quality and features can be a challenge. Although having said that a model with newer features shouldn't be inhibited by shoddy build quality in the first place but alas it does happen.

You should see the 08's packaging. It is the same,but the plastic ends are just tape wrapped around them

Hi Sam. Nice engine, and I can see your attraction towards the SR malachite green, but you must surely agree that olive green engines (especially the Adams Radial) along with some salmon & pink LSWR coaches take some beating.

Good to see im not the only one who loves the M7

Will there be any new TTS sound locos in the near future

Aside from that foam catching the locomotive I actually like that packaging design.

thats one of the nicest hornby models i've ever seen! :o

Hey Sam what a great review! Have you stopped uploading on Mondays?

I love the look of these and it is a shame that they are not available in southern green from hormby

One of mine, too!! I had one until I sold it to a friend who had a Southern layout.

My favourite tank is the Hornby Fowler 4P, however I've just ordered a Webb Coal tank, so let's see how that compares when it arrives!

My favourite tank locomotive has to be the LSWR Adams O2 Isle of Wight version in BR black with late crest or Malachite green with early "British Railways" lettering

hi sam. looking at this i would never thought it was a ten year old model. what a little stunner. yes i want one. cheers tom

I'll always have a soft spot for the class M7 especially in that livery.

Well, that’s an interesting looking locomotive. Personally I quite like 0-4-4 tank engines as they look interesting. Thanks for uploading this video, I enjoyed it very much! ♥️

I can totally understand why you chose to run the midland 1p, however, with the adams, if you had the Beattie Well tank running as well, you could have had all ex-lswr locomotives. I'm not sure theres any other adams designs in rtr form, but i did like the radial and m7 tied together by adams

My favourite tank engines are the Southern also ex LSWR O2 and the LNER ex Great Central A5 .

I got a used Hornby Standard 4mt in that style of packaging. What a nightmare, surprised the thing came intact. Very nice locomotive by the way.

Nice four car train!! Good to control, easy to drive and good to have on a layout that matches the livery.

Hi! Today I got a pre owned M7 and I am giving it a short run-in. I have oiled the coupling rods and bearings. However after five minutes it smelt of burning and after ten it was a bit hot. Is this a problem and if so how do I fix it? Thanks!

It is a very nice engine! You should try a getman steam engine from piko, roco or trix. Something like a BR (baureihe) 50 or a 44 or even a BR 01. Im from the netherlands and i run on the Marklin system and mostly run german engines and also some dutch electric trains. Thanks for the videos and keep up the good work!

Well I don’t usually like tank engines but this and the n7 are very nice looking, mainly because they’re very abstract. Anyway great job on the review stay safe :)

I think that I'd be impressed with the detail if this came out today but not the pulling power. Although I've heard they weren't the most powerful things in real life but they were the biggest 0-4-4ts so I'd expect them to be better than the 1p. Great video

Hi Sam, Makes me wonder: were the 10 years+ old models better than today except for finer details perhaps ? This one looks indeed very reliable and it is a nice model. I should have wait this review before buying the Hornby Large Prairie that let me down and still gives me trouble... Thanks for sharing, always nice to see your 'objective' reviews. Greetings.

I normally give technical comments but this time... Great review Sam. Always loved the M7 but don't own one. Remember this new version coming out and being impressed when a club member brought his down to a running session. So I'm interested now. Shame about the weight and the price. Is the better assembly quality down to it being of an age when it was made in the Bachmann factory, maybe ?

This is my favourite tank engine too, would you recommend it? (The model)

Love the malachite on this engine, so crisp and lovely! So much better than the new Thompson Pacific. Rather weird that Hornby aren't matching this standard for all items... Joachim

sam there is an bit of an issue with some of my 0-6-0's they didn't run properly (they are the hornby jinty, 27xx and thomas that use the same chassis) and with all of them I had problems running them so i opend them up and I discoverd the problem there was so much oil in there so i cleaned them out and now they are fine but have you had the same problem with them that use the same chassis design? because it happend to all 3 loco's i had with that chassis design

You should get hornby terrier 13 Carisbrooke. You will love it

An absolute beauty!

I can hardly wait until they create a ready to run Holden 5F. That would be my favourite tank locomotive of all time!!

Hi Sam. It is a really nice model for being 10 years old my favourite tank engine has to be my peckett. Great video I like these re reviews. Thanks

Hornby did make 2 versions of LSWR green M7s including number 242 the one you reviewed in this video

One of my favourites too. I have this one and a maunsell olive green version. I was lucky enough to pick them up second hand in perfect condition on eBay for under £50.00 each - absolute bargain considering the RRP.

Very nice loco, but I have the Johnson 1P and that is my favourite. I also have a almost mint Wrenn 2-6-4T, and that has awesome performance, though not up to modern standards of detail. My two favourite tanks any way, with the Hornby GNR N2 coming a close third.

Holy **** almost 100k subs!

Amazing video

I would say this is my favourite Tank Engine. I have been visiting the Swanage Railway with my Dad since I was a kid, and I have always had a fondness for all the Locos there the M7 included. I'm not sure if it's running at the moment, I think it's boiler ticket expired and is undergoing maintainence.