I prefer not slowing down on corners to the ability to crawl. In one way it is good that the two models each have their advantages.

Beautiful, accurate green on that fabulous looking locomotive! Hornby should take notes on their paints!

"Hit the ground running" is a understatement

Good Choice for Choosing 7812 Erlestoke Manor👍. 7812 Erlestoke Manor is preserved at the Severn Valley Railway and is currently operational. This is the first SVR loco in your Collection.

I have 7801 in the DCC/sound version. With DCC/sound the firebox glow goes on and off with the coal shoveling sound, and intermittently while running, which I thought was a cool feature. The brightness of it is quite realistic, but I can see how it might seem a bit much when it's on all the time running on DC. On a real one you would only really see the firebox glow when the fireman is shoveling coal or tending the fire, and otherwise the door would be closed most of the time.

Another superb review. I have just received the DCC-fitted version of this Manor, so early days yet with my experience. However, the slow-running performance of mine is much better than the example you have reviewed, and I have no problems crawling it very slowly.

Hi Sam my Accurascale Manor is running on DCC and I have no problems with it, and it crawls well. Keep up the good work.

Can't recall a loco you were so amazed by when taking out the box being downgraded so much by the end of the review. Great video and always love comparisons.

Another great review Sam! Certainly one or two surprises there, all horses for courses as they say.

Thanks for crystallising the choice, Sam: walk or torque!

Good review Sam, I have a 7802 and I think it's the best model in my collection by far. The boiler on the dapol manor looks wrong to me, the taper on the barrel is way to extreme plus the polished safety valve bonet is OK but it's too shiny for a working loco. As an engineman on a heritage railway with 3 manors I think the fire effect is just right, fires get white hot when worked hard so an orange/yellow glow would be inaccurate for an engine working hard.i like the chunky rivets (most of them are domehead bolts) they seem right to me. I agree 100% about the coal load, that is pretty w**k. That's not just an accurascale issue, no manufacturer gets that right, I always remove the plastic coal and add real coal. The removal of the coal wasn't straight forward but wasn't that hard. Never bothered with the dapol manor as the 43xx had quite a few detail issues. I'm glad I went with the accurascale manor.

I'm saving up to get my Grandad a good quality Manor Class, it's been his most wanted for a while now... and seeing the level of detail and livery on Accurascales offering, I'm more excited than ever to try and get him this model. Thanks Sam!

Nice video Sam very good camera work as usual as always keep it up bye for now Philip

Thanks for the review on this beautiful model

Good review! As im making my gwr collecfion bigger i moght pick my self up one off these

Hi Sam, Nice review , I like it very much, ( Christmas just round the corner 😂) All the best Brian 😃

Very fair an thorough review . The motor choice was surprising

Hi Sam, I have had a dapol manor for a while and am very happy with it. However, my accurascale manor recently arrived and this is so much better. To be fair, the dapol loco/tender coupling is superior and couldn't be easier to use. The details of the accurascale model are second to none though. For example, the cab detail , including the driver and fireman seats is excellent, as is the detail on the front of the leading pony truck. For me, and I suppose this is down to personal choice, but the dapol safety valve cover is too bright whereas the accurascale cover looks more realistic along with the matt smokebox and the copper on the chimney. With regards mechanism, both mine are chipped and both run beautifully. By the way, I shall not be taking either of them apart, too fiddly for me these days. Anyway, they are both excellent models, but my preference, just, is for the accurascale version. Thanks for your review, Sam, really enjoyed your comparison.

thanks for the review I am definitely buying one now!

Long awaited this one, gutted to of missed out on the version I want… hoping for one of this random ‘look what we found in the warehouse clearance’ resales they do

This Accurascale manor can crawl on a sixpence on DCC. Just turn back emf of: CV66=1. Beautiful all round and glad I didn’t get the Dapol

It is very lovely and nice to see Accurascale try steam locomotives, because we all have to admit, steam locomotives are freaking awesome. I’m so glad we have hundreds to thousands of locomotives preserved and a heck of a lot being restored as we speak.

Thanks for another great video. Being able to compare with the Dapol one also helps when I am looking for steps forward in quality detail. Might you do a review of the new Hornby Castle? Although obviously not a Manor it would be interesting to compare details and quality provided by 3 different manufacturers with such similar models.

Liked for the intro music alone.....As always the review is great and diligent

I have the bachmann Manor and I'll be honest. I'm happy for it. It runs smoothly and it can do a decent crawl, tho my track is kinda dirty.

I have a 20 year old Bachmann too Hook Norton Manor in BR Green still a great model and runner

There is a third way of getting around motor packaging constraints. Marklin-Trix and perhaps others have occasionally attached the motor inside the boiler. It meshes with the chassis by cog when attached to the chassis. The Manor in OO has plenty of room to fit a decently large coreless motor which would be a simpler solution.

9.08 and totally blown out of the water!!!!! Yes we would love to get one BUT we have quite a shopping list to get through first... Titfield Thunderbolt set. The 1500 and of course the 4400. Another expensive year but cheaper than the 5" versions of the tanks I am also doing. The 10 year plan is to sit the OO models on the running boards.

Looks awesome. And look at those tender lamp irons! Love the smokebox finish. So looking forward to getting mine :)

Aesthetically, that is the first RTR OO loco i've ever seen that actually looks like the full size thing. I've always felt manufacturers have never captured the colour and finish of the real things. This has definitely improved in recent years as finishes have moved more towards 'satin' than 'eggshell', and colour has gained greater saturation, but this is incredible. The different finishes (eg matte smokebox) add all of these textures that trick the eye. Couple this to the incredible separate detail, and the driving wheels/con rods that finally look better than Triang managed in the 50s, and I think you've got the most convincing looking RTR OO loco so far!

Great Stuff , Thanks Sam

Hi Sam, Thanks for this review. Please could you do a comparison review with this & the Dapol Manor (like you did with the two Lion's from Hornby & Rapido)?

I've got the bachmann odney manor from some years ago. Nothing wrong with it and detail very good

Great revue Sam. Thanks

Hi Sam I don't know if there was a odd one out today, but I did see the blue King Class and all the other locos were green. Cheers Jasper & Willow

The lap bracket on the smoke box had excess glue around it as well as the hand rail and other parts. It stood out as very shiny compared to the matt looking black paint.

Another very good review. I'm not entirely convinced with your scoring system (of course, it's subjective and there are no rights and wrongs), but the presentation and content of your reviews are such that it is easy to arrive at an alternative, personal score.

Would be interesting to see if you chipped it how much better the crawl would be. Mine is dcc and crawls great.

Nice review sam

Another excellent review Sir. So, when compared to one of the nine class members preserved, which model, Dapol or Accurascale, has the most realistic rivets? (I can believe I've just written that! 🤣)

Great review just bought one for my dad. Personally I prefer the larger rivets on the accurascale as on other locos they can be easily overlooked and I like the fact they stand out a bit more as it makes it feel like the rivets are real.

A great loco Sam. Accurascale really did take model railroading by storm. It's inability to crawl would be a minor complanit as it wasn't a switch loco or a slow freight loco. But would indeed an inconvenience during a session if your trying to simulate a loco gentility coupling to a train.

Awesome vid Sam, surprised yours works so well, as you know mine doesn't!

Beautiful model. Just a few little issues. But accurascale seem to listen to feedback 🤔 the deltic had a few little gripes then accurascale listened and gave us the class 37 . So I think the next steam locomotive from accurascale will be something very special. Great review sam 👏 thank you 😊

Wished I had watched this before buying one! It will be interesting to see how long the small motor lasts! Although it looks very good, the slow speed running-or lack of- bears out my experience entirerly. Fitting a DCC decoder is tedious too. The Rails ones don't have etched plates supplied as extras . Most informative, well done Sam.

I swear this is the first time I've heard a UK reviewer refer to the item as an engine, rather than a loco. Next thing you know, you'll have model engineers and brakemen. (That's sarcasm, son.) One feature I particularly like is the fitted springs and journal boxes on the tender. I had gotten used to trucks (bogies) on US models having real springs, but this is the first UK model I've spotted which; although not actually sprung, looks like it could be. (This statement suggests why I have so much more trouble with bogies, especially Accurascale's Siphon G's, staying on the track.) Actually a pretty darned good review. Keep up the consistency in your reviews; it makes comparisons easier.

Great review Sam… Cheers John B😎

Really looking forward to mine! I ordered one in the second batch like a fool! 😂

7:34 I really love that feature Sam.

I really love the manor Sam, I've already ordered mine and I can't wait for it to come in :) Cheers Jasper & Willow

I have the Accurascale Manor DCC sound, mine is able to crawl very slowly and steadily, and the firebox flicker is just right and lights up driver and Co quite convincingly, it is a bit lacking in power it will not pull my 20 odd coal wagons down to about 12, but I have not run it in yet tbh I did not know you needed to as does not mention running it in on the packaging. I’m fairly pleased with it.

Hope your day is doing well Sam! Accurascale, Dapol (for the most part) and Rápido seem to be the best in the business now

I fell more and more in love with Accurascale.

I can vouch for the Dapol Manor’s low speed running. I was playing with mine one weekend and forgot to turn off the power to the transformer at the wall. Three nights later I went to put something away in the train room and saw an orange light on I In the darkness on the far corner of the layout. It was the firebox LED. I then noticed the LEDs on the transformer on. The power dial wasn’t completely set to off and had been running around the layout at I guess 1mm a sec for 72 hours!

She is gorgeous! I just looked at your video on the Steam Punks.

I have 2 of these on order. The tipping point for me over the 2 was the fact I could fit a larger wattage sound chip 3 watt (Zimo MS 450) and speaker in the tender and not use the Next 18 which is only 1 watt. However Accursacale did change the sound specs after I ordered and paid.

Accurascale's new GWR Manor class locomotive is a very nice looking model do not get me wrong. Its boiler, smokebox and running board being made out of die cast metal makes the model very heavy along with being powerful to pull multiple rolling stock. Its price is decent and its detail is fantastic. Unfortunately, the plug for the tender from the locomotive is not that great because it is quite difficult to service the model and its motor is not able to make the model crawl slowly because of its ridiculous 3 pole motor. I rather buy the Dapol Manor because it is cheaper and easy to maintain. Overall, the Accurascale Manor class is pretty good Sam.

Hi Sam. Smashing model and I don't think you could be any fairer with the the comparison between the two well done great review .

I'd be hard pressed to choose a favourite. I like the one-piece boiler and I think the matte black on the smokebox makes the model look more realistic. The real copper on the chimney looks nicer that the painted band on the Dapol engine, but the safety-valve bonnet is nicer on the Dapol engine. Really difficult to decide.

My Granville Manor just came in the post. The DCC/Sound equipped models like this can crawl beautifully. The stack fits much better and there are no visible glue spots. Perhaps they might have figured out production a bit better? Quite a nice GWR loco. You are right, we are being spoiled rotten with the great GWR steam locos that have come out in the last few years!

For me, not slowing down on bends is the decider. Accurascale have built a model you are going to want to see running around your track, Dapol more for static display or shunting maybe. Looking at either model, it is so, so far removed from my experiences as a kid back in 1966. Absolutely amazing.

I have run mine in and it ran extremely well at slow speed, barely moving on 1 and slowly increasing as power raised. I am on DCC.

I'm curious if the buffers between the loco and tender are made of metal and also sprung. That attention to detail would partially explain their choice of tender connection.

Great video

Awesome video Sam's trains

Firebox looks awesome. A fire is bright. 👍🏻

Accurascale has the nicest / poshest boxes; and the loco looks fantastic as usual from Accurascale. The Dapol one looks fantastic too.

I have just received a Heljan NBL 10800 in green from Heljan No: 1083. I would like to see your review on one of these models. These do need reviewing and to see your take on them.

Very beautiful loco, though I did notice one thing almost immediately that I'm surprised you didn't catch, and that's the fact the handrails on the cab don't actually reach all the way up to the cab roof, which is kinda strange.

As ever Sam, you did your best to review this Accurascale Manor, and the reference to Dapol was honest. I think both did well. I also bought both brands, you can do that perfectly, as both brands have different numberings, and that's also a positive something worth while to mention. Both are value for money, not cheap, but what is these days, but exquisit made. Comparing a 3 pole motor to a 5 pole motor, it makes no sense to me, the one with the most poles is going to win the crawling competition, one can cheat a bit with a flying wheel and gearing, but it's as comparing a 4 cylinder to an 8 cylinder car. But here comes my question again, this big "WHY!!!" keeps buzzing in the back of my head. Recently it was Hornby against Rapido with the Lion's, and now it's the Manors. Even the Bachmann Manor already was a fine model 12 years ago. But out of all the endless choices on great British loco's ever produced in the UK, WHY!!! most they (the model brands) all focus on the same models over and over again??? There are so many types, that never have been produced, as a ready of the shelf loco, leave the kit variations aside that's an other matter. So WHY!!! A big please to all the brands who read this, do something that is not done before, you get a 10+ score from me…

That is a nice GWR model!

Also Coreless motors are known to have unbalanced Back EMF for ESU and Soundtraxx Decoders, while a 3 pole high efficiency motor and a 5 pole version are best for any model train in reality.

Excellent review! Think we’ll get a comparison video between Accurascale and Dapol?

Accurascale really communicate with their customers so anything you're not happy about you contact them and get a response. I'm yet to get my GWR liveried version but know it will suit my needs much more than the Dapol model.

Detailing and paintwork is great

just received my Accurascale manor, I got DCC sound fitted from factory and not sure if that makes a difference but the crawl out the box was incredible so maybe something to do with the programming of the decoder or the difference of DC/DCC operation

Awesome video today Sam sorry for the late comment lovely modle

From another review I saw from someone who had insider information, he says that Accurascale claims the three pole was intentional as its specially designed for steam and for DCC use, and from other reviews I've seen, it seems to be an incredibly smooth runner for the DCC sound models. Sounds good on paper, but perhaps not suited for smaller DC controllers. I could be wrong though. Great review!

Hmm. I’m surprised at the ratings. Out of the two the Accurascale model looks so much better. Riveting looks chunky in comparison BUT I feel this gives it a much better and consistent look. The wheel sets and connecting rods are also far better. I also believe the boiler on the Dapol version is slightly bigger / wider? The running session was disappointing to see on DC as I have the Sound Fitted version and the slow running is absolutely fantastic even with 128 speed steps and the addition of the stay alive make it bullet proof! Firebox flicker is definitely quite bright. The electroplated safety bonnet on the Dapol model, whilst outstanding looks very out of place compared to rest of the model. All in all I prefer the Accurascale by a huge margin. I think this loco is at home on DCC layouts. However your review is a true reflection of its performance on DC.

Another solid effort from accurascale, but unlike their previous locos, areas where improvement could be made are a bit more evident. Things like the tender coupling, the motor, and the finesse of some of the details could be improved upon. But still, a jolly good model!

I do love my accurascale manor, so much so I have 3! One thing I don't think you mentioned, but is a real stand out for the model is the front end of the bogie with removable but accurate detail, no gapping square hole until every other model ever!

Can you do a comparison between your best and worst 5 pole motors? And what you think is the best 5 pole motor.

How would it perform chipped? Be nice to see the GWR version.

Nice review Sam.For me i am not that fused about perfect details ,but what i do want is a decent strong motor and one that will last a few years,a three poll motor is something this heavy isn't great in my eyes.

A Lovely Loco with a good fire box glow!!! 🙂🚂🚂🚂

I'm not really going to run my locos at a crawl anyways, so the torque of this model compared to Dapol's is excellent to me. That coupled with the die cast construction makes this a win.

Such a promising start with all that die-cast, but then let down by the motor, as somebody pointed out, I wonder how that will fare with long term use. The use of die-cast metal would have helped Dapol in their new D1 loco for rails; all the reviews I've seen describe it as "light on its feet" and can't haul many carriages. At £200, that's a bit unacceptable. Will you be reviewing that loco Sam?

I'm in love with these British models difficulty to have in Brazil

Sam, do you have a speed checker so you can record the minimum and maximum (scale) speeds?

13.10 Dapol's coal load looks like a mass of slack, whereas the Accurascale coal looks more like actual lumps. While it's true that in BR days steam locos had to contend with a lot of slack, this always led to poor steaming and inefficient coal consumption, since GWR loco fireboxes were designed to burn big-lump Welsh steam coal. So Dapol's tender is not necessarily inaccurate, but you'd need to fit crewmen who clearly look pretty desperate as they try to keep their loco running at all, let alone managing to haul a train. Smokeboxes were painted in the same way as boilers, including a couple of coats of gloss varnish. However the constant high heat -- caused by the firebox gases -- tended to burn off the varnish pretty quickly. So a loco straight out of the shops would have the same gloss finish as the boiler, but in service it would go completely matt in a matter of months, and stay that way until its next main service/repainting. The boilers and fireboxes were of course insulated by their water contents, so stayed glossy -- assuming they were regularly cleaned -- between repaints.

Hi Sam I got the sound version of your manor and the firebox flickers and the crawl is better

Another great review Sam. I've just ordered one of these in the GWR livery (the DC version). I've always been puzzled by the firebox glow featured in a variety of current model steam locos. Surely when the real thing is running, the firebox doors are only open during the few seconds while the coal is being shovelled into the firebox and therefore rarely visible during operation. Furthermore there must be a measurable cost element to this essentially unnecessary feature. Update 25.4.24:- I received the model today and it's absolutely gorgeous! Just going back to my comment on the firebox glow. Having now seen this working for myself I confirm that it is very bright indeed and, yes, looks really silly! It dominates when you catch sight of it as the loco goes round the track and is a complete distraction in my personal opinion. I'll be painting mine over so it can't be seen. Sorry!

Don't mind me, I'm just patiently waiting for a new Hall to be made, hopefully with Olton Hall in red as well...

Are the lamp brackets sideways, or is that prototypical? Am I correct to say that they are (at least) different from most?

Question is Manor or Manure? I have been waiting for this ever since bothe companies announcey == scale steamers are dapols.

Hi Sam, I nearly bought one and have now missed out on the livery I would want. I love my Dapol Manor so not too disappointed. This new offering is certainly a great model and knocks the 'Big two' manufacturers out of the park on value. I've mentioned before, I would like a Castle and the 'new' offering from Hornby has an rrp of £208, which I suspect will be an all plastic body. Maybe I can wait to see if Dapol or Accurascale get interested... Cheers as always.

I have the DCC sound versions of both, and they are both great. For Accurascale, the DCC version is way much better at crawl than the DC version.

I have the dcc sound cookham Manor & I am very impressed with it, & the crawl on mine is excellent. Very thorough review as always keep up the good work Sam.

Accurascale continue to amaze me with the high quality features at what seems to be reasonale pricing in todays market. I noticed the coal load first, which is detailed, but not very fine and a bit chunky. I am torn between which I would buy, regarding the Dapol and the Accurascale models. The Accurascale is great for their first steam locomotive, but I am not 100% sure it is 20 better than the Dapol.... I am on the fence on this one. I did notice on some photos of the manor class that there is a noticeable join between chimney and smokebox, but not to the extent that it is noticeable on the Accurascale model. That said, even with the performance, I'd welcome either Dapol or Accurascale into my collection and be equally happy. With the DCC "chipping" I guess you only do it once. The inclusion of the speaker is a nice touch. The three pole motor may be because the speaker is taking up room in the smokebox? Just a thought What's the minimum radius curve it can navigate the close coupled tender? I am just curious if you have tried it :)

The mechanism has been designed for DCC most likely, with DCC the crawl speed would be much better due to the way DCC decoders work to control speed.