scouse889

I’m sure I have read somewhere that Drax own the tooling too - although of course I have no idea if this is correct. The first batch R6723 and R6724 were limited editions only available from Hattons at £83 per wagon in 2016. It was then several years before a second batch in the revised Northern Powerhouse livery was announced (R60176 and R60177, arriving Christmas Eve 2022 IIRC) and these were twin packs priced at £49, so at £24.50 per wagon were amazing value and less than a third of the price of the originals, even ignoring any inflation. So whatever the state of play with the tooling, one would hope if it could be done once it could be done again….

You could always try to get R3502 which has 43238 in VTEC/NRM livery (I think this was a limited edition in conjuction with locomotion, IIRC)? As far as I am aware the only difference is a "Virgin" logo in faded/shadow livery towards the rear of the power car, which I think was removed and replaced with a small LNER logo on the prototype when the franchise operator changed. Not sure this would be that easy to do on the model without a major repaint job, but depends on how important it would be to have the PC in LNER/NRM livery rather than VTEC/NRM livery. I would rather they did the power car in LNER/NRM livery than the 'flying tomato' (or whatever it is they have decided to call it) debranded livery - or alternatively just a 'normal' pair of LNER power cars to go with the umpteen rakes of LNER Mk3's they have done, or even 43274 in its 'Spirit of Sunderland' livery (complete with the 'It's never dull in Hull' buffet)???!

The ‘celebrity’ HST packs do seem to sell nonetheless. I think the record is for the LNER farewell pack, in which livery the power cars were in traffic for 4 days. 6 months seems quite a long time in comparison. Isn’t the LNER pack due this year only correct for 43238’s (debranded NRM livery) last 1 month in traffic? (I’m not sure if specifically call this PC in this condition a celebrity though.)

Yes, now wish I had bought an XC01 set when Hattons were chucking them out for £15 in their advent calendar event! :) Good to see this pack though. I have also ordered one. I’m hoping we still might see 43007 and 43008 in their final guises - but then I’m still waiting for GWR 43185 in Intercity as well as EMT celebrities 43102 and 43274…..!

They are night time shots.

Isn’t there also going to be a coach pack with more FO coaches?

That’s maybe why there was nothing in it for me. Sorry, couldn’t resist……

You’re forgetting all the duplicate “there’s nothing in it for me” posts!

Yes, still struggling to get my head around how quickly it has all happened - and indeed that it has happened at all. Plus I guess at some point this entire Hattons thread will move into the "Defunct, dormant or demised" section of RMWeb..... Someone commented somewhere in these pages that the closure of Hattons may overshadow the launch of Hornby's 2024 range, the two being announced about 24 hours apart. To date 40 pages in this thread versus 22 pages in the thread about the latter is I guess some indication of how significant an event in the hobby the closure of Hattons actually is.

The black TfW 67 is a bit mysterious. From memory it appeared on the Hornby website and various suppliers websites when the 2023 range was announced, and then disappeared. And now it has reappeared. There was definitely an advanced prototype (or some such like) of it working on the display layout at Warley last year and a number of suppliers have images of it on their websites: https://www.themodelcentre.com/r30161 I suppose the black coaches may follow, or perhaps Hornby have decided that they don't need to do black coaches as they made two rakes of the ex-LNER red/grey ones and only one matching loco to go with it - ok it's also possible to use EWS and DB Schenker/Cargo liveried 67s with the TfW rake as these have appeared, but the black 67 has also ventured out with the red/grey stock. Pleny of photos on Flickr:

I bet there still won't be a metals sector 60! 🤣

I've just learned about this and, although everyone else has said this already, I just can't quite believe this. Shocking and unexpected. Very sad for everyone who works for Hattons who will be affected by this, and a tremedous loss to the hobby. I remember going to the original shop at 180 Smithdown Road when I was growing up and spending my pocket money there. They used to have these plastic washing up bowls under the glass counter full of second hand rolling stock for pocket money prices, and sorting through them was always good fun! It was a real Aladdin's Cave in there with all the cabinets full to bursting with new and second hand stock. My best wishes to everyone involved.

It would be nice to see an authentic Cross Country 2+7 rake in either Intercity or Virgin (with one normal and one buffer fitted PC for some variety?) as this has never been made - any attempts thus far have had the buffet wrong and other deficiencies in the associated coaches. Lima “got it right” in the 90s, although the colours were questionable.

Well, it is that time of year when people of a certain age the world over wish on a star for what exciting things they might get on that one amazing day….. How many more sleeps? I’m sooooooo excited!!! But does Simon Kohler really exist???

Impossible to tell, but I would be surprised if there aren’t lots available in a few months time. The vast majority of modern image stuff seems to hang around these days. I now have an unofficial policy of not buying anything until at least six months after release when it can be available with significant discount. The exception is a small amount of stuff I really fancy - the rest well, if it sells out, it sells out and there’s always strike it lucky on eBay…..! Come back on 25th June and we’ll see….. In the meantime, Merry Christmas all! 🎄