Robin Brasher

Here are some pictures of the Wimborne layout which has been exhibited for several years. I am modelling the Swanage Railway and similar trains went to Wimborne. This layout runs trains from the 1950s to 1964 which is one of my favourite periods. I also liked the Lego and Thomas the Tank engine layouts.

The queue had probably died down a bit by the time I arrived at 10:46 and I thought the people collecting the money were very efficient. Model railway shows seem to have stopped issuing discounts for senior citizens a few years ago as most visitors fall into that category. I went straight to the canteen after arriving and I thought the food was very good and the whole exhibition was very well organised.

Despite Bournemouth Station's efforts to prevent me getting a ticket I did manage to catch the Cross Country train to Southampton Airport Parkway Station and this connected with the excellent free classic bus service to the exhibition. This went on to Eastleigh station and took those passengers to the exhibition. The driver recorded the number of passengers so it may have been better to catch a later bus to avoid a queue at the exhibition entrance. Looking at the passengers you can see that we fulfil the image of retired men wearing anoraks and carrying backpacks.

I had a hell of a job getting a return ticket from Bournemouth with around 20 people queueing at the ticket offices and the only vacant ticket machine not accepting any letters after h when I tried to enter Southampton Airport Parkway. It is amazing how many stations start with 'South' . My return journey was chaotic following the announcement of a broken rail near Brockenhurst. My picture shows trying to get two train loads of passengers into a 50 seater coach with two queues of people either side of the coach's entrance.

I wish I did. I took it up to the counter at WH Smith at Swanage and the assistant said £9.99. I replied £9.99! Then the assistant pointed to the small print on the cover of the magazine and looked at me as if I could not read. I will be sticking with the Railway Modeller next time.

I have now bought a copy of the March BRM and at £9.99 it is the most expensive magazine I have ever bought. I started buying magazines with the January 1961 Meccano Magazine for 1 shilling and 3 pence. In those days Hornby Dublo, Hornby 0 clockwork 0 gauge and Tri-ang all had more coherent ranges than Hornby does now.

Thank you for the information. I have just bought BRM from WH Smith. I do not want a DVD as I have got nothing to play it on. I forgot to read the small print and I was shocked to hear the assistant tell me that the price was £9.99. I started buying magazines in 1961 when the Meccano Magazine was 1 shilling and 3 pence and this BRM was the most expensive magazine I have bought in my life. I will be thinking very carefully before buying another one.

I have not seen the BRM interview. Will you please let me know how to access it?

I hope that Hornby will also have some core models of rolling stock permanently available as well

Thank you for your comments about the GNER HST and coaches from the previous years. Looking at R30349 Hornby Dublo 'Silver King' on page 46 of the 2024 catalogue I have just noticed that it not a limited run and neither are the new Hornby Dublo Deltics. This overcomes the problem Hornby had last year of limiting the sales of their Hornby Dublo brand to around 500 items and then finding that more than 500 people wanted to buy them.

I have not got enough room in my flat for an 00 gauge continuous run layout so I loose lay sectional track on tables in the local village hall to run in my locomotives.

Hattons have now announced a final date. Everything must go by Sunday 5 February which is in ten days time. They still have 4,748 R609 Hornby 3rd radius Double Curves at £2.18 each 4,448 R606 Hornby 2nd radius Curves at £1.70 each 341 R9824 Hornby Scaledale Station Offices at £17 each. That is an opportunity for someone who wants some 00 gauge circular test tracks.

Picture of the 2007 cover which was too big to put in my last post.

Turning to the front covers of the catalogues I think that the cover of the Hornby 2024 catalogue is well designed with a painting of the prototype 'Locomotion' and details of the date, edition, website and gauge of the models. The 00 gauge description is not entirely accurate as TT:120 scale is included in pages 160 to 166. The portrait format is good for single items but for trains I have noticed that some model railway scenes are on two levels or occupy a double spread. The cover of the 2024 catalogue is much more informative than the fifty third edition 2007 catalogue which simply had Hornby on the cover. The 2007 catalogue had a price list but I think that you can still get price lists from Hornby. These used to follow the publication of the catalogues after a few weeks. The landscape format suits pictures of trains better than portrait. I like the illustration of 34003 'Plymouth' on the cover and the Hornby team must have spent a long time making the diorama.

King Stephen and King Charles ll share the same opening paragraphs on page 44 of the 2024 catalogue. 'Choosing the perfect rolling stock for your layout can be a or wagons do you buy?' This does not make sense on page 90. I would also have liked to have seen more advice on this subject.

I think that the airsmoothed Bulleid light Pacific locomotives appeared on most parts of the Southern Railway. The Q1 class and rebuilt Bulleid Pacifics had too heavy an axle load for many lines in the south west.

One of the highlights of the year has been buying the latest Hornby Dublo, Tri-ang and Hornby catalogues and then planning what to buy. People moan about the expense of models now but when I was on 6d (2.5p) pocket money per week it took a long time to save up for my Hornby Dublo 'Mallard' locomotive or for some track and coaches to go with it. The range of locomotives in the 2024 Hornby catalogue is beyond my wildest dreams in the 1950s but not so much the rolling stock. I always liked the cover pictures although sometimes they filled me with false hopes like the 'Night Ferry' picture. I wonder what our members think about the 2024 catalogue and how it compares with its predecessors.

I ran in my R3994 Golden Fleece last night as a light engine and was very impressed with it. It ran smoothly, no bits fell off and I liked the crew and the firebox glow. I did not buy the tender driven version R2101 as I did not think it would be an improvement on the Hornby Dublo model introduced in 1959. I think that the new version is better than the Hornby Dublo model but I have yet to test their haulage capacity. The two pictures compare the models. I am sorry that I did not put the Hornby Dublo version on the track properly.

Hornby are only making two brake vans: R6368 BR.20T Brake Van -Era 4/5 in the Railroad range and R60078 ZUA 'Shark' Ballast Plough. Loadhaul - Era 8 in the Hornby Range.

One problem I have found with the range is the lack of coaches for the steam engines to haul. As far as I can see the only sets of coaches you can buy in the main range are the Isle of Wight and Great Western 4-wheel coaches, the Coronation Scot and Coronation coaches. For instance I cannot see any British Railways or LMS Stanier maroon coaches and there are only a few British Railways crimson and cream and green coaches.

No Dapol 0 gauge steam locomotives in stock now so it looks like some organisation has bought them in bulk.

No-one has suggested holding a model railway exhibition without insurance. If a child was to pick up your locomotive while it was running at an exhibition or to shake your baseboard I am sure you would consider whether admitting those children to an exhibition was a good idea.

As a modeller of a preserved railway another model that interests me is R30358 B1 Mayflower. This visited the Swanage Railway on an excursion on 20 July 2015. I am pleased that Hornby are making it in the same early British Railways lined apple green livery as the prototype

I have got a friend in Holland who is very worried about Hattons closing because Hattons has given some very good service to modellers who live abroad.

As a former trainspotter I have also retained my receipts from Hattons. I was thinking of posting them here but it is going to take a long time to go through them and find out how much I have spent each year. The result will probably be horrifying. Equally worrying is that the staff there knew me as a customer because I thought that I was anonymous.