County of Yorkshire

If a loco, my guess is either a pannier, 8f, or WD 2-10-0. That said, the SVR is home to a stack of Collett Sunshine coaches, so you know…

What disappoints me is that Barwell haven’t retooled the GWR Collett (Sunshine) coaches. They’ve worked their way through new coaches for the LMS (Portholes), LNER (Thompsons) and Southern (Bulleids) but not a whiff of anything from Swindon. These coaches were a key part of the GWR and Western region scene for nearly 30 years from the mid 1930s to mid 1960s and I think they’d sell well. The flush glazing makes them very distinctive and the old Bachmann versions (nee’ Mainline) don’t scrub up that well really. Perhaps Accurascale or Rapido might avail themselves?

Would that be the former CEO of Paperchase which has very recently gone to the wall?

Not good news. Saying that, I can’t remember the last time I bought anything new from Hornby. They’ve been chasing niche (all the LNER Pacific’s - even the esoteric ones, W1, Turbomotive etc), and speculative (Steampunk and TT ranges) for some time now. All the while, they’ve surrendered swathes of market share in the bread and butter OO market to others (Accurascale, Rapido, Dapol). Ergo, these trading results are hardly surprising.

Search Llangollen as location here: http://www.ws.rhrp.org.uk/ws/wsearch.asp

The press release says: “…an exciting announcement about a forthcoming new 4mm scale model…”. I personally read that to mean either: 1) something totally new and not yet announced 2) something already announced, on its way, but this announcement is a new variant of that release (which of itself has not been previously announced). I can’t see the PR referring to something already out there in the marketplace. The GWR inspection saloon is a good shout, actually. The Baccy LMS one seemed to be popular and of course there’s about a dozen of the GWR saloons preserved. Going back to station buildings, Llangollen, Berwyn or Carrog would nice to see as OO RTP buildings… CoY

My first thought was a new 57xx pannier, but I’m not sure because that would be a pretty audacious move. The Bachmann model isn’t bad and I would’ve thought Hornby would tackle it given the TT announcement. I can’t see a new 28/38xx as Hornby’s is still very good, and the 4575 under restoration is being done by Rapido. The affiliation with Rails is intriguing and provokes some thought. My guess would be a standard range of locos or rolling stock available from Dapol, with a sideline of exclusives via Rails. My gut feeling is a GWR autocoach, or toplights; although they’ve already been announced? What would genuinely excite me is a Hawksworth County or Collett sunshine coaches! Cheers CoY P.S - can’t see it being a model of the new Corwen station as it isn’t a prototypical/authentic GWR design! Aren’t the canopy supports from London Bridge station?!

Llangollen Railway issued a press release today regarding the opening of their new station in Corwen: https://www.national-preservation.com/threads/llangollen-railway.22171/page-115#post-2808810 It includes this snippet: “Dapol and Rails of Sheffield will also be making an exciting announcement about a forthcoming new 4mm scale model that should be of great interest to both Llangollen Railway and GWR fans alike” Hmm? What could it be?

Yes indeed I was. Was that the 1015 shuttle off Bewdley, behind 7714? I was one of the sardines in the guards van of the LMS porthole brake! Somehow I was surrounded by cockney lads who were drinking bottles of ale like it was going out of fashion at 10 in the morning! Sounds like you had a good and busy day. The weather really made it for me. Did you get to sample the delights of the bow-ended composite on 4555’s shuttle? If so I bet you and your lads would’ve wished you could ride it all the way back to London! How has rail travel in this country gone so far backwards for style, opulence and comfort?! What I will say after the gala is that the GWR stars of the show have really given me a kick up the pants to regain my modelling mojo. Since moving house in late 2021 I can count on one hand how many days of modelling I’ve done. I may upload some more pics once I’ve done an image dump from the SLR… Cheers, Jon

Well it was good to meet you in spirit if not in person Ian, as I too was on that 1610 ex Bridgnorth behind Pendennis. Lady Luck shined on me as I grabbed the second droplight of the second teak coach on the West side, and what a performance to behold! I didn’t withdraw my head into the coach for the full 90 minutes! 4079 attacking Eardington bank was very special. I had what I believe to be the best day at a UK Steam gala in at least a decade. Glorious spring sunshine, great atmosphere, charming stations, quality ales at the Railwayman’s Arms, and all the locos were on song, and I managed to cop all 8 across the day. My day started on the shuttle 1015 ex Bewdley behind 7714 and ended with the last train of the day behind 78018 on the 2210 ex Bridgnorth, and by time I set foot onto a near-deserted Bewdley platform at 2310, I had had a tremendous day. I only got home to Yorkshire on Sunday evening, so haven’t uploaded my SLR pictures yet. However, a brief selection from the iPhone can be found as follows… I also had my first trip in the recently restored Collett bow-ended composite 6045. It was utterly splendid, though sadly not horsehair in the seats, even in my 1st class compartment…! If the railway keeps serving up events of this calibre I’m sure it’ll be here well into the future. Cheers CoY

Will be in for a few of these… and also for end handrails if available as spares! My three Parkside ones are all done sans the infernal end handrails.

Some WW2 wagons in distressed condition would be good to see. Large and small GW lettering with unpainted replacement planks etc. CoY

I visited later on today (1pm-4pm) and was glad I did, as crowds had thinned out by around 2.30. I saw all the layouts I wanted to see with ample space. Always good to see Overlord, which can easily soak up 30 minutes of looking on at all the military kit and cameos. I also enjoyed Harlyn Pier, Merthyr Riverside, Scout Green Crossing and Port Solway. I felt A Nice Layout was a good example of a N gauge ‘train in landscape’ layout. Templecombe Lower was probably my pick of the bunch though. I found Rushwick quite inspirational as a OO box file with much operational interest. I really need to commit to building my first layout so I’ll take some inspiration from there. I accept the need for retail support to balance the books, but I felt the balance was ever so slightly too trade-centric this year. There were quite a few generic “back-bedroom” traders asking silly prices for things. Anoraks Anonymous were doing a brisk trade as they’d priced everything to sell. Where were Rails of Sheffield? I also think it a shame that the likes of Wizard/Comet models, Dart Castings, Phoenix Precision and Eileen’s Emporium no longer attend these shows for various reasons. It was hard to find some items for kit and scratch building, but H&A Models, 247 Developments and Squires Tools were good to see. Overall, had a good day out.

The more I think about, the more utterly bonkers the launch of H’s TT range looks. There are tens (hundreds?) of thousands of people in the UK with Hornby items in their possession, all in OO gauge. These people range from top-end modellers through to kids with entry level sets, and everyone & everything in between. The UK OO market is well established, at least 60 years old, and has a plethora of supporting infrastructure: model shops, magazines, YouTube channels, web forums etc. So why then, when you’re in dire financial straights, would you throttle back on supplying to a (relatively) large, known market, and launch a range in a new scale that probably only a couple of hundred people currently model in, and for which it will take the best part of 5 years to get anywhere like a decent range of models to market? How do you arrive at the assumption that a) there will be a stack of new customers that would buy TT but not OO products from Hornby, and that b) sufficient OO modellers will migrate to TT and buy the range in quantity? I just don’t understand how this will pay off on any kind of level H need to balance the books. It’s the Emperor’s New Clothes in my mind. Or is that just me? CoY

Who’s going to buy Castles at £208 a throw? Surely most modellers have all they’re going to need by now? I think this year’s range announcement is a straight admission that H see themselves as a manufacturer of tat toy merchandise (Beatles stuff) and overpriced exclusive stuff for collectors (endless diecast Dublo stuff). They have evidently withdrawn from the modellers market, and Accurascale, Rapido and Dapol have moved in to replace. I’m not complaining! CoY

Fun game this…

Or the SEVEN different releases of an A4! If the leak is accurate it must go down as one of the most uninspiring Hornby annual announcements in a decade. They look to be betting the farm on LNER modellers. I shall look forward to Tuesday’s commentary froth-fest!

Having seen the leaked Hornby 2023 range announcements on social media, looks like there’ll be a couple of things of interest to Swindon disciples. That’s all I’ll say! CoY

Oh for goodness sake. I said let’s agree to disagree. I’m not going to comment on your aspersion that “I’m out of the loop”. I made the single, innocuous comment that “I don’t see black, workaday 0-6-0s as Hornby’s bag really” and you’ve pursued me across multiple posts over a 24 hour period You’re making an issue where non exists. Shall we just drop it, please? CoY

Well, let’s agree to disagree. I was generally referring to relatively new-tool locos that are acceptable to modern standards. My comment vis-a-vis “black 0-6-0s” wasn’t being pejorative to Hornby by the way. It was my subjective view of their modus operandi when it comes to new steam loco releases, when compared to other manufacturers. They do tend to go for the “big and beautiful” don’t they, when compared with Bachmann, Dapol et al. Cheers. CoY

Let’s be accurate here. The 4f is an antiquated ex-Dapol model, fit for Railroad. The Dean Goods & J27 are technically Oxford Rail models (announced, developed and released prior to the Oxford range being subsumed into the Hornby range). I’ll give you the 700, Q1, J15 and J36 though. But no GWR or LMS (and LMS constituents) representatives though? I’ve always seen Bachmann as the more likely source of workaday 0-6-0s. MR 3f & 4f, SECR C class, GCR J11, LNER J39, GWR Collett Goods etc. Let’s see what 10th January brings…

I’m sorry but I feel the need to point out that the Hornby 28xx and 2884 class are excellent models that came prior to the “design clever” era that hashed up the other classes you’ve given there. It holds up very well today despite being - what - 15 years old?

The last few of Margate’s annual announcements have been of little interest to me, but it’s always fun to speculate so… Someone, at some point, will do an S160 in OO. Will Hornby get there first? I’m sick of pointing it out, but the GWR Saint and Hawksworth County, as well as the LMS 8F are fruits so low hanging that they are nearly at ground level. If Hornby want quick revenues and more flags planted in the OO market, any or all of these three are no brainers. For the left-field, it wouldn’t surprise me to see something like Big Bertha (and thus a reprise of Terrier-gate, this time with KR models), or perhaps an NER Raven A2. I still can’t believe there’s never been a LNWR or L&Y 0-6-0 done in RTR, but I don’t see black, workaday 0-6-0s as Hornby’s bag really. I could see another “dawn of the railways” loco to join Rocket and Lion. Maybe Planet, Locomotion No.1 or any of the other Rainhill locos. Coaching stock wise, there’s a stack of steam era coaches that I think would sell well if done to the right price/spec point. Dimensionally accurate LNER Gresleys in more diagrams (can’t believe there still isn’t an RTR Gresley brake third or corridor composite), period 1 & 2 LMS corridor stock, and 1930s GWR corridor stock (either flat ended 57ft stock or “sunshine coaches”) would all appeal to big 4, steam-era BR, and preservation modellers. Margate haven’t really shown much interest in new tool freight stock for a few years, so I wouldn’t necessarily expect anything new there. Hornby are very, very good when it comes to NPCCS however, so it would be good to see a GWR Collett full brake, an LMS GUV, or a LNER horse box etc. There’s some other things I would suggest that would help sweat Hornby’s existing assets. The LMS Coronation Scot coaches could be released without the roof AC trunking in other LMS and BR liveries without too much effort, as could the forthcoming LNER Coronation coaches in BR liveries. The Collett corridors & subs could also be released in more liveries like GWR 1925 panelled livery (I’m astonished Hornby have never done this, as I think they’d look stunning and sell like hot cakes), and wartime brown as well as post-war Hawksworth livery. Cheers. CoY

I didn’t know Chris, but we once had a good long chat about GWR slip coaches in use on branch lines during the 1950s whilst stood in front of Farringdon at Scalefour North back in 2018. He was very generous with his time and advice, which as a relatively young and not-to experienced modeller I much appreciated. RIP

Here you go @Corbs and @The Fatadder Its taken me a week of trawling my archived image files, but here we are...