NXEA!

It'll be interesting to see if these will be suitable for BR layouts if these are Belpaire examples, but a great announcement nonetheless, and I will be getting one. As an aside, they did spread their wings later in life as the preserved example 69621 was allocated to Lowestoft in 1957, so people with rural layouts can still justify them. There's also shots of them at South Lynn on the M&GN.

Dodo has arrived, I'm on my way to get mine now!

Thanks Paul, having lost out on my pre-order for Dodo at Invicta due to Hornby not providing them with enough stock, I'm desperate not to miss out on one of these little beauties! Would love all three to be honest but I can't afford that.

Was that the H&P one? Just wondering as my pre-order for Dodo is with them and I haven't had any notification of payment required, unless I've missed anything!

Despite being well out of my sphere of interest (Southern Region EMU's mainly), I've pre-ordered Dodo. It looks to be a cracking model, an absolute masterstroke pulled by Hornby and it deserves to succeed IMO. This is probably the model that I've been the most excited for, ever. Just got to build a layout for it now!

Very interesting, thanks! It's been mentioned 81's made it through to Dagenham, still no photographic evidence as yet!

Interesting, would like to see that if anyone has the magazine in question? Chances are it was an 86, although saying that electric freight wasn't a thing on the GEML then, as the NLL wasn't wired at that time. 85's did make it to Glossop/Hadfield testing the OHLE when it was converted IIRC, and right at the end of their lives someone on WNXX positively ID'd one on the blocks at St Pancras, so they did start to spread their wings before their withdrawal. Would love to know if 81's did the same. Further to this, there's this shot of an 81 on the Garston-Dagenham on the WCML, and the caption makes for interesting reading as it suggests the 81's worked all the way through. There's got to be photo evidence out there of them on the Great Eastern/LTS, surely? Link here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/actonwellsjunction/8566896057/in/photolist-81JzpW-81JzLb-8367w1-5LEg2R-81JCL1-8369Jd-81FtLe-83zxqq-o3YUnT-e42zJr

Just to bump this thread, I notice there are several shots of 85's at Stratford, and one at Woodgrange Park and Dagenham Dock on flickr in the 1989-1991 period on the Garston-Dagenham workings. AFAIK Roarers would've been extremely rare over Great Eastern metals as the NLL wasn't wired for freight until 1989. Does anyone know if they had any other booked work over the Great Eastern in their twilight years, and if 81's ever appeared? Would love to see a shot of an 85 at Maryland, Forest Gate or Barking if anyone has one to scan in!

Like thebritfarmer I've been checking back on the 85's at Hattons for a while to see if they dropped price anymore., All of a sudden they went down to 6 in stock over the weekend, and then down to 3 on Tuesday morning, by the time I checked again in the afternoon, there was only 1 left! So after a few years of deliberating whether I should purchase one or not despite it being a completely different type of electric as all my rolling stock is DC, I swooped in for the last one. It's in the post, can't wait to receive it!

Thanks for taking the time to reply and clarify gents, much appreciated!

Further to the whole Kernow payments thing, I've been debited the full amount and 24 hours later the full amount is showing as deducted from my account. Is this correct? The way I understood the explanation on page 9 was that they would deduct the full amount and put it back in within 24 hours, so if this is correct I've had the amount deducted, but not reimbursed. Can anyone shed light on this? Sorry to bring it up again!

Ordered the NSE version, despite the fact the layout I'm building is only really fit for EPB's and 2 coach trains. That didn't deter me though, it already looks to be a beauty from Kernow/Bachmann!

Would love to see an Orange 320 go ahead! Looking forward to the final announcement.

Haven't been able to play with it yet Cromptonnut. I'll report back once I'm able to though!

Received an email today that my sound NSE one has finally arrived! Worth the wait.

Mullie, I always like checking in on this layout now and again, and it's great to see you embarking on a journey to change it up and revamp it, I'm sure it will be even more superb than it was. I hope you enjoy the full revamp! Inspiring stuff as always, keep it up!