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Until recently, some “counterfeit” copies were still running in the Balkans, in Tuzla they were on my list to go see before covid, were active in 2018.

The armoured train was like something out of a museum. Quite why the propaganda machine brought this to the media is unknown and it seems to have returned from hence forth it came. I doubt it did anything except roll out for a tv appearance. https://www.raillynews.com/2022/03/russian-armored-train-with-heavy-weapons-was-spotted-in-ukraine/ What I found more practical was the hedgehogs on the streets on Kiev, actually featured one they dragged from the WW2 museum, still with its information plaque on it https://www.museumnext.com/article/anti-tank-hedgehogs-from-ww2-taken-from-museum-used-as-barricade-in-kyiv/ On one of the telegram channels was a video of a group of soldiers using WW2 era machine guns. Also many towns in Ukraine has Soviet T 34 tanks as monuments, and just recently a few have been replaced by more modern captured trophies,

A shortage of EMUs rtr is not unique to the GEML by any means. That said the 755 cometh. The trouble with a GEML 90 is the chicken and the egg… If Bachmann make a GA90, theres no rtr stock for it to pull., so it only benefits Hornbys mk3 sales if they make them. if Hornby make the GA mk3’s, its sales will largely benefit Bachmanns class 90 and not their own. So its in neither’s competitive interest to make it.

Colas might do the same thing before too long.

Just discovered this thread, Ukrainian gauge trains run from Przemsyl, Poland to Kiev and Odessa. There are border facilities here. No need to change gauge. The line is double track, with sidings, and loading and extensive yards in the area. I was here with family in February and saw the preparations. We have close family who work as border guards here and the stories heard have been interesting to say the least, but are not really for general consumption, indeed way back in the “breakfast” thread I shared what the family was doing to helping the aid effort before the agencies kicked in. Korczowa has taken over as the main road border, it is also well equipped, There are other railway and road crossings in the area. Transport Into Ukraine isnt all what it seems, but is best left at that at the moment. After the war is over I can probably share more, and if I get the ok, maybe some pictures too. What I can share is that more than one russian drone has crossed the border, indeed one passed over as far as Jaroslaw, a good 10 miles in, but was turned and eliminated on the correct side of the fence back in March, indeed the family in Poland heard the Jaroriv (Yaroriv, Ukraine) attacks very clearly that night. However in addition to unusual business, it is business as usual… people come / go, as do cars, buses, lorries, postal service, those motorbike “couriers” and the no-mans land dodgy trading that gives meaning to “off the back of a lorry”… etc it all still goes on as it did before.. Trains still head both ways, and are as full of freight leaving as much as they are full going in. I say this with Ukrainian Raspberry Cognac infront of me, and supplies are still good.

It was indeed.. Unfortunately my camera skillswerent as good on the other half the runround, I wasnt expecting the logo and hence rushed out another shot. (In those days you wouldnt know for weeks until Truprint delivered, if your photo was good or not). heres one of 37421 about 20 minutes earlier

No need to stab in the dark, its already here… https://www.heavytractorgroup.org/product-page/limited-edition-37-714-accurascale-oo-gauge-model

Probably the front grills… GA changed them to be the same style as the DVT. All the ones announced are the original style grills. Still the clue is there about Anglia mk2’s… dbso.. smoke without fire.. maybe they are turning the clock back an hour further on the GE.

Lviv as a city is a beautiful place, a kind of mini-Vienna / Krakow / Jaroslaw, similar architecture… The station fits its surroundings, this is the marble lined station interior and a few pictures around the town, taken on a different trip… I have several customers in Ukraine, its odd to talk to them in the past few months, about Cloud Migration, when in a zoom meeting the are wearing army fatigues and have guns in their IT facility… but their day job as IT specialists goes on, and they are adamant it does, just as much they are adamant about being ready for combat too… and thats males and females.

37430 was missed, it hung around in Mainline for a very long time and a strong performer. agreed on the others but as I raced from school to Bolton to see the Blackpool, Barrow and Southport’s, the ones above never appeared. I did see 403 in Green at Crewe though, just after it burnt out. I forgot to add 37431 to this list.. A mainline 37/4 and 37430 is very much my wish list. and moving forwards a few decades 37716 with DRS arguably the last BR era freight diesel loco to be used on daily scheduled LHCS.

Surely the best situation is to have no warehouse, and cash in the bank. look at Accurascales class 37’s… all sold out and not even arrived yet. Retailers look set to do well as well, as they will be the only ones left with supplies when it’s delivered, and clearly demand is there. If stock is on the retailers shelves, it’s advertising the brand and filling the balance sheet. Of course sales reps giving retailers a nudge to give a bit more shelf space helps too. However if the customer has no urgency to buy, why should the retailer, just order to demand, and leave the stock management and cash flow as Hornbys problem., it’s not as if loyalty is worth anything.

The Scottish ones migrated to Manchester in Mainline livery. A few Welsh ones joined in. 37408 Loch Rannoch stood out as it retained large logo way long after the others. 37418 Pectinidae went Petroleum 37421 Star of the East went Petroleum 37422 went Construction 37423 Sir Murray Morrison went Distribution, and also Metals 37425 Concrete Bob went Aggregates 37428 David Lloyd George went Petroleum 37429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol went Construction There maybe others. The mainline ones around Manchester were between 37415 and 37430, with 415/6/7/8/9/21/24/5/8 as most common, but the celebrity by far was the welsh immigrant, 37430 which lived and breathed Manchester. Then followed Regional Railways for a bunch starting with 414 (not a Manchester one), 422 but followed with 37418 East Lancashire Railway, and 425,427,429 At some point TI started naming them after volcanos, but I personally wasnt a fan.

But is everyone ordering from Hornby ? R3171 P2 Cock of the North was released September 2014, and is still in stock. https://uk.Hornby.com/products/lner-p2-class-2-8-2-2001-cock-o-the-north-era-3-r3171 thats about 8.5 years since release. A quick look shows golden oldies like J15, K1, B17, B12, Q6, D16, J50, S15, King, Radial and even class 71 … Even more recent releases dont seem to have wowed… the GWR 800’s flew out the door, yet LNER ones, at a much higher price have not, APT also has hung around, the Blue MN is still in stock. The hobby is a fashion industry, if you miss the trending period it can be very hard to move later. in the past it was the retailers problem, now its Hornbys. its all good directing everyone to their website, but it is also their warehouse it sits in and their balance sheet it occupies, and it feels to me the list of “in stock” items appears to be getting longer as time passes. I no longer feel I “have” to order Hornby or risk missing out… look at the VTEC 91.. in the past this would have been dust in days.. 2 months out its still there, compared to the NR DBSO which is gold dust and its not even released.

Like this… This is the door LED too if you need it.. its not the sort of thing I usually take a picture of, but theres a few clues as to what makes this train special. Formation is A-B-C-D-E-F-U-G-H-J-K-L

Not to cause panic, but G &W and RES sound versions have sold out at Rails.

Well now we know, its RES… plus EWS and G&W.. As side of Greater Anglia variants, I guess that brings us to full house on all but the celebrities…

Yes, but if youve got a Hornby 66, your more likely to dump it and buy a Hattons 66 in the same livery, I doubt many will dump a Hattons 66 and buy a Hornby one. I think Hornby have been squeezed in a place that hurts on the 31.. and a bulk run was the only way to do it. That said Hornby has had 20 years to make the popular liveries, 25 years if you inc the ex-Lima tooling, and elected to drip feed the market instead. Its unthinkable a Blue 1990’s era 31/4 was never made, and the only way to get a 90’s Dutch 31/5 was a factory error. However as a tooling its cumbersome to assemble.. opening doors, separate louvres, grill, fan etc, and lived in the class 50’s shadow, and in 2022 were dealing with much higher costs and long delivery pipelines which means challenging it will be hard. I suspect they have no choice but carry on as they have done drip feeding here and there, tbh I doubt Hornby even realise what their best potential class 31 liveries are anyway.. their modern image choices and quality seems so anarachaic… I wouldnt be surprised if their response was to revive the old class 25 tooling. Bachmann are much more reliable / discerning fortunately and there 66 isnt bad, but isnt as good as the Hattons 66. If Hattons were selling the tooling, I could see it in Bachmann's range as they too produce in a more measured approach, but I suspect that bridge is burnt. I cant see Bachmann retreating from their current 66 tooling either, but if they gave it a chassis upgrade it would be welcome.

I very much doubt it will go for scrap, and as a large logo blue one, It wont need repainting out of DRS. I can see at least 3 mainline operators aiming for this, maybe as many as 5, forget preservation just yet. I suspect 409 was put up as a tester, to see what a 37/4 is worth. its a bit like 20 years ago when DB stood down there 37’s and DRS swooped in… 419 was “a dead cert scrapper” if you listened to the wibble way back then too… done well hasnt it. 37’s are still good machines, and at £3mn a pop for a poor battery hybrid substitute, and a near enough ban on new diesels, what weve got will need to make do and mend a while… HS2 will swallow 60+ locomotives once the real work starts… and theres not much to pick from at the moment, outside of Toton. I suspect thats why GBRF are bulking up on 69’s, Euroimports and class 99’s to free up capacity for HS2 contracts for aging 66’s , DBS will probably do the same with Euro sheds, and perhaps thats why Freightliner hasnt despatched its 86’s quite just yet. What happened to 37405 ? Wasnt that on the January tender list ?

“You must unlearn what you have learned”… master yoda Because, Blue 47’s.. what it looks like, this is… (not my image/flickr) and to wrap up the three spins running on this thread, my job has an “unlimited” vacation policy.. nice perk, but covid meant ive not made as much use of it as I intended.

Why would AS want to take on the 66 ? I mean its been made, oversold, discounted and took a year to sell out… Great for us, buyers, not ideal for a business looking to make money. Compare that to almost everything AS has ever made.. most sold out in months (Cemflos seemed a challenge), but in general has made, sold out and in the case of HUOs and PFAs re-produced in extra runs… class 37’s have fully sold out several months in advance. Yes they could fix the 66’s issues, but in my mind those who have bought them, are not selling them, which means they must be ok, or they fixed themselves.so ask yourself who will dump and repurchase ? … especially when £119 is 3 years ago’s price… Bachmanns up coming DBSO costs the same as the Hattons class 66.. both rrp and with discount, To me the excitement in 66’s is the newer liveries and Euro imports, which means not just fixing the issues but new tooling mods, which creeps up the price again. Re-runs arnt as big a market as the original 32 model release, which by the discounting and 16 months to clear was too big to begin with. imo, let the tooling rest a few years, then bring some limited editions.

its an evolution of the sliding door tooling, thats where the rainstrip errors have crept in, as the rainstrip is shortened and only covering the sliding door. It also has that moulded lump of a lamp iron. The bogies are not Oxford but as used on the sliding door stock they have mouldings that look different to Oxford, around suspension and wiring. But the coach doors, especially the joins in the top corner of the coach end and the door rainstrip are not the same and are simply wrong in that picture. (oxford got it right) and noticeably so if you look for it. Oxfords roof rivets look more refined (smaller) and Oxford used separate lamp irons, not a moulded lump. However the gangway style does look the same as Oxfords, as does the ground level steps. Still adding a handrail wire on the roof is a plus. compare to these EP samples, see close ups in silver at the bottom http://oxfordrail.com/76/OR76MK3.htm and close ups of a sliding door mk3… https://www.hattons.co.uk/430482/hornby_r4890a_mk3_sliding_door_tsl_second_open_42045_in_scotrail_7_cities_livery/stockdetail

Thats my kind of layout… just one but…. Did you really hack a clearance gap on your roof rafters ?

It is a new tooling (not the oxford one), it has an error above the doors, in that the rainstrip doesnt fully cover the door, it should fully cover and wraps around. Additionally the vertical seam of the door kind of “welds itself” into the top corner of the door..you’d never be able to open the real thing like that. The lamp iron has become a bit of a rectangular lump. Something isnt sitting right with me about that gangway too, a bit too deep, or its too smooth (the interior is creased on them from canvas).

I dont know if thats by luck or design, but I do agree Hornby honour the price. I feel its a bit unfair on the retailers though. (Ive anecdotally heard they are restricted to certain discount thresholds, and so are not in a position to honour older prices).

Just to explain, 47555 was an early example in Intercity livery, fresh from overhaul in 1988, at a time others were started being scrapped, a Crewe favourite and a royal train favourite. As a result it stood out, was probably in better mechanical nick and so heavily used.. resulting in many cameras capturing it, and spotter logs too during the next 7 years. Its fair to say as a CD 47 it got everywhere, no more than some of the others but its reputation set as by 1993 it got its own unique version of debranded intercity and so attracted cameras again, before going into RfD europe livery in 1995 with blue roof, again a stand out. CD covered a wide area for ETH 47’s, In a typical North West day out, its easy for CD 47’s to find themselves covering say Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Blackpool, Preston, Holyhead but also Portsmouth, Brighton or Folkestone, Scarborough and Newcastle, thats before being “borrowed”. That lead to stories of 47555 being seen in multiple places at the same time and the myth of plurality today… not least helped by a cab being preserved in Wales visible from the mainline, whilst WCRC renumbered 47768 as 47555 and is still visible in their sidings at the moment. Why 47555 caught it and not another, probably the length of the nameplate and its oversized 47 ‘555’ numbers you knew it by sight, though 47595 had a similar cult.