Watto1990

I've been loudly demanding more modern multiple units for a while now, and now money where my mouth is time has arrived! GC 180 duly ordered.

Got mine, and it tore itself to pieces on the third time out of the box. Currently with KR for repair or replacement, but after those emails I have started to get the fear for it. Along with the 4DD and Leader I decided to pre-order.

The new Harry Potter TV show and the chance of a new Hogwarts Express could present an opportunity for some delicious Titgate revenge...

Maybe something very quirky and unexpected for a RTR model? A coffee pot? Class 139? One of those Aveling & Porter traction engine thingies? Anything that could sound like a joke the first time you hear it?

Ah, not a multiple unit then?

Let the froth fest commence! https://youtu.be/KRR6vcf_tWw

A narrow gauge Guinness Brewery locomotive packaged complete with a functioning haulage wagon for use on broad gauge would be a bold choice, and an unexpected entry to OO9 for AS / IRM! https://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/22/Guinness.htm

That rings true. I remember pre-pandemic often seeing Japanese tourists at Paddington taking photos of the GWR IEPs.

Glad I’m not the only one having issues with DHL. They’ve had my TPE MK5s for three days now, and have failed to deliver each time. Frustrating to have this issue at the very last step!

A “little” announcement that will please many? Maybe a petite thing? Maybe a tiny locomotive for those tiny chaldrons?

It’s the MU projects I’m keen to hear more about…

A pretty good episode this week. I’m already pondering the possibilities of a DCC ready 0-4-0 chassis.

Just to add to the topic of the coupling pockets: I found it much easier to use a small pair of pliers to pinch the legs of the magnetic coupler together to release them from the NEM pocket. Kadees now fitted to the end vehicles, and the magnetic couplers on the intermediate cars are working fantastically so far.

Being open about that has certainly improved my opinion on this launch. The real winner for me is the Bluetooth decoders. If they do everything they promise and do it well they could be fantastic. The streamlined B17 is exactly the kind of quirky rarity that appeals to me, and if they’re still available by the time I finish paying off my student loan in the autumn I could be persuaded by the DP1…

Hopefully Rapido or Accurascale could be encouraged to produce a Pulp train set for those connoisseurs among us recognise the real winners of Britpop!

Now this is very interesting! Excited to get my hands on a couple of the sound decoders.

Mine just arrived back from Rapido!

Also waiting for mine from Kernow, dispatched on the 28th. I have had to remind myself a few times that it’s only really been four working days since then though!

Well, thanks to Accurascale’s 2022 in review email we know there’s a special announcement at Model Rail Scotland at the end of February…

That really looks like the generic Smokey Joe chassis to me. New bodies for that could be interesting but it’s got me wondering if the chassis itself could be due an update. DCC compatibility, for example?

Today’s advent calendar prize is Collector’s Club membership and the 2023 Club Loco, so I guess technically we just saw our first confirmed 2023 model? https://uk.Hornby.com/christmas/advent-calendar?modal=offer-modal

I’m curious to see if any new Steam Generator fitted locomotives are announced, or will we wait for the three announced last year to be delivered first? The instruction booklet for the retooled HST power cars mentions sound decoders, so I think it’s safe to assume some 21 pin sound decoders will be coming soon. Another pioneering early locomotive would be an instant buy for me. I’d love to add a Sans Pareli or a Planet to the roster. Someone must have Locomotion No. 1 in the works for the bicentenary but my gut feeling is the 2023 catalogue is a little early to be announcing that. It would be great to see something genuinely surprising announced. Motorised Corgi trams? Do for light railways what the Pecketts and Rustons did for industrial railways by producing an Aveling & Porter loco, or a Col. Stephens style railcar? 2024 tube stock? And to finish up, the same plea I make to every manufacturer when we’re wishlisting: more modern multiple units, please!!

Hornby Magazine and Railway Modeller both said they’d have full coverage of the 2023 Catalogue in their next issues out at the start of January, although I suppose that doesn’t fully rule out a move to announcements throughout the year.

I suspect this has been asked and answered but after wrestling with search I figured I’d just ask - what kind of decoder will the TPE Driving Trailer require? I would like to make sure I’ve got one ready to go!

Without spoilers, I think you might really enjoy episodes 2, 3 and 4 of the anthology series Tales Of The Jedi. They are animated but they're only 10-15 mins an episode so not too bad a time investment if you end up hating it.