andyman7

And finally, at the Cross.....

Well that was a pig of a job! I had already partly stripped the motorised vehicle, so finally got the seat unit out - various bits that need to come out are actually glued in place so this is not easy. All wires were in place, so then I had to strip the trailer and finally found a loose wire to the coupler as suggested. I resoldered it but oh my goodness getting the thing back together was a palaver, it took 3 goes to get the carden shafts in place and the seat unit back, one of the chassis clips broke off and seats kept falling out. Reminds me of why I am not a fan of these superdetail models and all their bells and whistles, multi pin connectors etc. However it is all back together and working, time for a lie down in a darkened room......

Smithfield sidings are still there, on the site of the LSWR sidings (the trackbed of the east curve is long lost). They don't have any scheduled passenger moves but can still be used for 8 car 700s (not long enough for 12 car units). There has been lots of building work around Smithfield that has obliterated much of the lost Victorian infrastructure but a few years back the start of the east curve could be spotted until new building rendered it invisible. Some of the tunnel survives as the basement of an adjacent building but the rest of the formation was lost when the Poultry market was rebuilt in 1958 after being destroyed by fire. The tunnel was temporarily exposed by the reconstruction but then filled in for the foundations of the 'new' Poultry market.

Gievn that within about ten minutes of a new model arriving someone will identify a boo-boo, if that's the worst thing on this model I can live with it......

Ah, OK, I haven't had the chance to compare the mouldings so I was working off the fact that the box/artwork was clearly from the old Hornby tools. But it makes sense to use a single set of tools and the Lima mouldings are a step ahead.

The GWR train set has power cars based on the original 1970s Hornby tooling albeit with a new chassis and with the oversized bolt holes removed and light lens much more neatly fitted. The powered card only is lighted by LED, white light only which lights up in both directions of travel. I assume this is because otherwise the dummy car would need to be decoder socket fitted. Having said that, it is clearly a budget offering of a 'modern' train for those that don't want and old tyme steam train set and much to be welcomed. The Railroad power cars are ex-Lima and so a step up. So it appears that for HST models Hornby now offer 3 classes of travel.....

I've seen the actual models which are considerably better than the catalogue pictures. The InterCity 125 logo is in outline and they are W43002 and W43003 so numbered correctly. If one is going to be picky, they have the logo with black centres which only represents the HST power cars in very early service (1976) as the infill quickly changed to blue; but the power cars have exhaust baffles and guard's window filled in which places them into the early 80s.

A few details will help - is it the super detail version? There are two power cars, one is a dummy without motor but with working lights; the other is powered. Under what circumatnces did you buy it? Shop? Ebay? Elsewhere? Was it boxed?

Yes, but at a price. Until Bachmann really started the revolution in mechanisms in the 1990s, the received wisdom was that the UK market would not pay continental prices.

The main problems with old Triang mechanisms were lack of weight and lack of sufficient pickups to ensure reliable running. Whilst the odd dud mechanism that hadn't been machined right made it through, in most cases the Triang Motor Bogies or X.04 motors once run in and properly lubricated were very good indeed for the time. Unfortunately for the avergae youthful user without access to the skills or help to appreciate these issues, if the loco didn't work properly then that was the end of it.

It's a shame you didn't hang on to it as the NSW sets are some of the few Triang items to be worth serious money these days!

Back in pre internet days you either sold to shops for around half resale value or took out small ads which were charged per word and took ages to get printed. Even with PayPal fees selling on ebay at standard rates will cost less than 15% of the final take.

I found the answer in DCC fitting section and have posted link here in case anyone else come this way

Thanks. The lights work when the set is coupled and power is applied but no movement. Apparently it had been stored and when brought out worked for a bit and then the problem occured. I've been advised to check that the wires to the motor haven't come adrift but would appreciate advice on the bext way to get to the mechanism. I've got the body off, the unit comes with an exploded diagram of parts but no advice on the order of disassembly. The Chassis frame is clipped in place but I can't see how it can come off without releasing the wheelset units which seem to be held in place by a pair of screws in the floor. However getting to those screws is inhibitedby the light bar that is clipped at one end but appears glued at the other. Any advice from those that have gone before me on the order of play to get it apart would be appreciated. Also, before I proceed, is it possible that the problem might be in the trailer car if that is the way that control functions are routed?

I have a quick question which will hopefully help shorten the time to diagnose a issue with a faulty 143 (acquired as a non-working example so I'm trying to sort it out). Do the two cars need to be coupled for the unit to work or should the powered vehicle on it's own be capable of working without the trailer? Thanks

This is a subjective opinion and I think missing the context. In 1984 the only RTR 00 Princess was the long deleted original Triang one, which was so underscale as to resemble a Black 5. So for 1984, the advent of a model that was of pretty much general scale proportions was a step up, plus of course it was around Railroad price. The rivet counters would recourse to kits or expensive professional builds but for the ordinary punter it was a model of a Princess at a price. Guess what? As the market has moved, so have Hornby, culminating shortly in a new Princess that for the money is likely to put most 1980s finescale kitbuilds to shame. But the 1984 Princess was a product of its time, and should be treated as such.

Ah yes, the Tri-ang bottles. I definitely wouldn't rely on that stuff being plastic compatible, the number of Triang locos I have had with disintegrated motion brackets etc as decades of oil has decomposed them...

On that basis the answer should be found in the 2014 Bachmann catalogue......

There are limits to UV marking for collectable items. Much of my stuff is secondhand/previously owned (and of course legitimately acquired). It would certainly not be helpful for them to be indelibely marked with details of previous owners......

104s and 105s seemed to avoid the creep of Blue Grey, which was originally supposed to be for refurbished units although over time pretty much everything passenger gained it prior to secorisation

The Wrenn handbook was similar. Nothing ever seemed to be removed, even if it was not in production, whilst 'new' models would be announced years before they were made, if ever (hmm, that sounds familiar ) so as a youth, one was somewhat misled as to the actual available range.......

Is the small TMD layout the modern incarnation of the GWR branch line layout? Far more numerous in model form than in real life....

Years before CAD/CAM and 3D printed samples, the catalogue photos for new models were often the hand built prototypes used as samples to give an idea of what the finished product would look like. In the case of the Brush Type 4 the sample clearly didn't need the heavy plastic ridges that the production one required to mask the different colours. The bogies look closer to Class 37 pattern too, ironic as the actual Hornby 37 never did get the correct sideframes.

Yes, 86/4s had flexicoil suspension. They were essentially an 86/2 with MW gear.

It's not as obvious as it could be in the Ts and Cs but I agree that to get all that for a fiver and then cancel would have been somewhat unrealistic if we wanted BRM to continue as a going concern!