D400

That is the one, announced under the old policy but still in development. 32-340 Class 25/1 25057 BR Blue & 32-341Class 25/2 D5282 BR Two-Tone Green (Small Yellow Panels). Bruce

New 25 is already announced from Bachmann. Bruce

They are all Western Region numbers so I would say all suitable for NSE areas! They have also done one (TSO 5491) in NSE branded Blue/Grey Basically you need all of them Bruce

The phrase is "let sleeping dogs lie" but I would like to comment on this. First of all I'm sure that Henners84 is not alone in being frustrated with bogie ride hide issues, quite a lot of people in the market for these wonderful Mk2b's will want to run them in prototypical rakes and the uniformity of train liveries and ride hide is quite important to me also. It was always going to be a big gamble for Accurascale to make product that many will want to use with another manufacture's products and I am certain Fran and guys at Accurascale are well aware of this, the Oxford Rail Mk3s strike me as a good example - they should have sold like hot cakes but many won't buy them because the livery doesn't match their other stock (regardless of who is "right" or "wrong"). But they've taken that gamble and power to their elbow for doing so! The key thing though is no one is criticising Accurascale or their product - it is obviously fantastic and built to highest possible standards - indeed a few have expressed their desire for Accurascale to duplicate the other Mk1/2s to ensure a matching rake which speaks volumes about the praise people have for the company, but understandably Fran and the guys are being cautious (and I don't blame them!). They obviously have no control over what "the competition" do so lets just see what happens and help them by supporting their products and coming up with solutions to problems with other manufacturers issues that relate to this. I will be waiting the decorated samples with baited breath to see what they do about the thorny issue of livery (BR blue and NSE blue will no do spark debate whatever they do!) . ...and yes I have ordered several, and will probably be making a second order at some point... and then if 2cs follow (please!!) then well...! Bruce

The TSOTs were Mk2C. However a look at the Irish versions shows one pack already includes a Mk2C FO so I clearly the tooling allows these to be done at a later date Very happy - a big missing link for me this. Bruce

Part of the Engine Shed blog has highlighted that, perhaps unsurprisingly, certain items in the Hornby range are now described as "Website Exclusives". These are: R30079TTS - ScotRail, Class 47, Co-Co, 47712 'Lady Diana Spencer' - Era 7 R30080 - BR, Class 47, Co-Co, 47593 ‘Galloway Princess’ – Era 7 R40182 - RCS, Mk3 First Open, 11076 Coach A - Era 11 R40182A - RCS, Mk3 First Open, 11091 Coach B - Era 11 R40182B - RCS, Mk3 First Open, 11075 Coach C - Era 11 R40182C - RCS, Mk3 First Open, 11077 Coach D - Era 11 R40183 - RCS, Mk2d, Crew Coach, 17159 - Era 11 While I fully predicted to see Website Exclusive models launched in future - it does seem to be a bit of a shame that items that were in the "main range" have suddenly become website exclusives. Bruce

One wonder if that is what they want you to do. I too had the dreaded "Pre-order cannot be fulfilled" email this morning, curiously just a few hours after pre-ordering the same item with a different retailer on a hunch that it might happen! I would dearly like to know what is going on here - Gareth might be able to help. I presume at the start of the year retailers place orders for X numbers of units from Hornby. Is it the case that Hornby are now getting back in touch saying that they cannot honour these numbers? Surely that is a breach of contract or purchasing agreement - how on earth can retailer offer items for pre-order if they don't actually know how many units they are going to get? It does seem to affect a certain retailer more than others - one wonders why that is, is it simply because of the huge numbers involved? Or is it for some other slightly more dubious reason? Does said retailer use the policy adopted by certain online Hotel chains of deliberately overselling products on the basis that a certain percentage will likely cancel their pre-order before it arrives? I think we would all be a bit more understanding of all this if the situation was universal and particularly if Hornby.com showed items sold out before cutting down retailer's allocations, to the outsider it looks very much like Hornby are taking stock away from certain retailers to enable them to sell more units themselves with the maximum profit going to Hornby. And yes I know, most my questions above will not be answered, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be asked. Regards, Bruce

I don't believe it does use a fan. It uses an ultrasonic "exciter" disc to atomise water into fine droplets. Been conducting a few experiments of my own with this technology. Bruce

I too contacted Hornby about replacement wheels and after a bit of back and forth they arrived this morning. I quick measure up of the old and new wheelsets reveals the following: Old: Diameter of Face (excluding flange): 12.15mm Overall diameter (including flange): 14.55mm Flange depth: 2.4mm New (replacements from Hornby) Diameter of Face (excluding flange): 12.16mm Overall diameter (including flange): 14.35mm Flange depth: 2.19mm Standard Hornby Wheelset (as used in non-sliding door Mk3s) Diameter of Face (excluding flange): 12.58mm Overall diameter (including flange): 14.46mm Flange depth: 1.88mm Hope this helps, Bruce

The Soundfile is provided by South Western Digital. Bruce

I don't normally comment on these matters as it seems a waste of breath but I think a lot of people have extremely unrealistic ideas of how much model trains cost. The problem is this was fuelled by how much they cost between 5 and 10 years ago when things were very different - critically the Chinese labour market has vastly changed and workers are now demanding a fair wage for the incredibly skilled and time consuming task of assembling models. This is why models which cost "X" 5 years ago, now cost "Y" today. Too many people assume that cost of production is linked solely to tooling costs, decoration complication and so on. Simple truth is models cost a lot because they have to be assembled by hand, regardless of the date of the tooling used. Both Hornby and Bachmann have acknowledged this change in the past. Hornby caught the situation early and attempted to reduce production cost using "design clever". We all know how that went down! Bachmann learnt for Hornby's mistake and have acknowledged that their models are not and never will be cheap. As a direct result of this they have put a huge amount of effort into adding "perceived value" to their more recent designs and tooling in an attempt (correct in my view) to justify these high prices. The problem occurs with re-runs of older models which still cost just as much to manufacture in today's climate but don't have this presumed "perceived value" of more recent tooling. At the end of the day these are hobby items which no one is forcing anymore to buy. If you can afford them then pay the price, if you can't don't. The retailers certainly seem to have faith in the EFE Rail range as several items have already sold out at Bachmann meaning that Bachmann Europe have covered their costs. This is also suggest the runs have been relatively small which is also a wise move. Also although I've mentioned it before, others seem to be overlooking what is to my eye a superior standard of decoration on these items compared to their release under DJM/Heljan. That I expect was one way in which Bachmann felt they could add perceived value without increasing the cost further. Bruce

What about the decoration? The "catalogue" pictures seemed to indicate this was to a higher standard? Thanks for the pics so far btw! Bruce

Any chance of posting some photographs when you get a chance? Very interested to see what differences if any these items have. Bruce

Reading thought this topic I a gather some models have suffered minor damage to the body shells. If anyone requires a replacement bodyshell for the following (all TGS) please get in touch via PM as a have a few spare (without chassis) R4896 - GWR Livery R4896A - GWR Livery R4938 - XC Livery R4938A - XC Livery Bruce

What really interests me about this range is the decoration. Bachmann have IMHO very high standards of decoration, higher than Heljan or DJM (RIP). The images shown here seem to show the new EFE models will have this higher standard of decoration, although of course these will just be samples, we shall have to see what the final product is like when it arrives. Interestingly if it is indeed higher quality then this wouldn't be the first time this has happened; Rail Exclusive specified a much higher standard of decoration on the Class 47s they commissioned from ViTrains. Bruce

Afternoon all, Having purchased a SLW 97201 last year I was rather looking forward to prospect of RTC liveried stock from Hornby, particularly as the Bachmann items are now very difficult to find at reasonable prices! I received the LMS CCT the other week, to my horror the blue colour is completely wrong! Having seen the photographs of the Mk1s on various retails websites this week seems to confirm that these are also a rather strange bright blue colour rather than the correct BR blue. Such a shame, how could it have gone so wrong?! Bruce

So have been reading everyone comments on loud motors and running problems and reckon I have diagnosed the problem. My motor is also getting very hot after an unreasonable period of running and this led me to believe it was being placed under unacceptable stress. Closer examination proved that there is no horizontal play in the metal cardan shafts which is putting the motor under-strain. Removing one of these proved my theory as although the motor is still getting a little hot, it is no where near as bad as it was. Hornby Bachmann etc all use plastic cardan's with a little bit of play in them as it is inevitable that motor with the fly wheels on will move laterally slightly while in use - the Hornby Class 50 and 31s even have telescopic cardan shafts to help with this problem! So a better solution I suspect will be to make new shafts, either from plastic or telescopic to solve the problem. Bruce

Looks like a peak to me! Bruce

This is a game changer. Particularly impressed by the bogie and underframe detail. Bruce

I spoke to Phil yesterday because I too had multi-payments showing in the "pending" section of my Credit Card, and I've only ordered 1 model. I assume they'd had trouble taking it (I had only ordered one) and wanted to check that it had gone through correctly. It had, they've just had some problems with there system which means it made multiple requests, but only 1 will actually be authorised they rest should not progress beyond the "pending" section. Bruce

Payment for my 97201 was taken this morning so they can’t be that far away Bruce

Reliably informed that 37099 is about to arrive in Aberystwyth tonight ready for possession work over the weekend. Bruce

I believe the Accurascale will be fitted with a Loksound v5. Bruce

And still do. I also have a feeling they may recently have started making the Humbrol range too. Bruce

Some shots of the samples on the Bachmann Stand yesterday. Bruce