steven156

I managed to nab one of the GBRF 66789s. One had one of the battery boxes sheared off and cabstep handrails badly bent and the other three or four had the usual chips on the handrails etc. All at very reasonable prices considering that it's a popular livery. Managed to get one with the chips on the handrails at £122. Not even a 5 minute job with a toothpick to touch up the cab step handrails and putting a bit of paper underneath the chipped handrail to touch up the paint to avoid getting white paint into the handrail recess. Runs perfectly fine, no wobble or other issues. Very happy with the result, not even "real" modelling skills were required, its only my 8th Hattons Class 66.

Hattons own pictures really don’t do the loco any favours, their own pictures make it look very pale compared to this one.

I have bitten the bullet and bought the 14 pack of wagons, all the variations. When you first see the cost of £469 it is a bit eye watering. But when you think about it, it works out at £33.50 a wagon, which in the hobby's current financial climate is an absolute steal. The whole rake can be legitimately hauled by my various Bachy and Hattons 66s in First GBRF, GBRF europorte, 2x Royal Scotsmans and Fastline liveries and 14 wagons is long enough to portray the real things presence of 20 wagons. Still didnt help much when I confirmed the payment and the money left my paypal account mind you! I also dont think I can justify stretching out the rake to 20 wagons! If we can have EWS HTAs next that would be great, the prices the Bachy models are for sale on ebay are eyewatering!

While not being a chartered accountant and having basic math skills, I used to work for Sainsburys in their produce deparment and my job was to mark down the short dated produce as part of my duties and being forced to attend team talks every week about how much the department lost due to waste and short life reductions, I would say I have a little bit of knowledge.

Putting a Sainsburys outlet into a Garden Centre when theres a Sainsburys Supermarket 500 yards away, and having to reduce significant amounts of fresh produce daily because they are not selling much of it before it comes close to its expiry date wont be paying many bills either.

Yes that happened at my local branch of Dobbies at Braehead in Renfrewshire, they ripped out the specialist food shopping mall and replaced it with a Sainsburys concession and they got shot down in flames on Social Media when they announced it- thinking that people would like it, and of course they didn't. The irony is that there is a branch of Sainsburys, and a very large branch at that, not even 500 yards away in the retail park opposite.

I remember that day well. The email came out at work a week before inviting everyone who hadn't been on a Inter7City HST yet to go across and have a good look around, it would have been rude not to!

More from Platform 0. I just wish I got more shots of the coaches exteriors. The set was fresh off Haymarket Depot for a staff only event on Platform 0 that day.

Talking about Haymarket Platform 0.......

Hmm I would side with Eddie on this one, he drives them everyday. Colour is so subjective, just look at Invercity Executive livery, Who would have thought a shade of grey would be so controversial? I recon the only thing we can do is hold a model up to the real thing in perfect daylight to see.

I've opened up the coach that has a decent paint finish that I am keeping. The other one is going back to Hattons (thanks again to them for their excellent service) I'm really torn over these coaches. It's nice Hornby have made them, but I just wish they were better with lights- but ponder how much this would add to the price which is very decent. The Bogies are very decent repesentations. They have pips in the frame which are presumably for fitting pickups like on the recent Mark 2s. It is very ironic that on the Hornby HSTs the driver is getting a suntan in the cab as the train is moving and the passengers in the coaches are in tinted window darkness. The Brake Discs in the wheels are very nice- blackened. The Orange ETH is in bare orange plastic which looks terrible. The printing on the underframe is really excellent along the equipment cabinets. Some of the mouldings are very nice. One piece underframe that feels very much like the existing Mark 3 coaches in the range. Coach interior also harks back to the existing mark 3 coaches. It's a blue plastic one piece coloured moulding. However there is a bit more finesse to them than before. it's been cleverly moulded to look very decent. Tables are also in blue which takes away from the realism when looking from outside. A dab of creamy/white paint will help them stand out a little. As mentioned the body moulding is very glossy. As Eddie R has mentioned there is issues with the colours, maybe its because its so glossy and that is causing the issues but I'm not totally convinced. The gangway ends and the roof vents are seperately fitted. The toilet hatches handles are moulded on. The coach moulding inside is in grey plastic, but Im not able to tell if this is the same grey as the exterior or if they have sprayed the grey because of the heavy glossy finish, There is a teeny tiny chip in the black surrounds under one of the windows, but that can be easily remedied with some paint on a toothpick or a very fine permanent market. For the price point it is very good but still a bit "design clever", Everard Junction on youtube has shown with a bit of work, you can jazz interiors up with lights for very modest sums of money and I recon once the rest of them have arrived they will be checked for paint finish and improved without a huge amount of work and I'll fit some cheap lights. I recon from general discussion on here and my own experience- Hornby have a very decent value for money coach that just about hits the price sweetspot, but it's the paintwork thats really lacking.

This was the TSD, R4891.

Mines arrived today, coaches are very glossy and the existing powercars are very matt. On one coach is a distorted roof rib, chipped black window surrounds and a distorted print on the Saltire logo. Very meh.

A couple of years ago on the Neilston line when I was a Ticket Examiner they had a block on for Engineering works that had trains run from Neilston to Glasgow via Newton- a long way for a short cut but it kept trains running. Was a nightmare to diagram drivers for as essentially it had to be only Motherwell Drivers as they signed the West Coast Mainline between Glasgow Central and Newton and both the entire Cathcart Circle and Branches as part of their more extensive route knowledge. A select few more senior Glasgow Central drivers used to sign the WCML to Newton for empty coach moves, but its not a route taught to new Shields or Glasgow Central Drivers as the empty coach moves now run to Motherwell for stabling overnight. The better compromise is for Neilston to have an extra shuttle bus to Barrhead and the customers for Glasgow are not having to go on a mystery tour to get to Patterton, Whitecraigs, Williamwood, Muirend and Cathcart as generally most Neilston customers are going to Glasgow anyway.

My SpotRail one arrived today and the squint nameplate was the first thing I noticed and the first thing my girlfriend noticed. Its subtle but very noticeable due to the blue spots providing a datum point . Disappointing as otherwise its a fantastic model. Returning it to Hattons and their usual excellent customer services have emailed me a printed label to return it.