New 2019 Class 31

[adb968008]

7 hours ago, MM1991 said:

If the right manufacturer tooled a high detail 31, with tooling to represent all the major differences then I think they would be onto a winner.  As you say there is a stack of liveries to be carried, Im just not sure Hornby are the ones to fully exploit the market for the 31 - maybe Accurascale or Heljan?

And theres the irony...

 

Hornby probably owns all 4 class 31 toolings too.. Airfix (acquired from Dapol), Triang, Lima and its own recent one.

 

The only way another tooling could be done is in complete secrecy, made in a large volume of liveries at the first shot. As advance notice could see Hornby open up a war on two fronts.. Railroad and a discount Detailed, but done in volume in secret they would be blindsided and off guard for towards a year.

 

My guess-fit would be Hattons, they could certainly manage a project on this scale, and given the way they’ve been taken on with class 66’s, I wouldnt blame them for doing it in secret, plus its a model thats right in their market space... most customers wanting bulk buy 31’s in many liveries will be Hattons customers already... end speculation.

Edited December 6, 2019 by adb968008

[GordonC]

10 hours ago, DRS Crewe On A Mission said:

Hi everyone, I hope you are all well? 

 

I don't wish to go off topic or hijack the thread but I thought seen as though the topic is about Class 31s that I could put a few questions forward. 

 

I wonder if anyone could give me some advise please? 

 

I have never owned a Class 31 at all and I am interested in the new Hornby Network Rail 31602. But I have seen the price of nearly £160 and I am considering is it worth it? In comparison in OO gauge we have the new Dapol Class 68s at £132 or less, Hattons Class 66 for £150, the new Heljan Class 47 likely at £160 or less and the new Accurascale Class 37s at the slightly higher price of £170. 

 

So my questions are is this particular Hornby Class 31 new tooling or an adapted/improved model considering the price? Does this model have directional lighting and cab lighting? Is the chassis and body details correct for this particular loco? Are the Network Rail yellow and the grey roof colours correct for this particular loco? Are the Hornby 31s smooth and good runners? Finally, can anyone assure me that 31602 won't suffer from Mazak rot? 

 

I would usually find out the answers to some of the above questions through the Rails Of Sheffield product page on their website but it seems to be lacking a detailed description of this model. 

 

Thank you very much in advance. 

 

Kind Regards, 

 

Danny. 

 

 

 

In terms of running qualities, the superdetailed Hornby models I have (Classes 31, 50, 60 and 87) are all excellent runners, very smooth and almost silent and personally I cant think of a better running model from other manufactuers.

 

[brushman47544]

On ‎02‎/‎12‎/‎2019 at 20:36, SHerr said:

The bottom skirt should be blue not black shouldn’t it? 

 

As others have said, black is fine. Definitely black on 31102 here https://railphotoprints.uk/p714981355/h3E2BDEB#h3e2bdeb

[DRS Crewe On A Mission]

11 hours ago, virginhst539 said:

I have one of last ones Hornby done in network rail and as far as I can tell the livery is pretty good. I see with 602 they have actually put the high intensity light on this one which is bonus as the one I got did not have this, just a high intensity light that was flush with the body. I also remember seeing a pic of the DCR one which seemed to run with all its lights on when travelling forward which is incorrect so would be interesting to see if this has been rectified. Looking at pictures of the model on a well known online retailer I am not 100% sold on the black radio pods on the roof or the style of extra lights fitted. 602 seemed to have ran with bulkier round units as seen in this pic http://www.railgallery.co.uk/20_33_html/31602_31465_Wichnor.html. other than that it looks to be an accurate model of the prototype

 

Thanks for the reply and the info. I really appreciate it. 

 

Yes it would be interesting to see if the lighting issue has been corrected on this batch. Now I have looked I completely agree about the radio roof pods on 602. I wouldn't have noticed because I don't know a lot about the 31s or the Hornby tooling for them but now you mention it, they do appear to be inaccurate for this particular loco. I am pleased that you pointed this out because for nearly £160 I would expect this to be correct, especially with it been such a noticeable difference. 

 

43 minutes ago, GordonC said:

 

In terms of running qualities, the superdetailed Hornby models I have (Classes 31, 50, 60 and 87) are all excellent runners, very smooth and almost silent and personally I cant think of a better running model from other manufactuers.

 

 

Thanks for the reply and the info. I really appreciate it. 

 

It's good to know that the modern super detailed Hornby models are good runners. I tend to buy mostly Bachmann, Dapol & ViTrains, although I have owned x2 Hornby 60s before but I sold them both on because I didn't use them much. If Hornby released the GBRf liveried Class 50s I would certainly be interested. I would also be interested in DB, GBRf & DCR 60s. 

[GordonC]

14 minutes ago, DRS Crewe On A Mission said:

 

Thanks for the reply and the info. I really appreciate it. 

 

Yes it would be interesting to see if the lighting issue has been corrected on this batch. Now I have looked I completely agree about the radio roof pods on 602. I wouldn't have noticed because I don't know a lot about the 31s or the Hornby tooling for them but now you mention it, they do appear to be inaccurate for this particular loco. I am pleased that you pointed this out because for nearly £160 I would expect this to be correct, especially with it been such a noticeable difference. 

 

 

Thanks for the reply and the info. I really appreciate it. 

 

It's good to know that the modern super detailed Hornby models are good runners. I tend to buy mostly Bachmann, Dapol & ViTrains, although I have owned x2 Hornby 60s before but I sold them both on because I didn't use them much. If Hornby released the GBRf liveried Class 50s I would certainly be interested. I would also be interested in DB, GBRf & DCR 60s. 

 

Ah yes thats correct about the lighting - I'd gotten a DCR 31452 but took it back because the tail lights were bi-colour and lit white when they should have been off. I read later that there was meant to be a straightforward mod you could do to the circuitboard to break tracks for the white part of the lights.

 

I have around 200 Diesel and Electric locos of mainly Bachmann, Hornby and Heljan with a few ViTrains and Dapol mixed in.

 

[DRS Crewe On A Mission]

4 minutes ago, GordonC said:

 

Ah yes thats correct about the lighting - I'd gotten a DCR 31452 but took it back because the tail lights were bi-colour and lit white when they should have been off. I read later that there was meant to be a straightforward mod you could do to the circuitboard to break tracks for the white part of the lights.

 

I have around 200 Diesel and Electric locos of mainly Bachmann, Hornby and Heljan with a few ViTrains and Dapol mixed in.

 

 

Thanks for the reply and for confirming the lighting issue. 

 

I will wait until someone confirms that the lighting issue has been rectified. I could potentially overlook the radio roof pods been inaccurate but for nearly £160 I couldn't overlook the directional lighting not working properly and displaying incorrect colours. 

 

Wow I thought my fleet of modern image locos was large at around 70 locos. Do you have a favourite freight or passenger operator that you model/collect? More than half of my locos are DRS traction in their various classes and liveries. 

[virginhst539]

if you are going to weather the loc the roof pods should not be too noticeable as the roofs ended up filthy rather quickly on them

[GordonC]

2 hours ago, DRS Crewe On A Mission said:

 

Thanks for the reply and for confirming the lighting issue. 

 

I will wait until someone confirms that the lighting issue has been rectified. I could potentially overlook the radio roof pods been inaccurate but for nearly £160 I couldn't overlook the directional lighting not working properly and displaying incorrect colours. 

 

Wow I thought my fleet of modern image locos was large at around 70 locos. Do you have a favourite freight or passenger operator that you model/collect? More than half of my locos are DRS traction in their various classes and liveries. 

 

mine are all an earlier era so BR would be the operator then - mid 80s to early 90s and mostly Scottish or North West England based locos with a few exceptions.

[DRS Crewe On A Mission]

14 minutes ago, virginhst539 said:

if you are going to weather the loc the roof pods should not be too noticeable as the roofs ended up filthy rather quickly on them

 

I wasn't planning to but as you say the prototypes appear to be filthy so it's something that I could consider. I generally don't buy weathered locos or stock and I have never weathered a loco or any item of rolling stock before but it could be something that I could commission someone else to do in order for the loco to be more prototypical. 

 

Regarding the roof pods did Hornby accurately model the previous two Network Rail 31s that they have produced? I'm just wondering if they were modelled with this inaccuracy as well and maybe that could be why the tooling hasn't been changed/updated for the latest model of 602. 

 

13 minutes ago, GordonC said:

 

mine are all an earlier era so BR would be the operator then - mid 80s to early 90s and mostly Scottish or North West England based locos with a few exceptions.

 

Right I see. I have considered modelling BR myself before because their are some nice liveries but as I am a big DRS fan that would probably mean sacrificing buying more DRS locos, thus it has never happened. 

[virginhst539]

31233 which is the one I have the pods are grey to match the roof.

 

 

31285 they appear black for the first time,same as 602

[SHerr]

5 hours ago, brushman47544 said:

As others have said, black is fine. Definitely black on 31102 here https://railphotoprints.uk/p714981355/h3E2BDEB#h3e2bdeb

 

Thanks for the link, more re-assuring. Apologies to Hornby on this occasion.

 

With regards to the DCR model lighting issue does anyone have a link to hand to the fix? I bought one recently to respray into a blue 31/4 (hint hint!) and couldn't work out what was going on but thought it must have been some modern lighting upgrade that the real ones had received.

[GordonC]

5 hours ago, SHerr said:

 

Thanks for the link, more re-assuring. Apologies to Hornby on this occasion.

 

With regards to the DCR model lighting issue does anyone have a link to hand to the fix? I bought one recently to respray into a blue 31/4 (hint hint!) and couldn't work out what was going on but thought it must have been some modern lighting upgrade that the real ones had received.

 

'The Black Hat' found a solution fairly near the bottom of this thread on 6th March 2017

 

 

[philiprporter]

I've just picked up the BR Blue skinhead class 31. The instructions show where and how to apply the indicator discs (although I'm guessing they may be generic instructions?) and there are location holes on the front end for the discs, so I'm wondering if these have not been included in error? I've emailed Hornby to see what the score is. 

[47423]

I have one on the way too, and i will be looking to see who supplies them. I might have a Lima one spare somewhere.

 

[MRDBLUE17]

I’m looking forward to getting the new yellow 31. It will be nice to pair up

or top and tail with 31233 I already have. I’ve also got the 31 TTS chips for them as they generally sounded pretty good. 
 

cheers

Mark

[rob D2]

On 08/12/2019 at 12:25, philiprporter said:

I've just picked up the BR Blue skinhead class 31. The instructions show where and how to apply the indicator discs (although I'm guessing they may be generic instructions?) and there are location holes on the front end for the discs, so I'm wondering if these have not been included in error? I've emailed Hornby to see what the score is. 

Did you get a response at all ?

[rob D2]

So I’ve received my 31102 from good old Danny at derails.

 

theres a few pictures below. Hasn’t really changed much in 13 years. Chassis ends look stronger / screws still hidden under bogies but slot into shorter receptacles in body ( these used to crack ). Fan is not working but original tool with space for belt , this causes undoing the little plugs for lighting to be a pain so I removed fan first.

 

no real place to put a decoder still, no b #£& y headcode discs but space for fitting them. I think it does have the waist band - just very faintly applied ?

 

all in all - up your game Hornby ! Charging top dollar for something that is rapidly being passed by 

 

 

[philiprporter]

4 hours ago, rob D2 said:

Did you get a response at all ?

Yes I sent them an email and a few days later received a detailing pack that contained headcode discs. Great service from Hornby. 

[rob D2]

And so, I’ve had an email back, saying the lack of headcode discs was an oversight from the development team and some are being sent.

 

Are they seriously waiting for everyone to email in ? Why not just send x numbers of the head codes to x number of retailers 

[MikeParkin65]

3 hours ago, rob D2 said:

And so, I’ve had an email back, saying the lack of headcode discs was an oversight from the development team and some are being sent.

 

Are they seriously waiting for everyone to email in ? Why not just send x numbers of the head codes to x number of retailers 

And how will those retailers know who has had a 31? Surely better for Hornby to bite the bullet on this (as they have)  and send sets out by request.

[richard_t]

I received a little detail pack today, after sending an email to Hornby - so I'm happy about that.

[MRDBLUE17]

Hi Rob,

 

If you are looking to fit sound the 31 is actually more straight forward than first appears. 
 

I remove the fan mechanism unit which just unscrews and this creates plenty of room for a 20x40 size speaker. The Hornby TTS chip has some very nice engine sounds on it and once you seal the speaker into the supplied plastic baffle improves it even further this will then sit on the chassis with a little dab of glue. The fan once removed can then be glued on the roof which looks fine in normal

operation.

 

Hope that’s of use to you

 

cheers

Mark

[rob D2]

3 hours ago, MikeParkin65 said:

And how will those retailers know who has had a 31? Surely better for Hornby to bite the bullet on this (as they have)  and send sets out by request.

Well, maybe a note on their website about the situation.

 

There will be some who don’t know somehting is missing 

[MikeParkin65]

3 hours ago, rob D2 said:

Well, maybe a note on their website about the situation.

 

There will be some who don’t know somehting is missing 

Agree - and in the monthly mags and  I think they've then done their best to correct their mistake

[rob D2]

For those with Mazak rot, the usual fella has 2 new replacement chassis for sale on eBay right now for £49.99