Hornby RailRoad HST

[Waverley47708]

Quick update, the original Lima chassis does have the wee plastic lugs along the side, despite what I assumed in an earlier post. As such and going by the internal photos of the Railroad 125 I am pretty sure the Lima body will fit directly onto a Hornby Railroad chassis.

 

Good news as a result of a bit of trawling the internet I have tracked down the part numbers.  Chassis X9968, Motor bogie X9870, and front bogie X9881.

 

Bad news i haven't found anyone who has them in stock.

Edited December 28, 2019 by Waverley47708

[Spencer617]

Question regarding the GWR HST Set, has anyone else found that the powercars and the coaches are considerably more matt than the super detail coaches? 

I was hoping of making up a HST set with some more coaches, but they seem a lot more glossy than the RR range ones.

 

[bart2day]

2 hours ago, Spencer617 said:

Question regarding the GWR HST Set, has anyone else found that the powercars and the coaches are considerably more matt than the super detail coaches? 

I was hoping of making up a HST set with some more coaches, but they seem a lot more glossy than the RR range ones.

 

 

Yes they are gloss whereas the train set one I saw Matt. Also the coaches in the train set are mor basic with no coach letters or orange door opening lights. Quite disappointing from Hornby as it makes it more difficult to match coaches if you want to expand your train, without getting out some Matt varnish. 

[Waverley47708]

How do these Railroad 125s get on with a full rake of 8 mk3s and a dummy power car?  Hornby and Lima mk3s as the latter appear to be a bit heavier and my Lima 125s struggle at times to pull a full rake at times.

 

Thanks

[Waverley47708]

Seems the answers to all my questions can be found on this Boxing Day special video!  From around 5 min 20 sec mark.

 

 

 

[davie]

On 25/12/2019 at 21:22, outatime said:

The R1230 trainset looks like i could get a GWR HST for a reasonable price. Are there any additional coaches for it apart from the new Hornby ones?

I am on the lookout for additional coaches too however doesn't seem to be any.  The difficulty is that the single GWR mk3 coaches which are available, come in a high gloss finish which look silly on a layout in my opinion.  The matt finish on R1230 looks better and blends in with other models of the same era.  Top tip, the only GWR mk3 coach which you can buy that suits the matt finish, is the TGS.  I purchased one 2nd hand on ebay for £31 and it had a satin sheen instead of high gloss, so you can get away with it.  Painting the yellow springs and door steps black helps to tone it down further. 

 

R1230 is superb value for money...I bought 2 packs plus the TGS and still had change left out of £260 compared to buying 1 pair of super detailed power cars for that price!  The extra track always comes in handy and the controllers with trackmats can be sold on for a few quid.  So win win!  

[RAF96]

Give it a splosh with Halfords matt acrylic varnish rattle can spray. Almost invisible on many things like rolling stock and Metcalfe card kits.

[Waverley47708]

Oh dear, just got one and the yellow paintwork as awful on power and dummy car.  Think I'll be returning it.  Hope it is a one of and not an issue for the whole batch.  Very disappointed.

 

The yellow on the nose is a different shade to the side, there is a thin line of thick yellow along the top edge along the side and the interface between the blue and yellow on the front is neither straight nor clear

 

 

 

[andyman7]

Hopefully they are not all like that, and you can exchange for a better one.

[Waverley47708]

On 27/12/2019 at 10:49, miles73128 said:

Additional pics

 

 

 

 

Now heard of three others who have the same livery issue as I do.  Looking at the photos uploaded by Miles I can see the same thick yellow line round the top of the yellow section as on my own.

 

Have been in touch with Hornby Customer Care and had an initial response asking for the R number but no explanation yet.

 

Top photo the left side is worse on both power cars with the slight dip.

 

Bottom Lima on left Hornby (Lima body) on right.

 

 

Edited January 25, 2020 by Waverley47708

[fiftyfour fiftyfour]

It's like going back in time to a good old Lima release (which even now still look good given a bit of work) albeit with a slightly better motor and DCC capability for the digital fetishists. 

 

The InterCity 125 wording and logo are too low (VERY noticeable when trying to shoe-horn a "Sir Kenneth Grange" plate into the space!) so could do with replacement, That wording should be silver with no infill in ALL applications except if modelling 43002/003/004/005/007/008 in 'as new' circa 1976-1977 when the infill should be black. The guards van window layout is, however, ONLY correct for 43153-43198 in blue/grey, and for the 'retro' liveries applied to 43002/006/112 in recent years, none of 43002-152 lost their guards van windows until much later. If you are using them as a basis to model 43002/006/112 you will need to tinker with the roof layout somewhat, the top of the radiator depicts a Marston Excelsior cooler group which were all replaced during the MTU conversions, also the (detatchable) exhaust deflector needs to come off and be cut down (43002) or left off altogether (43006/112). You'd also need to add modern orange cantrail stripes and warning flashes if representing any of the retro trio.

 

In all cases except early (until about 1978) WR modelling you need to hack about with the chassis a bit, the main item is to remove the number 1 fuel tank which is located on the secondmans' side between the front bogie and the main fuel tanks.

[Waverley47708]

After a bit of thought I am going to send the Blue Grey power cars back and swap them for the GWR set which is the same price.  I had wanted the Blue Grey power cars primarily for the new motor for my Lima HSTs, the livery was a bonus.  Having looked on line the costs for a new motor, chassis, front bogie, lighting etc would come to around £50 (none of which are currently available). For around the same price again I had hoped to get two HST power cars that matched my rake of blue grey Hornby Mk3 coaches.  The poor application of the livery and then the realisation that the logo was too low was enough to get my looking again at the Lima body shells I already have.  They actually have lettering the new Hornby bodies don't have at the guards compartment.  The Lima blue and grey doesn't match the coaches as well as the Hornby power cars did and I think the grey at the rear of the power car is slightly too wide on the Lima bodies.  However with a bit of weathering and possibly even new Intercity 125 lettering they come up well.

 

Looking on line and at other photos on RMWEB it looks like the poor livery application was not restricted to my power cars.  As a resut there was little point in swapping them and hoping for a better pair.

 

As a result I've decided to go for the GWR set.  I'll just swap the bodies with two of my dozen Lima power cars and try to sell the GWR coach and power car bodies if anyone is interested.

 

I am disappointed with the livery application, something has gone wrong with them.  If a second batch or future release come out I may look again.  In the meantime I'll go with plan B.

 

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by Waverley47708

[BritishRail60062]

On 28/12/2019 at 10:07, Spencer617 said:

Question regarding the GWR HST Set, has anyone else found that the powercars and the coaches are considerably more matt than the super detail coaches? 

I was hoping of making up a HST set with some more coaches, but they seem a lot more glossy than the RR range ones.

 

I heard that someone used car wax to make their Blue Pullman glossy. That might work with this HST but try it on a scrap model first though. Not something that I have done but its tempting to experiment with this model though .

[MrTea]

Finally got around to giving my Railroad HST a run after sourcing some suitable blue/grey Mk3s on eBay. Overall I'm pleased with it but I agree with the points others have made about the livery application (especially with regards to the yellow). It's interesting how dark the rail blue is, particularly compared to that used by Bachmann on their class 108 and also Hornby's Railroad class 31.

 

I do however have a slight problem with the dummy power car - it seems to have missed out on some of the printing during manufacture:

 

Right side matches the powered power car

 

Left side missing 'Inter-City 125' printing and printed white handrails

 

Powered car and dummy side by side.

 

Hopefully mine is the only one like this. I'm sure it can be sorted with some suitable transfers but it would be nice not to have to do that or send it back.

 

[Legend]

Send it back . Its clearly not right . How on earth did that get past Quality Control . Youd have thought someone would have noticed putting it in the box

[NFWEM57]

On 02/01/2020 at 20:35, davie said:

The difficulty is that the single GWR mk3 coaches which are available, come in a high gloss finish which look silly on a layout in my opinion. 

My full fat Hornby GWR HST is very shiny.  Have you considered spraying the Railroad GWR HST with Pledge Revive It or the new name for the same thing, Pledge, expert care, tile and stone wax; available on Amazon.  Then the shiny coaches would not be a problem.    See this thread last page ...