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Hornby 2021 - HST & Mk3 range


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At the beginning of April 2006, FirstGroup, having secured the newly combined Greater Western franchise, unveiled a proposed new livery with a graduated blue to purple body colour and horizontal dynamic lines. Originally applied to both coaching stock and power cars, upon refurbishment the power cars received a modified livery of solid blue/purple, minus the dynamic lines

 

This train pack features representations of power cars No. 43087 '11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment Royal Logistics Corps' and No.43098 in First Great Western plain blue livery. 
 

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Officially the fastest diesel trains in the world, the High-Speed Trains were introduced by British Rail in 1976, operating 125mph services on the Great Western Main Line and the East Coast Main Line before being introduced to other lines later. 

 

When originally built by BREL at Crewe Works, the InterCity 125 units consisting of a pair of Class 43 power units and a rake of Mk3 coaches, were considered to be diesel multiple units and allocated as Class 253 to the Western Region and Class 254 for the Eastern Region, as it was envisaged that the sets would remain in fixed formation. The original Inter-City 125 livery of yellow wrap-around ends, with the Rail Blue design being cut diagonally with grey towards the back of the loco, lasted into the early 1980s. 

 

After an iconic life of service on the East Coast Main Line, LNER removed its Inter-City 125s from service at the end of 2019. To celebrate LNER announced a farewell rail tour. The entire train was repainted in the original blue and yellow livery and the tour lasted for four days.
 

 

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The original Blue Pullman trains were introduced by British Rail in 1960. The 1955 Modernisation Plan envisioned luxury diesel express trains as a way of competing against motor cars and domestic air travel. Built in Birmingham by Metro-Cammell, two variants were created; two first class six-car sets for the London Midland Region, operating from London St Pancras to Manchester Central, and three two class eight-car units which ran on the Western Region from London Paddington to various destinations. The London to Manchester train was known as the Midland Pullman and reduced the record time between the two cities from 3 hours 50 minutes to just 3 hours 15 minutes. The last Midland Pullman ran in 1966 after the electrification of the London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly line which allowed journeys to be completed in just two and a half hours. 

 

In 2020 it was announced that Locomotive Services Limited would begin to run a Blue Pullman service from St Pancras to Manchester Piccadilly along the Midland Main Line. This exciting new service, offering amazing views of the Derbyshire Peak District, combines the historic Blue Pullman with the Iconic Class 43 HST which will feature a new Nanking Blue livery replicating that of the original Blue Pullmans. 
 

 

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The HST is a favourite of mine, and the Midland Pullman is definitely on the cards.

 

Is this tooling updated from that of 2009? I already have the first incarnation of FGW (R2812), but would be tempted to replace it with R3958 if there are notable improvements.

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Damn no EMR red HST, strange they would do more MK3s in LNER livery when there’s plenty of these in stock in model shops around the country...unless I’m missing something.

Nice to see the Blue Pullman HST being done though, £500-600 for the full train though!

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Blue Pullman is definitely a win.

Hold out hope on the headlight, theyve made such mods before (NR HST for instance).

 

its gone up £25 on the 2019 price for a pair of power cars, so i’d expect its still one powered one dummy. The coaches are pretty much unchanged, so maybe the price reflects tooling mods.

Edited by adb968008
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Well, I thought the "Pullman HST" was an open goal for Hornby, given they have the toolings already, so not a surprise to see it announced. Given the price of the power cars, I would hope for a (working) headlight above the cab as per the prototype rather than as an additional, non-working detail. Possibly 'wait and see'...

 

My other thought is that the prototype has two "kitchen/restaurant" cars, one of which has had major modifications to the windows which it looks like Hornby have ignored. Even without altering the tooling, surely they could have 'painted over' the in-filled windows as a compromise?

 

If Hornby are aiming to produce an accurate model of this train to rival the Bachmann model of the original 'Blue Pullman' then as it stands (from the pictures provided) I think they have 'almost' achieved that; but if I were paying full money I would want it 'spot on' without compromises. As it is, I've already picked up a second hand model which I intend to "gussy up" as a 'Pullman HST'; it won't have the top headlight and my intended livery will be not quite prototypical (personal choice) because it will be a 'what if' but it will be a fraction of the price of the new model.

 

HOURS OF FUN IN 2021!

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9 minutes ago, GordonC said:

 

.... with the correct colour of lettering this time

I would prefer to wait for them to retool the earlier mk3s to the standard of the later ones - matching TGS, variety of restaurant cars with correct vents applied etc. Was not expecting them this year but hopefully in future.

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3 hours ago, Ouroborus said:

The Pullman HST is a chunk pricier than the FGW, so i would expect some mods.

Does it maybe include a coach thats just not shown in illustration?

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Have faith on the headlight, if it doesnt its going to get panned critically.

 

But they have several toolings for the hst front, so its not implausible for them to do another.

 

The video talks future tense of the MP entering service, so I’d imagine they have been planning this for several months. On the video the he acknowledges changes will be made to the buffet..so they weren't known fully when he recorded it.

 

Tbh I cant see them missing it, I can see the £ signs in Simons eyes, so I bet this model will get “steam locomotive level” of attention to detail before manufacture.

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20 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

Have faith on the headlight, if it doesnt its going to get panned critically.

 

But they have several toolings for the hst front, so its not implausible for them to do another.

 

The video talks future tense of the MP entering service, so I’d imagine they have been planning this for several months. On the video the he acknowledges changes will be made to the buffet..so they weren't known fully when he recorded it.

 

Tbh I cant see them missing it, I can see the £ signs in Simons eyes, so I bet this model will get “steam locomotive level” of attention to detail before manufacture.

Fingers crossed they do as it's one I'm looking forward to. It's not listed as a new tool or a re tool though. And out of those 7 toolings they've never included the top marker light on the network rail measurement train. I guess a future engine shed blog will tell us the Information we need. 

Either way I'm looking forward to it and I'm glad Hornby listend to what people wanted even though there hasn't been any face to face interaction at exhibitions. So :good_mini: to Hornby

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I was hoping for a re-release of either a East Midlands Trains or East Midlands Railway HST as the first release of the EMT version are hard to find, and if you do find them, prepare to mortgage your house to pay for them.

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1 hour ago, jools1959 said:

I was hoping for a re-release of either a East Midlands Trains or East Midlands Railway HST as the first release of the EMT version are hard to find, and if you do find them, prepare to mortgage your house to pay for them.

Forget it- people clearly only want very recent and very short-lived liveries on their HSTs and are not attempting to model anything much from the period  before 2019, even less so the period 1996-2008! The LNER one only ran for four days but they feel confident enough to sell then en masse, the Midland Pullman has so far only operated once and will at best be a 20 times a year affair ergo a rare sight at any location of your choosing but still everyone is excited about the prospect of paying £648 for a model of it AND has the space to run an 11 vehicle train!

 

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35 minutes ago, fiftyfour fiftyfour said:

Forget it- people clearly only want very recent and very short-lived liveries on their HSTs and are not attempting to model anything much from the period  before 2019, even less so the period 1996-2008! The LNER one only ran for four days but they feel confident enough to sell then en masse, the Midland Pullman has so far only operated once and will at best be a 20 times a year affair ergo a rare sight at any location of your choosing but still everyone is excited about the prospect of paying £648 for a model of it AND has the space to run an 11 vehicle train!

 

 

But, that said the former EMT livery will continue to live on for a while yet with the Colas, LSL unpainted and 125 Group Power Cars. Not choosing to do it does seem like a bit of a missed opportunity given that the Colas pairs can be seen regularly working with Network Rail Yellow Mk2 & Mk1s (Both in Hornby's range). Let alone producing it for the periods between EMT & EMR. 

 

I'm pleased to see another FGW Set at last, considering the sky high prices even the Mk3's have been fetching, though the lettering and numbering is somewhat a cause for confusion. Two TFs - G & H and a Buffet as a K - F would have been the better labelling as K only came in when the First Class was reduced. Also - It's good to see a 4 Window 402 produced, but I really hope it isn't the Limby hybrid TRFB come RFM. 

 

Come to think of it, on the FGW HST Front it would have been nice to see some imagination with it - a Mini Buffet and TC could have easily been produceable (The TC being half a TF, Half TS, The mini buffet needs 2 windows painted over). But I can't complain too much, we have another rake at least! 

Edited by surfsup
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Obviously Hornby's catalogue was completed before the train's inaugural public run, so we'll assume (dangerous, that) that it will produce R40167 correctly numbered M41182 not M41183 as published today.

 

Also, let's hope they can add a lighted 'top' headlight to the power cars, and maybe, just maybe, alter the tooling for the modified kitchen car - although that's probably a step too far?

 

Anyway, for those who wish to accurately re-create the exact formation as it appeared on the LSL Blue Pullman formation on inaugural public run on 12/12/20, it was as follows:

 

Note: ‘LHS’ refers to the view from the rear of the train looking forward. [toilet LHS] means that the toilet window is on the left-hand side of the train, looking forward in the direction of travel. (A) is the carriage formation letter as applied. As 40802 has no public seating, it does not have a formation letter. 

 

 

PC M43055 + TF M41176 (A) [toilet RHS]  + TF M41108 (B) [toilet LHS] + TFKB M40802 [all-white windows on LHS, kitchen to front] + TF M41162 (C) [toilet LHS] + TF M41059 (D) [toilet LHS] + TF M41182 (E) [toilet LHS] + TFKB M40801 (F) [kitchen to rear] + TF M41169 (G) [toilet LHS] + TGS M44078 [guard’s office to rear] + PC M43046

 

Interestingly, the doors (Nos. 1-4) are denoted by a permanent label on each coach's droplight, although their position is different from the plan diagram below.

 

The picture shows Door 2 on the leading end of 41176 adjacent to the toilet. This is the one shown as No. 3 Door on the BR/Porterbrook diagram. I wonder if Hornby will include those markings?

 

Also, on the 'LHS' of 40802, one of the 'white' windows seems to be more opaque with a sort of frosted-type film.

 

Lots of detail for Hornby to go at, if it wishes...

 

 

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1 hour ago, fiftyfour fiftyfour said:

I think we should assume the FGW 402xx and the Midland Pullman buffets will be Limby lash ups, we need to see the roof to see if they are just late number RFMs in other liveries.


Indeed, that’s my main worry. Ah well, at least the Oxford Rail Mk3s scrub up nicely with a bit of cut n shut (correct Hornby windows added in). 

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