Brighton Belle

[Oldddudders]

Of course, if a modeller wanted to stretch a point here and there, timewise that is, an original Brighton Belle (2051 etc) could readily be accompanied on the layout by two steam-hauled trains of Hornby's delicious olive Maunsell coaches - sets 469 and 470 were used on London-Worthing services until electrification, and Hornby offers most of the vehicles concerned, correctly numbered. A mid-set pullman or two would need to be added, making them 9- or 10-car sets, so length is an issue again, but if the modeller was happy for the Belle to run as a 5-car, then these two could be truncated, too.

[BernardTPM]

My reference was to the coaches

 

The 'Brighton Belle' (and the related 6-PUL Pullmans) were quite different in outline to other Pullmans, even other 'all-steel' cars as they had sloping sides above the waist and unique oval windows on the ends (not just the doors). These are just the two most obvious differences, there were many more detail differences.

[robertcwp]

Now that Bachmann have announced a Blue Pullman, I have a strong feeling that Hornby will announce a Brighton Belle in 00 at Christmas. They will probably do a better job than Golden Age and at a fraction of the price.

[kiltedsignaller]

Now that Bachmann have announced a Blue Pullman, I have a strong feeling that Hornby will announce a Brighton Belle in 00 at Christmas. They will probably do a better job than Golden Age and at a fraction of the price.

 

 

We ARE in the "silly season", are we not?

[robertcwp]

We ARE in the "silly season", are we not?

We shall find out on Christmas Day or whenever the Hornby announcement for 2011 is due.

[frobisher]

I've not seen comment on the issue with the couplings raised in any of the magazines or here. The current Hornby Magazine is my current loo reading, and over the last week this has started to bug me.

 

In a nutshell, it's been picked up on that the buffer beams are red throughout when they should not be, but the coupling arrangements are a bit off from what I can see as the buckeyes seem to be set at Kadee height rather than "prototype" (granted not this prototype) height. This by itself isn't a huge issue and I can understand that the manufacturer did this from the point of view of compatibility (though as they only ever couple to each other...), but it leads to a slightly odd arrangement with the lower buffer beam gaining an extension to house the coupling slot. What does cause an issue to my eyes (from the magazine pictures) is that the screwlink couplings on the end are mounted through the same slot (and height) approximately a scale foot too low which looks very off. But perhaps that's just me (I take offence at the hap hazard bit of wire stuck to the buffers on S&W equipped stock, but can overlook a manufacturer's tensionlock, so go figure).