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Hornby's Best Ever Models


robmcg
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...I blame the Heljan 47XX which has thin-flanged front wheels, cheese-cutter flanges are a pet gripe for me...

 And there's no howls of complaint about them not staying on the rails. The good effect of finer than usual flanges on the O2's leading truck wheel - only 2'6" diameter - was very marked. Hopefully other makers will take note, we don't need pizza cutters to keep the models on poorly laid set track any longer.

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 And there's no howls of complaint about them not staying on the rails. The good effect of finer than usual flanges on the O2's leading truck wheel - only 2'6" diameter - was very marked. Hopefully other makers will take note, we don't need pizza cutters to keep the models on poorly laid set track any longer.

 

Something far worse than poorly laid set track - poorly laid set track on Carpet!

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Something far worse than poorly laid set track - poorly laid set track on Carpet!

 Nah, you want to try it directly on the grass - not manicured lawn grade either - of my first adventures with Triang OO outdoors aged about 5. It was great fun, even if it came off the rails a lot, and I had to lay a 'snake' to go any distance as the initial s/h purchase contained many curved sections and precious few straights.

 

Persuaded my friend Clive to try it in his back garden using the family collection of H-D the following year, and that worked even better because:

the solid metal track base was heavier then Triang plastic based track, and the grass was all kept underneath instead of coming up through the sleepers;

Clive's dad had properly graded their lawn and sown it with fine grass seed and mowed it for full pinstripe bowling green appearance;

the locos and stock  being heavier than Triang maintained better rail contact and were more stable;

Clive had enough straight track for a full forty feet of run both out and back (it was going very slowly at forty feet from the controller)..

 

Then Mrs Cross got home from the shops (yes, leaving two 6 y.o boys alone at home for hours was fine back then, no doors locked, mothers at home in practically every house) and gave Clive a good ticking off for taking it outside where it would all get rusty...

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Can't remember getting the H-D 3 rail in the garden, but eventually my dad made a baseboard that went in the spare bedroom (the one with no heating of course) so it had a permanent home.  An earlier time did see Hornby tinplate o gauge track put down temporarily on the concrete area outside the back door for clockwork trains, which was fairly successful, it being flat.  The lawn would have sloped too much.

Before the bedroom railway, I can vaguely remember being off primary school with whatever illness and being allowed to keep an oval of H-D 3 rail on the living room floor (carpet fluff warning!!!) for the duration.  I could then lie on the floor and watch my Bristol Castle  pulling a rake of red tinplate coaches round and round.

 

Now, perhaps 60 years on, this is just a childhood memory. I've moved on so far.   Now, I can watch a Hornby super-detailed GWR 4-6-0 pulling a rake of much more authentic coaches round and round, and they have clear windows!  And it's all on 2 rail track!!  And, best of all, I own the loft they are running round!!! Bwa haa haa haa!!!

 

p.s Just to show I did have childhood friends, I did convince my mate Sid to put his scalextric out in his garden, but he kept complaining that the track was going to melt. Silly boy.

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Can't remember getting the H-D 3 rail in the garden, but eventually my dad made a baseboard that went in the spare bedroom (the one with no heating of course) so it had a permanent home.  An earlier time did see Hornby tinplate o gauge track put down temporarily on the concrete area outside the back door for clockwork trains, which was fairly successful, it being flat.  The lawn would have sloped too much.

Before the bedroom railway, I can vaguely remember being off primary school with whatever illness and being allowed to keep an oval of H-D 3 rail on the living room floor (carpet fluff warning!!!) for the duration.  I could then lie on the floor and watch my Bristol Castle  pulling a rake of red tinplate coaches round and round.

 

Now, perhaps 60 years on, this is just a childhood memory. I've moved on so far.   Now, I can watch a Hornby super-detailed GWR 4-6-0 pulling a rake of much more authentic coaches round and round, and they have clear windows!  And it's all on 2 rail track!!  And, best of all, I own the loft they are running round!!! Bwa haa haa haa!!!

 

p.s Just to show I did have childhood friends, I did convince my mate Sid to put his scalextric out in his garden, but he kept complaining that the track was going to melt. Silly boy.

 

I too had Hornby Dublo 3-rail on our carpet floor, I don't recall any running problems. When I has about 10 in 1961 I recall enjoying a 2-rail R1 0-6-0 on the same carpet, but couldn't afford much track and then got into Kitmaster and dioramas and so on.

 

The best memories were of a H-D 'Bristol Castle' 3-rail with metal coaches on the front room floor and timing it so it was averaging 60mph ...and such other exercises of the imagination, great days. Like you railroadbill I can enjoy better models of the same thing on a layout but that magic has never gone away. 

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Lovely B12 Toboldlygo.   They are an under-rated model.

 

Here, also six-coupled but little else in common is what I bought yesterday and was delivered at 7.15am this morning,

 

post-7929-0-96681000-1537824735_thumb.jpg

 

pic derived from Hornby ad, and also a lovely model.  I'll believe the delivery of the second production run of R3555 when I see it.  Supposedly October.  £179-£209 RRP.  I paid £175 local NZ retail , discounted, for the one I just bought.  

 

Less money for blue box Atlantics! Ah the burdens are many!  :)

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Oh Rob, how little you know - I have embargoed stock ;)

 

But the Hybrid is coming....

 

Indeed I have no knowledge of the alleged incident.   :)

 

I still have a warehouse almost full of 1st-run Bulleid Exeters....   just waiting for the price to go back over £230 and then I shall clean up.

 

Yours,   Arfur.

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But the Hybrid is coming....

 

Is that some kind of Western Region hydraulic diesel with steam-assisted starting?

 

Poor boy.  You know that railway engineering progress ceased after this...

 

post-7929-0-87647500-1537827614_thumb.jpg

 

or was it this...

 

post-7929-0-22098900-1537827679_thumb.jpg

 

or even this...

 

post-7929-0-26135300-1537827803_thumb.jpg

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Is that some kind of Western Region hydraulic diesel with steam-assisted starting?

 

Poor boy.  You know that railway engineering progress ceased after this...

 

attachicon.gif6011_GWR_Express_3abcde_r1200a.jpg

 

or was it this...

 

attachicon.gif1_Stirlig_Single_portrait15_3abcd_r1200.jpg

 

or even this...

 

attachicon.gif62822_C1_Ivatt_portrait2_2abcde_r1200.jpg

 

No this...

 

post-7000-0-50750800-1537828141_thumb.jpg

 

...or at this rate the MiM will expanding the Iron Bulleid for three people at a time - plus it's already wheelchair friendly too (so I've been told)  :jester:  :jester:  

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Lovely B12 Toboldlygo. They are an under-rated model.

 

Here, also six-coupled but little else in common is what I bought yesterday and was delivered at 7.15am this morning,

 

46256_Duchess_portrait10_3abcdefg_full_r1200.jpg

 

pic derived from Hornby ad, and also a lovely model. I'll believe the delivery of the second production run of R3555 when I see it. Supposedly October. £179-£209 RRP. I paid £175 local NZ retail , discounted, for the one I just bought.

 

Less money for blue box Atlantics! Ah the burdens are many! :)

Where did you get her from Rob?

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As far as Bulleids go, I suppose the Merchant Navies were the most advanced.

 

Then he blotted his copybook....

 

post-21933-0-79177500-1537868927.jpg

 

According to Wikipedia, they were intended to be a replacement for the M7 tank.... :scratchhead:

 

Bonkers!

 

 

Actually I'm surprised Heljan havent had a go at a Leader, even more unsuccessful than most BR Type 1s!

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Where did you get her from Rob?

 

Hobby City in Ak.   Or more correctly , 'The Hobby Clearance Company NZ' which lists Hobby City's specials.

 

https://thcc.nz/collections/locomotives

 

They were very quick, delivery to Kapiti in under 24hrs, but the box was rather poorly wrapped, loose inside a large carton, with a thin wrap of foam around the Hornby box. Undamaged though. And the valve gear eccentrics are correct on both sides.  I haven't run it yet, but cannot see anything loose or missing.

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No this...

 

attachicon.gif35024_rhfan.jpg

 

...or at this rate the MiM will expanding the Iron Bulleid for three people at a time - plus it's already wheelchair friendly too (so I've been told)  :jester:  :jester:  

 

Lovely-looking MN, Sir.

 

Very hard to photograph so the proportions look good, and I am quite prepared for the MiM having established that I am a 'special case', which means free whisky for life.

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As far as Bulleids go, I suppose the Merchant Navies were the most advanced.

 

Then he blotted his copybook....

 

attachicon.gifTake me to your Leader.jpg

 

According to Wikipedia, they were intended to be a replacement for the M7 tank.... :scratchhead:

 

Bonkers!

 

 

Actually I'm surprised Heljan havent had a go at a Leader, even more unsuccessful than most BR Type 1s!

 

We accept all kinds of thread drift here, but there ARE limits, you know. :)

 

We may have to add a warning to minors.

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Hybrid means a blend of two breeds usually - I have had it a few times with the fish in my pond over nearly 40 years..

 

In this case it's a blend of GWR & British Railways (before they'd decided on the Early Crest and went through some strange liveries!)

 

A loco in transition so to speak, with one wheel in the old and the other in the new...

 

post-7000-0-07565900-1537911069_thumb.jpg

 

post-7000-0-10947600-1537911110_thumb.jpg

 

 

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We accept all kinds of thread drift here, but there ARE limits, you know. :)

 

We may have to add a warning to minors.

Thread drift?

 

Both the MN and M7 are Hornby locos* (according to the boxes they arrived in!), and Heljan are well known as the patron saints of lost causes.  Hornby are unlikely to even attempt a loco as niche as the Leader.....

 

* The MN in both Canned and Uncanned form are regarded as some of the big red Hs best and the M7 ain't bad either.

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Hybrid means a blend of two breeds usually - I have had it a few times with the fish in my pond over nearly 40 years..

 

In this case it's a blend of GWR & British Railways (before they'd decided on the Early Crest and went through some strange liveries!)

 

A loco in transition so to speak, with one wheel in the old and the other in the new...

 

attachicon.gif6017_lh.jpg

 

attachicon.gif6017_rh.jpg

 Ahhhhh!

 

A PROPER Engine!!!

 

H,C&O......

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Thread drift?

 

Both the MN and M7 are Hornby locos* (according to the boxes they arrived in!), and Heljan are well known as the patron saints of lost causes.  Hornby are unlikely to even attempt a loco as niche as the Leader.....

 

* The MN in both Canned and Uncanned form are regarded as some of the big red Hs best and the M7 ain't bad either.

 

Heljan would produce a realistic Leader - in bits and non-running ;)

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Hybrid means a blend of two breeds usually - I have had it a few times with the fish in my pond over nearly 40 years..

 

In this case it's a blend of GWR & British Railways (before they'd decided on the Early Crest and went through some strange liveries!)

 

A loco in transition so to speak, with one wheel in the old and the other in the new...

 

attachicon.gif6017_lh.jpg

 

attachicon.gif6017_rh.jpg

 

A beautiful piece of work, toboldlygo.  Inspired by this I actually dug into the deepest recesses of a corner of a spare room, where a few old Hornby GWR Counties and similar detritus can be found, and uncovered three GWR choc/cream Hawksworth carriages,  untouched, unopened, which you can have for a small and insignificant consideration, to go with the early presumably 1949 BR King.

 

A brake third, a composite, and a brake composite.   A modest three figure sum somewhat north of a ton and your life will be complete.

 

Am I kind, or am I kind?  :)

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As far as Bulleids go, I suppose the Merchant Navies were the most advanced.

 

Then he blotted his copybook....

 

Take me to your Leader.jpg

 

According to Wikipedia, they were intended to be a replacement for the M7 tank.... :scratchhead:

 

Bonkers!

 

 

Actually I'm surprised Heljan havent had a go at a Leader, even more unsuccessful than most BR Type 1s!

At the risk of creating a whole world of froth, I have a lot of love for the Leader, Bulleid’s mind was in the right place, it’s just that the drawing board took precedence over common sense when it came to designing it. It would never have appeared in BR Green though, as a mixed traffic type it was liveried in BR’s Lined Black. Unfortunately, a mysterious decision was taken to overpaint the BR livery in prototype grey the night before it was unveiled, and so it never actually ran ‘in livery’. One of those historical ‘what if’ scenarios...

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At the risk of creating a whole world of froth, I have a lot of love for the Leader, Bulleid’s mind was in the right place, it’s just that the drawing board took precedence over common sense when it came to designing it. It would never have appeared in BR Green though, as a mixed traffic type it was liveried in BR’s Lined Black. Unfortunately, a mysterious decision was taken to overpaint the BR livery in prototype grey the night before it was unveiled, and so it never actually ran ‘in livery’. One of those historical ‘what if’ scenarios...

 

I agree Bulleid's mind was in the right place, as was his heart.

 

Making the work of engine crews better, and maintenance fitters... what could possibly go wrong?  :)

 

Meanwhile over at Swindon...

 

post-7929-0-17669800-1537997205_thumb.jpg

 

it started as a photo of a Hornby King, honest!

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