Electrostar Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I think Hormby sent me exactly the same reply in 1989/90 when I asked if the Class 91 would have a front coupling for blunt-end running! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted February 12, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 12, 2012 It should be possible to fit one for those of us who might wish to do so but the proof of that won't come until someone has the item in their hands and gives it a good look over. In terms of multiple running I find pairs of Hornby bubblecars work best with the motor bogies adjacent rather than both leading / trailing or both at the outer ends. The Belle isn't (apparently) in quite the same league but does still (so we are told) have a similar powering arrangement with all the grunt on one bogie. I would venture to suggest the same consideration might therefore apply which in turn begs the question as to how well a 5-car unit might run being pushed from the back while the second unit would remain effectively hauled from its front bogie. Time and a little research will tell. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Review of blue/grey version in up-coming Model Rail 167. CHRIS LEIGH Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Thanks Chris - that should prove to be a very welcome and real oasis in a virtual ongoing desert of speculation... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogmatix Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 There's a review of the blue/grey Brighton Belle in the March Railway Modeller. A picture of the inner-unit couplings from underneath shows that dedicated 4-pin (text says 5) conducting couplers are prmanently fitted (no NEM pockets), and it would appear that they are on close-coupling cams. However, pictures of the unit joined up still show unsightly gaps between coaches. Either the photographer could not be bothered to couple the coaches up (a fiddly task, according to the review), or Hornbyhave their own idea of waht 'close' means. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted February 16, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 16, 2012 These are apparently the same couplers (please correct me if wrong) as used on the Vep model which some owners have reported to be fiddly in that thread. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyddrail Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 There is a very good review in Rail Express, motor bogie is a new design, but a few livery mistakes. Cheers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium John M Upton Posted February 18, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 18, 2012 Also reviews in the new Rail Express, they too highlighted livery issues. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 These are apparently the same couplers (please correct me if wrong) as used on the Vep model which some owners have reported to be fiddly in that thread. They are SIMILAR to the VEP couplings but something has been done to make them easier to use. I didn't find them fiddly at all. Put the cars on STRAIGHT track, make sure the couplers are aligned vertically and push 'em together. Job done. Way easier than the CEP or the VEP. They do hold the cars further apart than some might wish but they enable the cars to be pulled or pushed through 2nd radius curves and crossovers without any problems. CHRIS LEIGH Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-BOAF Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Just popped in the LTM shop just as they were unboxing a set of their newly arrived Blue-Grey 5-BEL for display. WOW. the thing looks like a brighton belle. nothing stands out as odd, the detail is fantastic (although I didn't have a chance to inspect every last rivet). Importantly the build quality seemed very good. No traction tires, but only a 2-axle motor bogie in one of the motor cars. I presume this will comfortably shift the 5 cars. BUT given that manufacturers, keep telling us that a motor is only £5, it would have been nice to have had a motor bogie in each of the driving cars, prototypical and means the unit is never running 'backwards'. Anway they've arrived, and at full RRP in Covent Garden. I will await some spare cash and the pullman version (or even a '5-bel' trust mainline version eventually...) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted February 24, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 24, 2012 and at full RRP in Covent Garden. Good discounts can be had from other retailers. It would perhaps be inappropriate or potentially biassed here to single out just one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-BOAF Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Sorry, realised that 'its in stock at xyz' is not appreciated. What I should have said is they are starting to arrive. More tactful. Also worth noting, since the front coupling (lack of) has been discussed, that they inter-car couplings are permanent, and not mounted in NEM pockets (from what I could see). Therefore hacking a trailer car for use in a VSOE formation would involve some re-engineering. This is a shame. The bar could have been mounted in NEM pockets with the wires attached inside the car, or even to the underframe using the now commong loco-tender micro-plug. Missed opportunity here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gosforth Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 They are SIMILAR to the VEP couplings but something has been done to make them easier to use. I didn't find them fiddly at all. Put the cars on STRAIGHT track, make sure the couplers are aligned vertically and push 'em together. Job done. Way easier than the CEP or the VEP. They do hold the cars further apart than some might wish but they enable the cars to be pulled or pushed through 2nd radius curves and crossovers without any problems. CHRIS LEIGH Afternoon Chris, Enjoyed your review, and the others I have seen in various publications. Very much want to buy one (and by the way my 4-Vep had no problems!). However I am confused about the orientation of the 2 Kitchen First cars: Your review indicates that they ran with kitchens adjacent, yet prototype photographs I have seen of blue sets seem to show the kitchen adjacent to the Driving Motor on that vehicle, with the other (the centre of the 5 car set) the opposite way round - ie kitchens at opposite ends, which would make more sense in terms of meal service. On top of which at least one review suggests that Hornby have mistakenly produced both kitchen cars with plug and socket couplings at identical ends - ie they can only be coupled the same way round. Living rather a long way from a model shop I would be very grateful if someone who has actually seen a set could elucidate! Regards Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium John M Upton Posted February 24, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 24, 2012 At the Brighton Modelworld Show there were a big pile of Blue Pullmans on one stand, complete set for £260 notes but I looked at it and decided to pass. Oddly I have received an e-mail from Rails of Sheffield saying their supply of blue/grey kitchen cars (No 281 - R4529) have been withheld by Hornby due to "quality control issues" and will be delayed by a couple of weeks. Anyone able to elaborate on this issue? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deltic Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Received Blue & Grey delivery today (End cars + 2 intermediates) - John Dutfield in Essex. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil gollin Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I have read the reviews of the Blue/Grey version and am still not convinced that the post-1958 bogies are totally correctly modelled (one review mentioned the late 60's change to larger shoe beams which I did not know about ????). Any definate information on the matter of bogie differences between the pre-war and blue/grey versions ? . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gosforth Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Afternoon Chris, Enjoyed your review, and the others I have seen in various publications. Very much want to buy one (and by the way my 4-Vep had no problems!). However I am confused about the orientation of the 2 Kitchen First cars: Your review indicates that they ran with kitchens adjacent, yet prototype photographs I have seen of blue sets seem to show the kitchen adjacent to the Driving Motor on that vehicle, with the other (the centre of the 5 car set) the opposite way round - ie kitchens at opposite ends, which would make more sense in terms of meal service. On top of which at least one review suggests that Hornby have mistakenly produced both kitchen cars with plug and socket couplings at identical ends - ie they can only be coupled the same way round. Living rather a long way from a model shop I would be very grateful if someone who has actually seen a set could elucidate! Regards Further to this, this is about the best shot I have seen of a blue unit - shows the orientation of the 2 kitchen cars.: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rgadsdon/5487268784/sizes/l/in/photostream/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TREVOR1960 Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 At the Brighton Modelworld Show there were a big pile of Blue Pullmans on one stand, complete set for £260 notes but I looked at it and decided to pass. Oddly I have received an e-mail from Rails of Sheffield saying their supply of blue/grey kitchen cars (No 281 - R4529) have been withheld by Hornby due to "quality control issues" and will be delayed by a couple of weeks. Anyone able to elaborate on this issue? Yes. The couplings need to be swapped around, as mentioned in Rail Express Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted February 24, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 24, 2012 Noted that of those retailers with advertised stock the R4529 car is missing in every case. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 My Belle arrived from Rails on Saturday. I have given it a few trips round the layout and I am pleased to say it runs very smoothly and without any hint of the problems that affected the VEP (and I speak as somebody who sent a number back). I have only tried it with the two driving cars so far so not a fully representative train length. Lovely model is my summary. So far I have only tried it on DC not DCC. As Model Rail says it is possible to join the units together on the track which also wasn't possible with the VEP. They need a good tug to pull them apart though which needs a bit of a leap of faith that nothing will break. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Pauln - Thanks... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Slightly at a tangent, but I watched a video this morning of the old Brighton Belle hauled by an LBSC Atlantic just prior to the electric units taking over in the 1930s. On the same video an LNER Pullman is seen leaving Kings X behind a booster-fitted GN Atlantic. Interesting that these top flight trains were hauled by 4-4-2's and not the largest locomotives. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
metadyneman Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 There is a very good review in Rail Express, motor bogie is a new design, but a few livery mistakes. Cheers. Not having read the article I'd be interested to know what the livery mistakes are. I saw a complete blue/grey 5-Bel on display at Brighton modelworld on the 5-bel trust stand. I didn't think the roof on the real belle units in this livery was black ( I thought it was BR dark grey as used on inter-city stock) but Hornby have used black is this one of the errors? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
50A55B Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Not having read the article I'd be interested to know what the livery mistakes are. I saw a complete blue/grey 5-Bel on display at Brighton modelworld on the 5-bel trust stand. I didn't think the roof on the real belle units in this livery was black ( I thought it was BR dark grey as used on inter-city stock) but Hornby have used black is this one of the errors? This, plus the yellow ends being over width are the two which spring to mind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BECMAYE Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 I bought the DC fitted Belle today along with 2 of the 3 cars. I'm very impressed with it. I ran it using a Dynamis controller and the 4 car formation ran very smoothly and quietly for over 30 minutes with no problems. The motor has more than enough power to haul a 4 car formation and I think it will easily cope with 5 cars with the addition of the 3rd car when it is available. The man at the model shop very kindly me some good advice to fix the performance of my 4 VEP unit when using Dynamis. He told me to change CV 54 to a lower setting because the motor is smaller in the 4 VEP. I changed CV54 to 8 and it now runs far more smoothly than before and I can now enjoy running it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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