rodger5591

Hattons seem to be at the back of the queue when it comes to Hornby new releases this year. AFAIK they still haven't received any LMS horseboxes or 21T hoppers yet, both of which have been available for a couple of weeks. I wonder how many people cancelled their Hattons preorder for them and bought elsewhere.

The latest issue of LMS Review (no 2) has an article on upgrading the Bachmann Portholes (and their 1F as well) Rodger

A potted hstory: 5664 kept the same tender most of its life (stanier 3500 gallon number 4647) but received a 4000 gallon tender (9838) sometime after 1960 and carried it to withdrawal. It kept crimson lake (code A6) until painted plain wartime black in the early 1940s. It stayed unlined black until painted BR green in November 1950. It received its Gill Sans BR number in November 1948, but kept the wartime LMS on the tender. In May 1949 the tender lettering was blanked out and it was left blank until it got the BR emblem when painted green in 1950. It was sent to Derby when new in 1935 and was withdrawn from Holbeck in 1965, but served at 11 other sheds during those 30 years. For those interested in a detailed discussion of LMS tender types, the new LMS Review periodicals are doing a series on them, authored by John Jennison of Brassmasters.

I don't know a lot about the LNER but if you can get a look at "LNER Passenger Train Formations 1923-67", by Steve Banks, Chapter 6 discusses the formations of: The Harrogate Pullman The Sheffield Pullman The West Riding Pullman The Yorkshire Pullman The Eastern Belle and the Continental Pullman services The photos of these services show quite a few C1s (3284, 3288, 4411, 4436 and 4444). I hope that helps Rodger Edit: I should add that Chapter 7 discusses Pullman service formations in BR(ER) days, and appendix 2 lists details of each of the Pullman cars used by the LNER.

Actually the LMS purchased 22 former Caledonian operated Pullmans in Feb 1934, a mixture of 8 and 12 wheelers. The pre-grouping Caledonian agreement with Pullman didnt expire until 1933, so the LMS was forced to support loss making Pullman services in Scotland from 1923-34. Once the agreement expired, the cars were taken into LMS stock. The oldest 11 (pre-WW1 conversions of former southern Pullmans) were soon withdrawn and the rest were converted to LMS liveried restaurant cars and all subsequently passed into BR stock, some getting carmine and cream livery before eventual withdrawal. Two of the cars that survived to BR days were shorter (57'10'' ) 8 wheelers (they were built on the frames of ex GWR WW1 ambulance cars), so the old Triang/Wrenn models could be tarted up to represent these 2 as they are just about the right length, but the sides would need to be cut'n'shut to get the right number of windows/panel spacing. The full story of the Scottish Pullmans is in LMS Journal no 25.

Do we know how many of the motor issues are related to people using controllers and electronic devices (e.g. track cleaners) that are not compatible with coreless motors ? On the one hand, it is good of Heljan/Hattons to replace locos if they have been used with incompatible devices, but on the other hand I don't recall any specific warnings from them on these issues (but I could be wrong about that).

Hi Dave Would it be feasible to offer at least one unpainted, unlined, unnumbered model of each product in your range ? For me, a range of accurate tenders in their various iterations (pre war/postwar/BR etc) sold as separate items would be an appealing product line (painted/lined and unpainted). cheers Rodger

Mine arrived yesterday and also had a problem with one of the bogies constantly derailing. After a bit of investigation I found that one of the guard irons was too long - it was actually touching the surface of the rail. I snipped it back a bit and have had no problems since. It also has some small parts not glued on straight, a skewed hand rail and one footstep missing its step, but all fixable and it runs very well.

I think it might have something to do with their website ordering system also. The P2 has been showing as "no longer taking orders" for some time now, but about 10 days ago, I noticed that despite the note that they were no longer taking orders, the 'pre-order now" button on the P2 page was still there (it normally disappears when they stop taking pre-orders). So I clicked the button, placed the order and received an automatic confirmation email. Then 2 days ago I received the email saying that the pre-order had to be cancelled as they couldnt supply the item. Perhaps other customers did the same thing, and when Hattons did an audit of their P2 orders, they discovered the "pre-order" button was still active when it shouldn't have been, and they were still taking orders that they couldn't meet. So perhaps it is only those "excess" orders that are being cancelled - just speculation on my part tho.

Bachmann have put a recess in the tender buffer beam (here) Should it be there, or is it just that the buffer beams were fitted the wrong end round in the factory ?

My Glastonbury Abbey arrived this morning. Its proved to be a very nice runner indeed, but it wasn't in very good condition when it arrived. Floating in the box was the screw from the tender side of the drawbar, the tender water scoop and one of the tender water standards. When I released the plastic tray off the top of the loco, the chimney and one of the tender tool boxes fell off. At first I thought it was all just poor gluing, but it wasn't - all of the pieces had been snapped off at their bases - the fixing lugs of each piece were still glued in place in their holes. The tender drawbar screw had fallen out because its housing was split and one side had come away. It looks like the screw had been force tightened during final assembly as the thread in the housing was stripped. The loco was well held by its plastic packing shell, so I don't think this was transit damage - the outside of the box is not damaged. My guess is that the person doing the final packaging probably made a mess of it and snapped bits off - they must have been under quite some pressure to meet the Christmas deadline and I suppose their supervisors didn't want to hear about factory damage. Anyway all was easily fixable, and Hornby can keep their QC batting average intact as I won't be returning it. Its slow speed running is really pretty impressive.

Hi Andy On many RTR steam models, hard plastic (and often overly thick) front footsteps and cab doors are supplied as separate items to be fitted by the purchaser. But to avoid fouling the bogie, the footsteps have to be fitted too far forward and too far out compared to prototype. If the loco and tender are properly close coupled, the cab doors have to be unrealistically bent inwards or foreshortened. Comet/Brassmasters et al produce metal replacements which are much thinner, and their cab doors can be made to swing, but if not carefully adjusted after each time you handle the loco, the cab doors can still catch against tender standards even on Peco medium radius turnouts and cause a derailment. It seems to me if these are already items that the user has to fit, then why not mould them out of very thin latex/rubber. Painted and weathered, they would look the same as metal. Rodger.

Making some parts of an RTR loco of more flexible materials, such as molded rubber instead of rigid plastic, would also help e.g. for cab doors and also for footsteps, where they are likely to come in contact with ponies/bogies.

I agree also Keith. But such things should spell "opportunity" to a small business, as should the whole "design clever" idea. I'm sure if an after market company could produce a well designed adjustable drawbar that fitted existing RTR models without too much carving of plastic, it would be a good seller, particularly if it was associated with the kind of superdetailing kits that Brassmasters already make. I wish there were more of the Brassmasters kind of detailing kits. Its quite a faff to search around from multiple suppliers to get all the bits and pieces you need to model a particular loco at a particular time. Even harder if you don't live in the UK and can't get to shows - you have to try to figure out how to reach the only supplier who makes what you need but who has a "no response to emails/no phone calls" business communication policy! Whatever we may think of "design clever", it definitely represents opportunity for small businesses. If I was younger, I would start a small business that sold detailing packs, using parts bought from the existing after-market suppliers. Not just for existing models, but as soon as Bachmann, Hornby et al announced their new 4mm ranges each year, I would research all the major detail variations of their new offerings, buy up the bits n pieces that are already available from various sources, assemble them into era specific kits and sell them on eBay as the models are released (which at present is a very movable feast I know, but we are promised improvement on that score). If a particular part wasn't available, it would be worth considering commissioning someone to make it if there was the demand, or even commissioning resin/3D printed body shells to create demand. But alas .. too old for that now. Perhaps opportunity knocks for someone else ..?

Would anyone know which of the Stars carried "BRITISH RAILWAYS" on the tender during the early BR period (or where I could find out), and were any still in GWR black when they got their BR insignia ?

AFAIK this hasn't happened with their range of Stanier and Collett coaches over the years, so I don't hold out much hope. Even when they put out a Stanier BG, it was a period III diagram so didnt really build on their existing period I range. Does anyone know the diagram numbers of their previous Thompson stock ? Rodger

According to Essery and Jenkinson's "Illustrated History of LMS Locomotives volume 1", page 217, only 4 Compounds remained red throughout the war. Numbers 930 and 1059 were painted black in 1946 and 1081 in 1947. The very last LMS loco ever to carry red was Compound 934 which was carrying 40934 on the smokebox but 934 on the cab and LMS on the tender in Midland style 14" yellow/red when it was finally repainted in 1951 (photo same page). Interestingly, 2 Princess Royals, 6 Royal Scots, 14 Jubilees, 3 Patriots and the sole remaining Claughton 6004 also stayed red during the war, with many receiving their full BR cabside numbers while still in red livery. Only one loco, Jubilee 5594, actually got a repaint in red after the war (1946) - the rest all went 1946 lined black as they shopped. Rodger