Stevelewis

My supposition was not really re Bachmann's proposed J15, But whether something unexpected may be on the cards for early release, I heard from my contacts in the trade that cards are being played very close to the chest so to speak, of course it could mean nothing and we wont know for a while.

Mine which arrived by Royal Mail had the front coupling and The NEM socket unattached BUT these items were packed in such a way within the plastic packaging that could not have got there in transit! Thus was no problem as I use Kadee couplings anyway so the front coupling would have had to be removed anyway. However the point of my reply is, I wonder if Hornby have accelerated despatch of this loco to get it into availability and thus making consumers spend before a competitors loco become available??

Totally ignoring the Golden Rule which used to be printed on POOLE produced Graham farish instruction sheets " DO NOT DISMANTLE OUT OF IDLE CURIOSITY" I removed the loco body from the J15 this afternoon, I was interested to see if it really did have 2 flywheels.....and a 5 pole motor and it does! Actually loco body removal is a single screw and the bodylifts off, I fitted a decoder also, tender body is a 2 screw job quite easy, there is not a lot of room within the tender, I mounted the decoder under the Metal weight/ speaker housing provided in the tender , If sound is to be fitted obviously this would not be possible. The boler is metal & quite weighty the cab I think is plastic. backhead detail is very good. The loco perofrms excellently from a slow crawl to an extimated 50 MPH scale speed at 28 speed steps. I HAve not tested haulage capacity other than putton 10 4 wheel wagons behind it which it hauled just as if it was running light engine. This loco along with the K1 is a massive step forward for Hornby and I am of the opinion that other manufacturers may now have some 'keeping up to do' instead of the other way round. 2 photos attached for the curious! The loco was in the USA N gauge storage loops!!

They have quoted March 5th or after on the J15 listings foir some time now, most peculiar, there have been some other items which they recvd after most of the other retailers got them such as Bachmann L&B 00-9 Station, The Hornby Catalogue and the 21T hoppers

Had my delivery of the J15 from Arcadia Models this morning before 9-00AM 1 LOCO + A Decoder for it AND 5 Packs of KADEE no 20 NEM couplings £120.00 not bad, beats the big boys!

Rails had delivery yesterday (THURSDAY) I believe

As reported ear;ier several retailers have stock ARCADIARAIL 01706882900 had 36 in stock this morning one is one its way to me and the price is rather good!!

ARCADIA MODELS, SHAW HAS J15 stock at an Excellent price I have just ordered one. 01706882900, iNOTE Tim is closed from this Saturday PM until next Thursday so if you wish to order best to phone Friday

Arcadia has J15 stock I have just ordered one EXCELLENT PRICE Tim is on HOL Mon /Tues /Weds next week so phone today or early sat if you want one! 01706882900

Dave At Tower Models whose info is usually very accurate as far as new releases is concerned......... SR Green, LBSC 'Thames' & LBSC ' Brighton' are 'Due End March /April, the sound versions following approx 3 weeks after the non sound arrive. BR Black & KESR 'Bodiam' are due around 3 to 4 months after the first 3 and arrive likewise the sound versions of these 2 following 3 weeks later, as always release daes are 'flexible'

Which version do you refer to? The sound ones are £399RRP (Tower Price £335) but as far As I can see the standard version remains at £169.Tower price

As mentioned on another thread there is less than £5 difference in price comparing the retailers presell price and Hornby Direct price when the Hornby free postage is taken into account

The other 3 are Early crrest version of the K1, Rood Ashton Hall and Star Class British Monarch BR Early Crest

Yes Brilliant retailer and dont forget he does rapid mail order, I have dealt with Tim for many years, mainly initially for Large scale items, but more recently for 0 , 00 & N Gauge UK items and Continental H0/H0e, I once tried to talk him into USA but he wouldnt have it!! If you are looking for anything that the 'big boys' have sold out of always worth giving him a ring, he also sometimes gets new items before the others as well, I got a Hornby Catalogue & Some Hoppers well before a certain retailer got them!!

Hornbys Email recvd this evening states LIMITED quantities of 6 locos are due in this week and earler than anticipated, Pre orders already placed will be processed later this week, further pre orders are invited, but reading between the lines it may be that this delivery will only be distributed to customers direct from Hornby

I note that on Page 56 the class 91 is stated to have a 'RIMAFIELD' Motor thats a new one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!** Also on P 55 ref R3183 & R 3268 Class 67 two identical pictures of 67 002 shown the only difference being in the description R3268 is Titled Ariiva Trains WALES whereas R 3183 is Titked Arriva Trains........or am I missing something **Obviously a misprint for Ringfield, but are they still producing ringfield motors?? PS you can tell theres not much on Telly tonight I am reading catalogues!

Hattons informed me some time ago Yodel have a collection from Hattons ( Widnes Warehouse) around 4 ish on SUNDAY..............So if your orders are in the system by 2-00 they should be collected ( obvioulsy the earlier the order is placed on Sundays is beneficial to ensure it is packed) I have had quite a few deliveries in this way.

Interesting all this, for a short while approx 1952 I used to attend Royal oak School, Baguley, ,, The school field was right by the railway line so obviously we got a good view of the trians! My very vague memories were of the ICI stone hoppers heading to Northwich, cannot say i remeber anything siginifcant about passenger trains. I seem to remeber a triple headed freight one after noon, 4f + 8f the third I cannot remember., I have a very vague memory of a goods train passing with a round headboard attached stating that it was the last working of something but what I havn't a clue. Me and a mate also travelled from Stockport Tiviot Dale ( a dark & Dismal station!!) to Manchester Central once or twice just for the laughs.

When I was(very) young we lived close to REDDISH TMD where the Midland Pullmans were serviced overnight, so we used to cycle to a footbridge in Levenshulme close to Levenshulme South station under which The Pullman passed as it ran ECS from Manchester Central to Reddish.I clearly remember the intense heat that it gave off as it passed a few feet below us! One of my Uncles used the Pullman for Business trips to London. I beleive that Iron Footbridge still exists today but the railway has long gone If you care to Google ' UCP Levenshulme Photo' it should bring you to a page of photos click on the one with a tall chimney ( That is the UCP tripe works!!) and the footbrige where we used to stand is visible, we never had any cameras in those days so no pics of the Pullman

I reckon it would be quite a long time away if they did do a re-run

I have heard of this fault, It does not mean the unit is unusable speed can be adjusted by the use of the PLUS & MINUS keys, Gaugemaster are pretty good at dealing with problems, far simpler to return it to them. I had a 2 yr old Hand held which became faulty I returned it and received a NEW replacement.

I noticed that, Hattons have been sending out the Catalogue for a few days now with orders The stated date is AFTER APRIL 2016 and it refers to all n Hauge proposed products ( Class 17, Baby Deltic & J94) For Info the 0 gauge proposals ( Baby Deltic & J94) are also listed as after April 2016 00 listings Raven Q6 listed as after April 2016 and the J94 April 2015 so that is a bit earlier. Although the word 'after' could imply anything I suppose

That price will no doubt upset even more Applecarts!! And check out Kernow's wagon prices!!

I like a few others use Kadee couplers ( which IMHO are neater and more positive in actual coupling up and running AND have the big advantage of Hands Off magnetic uncoupling, which also allows 'uncoupled' stock to be propelled to any given point after uncoupling has takenplace over the trackmagnet) There are 4 lengths of Kadee NEM plug in couplers produced so I see no problems arising so long as the pocket height is correct and I canot see it not being. The point I am trying to make here is that the use of Kadees seems to eliminate any incompatability problems which may occur between brands when Hook & Loops are in use.

Its earlyish days Time will Tell...... there may even be a Bulk Order discount like that which we see on other brands wagons sold in 4s or 8s