dibber25

Yes, I heard on several occasions that the chain stretched and the engine went off-beat.

My sincere condolences to Peter's family and friends. I well remember featuring Thunders Hill in Model Railway Constructor some half a century ago. (CJL)

Are we going to need to go into the College of Arms and the Portcullis Pursuivant again, do you think? (CJL)

Gosh! You seem to have the impression that the mags have lots of staff - staff writers and editorial personnel. They don't! The one I work on has currently two and half modeller/writers including the Editor (I'm the half - part-time) plus one designer and an 'editorial assistant' who does all the admin. Back in the 1980s when I first published Steve Flint's article on his wonderful Kyle of Tongue layout in Model Railway Constructor, I was a one-man band. I typed out all the articles, took, developed and printed the photographs (at home in the evening), read the proofs and wrote a list of who was to be paid and how much. Mags are a little better staffed now but as far as I know RM, BRM, and Hornby aren't over-staffed, either! (CJL)

Disregard my earlier comment. I've just pulled the safety valve bonnet off one. Just use your fingers - not pliers - and pull. It's glued into a hole in the casting and came out relatively easily. (CJL)

There's an unwritten understanding between magazines that they don't normally review each-others' products. It avoids the potential for all manner of embarrassments. If you say nice things you're advertising a rival's product. If you don't say nice things, you could be accused of bias. Of course, it's all but impossible to work in this hobby without using PECO products, so mentions and photos in articles are inevitable. Full-on reviews, perhaps best avoided. Rapido's 15XX may well be a very different animal from the '16XX' as the 15XX will, I suspect, be designed by the Rapido UK team, while the '16XX' was designed in North America. They are also at opposite ends of the pannier size spectrum. (CJL)

The majority of the class began and ended in black with the early crest. The biggest variation was in the positioning or absence of spare lamp irons, and these are provided separately. I'd go for taking off the crest with a spot of T-Cut and a cocktail stick and replacing in it with an HMRS Pressfix early crest, as I described recently in print, for a USA 0-6-0T. The safety valve bonnet is plastic, fitted into a die-casting and it might well be damaged trying to remove it. As a last resort, paint it in situ. In reality, only one loco seems to have had a brass safety valve cover in BR service and that was 1655 with a late crest as we have represented it. 1638 has had numerous livery variations in preservation and we modelled the one which we thought would have widest appeal, the GWR green. (CJL)

PLEASE BE AWARE IT IS NOT A CORELESS MOTOR! It is a conventional skew-wound 5-pole motor. (CJL)

Having lived in or near Windsor from 1973-92 I'm afraid that, after a brief spell when it was tastefully restored as the Royalty & Railways (later Royalty & Empire) exhibition by Madame Tussaud's it was subsequently ruined by conversion to a shopping centre in which the Royal station became a coffee shop, most of the original interiors were removed and cheap modern - and obviously phoney bits put up in their place. One coach went to STEAM at Swindon, the replica saloon was (I think) scrapped along with the tender of the locomotive. I believe the LBSCR Atlantic group rescued the tender wheel sets out of the skip. To think that station was the GIFT of the GWR to Queen Victoria. Of the two stations, the LSWR terminus by William Tite is probably in the more original condition. (CJL)

If you order by phone, Kernow may be able to check the number for you. (CJL)

If 'B' refers to the bunker 'seam', I think the 15XX looks likely to get a little redesign in that area, although quite how the problem that led to the seam will be resolved is less obvious. In my experience, it is more obvious in photographs of green examples and very much less obvious to the naked eye with black examples. Indeed, on the one (black) example I have in my possession at the moment it hardly shows at all on the bunker sides and I have covered it with the fire-irons on the rear. (CJL)

That's a good compromise fix. I'd like to borrow it, if I may. I did ask Rapido about shortening the front coupler but the model drives on the leading axle so the NEM 'fishtail' could not be any further back and there wasn't a shortened pocket available at source. (CJL)

On the basis that diesels seem to warrant retooling after 20 years, then the Maunsell 'Mogul' - especially the 'N' should be top of the list, surely? Arguably the most widely used of all SR locos, from Kent to Padstow. (CJL)

Or go back a bit further on the GWR........'Aberdare' anyone? No, I thought not. (CJL)

I don't recall saying anywhere that there are choices which are risk-free. My intention was to point out that the financial risk is very high these days. As Rapido say in the newsletter, they are late to the party and all the good booze has been drunk. I'd say, in relation to the REALLY good booze, the glasses have been washed and put away for the next 25 years. Today, if your choice fails to attract sufficient buyers the cost can be huge. It is noticeable that Rapido is doing more and more for its US market particularly if it can also make a Canadian version with just some detail changes. Pure Canadian stuff, like the CNR 4-6-0, well that's not surprisingly (but disappointingly) gone on the back burner. But the promise of a Co-Bo in 'N' shows that they are not risk averse. Indeed, even in 'OO' it would be the last thing I'd make, two other manufacturers having seen little success with it. Throughout my time in the model press I've been told repeatedly by experienced major manufacturers that steam models sell much better than what they called 'blue diesels' (i.e. modern traction) so , yes, I'm not surprised at all to see small obscure steam classes being chosen. (CJL)

So, you just need to find another 4,999 people who have those same issues, (and who don't have something else they would prefer to spend their money on) otherwise you have to decide whether it's really worth risking your (rapidly approaching) half a million quid. And then, what if Hornby retools the louvres just as you've committed your investment? It really isn't as easy as just looking at which models you think you can do better. (CJL)

Yes, I hadn't realised, until the reference book arrived in the mail this morning, that 1649 had continued working after the Dornoch branch closed. It looks like Inverness shed swapped the lamp irons very late in 1649's career. (CJL)

I'm told that this is the first of the new 'Chargers' for VIA Rail Canada. Not due to be delivered until August.

Why would it be any less risky for 'others like Accurascale'? The toolmaking costs for any new locomotive are now heading towards half a million pounds. A manufacturer needs to be pretty confident to spend that kind of money especially when, during the months of development, foreign exchange rates can blow original cost estimates right out of the water. (CJL)

Which is strange because there's at least one photograph of it with the BR type on the front. Perhaps the movie footage does not show the last train - although regular services seemed to be a single coach only. (CJL)

It's really very simple, as I understand it. You have some staff doing a same day turnaround on orders for all manner of models and accessories, - everything in the shop - including those that come in for Model Rail exclusives (not just the 16XX, we've done one or two other exclusives as well). You have other staff ploughing through the back orders and the pre-orders for Model Rail. These are a slower process because the card details of many will have lapsed since they were ordered, the wretched people at Model Rail may have changed the guises/catalogue numbers of some of the ordered models/the customer may need to be contacted etc, etc, all of which means the running order of who gets what when, may differ from the order it appears on the list. The alternative would be to add new orders to the bottom of the list and thereby build-up an unnecessary back-log. (CJL)

I'm pretty certain none of the versions has yet sold out (CJL)

The Scottish National Library has some archive footage of the last train on the Dornoch branch - three LMS coaches, including one Stanier 'porthole' brake, worked by 1649. An illustration in MR280 clearly shows the front of 1649 fitted with standard BR lamp irons instead of the GWR side-mounting type. However, the archive footage shows, equally clearly, that the bunker lamp irons were still the GWR type when it worked the last train. As it ran round at the end of each trip, it must have carried different lamps for each direction of travel. (CJL)

With no easy access to our photographic studio during the lock-down, and an editorial team literally scattered the length of England I understand that samples of all the 22 versions - including the weathered ones - have gone to our editor for photography. Out of respect for the fact that RMweb is a rival publication I will not be posting any photographs or links on here and it may be some time before any pictures are posted on-line. (CJL)