WILLIAM

7 hours ago, 61661 said:

Thanks. Some late survivors are definitely in the plan. 25093 was chosen because it looks a bit different with the numbers on the bodyside and 25252 was selected as we had some excellent photos of both sides. We also needed a good spread of regions to *try* and keep as many people happy as possible. 

Thanks Ben. 25912 in its special livery will keep me duly occupied until then but great to hear they are in the plan.

Here's a shot I took of 904 and 903 passing through Shotton in late 1986 just as I remember the 25s from my early spotting days.

16 hours ago, 61661 said:

 

OK. Thanks for the suggestions. I have a weathered and tatty 25/9 on my shortlist already, as well as one of the late blue with stencilled Welsh castle names. 

Yes, definately some late surviving banger blue versions would be most welcome. Obviously you cannot please 'all of the people all of the time' but I was a little surprised at the blue TOPS domino versions chosen in the first batch being relative early withdrawals; 093 withdrawn in 1982 and 252 in 1980 respectively.

Just found this picture I took at Eastleigh back in 1998. Looks to be a mix of warflats with yellow ends (at the front) and those without. Gives me enough of an excuse to order some in both liveries.

10 minutes ago, Gibbo675 said:

Hi William,

 

(T) is for toilet.

 

Gibbo.

That simple! Thanks Gibbo

Just found this thread as I am too trying to find out what the (T) stands for on some of the Bachmann NSV TPO Sorting Vans? There wasn't a definitive answer above? Could these coaches run with airbraked stock? Thank you.

11 hours ago, drt7uk said:

Would love to see them produce one in the Metropolitan line livery currently being used for TfL excursions. I know you can get decals for it now, but I don't trust myself to do it properly. Maybe next year Bachmann?

 

Would make a good Collectors Club model. Weren't the London Transport Museum already considering producing a limited edition in this livery however or did that idea die?

For those still looking - both new TPE 68s showing as available now at Hattons - more than 10 in stock of both as I type.

2 hours ago, Roy Langridge said:

 

I had a fairly quick look for photos of 45040 and I couldn't find any of it carrying crests when it had the sealed-beam front, making the model as offered by Bachmann right.

 

Other 45s will vary of course, and somebody will no no doubt point me to a photo of 45040 with crests .

Roy

040 seems to have had a strange history with its nameplates. As you say it appears to have lost its crests by the late 70's and then the nameplates themselved after overhaul c. May 84 only for a nameplate with crest to reappear on one side only by September 84? (assuming the Flickr photograph dates are correct)

Can get away with load 6 on the Holyhead diagram

1 hour ago, lyneux said:

 

For example, it has discs on the upper body side (correct for some of the wagons) but only on one side and not both.

 

I'm still waiting for mine to arrive, fingers crossed, but I thought from the pictures on Hattons website that they got this detail correct at least on BOC16 (0014)?

https://www.hattons.co.uk/450705/heljan_boc16_100_ton_boc_tank_in_boc_liquid_nitrogen_livery_with_red_stripe_and_gps_bogies_0/stockdetail.aspx

4 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

There is an argument for announcement threads to be locked immediately after posting. 

 

Every single one is swiftly accompanied by the completely pointless remarks about the price of this or that....

 

But why is it so pointless to try and have a reasoned debate about product prices? My earlier comment on the price of the 58, which got badly bounced on, was in part trying to understand if there were any improvements over the previously issued Heljan model to help justify the significant increase in price (given there are no development, tooling costs etc.) over the normal inflation factors. Is it so wrong to debate such a thing on an open forum such as this? Is it really off topic to the new announcements?

I can imagine it is frustrating to be a moderator sometimes when they're doing this 24/7 and I put the moment of bluntness down to this as these guys do a great job overall but it's a bit stange to be allowed to applaud or even laugh at such public rudness but not be able to discuss product pricing in an attempted constructive way.

37 minutes ago, JSpencer said:

 

I have the impression that Olivia's strategy is to not to rush and sell theirs but to get the maximum markup possible.  They are pretty much gone else where though admittedly the last one I brought was in a clearance sale a couple of years back.

That's part of my point though, even given Olivias 'interesting' pricing strategy, a Heljan Railfreight one would cost you £135 from them whereas with full allowable discount you are talking £157 for this EFE Railfreight release (noting it is also weathered).

30 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

It was originally the Heljan 58.

 It's unfortunate they could not have been more competitively priced for an old tooling. I wonder if there are any upgrades against the Heljan version still available at Olivias Trains that appear to have been slow sellers?

At least the number font on the Railfreight liveried version looks right now.

3 hours ago, WILLIAM said:

Given the various comments since I posted this I am beginning to think that, although explicit, the emails from Hattons are incorrectly worded and what they really wanted to say is they have pre--sold their allocatioon and will not be able to get anymore of these particular items. I've emailed them asking for confirmation.

Hattons have promptly come back to me and confirmed the models mentioned in their emails are still being produced however their expected allocation has been lowered so they have to cancel some pre-orders. They apologised for the situation and confusion caused.

8 minutes ago, TomScrut said:

 

I find it odd that it has sold out to be honest, aren't they a bit of a white elephant?

 

They only worked with 67s and had gauging issues didn't they? And now they spend their time just parked up at Derby I expect.

I think you are right about very limited use but it appears if you paint anything yellow it sells well.

18 hours ago, WILLIAM said:

Just received an unexpected email from Hattons saying Hornby have cancelled their forthcoming Network Rail Mk3 DVT R4990.

 

I only managed to pre-order one a couple of weeks ago as many retailers were saying they had sold out their allocation on pre-order already!

 

Strange? Licencing issue?

Given the various comments since I posted this I am beginning to think that, although explicit, the emails from Hattons are incorrectly worded and what they really wanted to say is they have pre--sold their allocatioon and will not be able to get anymore of these particular items. I've emailed them asking for confirmation.

18 minutes ago, Hilux5972 said:

Found it. R4990. Still available on their website. 

Thanks. Corrected my original post.

Just received an unexpected email from Hattons saying Hornby have cancelled their forthcoming Network Rail Mk3 DVT R4990.

I only managed to pre-order one a couple of weeks ago as many retailers were saying they had sold out their allocation on pre-order already!

Strange? Licencing issue?

I don't understand the logic of keeping existing pre-orders open but not accepting new? How will you know if or when there is enough interest to make the project viable?

I had/have 2 on pre-order.

2 minutes ago, njee20 said:

[/pedant]Well, yes, as there aren’t any EWS HKAs, just ex-NP and DBS[/pedant]
 

I wonder how many people actively seek all the different running numbers versus merely picking up what’s there. Fortunately in N the running numbers are usually so tiny it makes no difference, but given the comparatively low difference I wonder if only offering limited running numbers is based on historic sales performance. To ask that another way, have people held off buying a wagon because of a limited variety of running numbers?

I've done a bit of that in the distant past but I also liked the slight variations in label details & positions you also sometimes got. As discussed above however I have regretted this approach with Bachmann as I'm now strugglng to assemble rakes of some of the most popular wagons that 'Tugs' post above generally lists (not to mention that some are now 5 times the price of when they were first released!).

5 minutes ago, Fat Controller said:

On third-rail territory; Sittingbourne?

Yes, if you click on the picture it takes you to the Flickr page with description.

To answer my own question after an epic trawl of Flickr, this picture shows the ICA tanks in use from new in 1989 in the UK despite them not being used on the Burngullow to Irvine 'Silver Bullet' workings which were TIA wagons. Phew!

I've been trying to work out in which year did Dapol's version of the 'Silver Bullet' china clay wagons first enter use in the UK.

This has proved to be not as straight forward as I'd have thought. The original 'Silver Bullets' used from 1989 on the famous Cornwall - Scotland services were, from what I can make out, British registered TIA wagons (originally supplied by Tiger Rail numbered in the UIC 33 70 7890 XXX-X series). The wagon version produced by Dapol, whilst very simlar to the TIAs, are actually ICAs and whilst they too were bulit from 1989 they remained French registered (UIC 33 87 7898 XXX-X series). When you look closely there are quite a few differences between the two wagon types particularly around the depth of the sole bar, size and position of the number panels, size of handbrake wheels etc. The sole bars on the TIAs where also blue (as per the picture earlier up the thread), whilst they were black on the ICAs.

So my question is still, if anyone can help, when were these latter wagons, as modelled Dapol, first used in the UK?

Yes, that's the big question, how much would they need to be to be economically viable for Bachmann and still sell in reasonable numbers? Still less then £130 each I'd hope.

I only 'need' two non-generator Railtrack JJAs but made the mistake of assuming Bachmann woud keep releasing them. If they were released in NR yellow however, as mentioned earlier in the thread, I'd be interested in a rake of 5 of those too.