Godfrey Glyn

I had a most enjoyable morning at the Warminster Show. It really was a wonderful exhibition and my thanks and congratulations to all of you who were involved in putting it on, exhibiting and attending as trade. The cakes were delicious and service outstanding. Having it take place only every two years is a matter of frustration to a visitor but maybe its also part of the reason for its success! Whatever, very many thanks, I shall just have to be patient. very best wishes Godfrey PS The LSWR lamp in 4mm which Alan Butler had on his ModelU stand was exquisite and he has made it modular which allows him to produce other styles in the future, clever man!

Hi Phil, It is some years since I did some SP coaches with the brass sides. I seem to remember that I started by simply using a Railmatch spray can of Southern region coach green applied once the sides had been rolled to the correct profile. I then brush painted the inner sides with a thin coat of light cream before sticking them onto the clear plastic sides. I remember applying some very thin strips of sellotape to the sides of some to represent the beading that was applied later to cover the panel joints, that was done before I started to paint them and at the time I was quite pleased with the effect. I toyed with the idea of cutting into the plastic sides at points which correspond to the door windows to represent an open window but I chickened out on that one! I think they look very much better if you add the internal details rather than running them empty. I have had a very swift skim through David Gould's book on the Bulleid SR Steam passenger Stock and cannot find a reference to which coaches were transferred away from the south. He does however state that the ones transferred to the Scottish and Eastern Regions lasted a year or so longer than the ones on the Southern which were finally withdrawn between October and December 1968. He has a photo of a lined maroon one, an open second, which was taken at Clapham (Yorkshire) on the 16th June 1968. According to him the Open Third 1482 went to the Bluebell Railway in maroon and ran for year in that livery. On page 74 of Roy Hobbs' book 'On Southern Lines' there is a colour photo of what looks like a Bulleid Brake Composite in maroon, coupled to a Thompson designed coach, emerging from Honiton Tunnel with an Unrebuilt West Country on 5 September 1964 up front. It would appear that maroon Bulleid coaches could be found all over the place! I note from the Bachmann Times which arrived this morning that their longer versions are still at the Drawing Stage so I may very well reconsider the Southern Pride kits for a small batch of brass sided versions and see if they could be made to look good enough to run alongside the Hornby ones. Hope that helps all the best Godfrey

Well Paul at Alton Model Centre told me that he had been advised by Hornby that some of the Bulleids will be arriving at the shop within the next two weeks. Looking at the Hornby website some are down for availability in June, the remainder in July so it may be that they are arriving in two separate deliveries from China. I got the impression from Paul that Hornby are pretty reliable when they inform their retailers of a two week notice of delivery. Other shops seem to be saying the same thing. Re Southern Pride, I have also used brass sides on their carcass, and a southern region green livery makes that pretty easy thing to do. You could of course paint some Bulleid coach sides maroon, off the top of my head I can't remember which ones but some were sent to Scotland and repainted in Maroon. I live in keen anticipation of the shorties! all the best Godfrey

I do remember when these were first introduced, I think I was at a meeting at Keen House when this happened. At the time they were the only Bulleid coaches that were readily available and I bought quite a few from Dave Cleal's Mainly Trains when he was still in Eastleigh. I found them very easy to build, they followed the structure of the old Triang/Hornby Mk I coaches and the early ones came with printed sides which you had to stick onto the clear plastic sides. Later they came already attached. SP used the same floor on the Mark Is which he brought out later but these had cut out printed side which gave more relief. Some people didn't like them because the method produced a much more flush glazed appearance - probably much more prototypic than other RTR coaches on the market at the time. Having just measured the bogie centre dimension it would appear that it is about 189mm, when they should be 186mm (46' 6"). He produced a huge range and I think its a great shame that he has not been able to upgrade them. I suspect that the long wait for Bachmann to do theirs has put him off investing in new tooling. Certainly the tooling was good for its time but they could have benefited from an upgrade and in my opinion would have sold. Whether sufficient to justify the investment is of course a different matter. Carefully weathered the originals pass the three foot test in my opinion but clearly they are not as good as a well made brass kit. His website is certainly worth a look and he does produce quite a few unusual coaches and of course SR EMUs. However, back to the Hornby versions, its great to see that they are on their way and I am looking forward to picking mine up from Alton in two weeks time. all the best Godfrey

I am a great fan of Alan's products, I was wowed by them as soon as I saw them for the first time and his service is quite outstanding. I always manage to buy something from his stand and indeed I managed to get scanned at an excellent event held at Pendon, highly recommended and very good value. One thing does interest me, how to best mount the figures on a layout? I have tried TackyWax, but never manage to hide the wax when seen in closeup and I do not want to glue the figures down. I actually quite like the arrangement that some white metal manufacturers adopt which is to have a spike in the leg which can be easily and neatly placed in a small hole. Given that Alan needs to support the figures off the base anyway, I was wondering if anyone else thought this might be good move. Answers on a postcard please! all the best Godfrey

Wow, what a show! There are one or two shows that stay in my memory, one being the show at Central Hall many years ago and seeing Hursley - though to be honest its only Hursley that stays in my memory. This one was up and beyond and I consider it to have been a privilege to spend today there. My congratulations to all of you who were involved in anyway in contributing to the event and in particular to David Lane; you certainly know how to pick them!! The 24th/25th May 2020 is already in my diary. all the very best Godfrey

Hornby have stated on their Facebook page this evening that this Friday’s Engine Shed will be covering the development of the Bulleid coaches. Very much looking forward to these arriving and hopefully they will sell well and encourage Bachmann to get theirs out sooner rather than later. all the best Godfrey

I freely admit to a keen interest in this line, having spent my early teenage years in Chard and having made my own survey of the interesting Chard Central Station building which still exists, albeit now slightly modified to carry out the function of a retail store. Using my own survey data I completed a module featuring the building which has appeared at the annual, and excellent RMWeb SWAG event in Taunton. I was therefore delighted to pick up a copy of this brand new publication at Alton Model Centre this afternoon. I have only just had the chance to give it a rapid study but it contains a wealth of information and is well illustrated with many photographs, maps and line drawings of the buildings along the line. I congratulate the author on producing an excellent book and to Lightmoors for the quality of the production. It deserves to be very successful. all the best Godfrey

I took a couple of photos with my iPhone of 59003 last week whilst it was stabled at Eastleigh. It is of course in GBRf livery but looking at the position of the door handles you can see that both sets are on the right side of the door on this side of the loco. Hope its of some use. all the best Godfrey

Whatever body they have, from what I saw at Alton yesterday, they sell like hot cakes. To quote one customer, I can get two for the price of a Bachmann or a Hattons one and at normal viewing distance they look fine to me. The liveries are very well applied and they also run very nicely. He did indeed buy two. Its good that we will soon have 66s at three three levels of price and detail. I think Hornby have made a very shrewd move with their recent introductions of the 66s in coats of many colours. all the best Godfrey

They are simply exquisite, very many thanks to the Model Rail and Rapido teams for these little gems and to the team at Kernow for their rapid packing and despatch. They look and run beautifully. I have spent many happy hours recounting the stories about Toby, firstly to my children and now to my grandchild so although I have no layout set within 200 miles of East Anglia I had to buy two. They may very well be found running into Chard Joint Station at some point, with or without the approval of Mike Stationmaster (!), after all having had Andy York's APT-e running though when set up as part of the Taunton Modular layout anything goes! all the best Godfrey

We have one very nice Terrier from Hornby, (a model which is a vast improvement on the previous version) at a certain price and I have bought one. I am pleased with it and may even get another. I also have a Dapol/Locomotion/Rails one on order. When that one arrives I will be able to make a fully informed decision as to what future purchases I will make. I may be sounding like a doubting Thomas but until I, or indeed we, get to put the two models side by side I/we will not be able to make a decision and that is bound to be a very personal one. Nice to have a choice and I suspect many of us will find it a difficult decision . Alas not so good for the manufacturers/commisioners but theirs is a risky occupation and they will have to live with the outcomes on the decisions they made. all the best Godfrey

Picked up a Freightliner liveried one from Alton Model Centre on Friday and like others am very impressed. Haven't had time to compare them with my Dapol's FEA-B yet. Looking forward to the RHTTs which look very impressive. Good to see Hattons getting their products out to other model shops, and getting them out at the same time as they start to sell them themselves. all the best Godfrey

Picked up my Lord Rodney from Alton Model Centre this afternoon and I am most impressed, indeed delighted with it. I do have the old Bachmann version and the Hornby version is, in my humble opinion, a significant upgrade and well worth getting. Lets face it the Bachmann version came out many years ago and a new version should be better. One aspect that particularly impresses me are the name plates. It runs beautifully. all the best Godfrey

I thought the programme was very entertaining and it will have done Hornby no harm and, given the vulnerability of Hornby at the moment, I would say that it was a brave decision to let a TV crew (over which you have little or no influence as to what slant they put on the story) into a long term report on the firm. I would expect that what actually happened and what made it through the cutting room to the final programme might be quite different, thats reality TV. On that basis I sat back and enjoyed it. Nobody's reputation was shredded and it will have raised the profile of modelling amongst the general public. With regard to the 'spats' I I would expect that Rails, Hattons and Hornby will have to get used to the new environment and that will not be easy for any of them when they are all chasing a declining market at a time of great financial uncertainty. I have quite a few Bachmann Class 66s, I suspect I will buy at least two of the Hattons versions. However if I was buying for a child I would definitely buy the Hornby version - cheaper and far more robust. I suspect the bright range of colours and liveries will sell well in the toy shops and to people who would not buy the more detailed and expensive versions from Bachmann or Hattons (even if they knew about them). If there is an overlap and real competition for the 66 it will be between Bachmann and Hattons. In the final analysis its not so much how many of an item you sell but what profit you make on the total sales - remember BMC were selling loads of Minis and it was highly thought of car when introduced in 1959 but they were making a loss on each one. We certainly live in interesting times and I, like many on RMweb, believe that we do need the long established companies to thrive, as well as the new entrants. Godfrey

It is indeed a good issue; Gordon Gravett writes really well, anyone writing a description of their layout for the magazines should emulate him. The pictures are a joy to behold. I had the pleasure of seeing Arun Quay at the Basingstoke Show last week-end and as ever both he and Maggie are always very keen to explain how they build their models. The model itself is indeed an inspiration. It is also good to see another Isle of Wight model based on Merstone after the recent inclusion of Chris Garner's model of Ventnor West a few months ago. I am sure that when Hornby release their IoW version of the Terrier we will see some more. all the best Godfrey

MRC wasn't the first model railway magazine I bought, having spent my teenage years in south Somerset, Peco and the Railway Modeller (then based in Harbour Road Seaton) was my first introduction to the hobby. However I soon started buying MRC and during several house moves they were the ones I saved, largely for the ideas and the regular supply of prototype drawings. Thanks Chris, I owe you a lot and I suspect many other modellers here do too. all the best Godfrey

My D601 arrived safely this morning, beautifully packed. It is a very impressive model and ran smoothly from the first. As a teenager I remember being taken by my father to London from Taunton behind the real loco so it has some additional sentimental value for me. Congratulations to Chris and his team for getting it to market after what must have been a long sequence of frustrations and disappointments, it was well worth it and deserves to sell well. all the best Godfrey

I went on Sunday soon after 10 am and had no problem parking. I think its the Scouts that provide the parking team and they seem to me to do a good job, certainly they deserve a donation to the cause. If you come by car and the school grounds are full its not that far to the roundabout where Axminster Tools and Hobbycraft are to be found and I always find something (I have) to buy in the former! I thought the exhibition was excellent this year, Arun Quay is worth a 300mile round trip (IMHO) and Copenhagen Fields is still looking good. I also enjoyed the Hornby Magazine Layout and it was good to pull their collective legs that they must spend more time modelling than they actually spend writing for the magazine. They took the comments in good part, well at least I think they did. Trade support was good and the mix of layouts also. Congratulations to the team who put it on and to the exhibitors. I think the dark corridors are more the responsibility of the County Council and indeed central governments. It should remind people that the funding to schools has been drastically reduced over the last few years, despite what certain people might say. Well done Basingstoke Club, look forward to attending again next year, perhaps you could persuade some of the school's neighbours to put gated entrances on their estates. Godfrey

Well Mike you will be able to do both in one day from next May!! all the best Godfrey

Um, not that far off - well unless a Government decides to raise the starting age - always a possibility!! Godfrey

That is probably true, but in a civilised society steps are taken to ensure that the difference between the very rich and the very poor is kept to a level that keeps all the citizens happy enough not to engage in a violent revolution against those who, by inheritance, exploitation, theft or hard work have amassed too much of the limited resources available to the country as a whole. A fair taxation system can produce a happier and more productive society. We just need to work on the problem of coming up with a fair taxation system!! Shouldn't be too much of a problem! all the best Godfrey

Picked up my first version of the new Terrier from Alton Model Centre this afternoon and am very impressed with it. It ran beautifully smoothly straight from the box and there is a lot of detail to enthuse about. I think that this is a very impressive win by Hornby, basically two months from the public announcement to release and at a very competitive price. I will definitely be buying one of the Dapol versions, but I suspect most of us will be happy with either version. Whether that is a good thing for the two manufacturers is a different matter and I noted that I received an email from Hornby at 12.02 and one from Dapol at 12.37, both telling me about their Terrier models. The last time we had a duplication involving Hornby and Oxford with the Adams Radial, Oxford got there first; obviously this time Hornby were not prepared to be second in the race. I do not envy the manufacturers, its starting to be an endeavour that has very big risks. Godfrey

Totally off topic but I would agree with duncan that it is a crazy situation and I cannot see any government getting us out of the bind we are in. Its fine for those of us who have paid off our mortgage and watch the value of our investment rise but absolute hell for our children who cannot afford to get on the ladder. Even the schemes created by the government to aid 'first time buyers' have had the effect of creating even bigger profits for the building firms rather than making the actual first time house prices more acceptable. We have developed an economic model which means we invest in land and houses rather than manufacturing and resist the development of new housing locally because any such development reduces the value of our investment in our own house. The system then encourages very rich people to buy up property in London which pushes up prices even more which trickles out to the whole of the south-east. On top of that I read recently that a high value property in London would cost the owner around £7K for the community charge, whereas a similar value property in New York would cost around £250,000 a year. I am not sure how we are, as a country to prosper if we continue with this economic model, and if we do not prosper we will never get round to investing in a railway system that is really needed to regenerate the north of England - the cross Pennine one!

Well at 19.30 this evening I see from Ship Finder on my iPhone that the Al Muraykh has just completed the turn off Cowes and is heading up the Solent into Southampton Water. Obviously docking later than originally expected. happy sailing! Godfrey