Godfrey Glyn

Somehow I am not surprised by your tale of woe Joseph, though remember that it is now SWR not SWT of (almost) beloved memory. A SWR driver told me recently that when the new regime moved the control team who deal with problems from Waterloo to Basingstoke, many of the experienced staff who had worked there and gained a huge amount of essential experience decided to leave and work elsewhere. The result is a team of staff who do not have the same level of expertise. I think it's fairly obvious that there is a major problem with the new regime and not all of it is down to SWR. They made a bid which depended on work being done by Network Rail which could not be done and team Grayling and the man himself probably is more to blame for the present state of affairs than anyone else in the triangle of hell. Maybe after the Brexit chaos is over Grayling will be sent to the Chiltern Hundreds and life on the railway can start to get back to something more reliable. The simple fact that SWR staff are still working in SWT uniform says a lot about the new franchise. I feel very sorry for passengers and staff. all the best Godfrey

Two photos taken by me at Eastleigh clearly demonstrate that there is a difference in the colours used on the front of the GBRf Class 66s. Hope they are some use. all the best Godfrey

In this week's edition of Railway Herald there is a nice photograph of 802101 leaving Honiton and travelling eastwards. all the best Godfrey

I have arranged with the very fine maker of cakes down the road in Bishopstoke Junction to bring half a dozen of the lemon drizzle cakes made to the same recipe as the ones I brought last year. As ever looking forward to the event Godfrey

That is good news indeed, the original had a major error which unless you realised and did a modification would produce a non-parallel set of wheels. It was well documented on one of the Wild Swan books, sorry away from home and can't remember either the title or author. I suspect that PECO know that and may therefore have two reasons for a re-tooling of the kit. Thank goodness it's PECO that have taken over the range and not someone who might not want to spend money on re-tooling the model. all the best Godfrey

Following the latest news today from Accurascale I suspect Dapol will be rushing to do another run of the Trans-Pennine version. It certainly makes an impressive looking model, having had a good look at one last Friday at Alton Model Centre. I am one of those who thinks that the real thing is a very impressive design and that Dapol have made a fine job of the model. I tend to think of the Trans-Pennine livery as being rather brave but it will certainly catch the eye of passengers on the route in the coming months. all the best Godfrey

When government ministers appear to accept, and some even welcome, a 20% drop in the value of the pound so that 'we can become more competitive', it is a small wonder that a company that manufacturers its products abroad would respond by being very cautious in its production planning. They will get a far better return by targeting their production elsewhere. There is sometimes a very fine line between being brave and being stupid, in this case Bachmann are being sensibly cautious. Oh happy days, I'm sure everything will be fine! all the best Godfrey

Well, bragging, I went to the exhibition on both days. I had absolutely no problem parking in one of the nearby streets and only walked 50 metres at the most from the car to the entrance. There are no restrictions on parking at the week-end in the streets nearby. It was understandably popular on Saturday and but I still thoroughly enjoyed my first visit. Good and varied trade support and I came away with a couple of excellent books and some kits I had not seen before. Living in the Borough it is nice to go back and have a second bite at the cherry. I was particularly impressed with the 00 layouts Fawley, Loftus Road and Redbridge Wharf and with the N layout St Ruth. It was good to see many families visiting and clearly enjoying themselves, even if they do not get hooked on the hobby it reduces the average age of visitors! Like others on here it also provided me with the opportunity to catch up with some old friends and fellow modellers, a very good value event IMHO. all the best Godfrey

I suppose my point grew out of my mild frustration that the development of Bachmann's Bulleid coaches is still only at the research phase after all this time. I agree the 158/159 gestation period has been long but as I understand it that has involved the development of a brand new mechanism which will reduce the visual impact of the drive on the inside the coaches - I assume rather like the Replica solution which works really well. I certainly agree that they are an odd ball couple but in their original rather eye-catching form and livery they also ran on the ER with the 'Master Cutler', 'The White Rose', 'The Norfolkman', the 'Country Continental' (two sets) and the 'South Yorkshireman' ER and LMR so they were seen with Mk 1 coaches in other parts of the country as well as other Bulleids on the Southern region. I would be delighted and not surprised if they were developed as a limited commission and whilst not quite in the same class of very special models such as the Dynamometer Car I am sure they would generate a lot of interest. I suppose the other factor in my random thoughts relates to the admiration for the excellent work Hornby have done with their Maunsell coaches, in other words I trust them to do a good job I certainly agree that we do need (well I feel I need), the 64' Bulleid coaches and when they do arrive, from whoever, I shall be buying some and the greater the variety of types the better. Yes as far as I understand it they were rebuilt because the passengers of the time hated them. Still make a good model though! all the best Godfrey

I think it is a great shame that Bachmann have not gone ahead with developing new Bulleid coaches. I remember having a conversation with one of the Bachmann staff at the Collectors Day on the Bluebell Railway and was given the clear impression that work was going on, that is now some years ago; it was the day that the H2 was announced! I suspect that the on-off nature of the rumours prevented Southernpride from updating their Bulleid coaches and also affected Hornby's decision making. If I were Hornby, and I am not(!) and wanted to be bullish in the present market I think I would go ahead and develop the Tavern Cars. Given the speed with which they have developed the Bulleid shorties they could get the two car sets out before we see the Bachmann coaches and they would sell well. I do find it strange that they are still in the research phase at Bachmann when they have already researched them for their N gauge versions. I suspect the arrival of Hornby's shorties will have a negative effect on the future sales of the Bachmann longer versions if they do not appear soon. Am I missing some other factor - other than a lack of resources in terms of time and money? all the best Godfrey

The latest edition of the Hornby Collector magazine dropped through my letterbox this morning. IMHO its a good read and very much improved these days. The layout is attractive and it has some nice photographs from their recent 2019 announcements. It contains a variety of articles which should allow enthusiasts of differing ages and experience to find something of interest to them. Perhaps the only disappointment for me is to learn that this year's Club Loco will be a yellow version of what appears to be the Railroad Bagnall Shunter, I presume that this replaces the old GWR 0-4-0. I couldn't see any mention of an exclusive to follow on from the exquisite SECR H (OK, still awaited!). There was a time when I wouldn't have considered joining the Hornby Club, having been a member of the Bachmann one for many years, I really do think it deserves much more serious consideration, especially if they go ahead and produce more exquisiite exclusives like the H. all the best Godfrey

Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! This is indeed excellent news, well done Hornby. Hopefully it will encourage Bachmann to pull their finger out with developing the longer Bulleid coaches; they have held of for far too long and undoubtedly will pay a price for that. I can see me needing to do some very careful financial planning to cope with what Hornby have announced today. Many thanks Andy for getting all this out. all the best Godfrey

Well I for one hope that Hornby are going to use another painting from Malcolm Root's collection for their catalogue. I really rate him as an artist working on railway themes, he seems to be able to combine accuracy with artistic impression. The only reservation that Hornby may have is that Bachmann use him for their Collectors' Calendar. He has done some beautiful ones of Bulleid pacifics in both original and rebuilt forms. If you check out his website you can see one of a developing picture of a Bulleid pacific setting off from Southampton Docks with a Cunarder after the Queen Mary has docked. all the best Godfrey -( looking forward to Monday)

There is a (well relatively), easy solution for Bachmann and that is to do the same thing that Hornby did when bringing out the 2BIL. If Bachmann were to have a new model up their sleeve which gets produced before the Chinese New Year it would kill much of this negative reputation that they have at present regarding production delays. I certainly gained the impression that under the previous senior manager they simply 'booked' prototypes to scare off the competition. The major manufacturers - perhaps we should really refer to them as 'commissioners' - cannot afford to do that now with the entrance of the new small and nimble commissioners to the hobby. Happy New Year everybody and that very much includes the teams at Hornby and Bachmann! all the best Godfrey

This arrived at Alton Model Centre today, Paul had to ginger up the delivery company to achieve delivery but they pulled out the stops and got the supply of Sir Francis Drake to the shop. A quick photo on my iPhone before it was handed over for packing by my wife as my surprise Christmas present. Looks really nice, well done Hornby! Paul has a good supply and I gather he opens again on Thursday. Now really looking forward to the next batch in the new year. all the best and a Happy Christmas to all. Godfrey

Just been messing about on my module based on Chard and it struck me that Hornby could do well if it produced a top notch GWR 57XX. The Bachmann one is certainly showing its age and alongside revamped B set coaches and/or a new Autocoach it should go down well in the sales department. Godfrey

To me the very obvious set of coaches that Hornby could do would be the Southern Bullied shorties, they shared the same under frame as the Maunsells. I really do not understand why Bachmann have taken so long to revamp the long versions. A complete oddball, but one that I think would sell like hot cakes at the NRM, would be an OO Rocket. I agree with others that a high spec Cl 47 could do well especially alongside the high spec Cl 66 coming from Hattons and the new Cl 55 from Accurascale. I would love them to do a 4COR but in the present climate I fear anything larger than two car EMU or DMU is very difficult for any manufacturer to contemplate. However after Andy's report from the Media briefing I am quietly confident that my wallet will suffer next year ( or perhaps, being realistic the year after!). all the best Godfrey

I think you only need to look at the Rapido section today to see what is involved in building modern detailed 00 railway models. Finding large numbers of people prepared to do that kind of highly detailed work for the UK minimum wage would be difficult to say the least, even in an area of severe deprivation. The manufacture of a very simple model and the painting could perhaps be done with computer controlled machinery but the investment would be massive. I think we will have to watch for emerging technologies to develop before we could bring the production of any detailed models back to the UK. The one thing that saddened me when production moved to China was to see how much better the models were that they could produce. For what its worth I gained the impression that like too many industries in this country after the second world war we failed to invest and failed to innovate. all the best Godfrey

It will indeed not be a cheap item, but if you price up the components required to build one yourself, adding in a set of servos to operate them you will also be spending a fairly significant amount of money. Its a hobby so I am not going to calculate an hourly rate for building one myself but such an item is not something the inexperienced 4mm signal builder (like me!) can throw together in a couple of hours. All things considered, I agree with Mike Stationmaster, Dapol cannot expect to sell huge numbers of these junction signals and they will not be simple to mass produce, even at Chinese pay rates. I also live in hope that they will be more reliable than the first batch. Having said that, the ones that I have set up with a 9v supply appear to work perfectly. You pays your money and takes your choice! all the best Godfrey

Paul has copies at Alton Model Centre; it's a great book and well worth the money. all the best Godfrey

My three arrived this morning and I am absolutely delighted with them. They really are very impressive and congratulations to Revolution and Rapido - they have definitely produced a RR product. Many thanks guys! all the very best Godfrey

Obviously I did miss something, thanks RedgateModels for reading more carefully! Sorry Andy, I still think its a great edition though so congrats to all of you at BRM. I will now crawl back into my 'flu infected corner! all the best Godfrey

My printed copy dropped through the letterbox this morning. A quick scan through and my conclusion is that it's a great edition. Have I missed something? Andy is now the Editor. Congratulations Andy and clearly you have already had an impact! all the best Godfrey

I noticed this this morning but as it hasn't appeared so far I thought I would draw members' attention to Chris' Kernow contribution to Facebook today - On this day in history - 30th October 1993 (!) - Today being another day with no images, here is another which is particularly appropriate - Class 319/1 4 Car EMU number 319 015 departs Guildford with the 1228 departure to Luton in multiple with 319 184. Further hints may appear leading up to the actual announcement! <a href="https://christrerise.smugmug.com/…/Railway-Phot…/i-HT3Sfdx/A"><img src="https://photos.smugmug.com/…/i-HT3S…/0/0568b38f/L/1590-L.jpg" alt=""></a> ​Why is it appropriate? When are the further hints going to appear? Chris is pretty good with his teases so it should be an interesting week and I for one look forward to finding out at Warley whether there is a new announcement, and what it might be or whether I have been led up the garden path and I have fallen hook line and sinker into the mug pool! Make what you may of it! all the best Godfrey