MrTea

My first Quarryman’s coach arrived yesterday. Lovely little model. Looking forward to trying it out soon.

For anyone who’s interested in following this there’s a livestream available at Blick.tv: https://www.blick.ch Looks like the fun starts from 1.15pm UK time!

Hang on a sec - weren’t the prototype FGW carriages done with a 23m vinyl wrap? (Possibly not in 1 continuous section though). Perhaps Hornby’s effort is closer to the real thing than we’d all like to admit…

What seems like a bit of a missed opportunity is that there's an existing LNER Azuma with 'Celebrating Scotland' branding: https://www.modernrailways.com/article/lner-azuma-makes-scottish-debut I know it's not green but it might have made more sense for the kids who live near the ECML?

This is an absolute steal at the moment: https://www.modelrailwaysdirect.co.uk/oo9/Bachmann-narrow-gauge-391-102sf-ffestiniog-railway-double-fairlie-earl-of-merioneth-fr-lined-green/ I’d be melting my credit card if I didn’t already have one!

Hello David and all, I found this image of the WAB taken in 1983 from a collection of my Dad's slides. Thought you might like to see it: I remember bits and bobs about the trip, there were quite a lot of railways involved including the LSE and the BRB (which I absolutely loved!).

It could be, yes. It just seemed very railway-like when I first saw it. And the windows are rather MR-looking with the corner pieces at the top? E.g. Swinderby crossing: http://www.derby-signalling.org.uk/Midland.htm

They’re not sure. It was in situ when the bought the house, which was over 10 years ago.

I came across this in a garden in Berkshire earlier today. It looks like it might be of Midland Railway origin? Originally I thought it was the top of a signal box but after a bit of Googling I suspect it might be from a level crossing? Can anyone shed any light on what this building (now used as a summer house) is and where it might have come from? Thanks! Ian

+1 for Traintrax. Recommended! I’ve also used Plaza Japan for imports. In the UK I’d give Osbourne’s a wide berth. Ian

@rapidoandy have you guys got the rights to the Titfield Thunderbolt for all scales or just 00? It’s just that it would make a lovely model in TT:120…

Hmm. Maybe not one for the purists eh?

If you were to judge success on the number of pages generated on RMWeb then the recent TT:120 announcements by Peco, Heljan, Gaugemaster and now Hornby would certainly fit the criteria. However, it’s the sales in the next 12-18 months that will matter. I think the AS Facebook post sums up the company’s attitude to the new scale, for now, and I can see why - they’re pretty busy with the projects they do have on. What makes Accurascale exciting for me is the level of transparency and engagement with the model railway community, especially online. But that’s partly because it’s a newer smaller and more nimble operation. My hope is that this continues, along with the delivery of great products, for the foreseeable future.

That would explain the Castle on p9 of the digital brochure and also the mention of the Britannia in the list of future items then? Corgi’s Rail Legends range was very much a ‘greatest hits’ of Hornby’s best selling Pacifics (but scaled down to 1:120) from what I can see on eBay. So to some extent you could argue they did test the market for a midway between 00 and N range of models a few years back. They’ll know what sold well from those.

I might have missed this but does anyone know if the upcoming Hornby TT:120 range shares any DNA with the Corgi Rail Legends range released in the mid 2010s? Seeing some of the close up shots of the A3 and the A4 did make me wonder: This is my Corgi Flying Scotsman. I think it’s 1:120 scale and seems to have a fair amount of weight to it.

This is weirdly unlike Hornby to me. I wonder what they’re up to? They don’t do mid-year announcements. And what’s the significance of Monday 10th October 2022?

Hi Rab, glad to hear you’re not giving up on your dreams for an N gauge layout. You don’t see too many UK-themed layouts using Unitrack but I do seem to remember one being featured in Railway Modeller earlier in the year. I personally love the plug-and-play nature of Unitrack and the built-in point motors are a real bonus. You can also mix the radii of the curves to get some quite nice gentle transition effects. It can be expensive to buy but you do see good value ‘job lots’ of Unitrack on eBay from time to time. Although the plastic base is quite tall in profile, with a bit of additional ballasting and some weathering you can get some reasonably realistic looking track. Here’s an example from my Swiss layout: Good luck and keep us posted on your progress! Ian

An announcement of an announcement - Hornby really know how to set off the frothometer! The fact that the email of the announcement arrived on the morning of GETS, just as other manufacturers were making their announcements seems an unlikely coincidence to me…

I’ve been inspired by this topic to ‘get off my arse’ and do some more volunteering. Thanks guys! Phil, hope you made it down to the railway today. I suspect it was you driving 73096 when I had a cab ride on the Watercress Line back in summer 2011. Ian, RbR sounds a great place. I will have to make sure I get over to visit some time.

That mapping resource is really useful. Thanks Gordon and Paul! I also can’t believe I missed the place just to the north that’s delightfully named ‘Crap Furo’. 😂

I’d second Gordon’s suggestion of Muot. Although I am biased because that’s what Veja Megstra is based on. On my representation the station area is on the flat because I was worried about having the turnouts on a gradient so the running line slopes up and down at either end of the station which isn’t prototypical. On photos of the real place you can see the ruling gradient on photos of the station building quite clearly. e.g. Although, just to complicate matters, I did notice that in the chapter of the Albula line in John Marshall’s book, the gradient profile of the line on p76 shows the station area at Muot as 0% ie. flat. I'm not sure if this is correct because it doesn't look flat on the reference pictures I have. http://rhbstations.co.za/stations/muot/

Fascinating to see this arrive following all the previous drama and comment. I, for one, am looking forward to the Sam’s Trains review in a week or so!

All sorted now. Thanks Andy.

Hi Andy, I signed up for Premium today. Step 1 went fine but I seem to be having issues with Step 2. I have logged out and cleared my cookies. This is the message I get on Step 2 when I follow the link in the confirmation email: I tried switching the Theme too but I think I might need you guys to tweak something your end? I’m on an iPhone SE with the latest iOS 15.5. Thanks for your help! Ian

@Claude_Dreyfus @Steamport Southport check out these on YouTube: My favourite was always the last episode about Ecuador, the narration really brought it to life: I was 6 years old at the time these were first broadcast and they’ve stuck with me. Of the original great railway journeys episodes I also remember the South Africa one with Michael Wood, mainly for the steam locos and the Australia one for the Zig Zag railway, the Nullabor and the soundtrack by Sky.