JSpencer

Everything arrived on my side too. The guys must be swamped under the 37 release. The NRM chaldrons are lovely. Thanks to everyone at Locomotion for your help.

And Gladstone, C2/C2X, K class, T3.....

Maunsell Q class, U class, W class and Z class I would also add the Wainwright E class and E1 rebuild (and why not L and L1).

Lion comes supplied with a tension lock fitted plus Hornby style tow bar like hook to work with Hornby's era 1 rolling stock. The tension lock (which gets in the way) needs to be removed if you wish to run era 1 with her and you may wish to run her with other rolling stock that is not from Hornby. One option is to run her with accurascale Chaldrons. These exist in preservation even if the two probably never ran together. So I replaced the tension lock with a cut back Bachmann NEM socket and added an Accurascale Chaldron coupling. The chain was shortened otherwise it not only drags on the sleepers but equally leaves a massive gap to any rolling stock. These chain couplings actually solve a problem on other locos where there is tons of buffer beam piping and details preventing you from fitting a normal coupling (Heljan DP2, Lion, Kestral etc spring to mind). By adding a magnetic coupling to a Hornby Mk1, suddenly the models are open to pulling small trains without needing to remove buffer detail. As far as I can tell, Lion never pulled any post 1900s rolling stock that was not an 1830s based replica. Equally as far as I can, few locos pulled chaldrons outside the odd internal user industrial context. Here the Lion loco and Chaldrons are preserved examples and - even if unlikely - allow me to do a preserved might have been of Lion pulling some accurate era 1 wagons.

No. You need some fine tape (Kapton - not shown in the test fit here). I did consider leaving out the booster moulding at some point but there was no need to as the chip won't fit down the side in space left by it! It is a bit of a challenge. 1/ Unscrew the battery box from under the loco. 2/ this contains not only holes for sound to escape but also a pre fitted sound box that clips into the main battery box 3/ stick the supplied speaker onto the box choosing carefully he position of the wires to go back up into the loco, then clip that back onto the battery box moulding. This is a tight fit but doable. 3/ remove the circuit board 4/ lift the motor, to see a hole for the switch wires to pass through. You can lift enough without having to remove the drive shafts etc. 5/ Use bag tie, feed it through the top of the hole pass the motor where you expect the speaker wires to eventually go 6/ gently pull the speaker wires through 7/ plug in chip and speaker, rehouse the motor, screw on the circuit board but don't place the chip yet 8/ check the whole lot works! 9/ remove mother board, apply tape, place chip between board and motor (not an ideal place but there are not many choices here) 10/ Screw mother board down though NOT tightly, it will be slightly curved going over the chip! 11/ replace body

As someone who was criticized on this forum for being "end user inept" after stating I had issues with 3 of these chips, getting one of these inside a class 71 was one of the feats I pulled off that works. It's a squeeze but definitely possible.

A make shift SCC livery could work although we have Albert. On the other hand, given how low in height these locos are, maybe they could do a high speed motored and geared version to have a crack at beating Smokey Joe's land speed record....

Warriors? where are they?

It would doubtless be more complex and expensive to mix up different liveries in different packs. Equally most people wanting a matching rake would need more sets to get that rake, where as someone wishing to mix can do so on 2 sets. In anycase one can always swap with different friends. Perhaps the only slight issue, is that there is only one RF red set.... As for different running numbers, this has now fortunately become the norm. Granted in N you probably need a good magnifying glass, but better with unique numbers than them all being the same.

Mine arrived yesterday. This is quite a weighty wagon. And the underframe detail is excellent. Running qualities are perfect. Have the wheel sets changed since the VIX vans? Here she is with a few Bachmann wagons and a Helgan 33. Last photo shows the vast superiority of Underframe detail vs Bachmann:

I have the same problem at the moment. No idea if the "in stock" order I placed last week was sent, if so the tracking id. As I'm abroad, this is critical info in order to pay importation charges prior to delivery. If you don't, it merely goes back which is a waste of my time and locomotions as I have no tracking id etc with the delivery people to chase them up.

The coal loads are brilliant. Each with it's own distinct shape and - as far as I can tell - with real coal. Two pieces of soft foam that hold the coal steady in the package also work well to increase the height of the coal in the wagon (put foam in first at each end and then place the coal load on top). The fit is just right. It does not fall out if you turn the wagon upside down but pops out easily with a small tap. (EDIT) Psst: MDO coal loads also fit perfectly inside Bachmann 24.5 ton mineral wagons.....

I am certain the EKR one was one of the pair with 4in taller cabs. As I'm not trying to model the EKR specifically, my Victory is a fantasy preserved sample for my eventual Bluebell layout so the cab is not an issue. I already had number 5 (the preserved Adam's radial) and about 8 wagons typically found on the EKR line (even if some never left the coal field they worked for). The wagons are all RTR and are mostly not particularly accurate either. Likewise the radial has never run in EKR livery in preservation. But they are all fine for my eventual Sheffield park where the max number of locos will be sound fitted or - at best - DCC plain.

Duplications in the recent past are BR 4MT 4-6-0s, which ran down south so easy to justify in our case (unless you do nothing beyond SR days of course) and Terriers which being small, relatively inexpensive with a wide range of liveries and eras, will have many people buying a few of them (I have 6 of the new Hornby and Rails/Dapol types from the latest tooling but still need Fenchurch in A1 preserved guise). The same can argued for class 37s and 47s. The 2-10-0s are justifiable in a down south in a preserved loco visit sense (especially for my projected Sheffield park DCC layout). I prefer this over the S160 as something to pull a warwell train (a but of rule for preserved but far too many military vehicles). That said I only want one. I have two Bachmann 2-8-0s, both of non preserved members and both dating before DCC and did not fancy adding a 3rd. I think these may have bigger demand than the S160 and the LNER U1 being a class that is preserved, ran in BR days and the end of grouping.

When you think Noch and Faller do proper advent calendars too. And I'm sure Roco or someone did a full train in the past. There is even a proper Harry Potter one. Hmmm.... ohhhh a Whiskey one... not for children apparently. Back to Hornby... Day 1, look on the website, only T&Cs look on Facebook, lovely post saying it is Day 1, to enter Goto Instagram goto Instagram, Like the post and name your favourite loco. .... Nah, I'll stick to making my new Xmas OO-9 layout.

Many people under rule 1, run at speed as well. A Bertha on a fitted goods flying past a HST is highly probable in the rule 1 universe....

It is for rule 1 so that people can use her as a freight loco on a fitted train.

Very nice. Thank you.

So I guess anyone taking it to a show would need to use their Telephone as a personal wifi hotspot. If I compare this to z21, while the z21 looks to be a cheaper package, Kinisis probably has the advantage in having fewer boxes and cables. I was looking at the NCE powercab earlier in the year as a means to have a controler that I can plug in and use on my main layout (avoid the faff of getting the PC out as I currently do with my dated Hornby system) and then un-plugging and using it to run DCC OO-9 locos on my new mini layout that serves as a Xmas decoration in the lounge. My thoughts are that maybe Kinisis has this cabling with hand held simplicity of the NCE, with the possibility to then plug it in and run the bigger layout from the PC + handheld + telephone as required.

I bet the drivers and firemen enjoyed that too!

Looks lovely in Black. I wonder what they used as the sound file? I do not believe there is any working steam model anywhere. It must have been a bit like a West country in terms of sound but with a Garrett like chuffing with it going in and out of sync as it run. Of course we do not know what KR have done (other than working with ESU). @Jenny Emily Any ideas as to how KR built their sound file please?

Definitely looks interesting to me. You can run from the PC, or the handset or from the phone. Admittedly with the handset, I won't need the phone too much.

The one interesting development of KRs is DCC smoke. I am fairly confident the market will be moving more and more there now that firebox glow is common. Of course I have no doubt of the greater experience and expertise of Clarks Railworks over KR so my order stays put. However I would kindly like to suggest @Chris-ECT please kindly consider a deluxe smoke version. (though I suspect the development process is now too far to consider it - though TRS trains would be in excellent position to advise).

In this video, they say they have added smoke! https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/news/interview-of-the-week-kr-models?fbclid=IwAR2vsLliAWtDzHaPyO51nWUcg2Z7eK1eQVs8yZjWscty92h7MYUN_nYAvR0 Curiously it seems to need oil (their own special BIO brand of oil too) rather than water we have seen being used by TRS.

Thanks for the tip. I just found it : https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/news/interview-of-the-week-kr-models?fbclid=IwAR2vsLliAWtDzHaPyO51nWUcg2Z7eK1eQVs8yZjWscty92h7MYUN_nYAvR0