AshleyH

Yes my post was misunderstood. For the record, I do try and shop locally, but we only have one shop now and by the time I made my decision on this item, their small allocation was pre-sold, so I had to look further afield. As far as I can recall, Rails were also sold out to pre-order as well. I have nothing for or against any particular retailer, I was just wondering if anyone else had pre-ordered from Hattons and has received the same notification email. I’ve logged in to my account at Hattons and my pre-order is still showing at £319, so I expect it is fine. It just appears that Hattons still have some unsold units and have now raised the price to SRP for new orders, which is fair enough, and the email picked up theirs current selling price I think.

I received an email from Hattons last night advising me that the R3691 Paddington Bear Limited Edition GWR IEP is due in to stock tomorrow, Thursday October 25th. I am hoping they are honouring the pre-order price of £319, as the email had the price at £399.99, presumably the SRP?

Just a heads up that these seem to be flying out of retailers. I was going to order from Rails last night but forgot, this morning the price upped to £139 from. £129, but they had all sold out before I could place an order. None at Hattons. Luckily I found the blue one R3580 in stock at Derails and ordered it. Only other place I can find one now is Kernow, and they are down to 9 in stock as I type this. There’s no guarantee that there are any more BR Blue ones in the November batch, so if you really want one I would order now. Says me who has missed out on many fine items by not preordering, Pecketts, SIr William Stanier.......,

Just bought the Faversham limited edition early BR Blue version for £73. Very pleased with the model, maybe the livery errors prevented it from receiving the praise it deserved. The blue on this version seems fine to me. I just wanted to thank DCC Supplies for excellent after sales backup, as my model arrived with a cab front handrail missing at one end. A quick email and, in less than 48 hours, I received a pack of replacement handrails. Excellent service, for many other manufacturers it would not have been possible to obtain such parts.

Hornby R3400 Golden Arrow Last Steam Run train pack £219.50 at Rails of Sheffield, Flash Sale Today Only. Cheapest I have seen, order duly placed.

Many thanks to the member that spotted these were back in stock at Hattons. I have just ordered mine for the entirely reasonable £123.99 inc postage. I think selling at RRP is entirely reasonable in the circumstances. I look forward to receiving my model in the next few days. Best Regards Ashley

I received my Maroon version today, can confirm it is supplied with D1018 Western Buccaneer plates and it is the standard maroon model with the yellow battery box catches. It is my first Dapol Western and it looks impressive, but as it is an exclusive to London Transport Museum, I was hoping the name and number plates would be fitted and also the roof lifting rings. Still very happy with the deal though, £78.99 including postage and delivered on a Sunday!

Welll, now that both Hattons and Rails have raised their prices to RRP, are there any other sources still offering these at a discount? A bit of a late starter in getting information on these, too little time to make a decision on embarking into yet another scale! Ashley

My John Milton Metropolitan liveried one turned up yesterday from Hattons, very well packed I must add. It looks even better than the photos. There are so many separately fitted pipes etc. The livery is superb with the additional lining over the later versions. Everything seems to be nicely fixed in place, but I would echo the words of others that these locos should be handled more like a super detailed steam loco. The other thing that struck me was how small it is, mind you it did arrive along with a Class 128 DPU which dwarves the Metropolitan loco. It truly is one of the nicest looking locos I own, the level of lining being equivalent to a Hornby Pullman or Maunsell Coach in olive green Southern livery. It may well end up being my favourite OO loco, it really is that good. I hope to give it a test run later today, but I dont currently have a layout so I need to put a test track together. I will try and take some photos as well.

Oh dear Paul......I was just logging on to post that I have finally succumbed and ordered John Milton from Hattons with next day delivery. Hope I have a bit more luck. I hope also that Sherlock is still available next week when it's payday! A little extra item might have just slipped in to my basket, cough cough, a Class 128 in early blue with syp was just too much to resist at £52 Keep the photos coming!

Well this model is certainly tugging at the purse strings. Last week I was all set to purchase Sherlock Holmes, what with the Baker Street destination board and being a big fan of the books and films etc. Easy decision right....... Then the two Metropolitan versions turn up on the Hattons website, No. 20 looks superb with the extra lining, gold/brass headlamp surrounds and the Metropolitan lettering and no bright red underframe, but then look at John Milton with the superb handrails picked out in brass/gold. Decisions decisions, even the wartime grey liveried one looks lovely. Surely Heljan have a winner on their hands here.

They still had stock of more than 10 of a heavily weathered version last Thursday as I had been thinking of buying one to add to my pristine version bought a year ago now and not yet tested...oops! Looks like Hattons have pulled them for some reason, maybe as a source of spares.

For anyone still waiting on a pre-order from Hattons of the R3207 version, they are now showing as expected on Friday 26th September. So hopefully only another week or so!

Just an update on my R3207 P2 with a missing handrail. It was one of the approx 3cm silver handrails on the loco side near the cab. As suggested, I telephoned Hornby, but the only spares they have for the P2 are the motor and the detailing packs. So sadly I have to return it for a refund, as there are no replacements available. Hopefully I will be able to get hold of the TTS version instead within the next few weeks. I'll see if the shop can reserve one for me and pay the difference. It is a fantastic looking loco though, I'll just have to wait a little longer........

Sad to report that my R3207 has a missing handrail on one side, one of the shorter ones near the cab under the main handrail. I did not notice it yesterday, but unboxing it just now I noticed that there are just the 2 silver stanchions fitted but no handrail in between them. No sign of it in the box either Unsure what to do about it. I may take it back, but that means I won't get another one anytime soon, so my two options are either to wait for the TTS version or fit a replacement handrail myself. My eyesight is probably not up to it, but a friend may be able to help. Does anyone know the diameter of the handrails on the P2 model? Looking on eBay, typical sizes are either 0.3mm or 0.6mm. Then there is the painting it silver to match..... Hmm, what do others think? It is a little ironic to have a missing handrail on a model where the majority are moulded!

Well I've just got back from my local model shop, Platform Models in Poole, with an R3207 full version for the excellent price of £110.70. It was their last one, unsure if they will have more from later batches. With the usual disclaimers, can I highly recommend Platform Models and urge you to support them if you are local to Bournemouth or Poole. Mist importantly thanks to Rob, as once again your excellent photos inspired me to purchase this fine model. I am primarily a continental modeller these days, but thanks to rob this was my second inspired purchase this year, the other being a Heljan a Garratt from Hattons. As with the Garratt, I had no intentions to purchase, but succumbed to the photography! I am currently partially sighted so I would have been unable to detail a a Railroad version to the high standards I have seen on this thread. I am also only able to appreciate the fine livery due to being able to enlarge the photos on my iPad. Anyway, the R3207 looks to be an excellent model, and the packaging is very nice as well. Was it worth the extra £35 over the Railroad version? Well it is to me for the aforementioned reason, but had my eyesight been OK, I might well have saved the pennies and detailed the Railroad model. Enjoy your models everyone! Ashley

I grabbed the very last 266205 BRITISH RAILWAYS version early this morning! Thanks to the earlier poster alerting me to the fact there were only 6 left, by the time I woke up this morning it was down to 2, by the time I remembered my Hattons account login just the 1 in stock....phew that was close. This was the version that appealed to me the most, good job for Hattons that we are all different! Many thanks to Rob for the excellent and inspiring photoshop pictures. Will update when it arrives, which should be Tuesday as I took the Yodel 24 option. Fingers crossed my model will be OK as it was the last one. What a turnover Hattons must have, that's 6 models at £199 in a little over 24 hours and that is just one of their many thousands of products. Best Regards Ashley

Looking at the fairly low pre-order price for these, around £76, I wonder if it is just going to be a revision to the existing Class 42 tooling? £76 in today's market seems low for a complete new toolingl, the proposed weathered Class 42 is around £80. So maybe we cannot expect something to the standard of the Dapol Western or Class 22, but here's hoping!