Richard Lee

If you have a go at one of their goods sheds, you might find that, because they are based on a prototype, the entrances for the tracks are smaller than with some kits that were designed as generic models. I had to do a bit of minor surgery on the doors for those entrances so that I can get wagons and goods vans in and out.

The 4mm kits I got were P2101P - Saxby and Farmer Signal Cabin, P2105P - SER station building LBSCR deep red and cream, P2106P - barrel roof station canopy LBSCR deep red and cream with LBSCR valancing, P2118P - LBSCR Goods Shed LBSCR deep red/cream. I also bought their A4 card red brick (uncut) and their A4 red brick card (cut) (to use to make a platform) and some styrene steps that I can't see on their website at the time of writing. I made them up, and I certainly can not call myself a skilled or talented modeller. However, I am glad that I had done a few Metcalfe and Superquick kits before attempting the ABM ones. I found the station building (wooden-clad like a SECR one) reasonably easy. The signal cabin was a bit harder. I found the goods shed the most challenging. The ink that they print them with is water-soluble. I followed their recommendation of using UHU to stick them together instead of PVA. I found the UHU better in some ways than PVA, but a little harder to control. Sometimes the instructions seem very good, other times they seem a bit sparse. On the other hand, you could probably say that about most kits. I am glad that I bought the styrene steps. I did try putting the cardboard ones for the signal cabin together, but failed miserably on that bit. In my opinion, the styrene steps look better anyway. The pre-cut sheet of brick paper did very nicely with some bits left over from a Metcalfe platform kit to do the platform. That was a good buy, in my opinion. I have used part of the uncut sheet to cobble up something loosely based upon the end loading dock at Hayling Island. Despite my very limited skill, I am pleased with the kits. They look like some of the buildings in the pictures of 'Southern Counties Branch Line Steam' by Michael Welch; obviously the ones I chose had a different livery. Edit: One thing I did find is that the station kit didn't seem to have any valencing for the rear porch. However, the canopy kit had plenty to spare, so I don't think that that is a problem if you buy a canopy as well as a station building.

When I opened the box and test-ran mine, I got a fair bit of the derailing when reversing over the curved paths of points problem. There were also occasional issues due, I think, to the centre pair of driving wheels being a bit stiff with regard to moving up and down, and side to side. Running-in seems to have sorted all of that, for me at least. Now, I see my E4 as a very good runner. Just in case, I did record some of the suggestions by kind people earlier in this thread, but so far haven't had to try to force my poor brain to try to understand them.

I think that my two Hornby M7s in SR Maunsell green might possibly be getting something new to play with.

On Sunday the 31st May I placed orders with both Kyte's Lights and Hattons. The Kyte's Lights order arrived in Bulgaria on the same day (Thursday 4th June) that the Hattons order was dispatched. I contacted Hattons on the 3rd June, and they had emailed me to say that they had been having some building work done on their dispatch area which had caused them some delays, but they expected to be able to dispatch my parcel on that day (the 3rd). This is the third piece of minor irritation that I have had from them this year. No one of these minor issues would particularly concern me, but the succession of little gripes is noticeable. Previously, I have had matchless service from them.

Mine are not. I ordered them from Marcways direct. These are the ready-made ones of copper-clad construction. Is it possible that you might have thought of the SMP plastic based kits? (I did have a go with these but found I couldn't get acceptable running.)

I have 8 Marcway 36" radius points on my main layout. Obviously, the timbering is gapped, otherwise there would be a short circuit. Switching is done by point-blades. They actually work reasonably well as they are, although when I clean the track, I tend to clean the areas of contact between point blades and stock rails with a fibre-glass pen, and then either a little bit of rag or a cotton bud soaked in spirit. They tend to be a bit stiff compared to some others. I had intended to use wire-in-a-tube, but ended up using Marcway's point levers. If I was to do another layout with them then I would investigate the 48" radius points, which are, I believe, the same price.

Assuming that you mean coaches with bogies, the Hayling Island branch line did, although trains were sometimes longer. There were also a couple of mixed trains a week (passenger plus goods wagons) on it. This applies to the inter-war as well as the post-war period. Another book that I have, 'Southern Counties Branch Line Steam' by Michael Welch, shows pictures of several other 2 coach branch-line trains during the early 1960s. Don't have any books on the GWR/Western Region, LMS/Midland and Scottish Regions or the LNER/Eastern Region unfortunately.

I found Kadee number 17s were okay for it on my layout (30" radius minimum curves with 36" radius points; pulling Hornby Maunsells with Kadee 18s at the ends of the rake).

On their website it says that delivery can take a little while. My order seemed reasonably quick. It came (to rural Bulgaria) today. Edit: I ordered it on April 21st.

Sounds as if it might be best for me to move my Gaugemaster electronic track cleaner from the main layout onto the small layout (which is Hornby Terriers only for motive power) when my O2 comes.

Put Kadees in, and tried mine with a couple of trains. As RFS suggested in post 273, I used number 17s, which looked right to me and seemed to run okay. (The layout has a curve of 30" radius at the tightest point, which is where I look for derailments whenever I put Kadees on stock.) One thing I did notice when I gave the wheels a very quick clean is that I am fairly sure that only the driving wheels have pick-ups. Not a problem for me; my layout has to be Terrier-proof.

I have used them for Internet orders a few times. I have always found them fast and efficient.

Have been playing with my new toy intermittently since Monday (when it arrived). At first, it was derailing intermittently when going from toe to heel backwards along the curved path of one of the points. It seems to be a bit better now, although I have made a note of 34theletterbetweenBandD's suggestions for curing it. I have to put my hand up to not being a perfect track-layer. Edit: Added "backwards" in second sentence.

To put my comments in context, the situation as far as I am concerned is not "I will never use them again" but rather "Not so sure that their pre-order facilities are always a good idea for me". I also think that they could have managed things a bit better, for instance, by being clearer about the fact that the price might change. Living outside the UK I find that I use Hattons more than any non-Internet oriented model shop. (I do try to visit at least one model shop whenever I visit the UK.) The nearest model shop to where I live that I know of is about 3 hours drive away, and if it does do trains they will not be British outline. On the whole, Hattons has given me good service, reasonable prices, good range without charging a lot for postage.

I had a similar experience, except that I have not raised the matter with Hattons. The price was £76.46 when I pre-ordered in April 2014. The next email that I had from them regarding this order was on 30th March 2015 to notify me that the order had been processed, and that the price of the E4 was £93.46. I am expecting delivery in the next couple of days. (Easter is next week here.) Don't get me wrong, I still want the E4 at that price. However, I am not pleased with Hattons. If the cost had been increased more than I had been prepared to pay then I would be making a fuss about their conduct. If they couldn't sell it at the price they advertised then they should at least let me know so that I can decide whether or not to continue with the order. There doesn't seem to be a lot of benefit in pre-ordering from them. I could have ordered it at the same price from most of the model shops that I have book-marked the links for. I could also have ordered a few more items to so that the overseas postage was diluted over several things.

You can say that again!

Quoted from today's Kernow newsletter:- They only show the green and blacks ones, not the LBSC option. No sign of it when I looked at the Hattons website. (I have a pre-order for a green one from Hattons.)

I haven't had an email from Hattons about the E4 since the confirmation of my pre-order at £76.45. I logged on to eHattons and looked at my pre-orders. The E4 is shown as £93.46. I still want it at this price (which I don't think is excessive if the E4 is comparable with a Hornby M7). However, I am a bit bemused that they haven't let me know about the price increase.

I received an email from Hattons today saying that their latest information was that it would be: When I looked on the Bachmann Branchlines website earlier I noticed that they hadn't updated it from March/April. Still no news about the Birdcage Stock.

Kernow's site shows the recommended retail prices as £199.95. http://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/category/517/Steam_Locomotives Had a look at EHattons, and they are also doing pre-orders for less than that. The only ones that they don't have prices for seem to be the ones with sound. http://www.ehattons.com/stocklist/1000396/1000590/1000640/0/Dapol_O_Gauge_1_43_Scale_Steam_locos/prodlist.aspx Edit: Whoops!Stevelewis got there before me.

Whoops! Thanks. If I had gone for upgrading tension locks, I would have wanted some of the short screw on type, and a larger quantity of the short NEM ones. At the time that I was looking, I couldn't find information about future availability of either short type. Presumably, most ready-to-run comes with couplings designed to work with first or second radius sectional track, which may be why the gaps between rolling stock seem so large.

Not to justify the price mark-up, but I don't think that the Bachmann short, small NEM tension-lock couplings have been available for a few years. Last time I looked at that bit of their website there was no date when they would be expected. Lots of people don't like tension locks as they come. The Hornby and Bachmann ones don't work reliably together, and indeed can cause derailments in combination on sharp, train-set curves. In my opinion, most tension locks make things too far apart. Before Christmas I did consider standardising on Bachmann, and replacing ondinary small tension locks with the short ones. Unfortunately, I couldn't work out when the small tension locks are going to be available. I tried fitting Kadees (which tend to have a good availability) on a couple of trains that are going to end up on a layout that would benefit from Kadees, liked them, and fitted them to every item of rolling stock that I have.

I am really interested in some of these. Assuming that the Southern Railways liveried radial is early-mid 1930s compatible, then my wallet is likely to take a dint. A couple of the private owner wagons would suit my interests as well. Edit: I hope that they are available from model shops. If not, I have used the Oxford Diecast web shop successfully.

Must admit that I would prefer to have the gated-stock before the O2 (I have both on pre-order in Southern Maunsell Green). Concerning liveries, I think that in general, the earlier they are the nicer they are. I like the older locomotives; I think the Southern's use of old locomotives for branch-line work may have been one reason that I decided to model SR branch-lines. If I could, I would have modeled LSWR and LBSCR branch line services. The trouble is that there are not many suitable ready-to-run coaches. For my LBSC liveried Terriers I had to cobble together some resin kit 4-wheel coaches.